I needed a DVD/TV combo for a bedroom, and could only find the iSymphony and Toshiba. The Toshiba reviews were wicked bad regarding sound quality, glare, and contrast. I watched the video for this TV and was impressed, and I looked up the company, which yes, I agree w/ the person who gave it one star, seems like a corporate snarl, but they do manufacture 3-4 brands of televisions, and recently did or are going to, purchase Pioneer. That said, I ordered the product which arrived in perfect condition in its original iSymphony carton, well secured inside with styrofoam. No problem what so ever with it, just remove from box, plug in wall, attach existing cable cord, turn on w/ remote control.

The remote comes taped in the side of one of the styrofoam cushions, so don’t toss them til you locate it. Three instruction manuals are enclosed, in English, French, and Spanish. The instructions were minimal at best, not indicating at all how to “start channel scan” which is the first thing that appears on the screen when you power up. Channel scan. Staring at remote. No clue. After some geeking w/ the remote, I stumbled on this protocal: hit the teeny MENU button on the left face of the remote near the top. Arrow down to CABLE, arrow right to SCAN, and it proceeds to load your available channels. It holds from 1-135 only. The DVD is initiated by punching the teeny SOURCE button directly right of the MENU button, and arrow down to DVD. Pop that puppy in and all good. There is no eject on the remote for the DVD, probably because as it is a side-load, this prevents the disc from ejecting onto the floor. You have to WALK to the set to eject a disc To resume TV, go back to SOURCE and arrow to TV and you’re good.

The sound is incredibly vibrant and clear, the picture is the best I have seen on any sized LCD TV, no glare no problems, it is a true find at this price. I could kick them for not including instructions for the remote, or detailed instructions for set-up, both of which would have knocked an hour off my installation time. Can’t say enough good about this combo, it’s truly as good as they get and the price is remarkably low. That it is sold by Amazon, and carries their TV quarantee, and ships free, is a deal maker.

*Last thing, the base arrives already attached to the set by 4 deeply recessed phillips head screws, so if you want to hang the set, just power the screws out.* SEE UPDATE

Very impressive unit. Very satisfied. Wish I had gotten a large one and might do so for another room.

*[UPDATE day 2 of ownership] First day of use the MUTE button on the remote ceased to work, except about 1of 15 tries, but the volume control is fast and an OK substitute. I found a Q&A TV site that said a ONE-FOR-All Universal could replace the remote that came w/ this set. May consider that as they are <. And I read somewhere else, that the terrific sound is because the speakers are contained IN THE ATTACHED BASE– so removing the base to hang the set may not be an option. As much as I was annoyed by the One Star rater, who obviously did his homework, but did not purchase the unit, I have to agree that there is no way I have found to initiate a warranty, talk to anyone from the company about the problem with the Remote, or anything else. I have no intention of ever getting this set *fixed* if it crumps, not at this price, so am not concerned about finding a repair outlet for it, but it would be nice to know how to contact them. I will try the toll free number in Maryland on Monday, located by Mr One Star, as they are only open 8-8 EST. Still LUV the quality, price and ease of use.

I purchased this ISymphony 26 inch TV with DVD as a Christmas present for my wife who likes to watch DVDs. Also purchased because of the low price.

I did master the initial channel scan fairly easily. It did go through all of its 135 channels. However, with our cable system, we have a mini-box that puts eveything on channel 3. So, it found only channel 3. When it came to the DVD, I got stopped. Couldn’t figure out how to get the DVD player to work. The manual was absolutely no help. It is terrible. But, thanks to a previous reviewer, he told me about the “source” button on the remote. Now, it looks like everything will work OK.

But the ISymphony people really need to have their operation manual re-written by a US/Canadian English speaking and writing person. Sorry, the Chinese just don’t have it with the language.

My reason for just three stars is the manual and ease of set-up. So far, everything seems to be good.

Here is a follow-up – Since initial setup, I acquired a DVR from Insight cable. I tried to program the DVR remote to control this “off-brand” TV that is not listed in the remote instruction sheet. I tried the “searching for your code” process. No luck. I did a Google search and on one site it was suggested to try the codes for “AKAI” TVs. It worked! So, if others are having trouble setting up a remote, try codes for Akai TVs.

After a month of use, another comment – the speakers. Don’t expect the “home theatre” experience. Sure, because of minimal space in a flat screen tv, not a lot of room for speakers, but, these are extremely bad. And, there is no provision for external speakers. A simple jack to allow connection of a set of PC speakers would help. There are audio input jacks but no audio outputs. So, suffer with bad speakers.

Update after 5 1/2 months of sporadic use – the TV has died. I went to turn it on today and nothing. The little green indicator light is on faintly so it must be getting power. When I unplug, the green light goes out. I unplugged and re-plugged it – still nothing. The “standby” button on the side does nothing. And, the trouble shooting page in the manual is worthless. I have e-mailed Amazon. We’ll see what happens. Guess it’s “lesson learned” – stick with the name brands. It looks like trying to save a few dollars is now costing me a couple hundred dollars.

I’m completely happy with my purchase. The picture is beautiful and the TV looks good hanging on my bedroom wall. I used a “VideoSecu” Articulating TV Wall Mount ( with free shipping) that I also bought from Amazon. The sound is adequate and the speakers are in the TV. Another reviewer incorrectly said the speakers were in the base. I use free broadcast TV using a roof-top antenna. Setup was easy after I figured it out. The settings default to “cable” so I had to change the settings to “antenna” before the auto channel search would work. The DVD player also worked great after I realized I had to change the “source” from TV to DVD. I guess that is a no-brainer but I struggled for a while. The DVD picture is better than expected. I realize DVD is not high-def but the up-conversion works. My only two complaints are that the remote control buttons are too small and the TV’s glossy black surface picks up finger prints. I highly recommend this TV.