The brand Tyagi may not ring any familiarity bells for you, but this online retailer is selling TVs at low prices. Like Kogan, it eliminates the ‘middle man’ by directly selling manufactured items straight to a consumer. The Tyagi Max22i is a 22-inch Full HD LCD/DVD combo player which is perfect for small rooms.
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Currently selling for $325 (special price as of 9 December 2010), this LCD TV has features found on some other well-known brands including video/photo/music playback via USB and SD card and PVR function via an external drive. The built-in DVD player also has the ability to play DVDs, DVD+RWs, CDs and DivX media.
The Max22i sports a glossy piano black finish, with the base locking into the main panel upon assembly. It is a shame that the base doesn’t swivel but at least it tilts up and down. The buttons are located on top of the unit, but a remote is also provided for easy control.
The Max22i comes with a HDMI port allowing users to hook up a gaming console, Blu-ray player or any other HD device. A computer can also be connected via a D-Sub port with PC audio-in as well as other devices that use component or composite ports. The unit also comes with two USB ports – one for the PVR function while the other is used for its media player. A headphone jack is also included in case you want to watch a movie or TV show without disturbing others.
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We watched a couple of DVD and Blu-ray movies on the Max22i and found that the screen had a hard time showing detail in dark scenes when set to ‘Standard mode’. Adjusting the brightness and contrast level corrects this problem, so you have to play around with the settings to see which one suits your lighting conditions. Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-ray looked sharp and showed a lot of detail.
Free to air channels did not suffer for artefacts and shows were clear and crisp. The PVR function allowed us to pause, record, and play live TV. The Max22i also came with a “Media Mode” that is able to play MPEG4 movies, BMP/JPG/PNG images, and MP3/WMA/AAC audio files.
The bottom speakers did a good job in focusing on the highs and mids but lacked the power to produce deep bass. Audio started to break at about the mid level. Energy conscious users would be happy to know that the Tyagi Max22i has an energy rating of 3.5 stars.
Overall, the Tyagi Max22i is a good and affordable LCD/DVD player combo that delivers good images at a very affordable price. It is available now for $325 but is usually sold for $395 at Tyagi.com.au.
