I have to disagree with this set being particularly cheap for a 19", non-big hitting brand TV, even if it does include an iPod doc and DVD player.
I think the price is too high for most parents to spend on a TV for their kid's Christmas present.
Seems like a good concept but poor on execution. The Cello intrigues me because I am looking for something similar. I am one of those weird minority who chooses not to own a TV and so does not pay the license fee. We do like to watch DVDs in a family room. I have been using an old laptop hooked up to a monitor, but this has now died. Is there something like the Cello that is instant switch on, plays DVDs but is not legally a television? Or is it possible to hook up a DVD player to an external monitor? Advice welcome!
@Rob: If you get a monitor with an HDMI, component or composite input (though I'd avoid the latter for quality reasons) you can hook up any DVD player with the equivalent output. Your issue would be sound - you'd need either a monitor with speakers or you'd need to invest in a pair of PC speakers and connect them to the DVD player; the latter will certainly give you better sound if you get a decent pair.
Even supermarket DVD players have HDMI outputs these days. I believe you can effectively use any decent monitor though as long as it has a DVI input - just get an HDMI to DVI adapter.
@Jordon. That's very helpful - I had no idea I could do this. On a quick scan I see e.g. a Proline HDMI for £35 and a ViewSonic 22" VX2260 HDMI for £123, so the package would be under £160 plus cable. I will shop around and try this combo. Thanks again.
The player I can vouch for, the speakers I'm about to get. Can't comment on monitors, but I've got an Acer one for my PC which was cheap and has behaved itself very well. Doesn't have HDMI though so best to look up their newer models.
@Rob: You'd better hope the UK doesn't go the way of Denmark. Here the license fee is now also in force if you have any device capable of playing tv....and nowadays that means any internet connected computer and I believe mobiles. So, assuming you are writing from home, you'd have to pay anyway.
Maybe they'll all see sense and scrap the system and incorporate it into normal income taxes, i.e. government pays, as New Zealand did some years ago. Crazy waste of money chasing up non-payers.
As far as I'm aware, the licence fee in the UK applies to any device that can play 'Live' TV. Meaning that if you watch the live tv through iPlayer on your mobile phone or PC, you legally require a licence (not sure how easy this is to investigate and enforce though).
However, if you only watch catch-up TV (iPlayer, Channel4.com, etc.) you can remain unlicensed.
@drdark @haim: drdark is correct for now at least. My Mac is only used for BBC iPlayer, which does not require a TV license. If I used a digital TV USB dongle then it would convert to a live TV device and I would need to pay the license fee. I'm not a TV fan anyway, and for the time being at least I don't pay for the 8 or so DAB radios I have scattered around the house, so am happy for my radio listening to be subsidised by the TV watching public (thanks guys!). Tomorrow my HDMI DVD player and monitor arrive from eBuyer, so let's hope they work together ok.
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