Pros:Good display quality; Good 3D performance; Android OS; Stylish looks; USB supports NTFS and popular movie formats.
Cons:Glossy panel is distractingly reflective; Below average video filtering; Plastic support for base stand is of questionable quality.
Onida 32 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D
MRP: Rs 56,000
Street Price (As On 09-Dec-2011): Rs 53,000
We have reviewed almost all types of TVs including Plasma TVs, LED TVs, Smart TVs, and even 3D TVs, but the one we received recently for review belongs to yet another breed. The Onida 32 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D is a 32" Full HD LED-backlit LCD TV capable of displaying 3D images and videos. It is a Wi-Fi-enabled Smart TV, but that is not all. It comes with Android OS, which as the company possibly rightly claims, is the first of its kind in India. This allows you to install and use various applications from the Android Market to go beyond just using the normal internet applications usually bundled with such TVs. The spec sheet proclaims that it is loaded with features, so let us find out how well it performs.
Bundle
Remote control
MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router (for Rs 4500 extra)
4 pairs of 3D glasses
Wi-Fi 150 Mbps USB adapter
3x Composite adapters
Component adapter
USB extension cable
User manual
3D Glasses
Since the TV uses polarised 3D technology to display the 3D visual effects, the glasses consist of a pair of passive and oppositely polarised glasses. These are extremely light and comfortable to wear because they do not contain a battery. Onida provides four pairs, which should be usually enough for a family. If you want more, you can buy for Rs 2500 for a pack of two pairs.
Remote Control
The remote control is two sided, with one side controlling the normal TV control and dedicated media function controls, while the other with a QWERTY keyboard to be used with the internet functionality. The media function buttons could have been a little larger.
As mentioned earlier, the bottom part of the remote control is a QWERTY keyboard.
We think that at least the QWERTY side could have had backlit buttons to make it easy to use in a dimly lit room. This remote control is powered by two button cell batteries.
MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router
Onida also provides the MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router at a discounted price of Rs 4500. This, in conjunction with the Wi-Fi USB adapter connected to the TV, allows you to use internet functionality out of the box. The MBlaze Wi-Fi router is a tiny device that works on CDMA EVDO and 1X technology to give a maximum ideal bandwidth of 3.1 Mbps. In our tests, the download speeds reached 190 KB/s, while the upload speeds went up to 90 KB/s, which are both good internet speeds. The range of this device was found to be good up to 5 m, after which, the connection becomes unreliable. You can use this router with any other Wi-Fi device as well.
Design And Features
The Onida 32 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D is an edge LED-backlit LCD panel based TV measuring 32" diagonally. The panel is covered by glossy glass, which reflects too much and distracts the viewer. It boasts a stylish look with a 2 cm thick bezel made of concentric rectangles, the inner one being black polymer, while the outer being made of lustrous aluminium.
Here is some information you may find useful while installing the TV. The TV stands at 50 cm with the pedestal stand, is 75 cm wide, and the thickness is 15 cm. If you are going for the wall-mounted option, then the height of the TV is 45.5 cm, with the width obviously remaining the same, and the thickness reducing to a mere 4 cm. Wall mounting may seem an obvious choice for many, and since the TV has all the ports at the side, with none at the back, this can be the ideal method of installing it.
The pedestal stand consists of a thick metal plate and a plastic part that connects it to the TV. This transparent plastic part sports classy looks, though we doubt its durability, because it seems to be considerably thin to support the weight of the TV for a long duration. The stand does not support any sort of adjustment and the display does not exactly appear to be vertical, rather slightly tilting forward. The stand is so wobbly that even wind from the ceiling fan can make it wobble. The weight of the TV with the base stand is 11.2 kg, so make sure that the platform on which it is placed is strong enough to support the weight.
No matter which method you choose for the installation, you must make sure to install it in such a way that your eye level while seated is at the middle of the screen. We will explain more about this later.
Control buttons are present on the right side of the TV, just behind the bezel. These include Power, Channel, Volume, and Menu. While these are sufficient to handle most basic functions if your remote control malfunctions or runs out of battery power, a source selection button should have been provided.
Onida has placed all the ports on the left side of the TV just behind the bezel for easy access even when the TV is wall-mounted. These include two HDMI, two composite inputs, one component input, and even a D-Sub along with stereo audio input to connect older PCs. Wired network connectivity is provided by means of an Ethernet port. There are three USB ports, two at the top and one at the bottom. As we learned, the top two USB ports do not recognise USB mass storage devices, hence can only be used with the USB Wi-Fi adapter, with one port seemingly wasted. The bottom USB port has no difficulty recognising FAT32 as well as NTFS flash drives and hard drives. It supported all the popular formats we threw at it without any problem. Connecting to this USB port can be difficult when an HDMI cable is connected to the adjacent port, but then you can use the provided USB extension cable.
User interface to control the TV functions is static (without animation), but usable. It is divided into four sections Picture, Sound, Features, and Setups. Brightness, Contrast, etc can be adjusted in the Picture section. It also has an Advanced section, where you can adjust other settings such as Noise Reduction, Dynamic Contrast, and 3D mode selection and switching. In addition to native 3D formats, this TV also supports live conversion of 2D content into 3D using proprietary algorithm. Audio setup allows you to control the way the TV sounds by selecting preset modes or using a 5-band graphic equaliser.
The USB playback option can be accessed by pressing the iPlayon button on the remote control. It also presents a static menu system similar to the TV function UI, but in this case, the four sections are for Photos, Videos, Songs, and Settings. Once inside a section, the contents of the connected drive are available in the simple folder and file format. Playback can be controlled using the media control buttons present near the top part of the remote.
Since this is a Smart TV, it comes with internet features and these can be accessed by selecting the source as Internet. The Android-powered animated interface now replaces the static interface. In addition to the web browser with a few bookmarks, it comes with its own email client. There is also support for online photo sharing networks, video, audio, and internet radio. Social networks Facebook and Twitter are supported.
The best thing about being Android-powered is that it supports installing apps from the Android Market and you can even sync these with your devices using the All Sync function. Of course, you can install only about a 100 odd apps due to the limited internal memory of just 70 MB. While Skype is not provided in the TV itself, you can install it from the Android market and possibly use the second of the top USB ports to connect a compatible webcam, though Onida does not mention if there is any.
Performance
We connected the Amkette FlashTV HD media player to test the HD video playback capability of the TV, while we also ran PassMark MonitorTest by connecting it to a PC. We connected to the HDMI port in both the instances.
HQV Benchmark
HQV benchmark was ran via the media player. The noise reduction was found to be below average, while the Jaggies test showed that it can handle antialiasing without an issue. The TV failed in the Video Resolution Loss test, but this test result does not matter if the media source outputs a progressive signal rather than an interlaced one, which is almost always the case these days. All in all, the HQV test produced a mixed bag result.
Video Playback
The colour reproduction was found to be very good, and the wide contrast. The panel produced blacks that were blacks, rather than grey. The backlight is evenly spread across the panel without any light leakage phenomenon. Viewing angle is also decent for a 32 incher. HD video playback is excellent and there is no visible ghosting or streaking in fast-paced action scenes. The main problem continues to be the distracting reflections caused by the glossy panel.
3D Performance
In order to be able to view 3D content, you must connect this TV to either a PC capable of producing 3D video output, or a 3D Blu-ray player, which will limit the possibility to just using 3D Blu-rays. Using a PC will let you view a variety of 3D content including computer games. We viewed native 3D content off a USB flash drive to test the 3D playback.
The 3D performance was found to be convincing as long as you maintain your eye level at the height of the centre of the screen. Going a little up or down causes ghosting and crosstalk to appear, thus destroying the 3D viewing experience. As long as we toed the line, we did not experience any of the known complaints regarding 3D such as headache or nausea. This could be attributed to the lack of flickering and the light and comfortable glasses. The good thing is that the brightness of the TV does not decrease even while watching 3D. The TV supports all the common 3D formats such as side-by-side, top-bottom, and frame-packed. It also converts 2D content to 3D on-the-fly, though with limited results. Overall, the 3D performance was good, but we think that you need a screen sized 46" or more if you really want an immersive 3D experience.
Since it does not support 120 Hz refresh rate, it is not compatible with NVIDIA 3D Vision or Stereoscopic 3D. One more thing to note is that the vertical resolution is halved while displaying 3D images to accommodate left and right eye images. This is because every even numbered horizontal line is polarised to be visible to one eye, while every odd numbered is visible to the other. Thus, you actually see 1920x540 with each eye, a difference only visible to the keen eyed.
Audio playback was considerably loud and clear with the two down-firing stereo speakers on either side. As is expected, bass was found to be lacking. If you want good audio playback, you can connect it to a home theatre system.
Power Consumption
The TV consumed a constant 56 W in almost every mode and at every brightness and contrast. It does not come with an Eco mode of any sort, as is usually found in most TVs today. The power consumption is considerably higher than most 32" TVs with LED-backlit LCD panels. For the sake of comparison, the Sony BRAVIA EX31 we had reviewed consumed just 34 W, while a normal 21" CRT TV consumes around 51 W.
The Verdict
The Onida 31 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D comes loaded with features and it does deliver quite a bit. The performance is good with natural colours and good contrast. The same can be said of the 3D performance, though we strongly suggest going for a screen size larger than 46" when it comes to 3D. Being a Smart TV, it comes with internet features. Android is yet another major plus point of this TV, allowing you to install different apps to increase its usability. Probably the one con we can mention about the TV is that screen is glossy and distracting due to its reflective nature. Also, the noise reduction is of questionable effectiveness, thus necessitating a good filtering system at the source. The bundle that comes along is complete in every way. It offers the MTS Mobile Wi-Fi router worth Rs 6000 at a discounted price of Rs 4500. It also has other offers such as Rs 1600 off on Reliance HD DVR with a 160 GB hard drive, discounts on movie tickets via BookMyShow.com, 60 Bollywood movies free via BigFlix, and even discount vouchers from MakeMyTrip.com. With a 1-year onsite warranty, the TV comes at an MRP of Rs 56,000, while the street price is Rs 53,000, which is a high price mainly due to the 3D feature.
Design And Build: 3/5
Features: 4/5
Performance: 3.5/5
Value For Money: 3/5
Mojo: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
MRP: Rs 56,000
Street Price (As On 09-Dec-2011): Rs 53,000
We have reviewed almost all types of TVs including Plasma TVs, LED TVs, Smart TVs, and even 3D TVs, but the one we received recently for review belongs to yet another breed. The Onida 32 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D is a 32" Full HD LED-backlit LCD TV capable of displaying 3D images and videos. It is a Wi-Fi-enabled Smart TV, but that is not all. It comes with Android OS, which as the company possibly rightly claims, is the first of its kind in India. This allows you to install and use various applications from the Android Market to go beyond just using the normal internet applications usually bundled with such TVs. The spec sheet proclaims that it is loaded with features, so let us find out how well it performs.
Bundle
Remote control
MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router (for Rs 4500 extra)
4 pairs of 3D glasses
Wi-Fi 150 Mbps USB adapter
3x Composite adapters
Component adapter
USB extension cable
User manual
3D Glasses
Since the TV uses polarised 3D technology to display the 3D visual effects, the glasses consist of a pair of passive and oppositely polarised glasses. These are extremely light and comfortable to wear because they do not contain a battery. Onida provides four pairs, which should be usually enough for a family. If you want more, you can buy for Rs 2500 for a pack of two pairs.
Remote Control
The remote control is two sided, with one side controlling the normal TV control and dedicated media function controls, while the other with a QWERTY keyboard to be used with the internet functionality. The media function buttons could have been a little larger.
As mentioned earlier, the bottom part of the remote control is a QWERTY keyboard.
We think that at least the QWERTY side could have had backlit buttons to make it easy to use in a dimly lit room. This remote control is powered by two button cell batteries.
MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router
Onida also provides the MBlaze Mobile Wi-Fi Router at a discounted price of Rs 4500. This, in conjunction with the Wi-Fi USB adapter connected to the TV, allows you to use internet functionality out of the box. The MBlaze Wi-Fi router is a tiny device that works on CDMA EVDO and 1X technology to give a maximum ideal bandwidth of 3.1 Mbps. In our tests, the download speeds reached 190 KB/s, while the upload speeds went up to 90 KB/s, which are both good internet speeds. The range of this device was found to be good up to 5 m, after which, the connection becomes unreliable. You can use this router with any other Wi-Fi device as well.
Design And Features
The Onida 32 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D is an edge LED-backlit LCD panel based TV measuring 32" diagonally. The panel is covered by glossy glass, which reflects too much and distracts the viewer. It boasts a stylish look with a 2 cm thick bezel made of concentric rectangles, the inner one being black polymer, while the outer being made of lustrous aluminium.
Here is some information you may find useful while installing the TV. The TV stands at 50 cm with the pedestal stand, is 75 cm wide, and the thickness is 15 cm. If you are going for the wall-mounted option, then the height of the TV is 45.5 cm, with the width obviously remaining the same, and the thickness reducing to a mere 4 cm. Wall mounting may seem an obvious choice for many, and since the TV has all the ports at the side, with none at the back, this can be the ideal method of installing it.
The pedestal stand consists of a thick metal plate and a plastic part that connects it to the TV. This transparent plastic part sports classy looks, though we doubt its durability, because it seems to be considerably thin to support the weight of the TV for a long duration. The stand does not support any sort of adjustment and the display does not exactly appear to be vertical, rather slightly tilting forward. The stand is so wobbly that even wind from the ceiling fan can make it wobble. The weight of the TV with the base stand is 11.2 kg, so make sure that the platform on which it is placed is strong enough to support the weight.
No matter which method you choose for the installation, you must make sure to install it in such a way that your eye level while seated is at the middle of the screen. We will explain more about this later.
Control buttons are present on the right side of the TV, just behind the bezel. These include Power, Channel, Volume, and Menu. While these are sufficient to handle most basic functions if your remote control malfunctions or runs out of battery power, a source selection button should have been provided.
Control buttons present on the TV.
Onida has placed all the ports on the left side of the TV just behind the bezel for easy access even when the TV is wall-mounted. These include two HDMI, two composite inputs, one component input, and even a D-Sub along with stereo audio input to connect older PCs. Wired network connectivity is provided by means of an Ethernet port. There are three USB ports, two at the top and one at the bottom. As we learned, the top two USB ports do not recognise USB mass storage devices, hence can only be used with the USB Wi-Fi adapter, with one port seemingly wasted. The bottom USB port has no difficulty recognising FAT32 as well as NTFS flash drives and hard drives. It supported all the popular formats we threw at it without any problem. Connecting to this USB port can be difficult when an HDMI cable is connected to the adjacent port, but then you can use the provided USB extension cable.
Connectors on the side.
User interface to control the TV functions is static (without animation), but usable. It is divided into four sections Picture, Sound, Features, and Setups. Brightness, Contrast, etc can be adjusted in the Picture section. It also has an Advanced section, where you can adjust other settings such as Noise Reduction, Dynamic Contrast, and 3D mode selection and switching. In addition to native 3D formats, this TV also supports live conversion of 2D content into 3D using proprietary algorithm. Audio setup allows you to control the way the TV sounds by selecting preset modes or using a 5-band graphic equaliser.
The USB playback option can be accessed by pressing the iPlayon button on the remote control. It also presents a static menu system similar to the TV function UI, but in this case, the four sections are for Photos, Videos, Songs, and Settings. Once inside a section, the contents of the connected drive are available in the simple folder and file format. Playback can be controlled using the media control buttons present near the top part of the remote.
Since this is a Smart TV, it comes with internet features and these can be accessed by selecting the source as Internet. The Android-powered animated interface now replaces the static interface. In addition to the web browser with a few bookmarks, it comes with its own email client. There is also support for online photo sharing networks, video, audio, and internet radio. Social networks Facebook and Twitter are supported.
The best thing about being Android-powered is that it supports installing apps from the Android Market and you can even sync these with your devices using the All Sync function. Of course, you can install only about a 100 odd apps due to the limited internal memory of just 70 MB. While Skype is not provided in the TV itself, you can install it from the Android market and possibly use the second of the top USB ports to connect a compatible webcam, though Onida does not mention if there is any.
Performance
We connected the Amkette FlashTV HD media player to test the HD video playback capability of the TV, while we also ran PassMark MonitorTest by connecting it to a PC. We connected to the HDMI port in both the instances.
HQV Benchmark
HQV benchmark was ran via the media player. The noise reduction was found to be below average, while the Jaggies test showed that it can handle antialiasing without an issue. The TV failed in the Video Resolution Loss test, but this test result does not matter if the media source outputs a progressive signal rather than an interlaced one, which is almost always the case these days. All in all, the HQV test produced a mixed bag result.
Video Playback
The colour reproduction was found to be very good, and the wide contrast. The panel produced blacks that were blacks, rather than grey. The backlight is evenly spread across the panel without any light leakage phenomenon. Viewing angle is also decent for a 32 incher. HD video playback is excellent and there is no visible ghosting or streaking in fast-paced action scenes. The main problem continues to be the distracting reflections caused by the glossy panel.
3D Performance
In order to be able to view 3D content, you must connect this TV to either a PC capable of producing 3D video output, or a 3D Blu-ray player, which will limit the possibility to just using 3D Blu-rays. Using a PC will let you view a variety of 3D content including computer games. We viewed native 3D content off a USB flash drive to test the 3D playback.
The 3D performance was found to be convincing as long as you maintain your eye level at the height of the centre of the screen. Going a little up or down causes ghosting and crosstalk to appear, thus destroying the 3D viewing experience. As long as we toed the line, we did not experience any of the known complaints regarding 3D such as headache or nausea. This could be attributed to the lack of flickering and the light and comfortable glasses. The good thing is that the brightness of the TV does not decrease even while watching 3D. The TV supports all the common 3D formats such as side-by-side, top-bottom, and frame-packed. It also converts 2D content to 3D on-the-fly, though with limited results. Overall, the 3D performance was good, but we think that you need a screen sized 46" or more if you really want an immersive 3D experience.
Since it does not support 120 Hz refresh rate, it is not compatible with NVIDIA 3D Vision or Stereoscopic 3D. One more thing to note is that the vertical resolution is halved while displaying 3D images to accommodate left and right eye images. This is because every even numbered horizontal line is polarised to be visible to one eye, while every odd numbered is visible to the other. Thus, you actually see 1920x540 with each eye, a difference only visible to the keen eyed.
Audio playback was considerably loud and clear with the two down-firing stereo speakers on either side. As is expected, bass was found to be lacking. If you want good audio playback, you can connect it to a home theatre system.
Power Consumption
The TV consumed a constant 56 W in almost every mode and at every brightness and contrast. It does not come with an Eco mode of any sort, as is usually found in most TVs today. The power consumption is considerably higher than most 32" TVs with LED-backlit LCD panels. For the sake of comparison, the Sony BRAVIA EX31 we had reviewed consumed just 34 W, while a normal 21" CRT TV consumes around 51 W.
The Verdict
The Onida 31 iTUBE LEO32AFIN3D comes loaded with features and it does deliver quite a bit. The performance is good with natural colours and good contrast. The same can be said of the 3D performance, though we strongly suggest going for a screen size larger than 46" when it comes to 3D. Being a Smart TV, it comes with internet features. Android is yet another major plus point of this TV, allowing you to install different apps to increase its usability. Probably the one con we can mention about the TV is that screen is glossy and distracting due to its reflective nature. Also, the noise reduction is of questionable effectiveness, thus necessitating a good filtering system at the source. The bundle that comes along is complete in every way. It offers the MTS Mobile Wi-Fi router worth Rs 6000 at a discounted price of Rs 4500. It also has other offers such as Rs 1600 off on Reliance HD DVR with a 160 GB hard drive, discounts on movie tickets via BookMyShow.com, 60 Bollywood movies free via BigFlix, and even discount vouchers from MakeMyTrip.com. With a 1-year onsite warranty, the TV comes at an MRP of Rs 56,000, while the street price is Rs 53,000, which is a high price mainly due to the 3D feature.
Design And Build: 3/5
Features: 4/5
Performance: 3.5/5
Value For Money: 3/5
Mojo: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
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