I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Good reception in my area, plenty of channels when placed near a window. You'll receive the antenna with 10' integrated coaxial cable, instruction manual, and a wall adapter. The anntena cable has an integrated 'smart pass amplifier' that enables this receiver to receive signals at a farther distance of up to 40-50 miles from the source, but it needs to be plugged into a wall and switched on to operate. When the filter is off, the LED light will be yellow indicating normal reception and when it's on the indicator will be green indicating boosted reception. The antenna itself has a plastic body that's curved and measures 4.5" x 9". There are two telescoping rabbit ears that extend up to 20.5" and are rotatable 180 degrees. The antenna also features a built-in 3G and 4G filter to reduce or eliminate interference from cellular phones. I used the antenna with a mini TV tuner on my tablet and computer and I was able to get about 40-45 channels depending on the location in my house. The best reception came from the second floor near a north facing window (towards the NY metro area). The video and audio quality are decent depending on the signal strength of each channel though things like the weather and other electrical devices can cause interference. Occasionally, there is some digital distortion/noise in the image and/or audio. The antenna also worked fine on my HDTV when set to antenna as the source and running the auto-scan. Overall, the HDTV antenna was easy to set up and basically plug-and-play. It performed well in my area which is close to two metro areas with plenty of broadcast towers and while not as reliable a solution for cord cutting as streaming content over the internet, these broadcasts are free and will work even if your internet goes out or the connection is slow.
Takeaway: Works but depends on input/output resolution compatibility. You'll receive the converter and 24" audio cable. The unit measures 2" x 1 ¼" by ½" thick. This adapter convert from HDMI signal to VGA video and 1/8" jack output. Not that this conversion only works in this direction and will not work for VGA to HDMI conversion. Note that your TV's VGA input must support the resolution of the input signal. For example, this adapter worked well with my computer's HDMI output in my 40" LG TV, but when I tried my Amazon Fire TV stick it gave me an Invalid Input message. However, the adapter did work with the Amazon Fire TV Stick on my 50" Sharp Aquos. Both the video and audio were clear and there didn't appear to be any loss of resolution as long as the TV could manage the resolution through the VGA input
Takeaway: Syncs w/TV audio, improved sound but the balance could be better, gets pretty loud. You'll receive the soundbar, a remote control with CR2032 coin cell battery, AC adapter, power cable, male-to-male TRS audio cable, 1/8" jack to RCA audio cables, optical Toslink cable, a set of wall mounting hardware, and an instruction manual. The speaker measures 30.5" W x 3.75" H x 3" D. The front is lined with mesh fabric over a plastic grill which covers the two 2.5" main drivers, 3" subwoofer and dual 3" passive radiators for a combined 60 Watts of output.
On the back are the input for 1/8" jack line in, digital coaxial, optical TOSlink and DC power. There are two built-in metal brackets on the back for wall mounting. This soundbar does not have an internal battery and must be plugged in to operate. On the right hand side are a few on-board controls like power, source, volume control, mute, a USB port for music input and a headphone jack. The remote has additional functions like track navigation, treble and bass EQ control, and a 3D mode. This speaker also supports Bluetooth for wireless streaming, and there's an LED display in the top right hand corner that shows you what mode you're in.
I used the optical cable with my LG TV and the sound output synced up nicely with no latency lag or delay. Just remember to remove the plastic caps on the optical cable connector tips. The sound quality of the soundbar is okay considering this is a budget sound bar. The balanced is on the bright end, lacking in bass response with has somewhat muddy midranges. The volume can get quite loud, however, and fills a medium sized room adequately. I like to keep the speaker in 3D mode as this adds additional bass for a fuller sound but also some excess reverb. I would only use the non-3D mode if you need to keep the volume low because it doesn't sound as good.
Overall, the audio can sound a bit contained/restrained rather than clear and crisp. While the soundbar performs better than the built-in speakers of my TV, the improvement is incremental at best but I wasn't expecting Bose quality sound at this price point. It's fine if you need more projection and sound for a small TV with lackluster speakers, but you won't get anywhere close to an audiophile experience with these. I like that you can also stream music to it wirelessly via Bluetooth, and that it is compatible with Xfinity universal remote controls so you don't necessarily have to add yet another remote control to your TV setup.
Takeaway: Budget projector that displays SD quality, fun for movie night with the kids or a slideshow. You'll receive the projector, remote control, 5 ft power cable, 5 ft flat gold plated HDMI cable, RCA input cable, 1" tilt foot, and an instruction manual. The projector is small and lightweight, weighing 2.25 lbs. It measures 8"W x 6"L x 3"H. The lens is 2" in diameter and comes with a rubber lens cap. The inputs for this unit are full size SD card, HDMI, VGA, RCA/AV with the included adapter and USB 2.0. There is also audio out for headphones or an external speaker, which I highly recommend you use because the on-board sound is quiet and the internal fan is loud. On the back near the bottom is the keystone dial for adjusting screen pitch if the top/bottom of your screen aren't in focus at the same time. There are controls on top of the unit but the remote has additional functions like volume, play/pause, fast forward and rewind. The remote requires 2 AAA batteries which are not included. On the bottom of the unit is a small screw hole for the tilt foot and a 1/4" screw hole for standard tripod mounting which is really convenient for placing and adjusting the projector or mounting it.
My tilt foot had a flaw where the plastic affixing the screw portion to the foot crept into the threads which prevented me from screwing it in all the way flush with the unit. This prevents me from accessing shallower angles which is slightly inconvenient but not a deal breaker since I mostly use the tripod mount anyway. The power cable on this unit is a bit short so I usually need to run an extension cord. The 1200 lumens is brighter than I expected as I have other projectors with this spec that are much dimmer during the day but distance matters too; the farther from the wall the dimmer the image. You still need very dark conditions to see the screen well, but in sufficiently dark conditions you can read text like subtitles without a problem.
While the projector doesn't have WiFi capability, the HDMI and other input methods worked fine. Note that while it accepts input resolutions up to 1080p HD, the native output resolution is 800 x 480p so higher quality video will be downscaled. At larger screen sizes (60 inch diagonal or more) the pixels will be visible. Even when set at 100 the max volume, the sound is somewhat quiet because it competes with the loud internal fan. It can also sound somewhat boxy. The sound can be improved greatly by using and external speaker connected to the audio out headphone port. In general, the contrast and color saturation were accurate to the source footage, though at times were washed out, and I had to make manual adjustments. Still, this is a budget level projector, and I wasn't expecting quality better than an old CRT TV. This projector makes it easy to have movie night at home or outdoors and show slideshows at parties.
Takeaway: Okay sound for a budget unit, loud enough for a small room, lacks bass but sound is clear. The soundbar comes with a 5' power cable, 45" RCA audio cable, remote control, and an instruction manual. The speaker measures 34" across, 3" wide, and 2.5" high. The front is wrapped in a simple mesh cloth. On the back there are two centrally located hanging holes for wall mounting and cutouts with the input ports and power input. On the right side of the speaker is an AUX input port, but it doesn't come with a cable for this connection. The on-board touch controls are along this gray strip in the middle. On top you have the power button, then volume control and then input selection. The LED indicators are for standby, Bluetooth, Aux in or RCA, and Coaxial or Optical. The only setup up required is to plug in the power cable. Then if you'll be using the RCA input, plug that cable in the white and red ports respectively. The black coaxial port is for digital coaxial connections (cable not included). If you'll be using an optical cable (not included), make sure to remove the tip protector first, then align it with the optical port before plugging it in.
The remote control is pretty basic. It's got the power button, a button for each input mode, track navigation, volume control, play/pause, and mute. The remote requires 1 AAA battery which is not included. To connect to the speaker over Bluetooth, touch the Power button to turn it on. You'll see all the LED indicators light up and then shut off one by one. Then press the 'Input' key until you've selected BT mode and you'll see the LED indicator blink blue. Select ‘Taotronics Soundbar' in your device's Bluetooth menu to pair with the sound bar. A couple of folks said that the LED indicators are confusing, but I guess I never really thought about how it's weird to have one LED do double duty by changing colors. Also the Standby/On button just means the unit has the power plugged in, but it's actually 'Off' and won't be outputting any sound.
So far I've used the optical input with my TV, which was confusing at first because the light was green but in coax mode, so pressing the input key again changed the light to red which was optical mode. I was also able to try AUX-in mode while plugged into the headphone jack of my phone; just remember this light should be green as red is used for RCA. I wasn't able to test RCA with my TV because it lacks this type of output. Make sure you are NOT trying to connect the red/white RCA cables to any of the input RCA ports on your TV because, of course, there would be no sound transmitted out of any input ports. I also did not try out the digital coax since I don't have this output on any device either.
However, with the inputs that I did try, they worked fine including Bluetooth and the sound from the speaker is clear and crisp. It tends to lean on the bright side adding extra sibilance to the trebles, and it doesn't have a lot of sub bass response. You'll get a little mid and high bass, enough to elicit tight drum beats, but not enough for a feel-it-in-your-bones kind of rumble. The soundbar does get pretty loud for its size, but the sound tends to crackle at max volume and vibrate the housing a lot. You may also hear an electronic whisper during quiet passages, so it works much better at moderate volumes.
When using the optical output with the soundbar hookup to my TV, there was a very minor delay between what was happening onscreen and the sound coming from the soundbar. With the TV speaker on, you could tell they weren't in sync (slight echo), but with the TV sound off, the delay was almost imperceptible. Overall, the soundbar has decent quality for a budget unit and definitely projects and has better sound than the one built into the TV. It can't compete with higher end soundbars of course, but works well in a small room.
Takeaway: Compact/portable, works great w/Android TV and powered antenna, mini antenna not as strong. The mini TV receiver comes with a pre-installed antenna and optional coaxial connector. The unit is super tiny measuring 2" x 1.25" x 0.25" thick. The antenna on the unit measures 1.5" when retracted and 6.5" when extended. The unit has a male microUSB connector that can plug into an Android phone charging port that supports OTG. On the other side is a micoUSB in port that you can use with a standard microUSB cable to connect to a full sized USB port like a PC or Android TV box. Swapping the connectors is pretty easy.
I was able to use the device with a microUSB to USB-C adapter for my LG G5 phone. With this receiver is that you don't have to use your WiFi or data plan to receive the content. It's completely free since it's over the air waves. I verified this by receiving content with my WiFi and Data turned off.
You'll need to download the LiveStation Player app to your phone which is available in the Google Play store. If you need the PC software, the manufacturer can email it to you on request. Scanning for channels takes about 10 minutes. With the mini antenna (indoors), I was able to find 11 TV stations and 1 radio station. If the signal isn't strong you might end up with a lot of digital noise and distortion in the video and audio. I wasn't able to get channel information like station name or program info. I also received some foreign language programming in my local area. The one thing that I didn't like is that the input USB cannot be used for pass through power. That means this device will eventually drain your mobile device of battery if you don't have a splitter for the OTG.
The unit performed better with a powered antenna connected through the coaxial connector. The picture and audio quality was a little more reliable but the initial loading of each channel always took about 15 seconds for the audio to catch up to the video. I tested the antenna with the computer software and received about 45 channels with fairly good quality for the video and audio overall. The difference here is that since my computer is powered, I don't have to worry about it running out of battery as I would using it with OTG on a mobile device.
Overall, the receiver worked a lot better than I thought it would using the indoor powered antenna and I think it could be a great supplement to my Android TV box since I no longer use cable service as most of my content is streamed via the internet. The mini built in antenna is more of a novelty but that could be nice to have for a picnic and it's something you can carry around easily.
Takeaway: Simple setup, low resolution/brightness, short cord, WiFi works ok, no tripod mounting. The projector comes with a 5 ft power cable, RCA input cable, a remote control, and an instruction sheet. The projector is fairly compact measuring 8"W x 6"L x 3"H. It weighs just over 2 lbs. On the front of the projector is the 2.5" lens which comes with a rubber lens cap. There are two dials behind the lens, the large one controls the size/focus of the image and the smaller ring controls the pitch of the image; if the projector is on tilt it can correct for that. The remote requires 2 AAA batteries which are not included.
The lens cap for the projector is pretty flimsy and tends to fall out a lot on its own, so it's easy to lose. The cap can only be "attached" with the lens retracted all the way and there are no snaps which is why it always falls out. The power cable on this unit is a bit short and the projector doesn't have a thread mounting hole on the bottom for attaching to a tripod.
At 1200 lumens, the image isn't super bright, so you'll need pretty dark conditions to see the screen. During the day it is faded, so this unit won't be able to replace your big screen television. Also the resolution is only 800 x 480 px like a VGA computer monitor. It is not HD (Hi-Def). The WiFi connection is a bit tricky at first but once explained is straightforward. Once connected, any device on the network with DLNA can stream content tot he projector like music, video, and photos; the projector cannot browse those network locations.
The internal speaker on the unit is pretty weak so a separate external speaker hooked up to the headphone jack is recommended. The color depth produced by the projector is not deep and the color balance was way off (very orangey).
In general, the projector works alright with a bit of effort. There are a few design improvement that would make the unit more usable, like a tripod mounting option, longer power cord, a better lens cap, and more powerful internal speaker. The resolution isn't very high at 800x480 so expect pixelated picture quality similar to VHS on a tube television (low color depth and contrast). It could be okay for movie night with the kids or a slideshow at a party. Just make sure it's pretty dark wherever you use it.
