Eviant T7 Portable 7" LCD TV Review

T7 Full Review

Very few of the portable LCD TVs available on the market are from what we would refer to as mainstream manufacturers. As a result, we are greeted with an influx of new names with which to familiarize ourselves. Eviant is a name I had not been familiar with, and indeed the company only seems to make two portable LCD TV products – the T7 7" and T4 4.3" models. That's a considerable amount of specialization and, with the wide product availability we've seen in many retailers, products need to stand out in order to be selected from the sea of available models. Eviant has some excellent features built into the T7 that do indeed mark it differently from the competition and help to make it a decent choice amongst its competition. The set is sleek and comes in Black, White and Red.

First Impressions

The Eviant portable LCD TV is a marked improvement over the "portable" TVs of the 80s and 90s (which resembled metal lunchboxes). With its slim design, the T7 offers over 2 hours of playback in a small package that is just over 1-inch thick! Immediately, we were struck by its glossy black design, and the minimalistic controls which, despite their simplicity, still offered access to every required function. Aside from the bulky power supply, the TV could easily be placed in a slim case and brought wherever the user desired to supply video during vacations, camping trips or other activities.

While this type of TV may seem like a good solution for a "hurricane TV", it actually isn't. Since it cannot support standard batteries, it is virtually useless after 2 hours when its internal Lithium-ion batteries expire and require recharging. This isn't a big deal, but something users need to understand so that they can match the features of a TV with their required needs.

Watching Television

The Eviant collected a great many channels in our location, and we're not exactly in the mecca of broadcast television. The picture, being made up of ATSC signals, was clear or nonexistent. This is often the case with digital ATSC signals, which are mostly all or nothing. When we dialed in a few channels the results were pleasing. The images were by no means high definition, but they were as clear as the resolution allowed. With the limitation of 480x235, the weakest limitation is the displaying of text, such as that found with title overlays and news broadcasts. We found these to be readable, but not exceptionally detailed. With the prevalence of HD screens appearing on portable media players, it always surprises us to see such low resolution screens on portable televisions and DVD players.

To watch television you must first initiate a scan of the available channels. This is accomplished by navigating the menu system (Press the Menu button on the front panel or remote) to the Satellite icon on the right side of the icons shown atop the screen. Once there you can set the Antenna to "Air" and initiate the Auto Scan function. The scan took several minutes but did indeed find over 20 channels in my area (several were duplicates on different frequencies). At the completion of the scan, channel changing will skip over unused channels and only bring up channels that have been located by the system. 

The Eviant T7 comes with an attached telescoping antenna that can be extended from the LCD TV to give better reception of local ATSC channels. It also includes, however, an external antenna that we found provided additional flexibility in gathering a stronger signal for additional channels. A simplified credit card-style remote is also included which has a menu button, channel and volume buttons (which double as navigation controls) and a +10 button that seemed out of place. There is storage behind the thin LCD TV that gives you a place to keep (and not lose) the remote when not in use. 

While the resolution wasn't HD as we mentioned previously, the picture was entirely pleasing to look at. No one is going to confuse this with a high definition television and the fact that it allowed for the native display of 16:9 content put it up several notches in my mind. The picture was bright, provided there was no direct sunlight shining on the screen.

Using the A/V Inputs

We found a unique and important purpose for this portable LCD TV. Namely, giving us a remote monitor with which to duplicate the output of our Denon AVR-5308CI AV receiver which resides in an equipment closet. This allowed us to do some work in the closet, configuring new gear and making adjustments to our system without having to run back and forth to the theater room or have a second person to relay information back to our remote location. To facilitate this functionality, we connected the audio and video input cables to the T7 and hooked them up to our A/V receiver. At this point we had merely to use the Menu button to select the Source and change it from "TV" to "AV". Immediately, we were able to see content from our AV receiver and also hear the audio.

Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

The Eviant T7 7" LCD Portable Television is a product that has several unique properties. Its included Lithium-ion battery sets it apart from many of the other products on the market. Though this takes it out of running as a "hurricane TV", it does place it squarely in line with the multimedia products dominating the market today. It's rechargeable battery is perfect for RV camping trips, short jaunts about town, picnics, or other trips where a 2 hour charge will allow for plenty of viewing time – or where replenishing the battery isn't particularly troublesome. It's at least as convenient as any other portable device. The external antenna is simply a nice touch and allows you to move the TV to an optimal viewing position without worrying about messing up the reception. We appreciated the A/V inputs and the ease with which the set operated. The remote control is of the credit card variety, but the system allows storage of the remote on the rear of the set – a feature we enjoyed using very much and which kept us from losing the credit card-sized controller. Possibly the most fact about this portable LCD TV is that it retails for just over $100. In fact, we recently found the red version at just under $80 at a popular online retailer. This is an inexpensive product that offers tremendous value. We can recommend it solely on that fact alone, but there's so much more.

Eviant T7 Portable LCD Television
$169.99

Eviant
1661 Fairplex drive
La Verne, CA 91750
www.eviant.com

About Eviant, Inc.
Eviant, Inc., headquartered in Southern California, is a global designer and marketer of portable and home entertainment products. Today’s consumer is looking for more value and style in their entertainment products. Eviant is building a product line-up that is sleek, fashionable, and fun – from the product design to an exciting new color palette to choose from. Even the packaging will be smaller, utilizing fewer resources. Eviant markets its products through non-traditional retailers – including department stores, mass merchants, and do-it-yourself stores – as well as through traditional, consumer electronics channels. Eviant, Inc. is affiliated with TofascoSM and Nextar®, both rapidly growing companies that sell products worldwide in a variety of industries. For more information on Eviant, visit www.eviant.com.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup/Programming/Integration
Features
Remote Control
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value