A Bush that doesn't choke... (Bush WS 6671 NTX)

Member Name: BizzyB

Product:	Bush WS 6671 NTX
Date:	16/01/02 (724 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very reasonable cost, Sleek design

Disadvantages: none so far

Understand this - I am technically inept. The prelude to the story is that my trusted, 15 year old television gave up the ghost on 27th December. As I left it at the tip with the others abandoned sets I had a lump in my throat. I also had the added stress of buying a new television which filled me with horror. Since my last foray into the world of TVs widescreen and digital have been introduced and I am none the wiser.

Even worse I live next door to a technophile, gadget mad, must have the latest model person a.k.a 'a man'. He's already had a 32 inch television which I hated. It was large, took over the room and squashed the picture. I dreaded the thought of having one of these contraptions in my house. He then bought a 28" television. Still not overly keen but it was an improvement. Faced with all this I resorted to easy buying and opened the catalogue and ordered the Bush WS6671 with a 28" screen. I made this decision on the following criteria:

(a) It was in the catalogue so I could pay interest free over 40 weeks and have delivered for free
(b) At £350 it was one of the cheapest, moreso once I knock my commission off.
(c) It came in black

I can hear the technical amongst you groaning. They may not be the best of reasons but I'm certainly pleased with the television. So with a mixture of interior décor concerns and limited gadget knowledge I'll endeavour to tell you about it.

Structure:
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As I mentioned before I choose the 28" screen though for around £40-50 more you can get the 32" version. I choose the black casing as this went far better in my room. So many of the televisions I considered were in aluminium/silver colourings which look great?.in the right room but would have been totally out of place in mine. The surround is very minimal and streamlined and this was just the look I want. The surround does not dominate the screen which I thoug
ht other models did. I decided against buying the stand that went with it as I was happy with the TV cabinet stand I have and am pleased to say it fits perfectly. The dimensions are:
Depth - 51.4cm
Length - 77.8cm
Height - 46.7cm

I was impressed with how neat it looked compared to some of the monstrous creations I have seen. I do not feel this television dominates the room. At 33kg I could move it myself but it is an awkward shape and there's no handle grooves.

Whilst it's not really an issue on the television I will quickly mention delivery. It arrived at 7.15am. Two burly men brought it and placed it by the cabinet and said 'she'll be able to lift it from there' as if I wasn't in the room. Then, with their dirty feet <growl> tramped out.

Remote Control:
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The remote control handset is very thin and lightweight and came with its first set of batteries to get me started. The buttons are a good size and well spaced for the less dexterous amongst us! The television is tuned in using the remote control. There's the usual array of buttons - mute, volume, programmes, menu, teletext controls, fastext buttons.

Tuning:
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At 7.15am I wish it had been a preset wonder but it wasn't. Thankfully, it wasn't too taxing on the noggin for that early hour. The instruction booklet details tuning in good detail and it is easily done via a step-by-step menu system on the screen. Using the search option the television scans through the wavy things and finds channels - when you get the right one for your channel its just a case of clicking 'store'. It wasn't quite as easy when tuning in the video channel. I did the fatal thing of reading the instructions for this part and they are appalling and I didn't understand them at all. Any set of instructions that include 'see your video handbook'' like I'd keep those ins
tructions for more than five minutes - do any of us?

So, I went to channel 7, played a video and searched for it, found it and stored it - seems to have worked so why couldn't they have put it that easily?

Sound menu:
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The first thing I noticed when the television was tuned in was how incredibly loud it was. No wonder neighbours have such heated disputes if all televisions are set at that level. Like many televisions the volume is represented on the screen by a little slidy graph. I have the slidy graph at about an 1/8th of what it can be and that's plenty loud enough - at full I suspect people in the next county would complain.

The sound menu on screen is once again an easy step-by-step progress where you can set the volume, bass, treble, balance and effect to your preferred choices and store them.

Sound in general:
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The sound is Nicam stereo and very clear. Once feature I like very much is the fact the speakers are to the front of the television. I find this really throws the sound into the room and away from the wall which is good as my living room wall backs onto the living room of next door - an appalling piece of design for a semi-detached house.

Picture menu:
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The step by step on screen menu lets you set your preferences for brightness, colour, contrast and sharpness.

This menu also has a picture mode choice. There are six picture modes to choose from:

1 - Auto - this is an automatic setting which will select the correct setting for the programme either 4:3, 16:9 or cinema.

2 - 4:3 Mode. The picture is in 4:3 format with black lines down each side of the picture. In my speak - it?s the picture is square like in the olde days.

3 - 16:9 Mode.

4 - Zoom Mode. the picture is enlarged to maximum size.

5 - Subtitle Mode. This is a great feature, the picture is in 16:9 but
moved up so the subtitles appear fully.

5 - Cinema Mode. The picture is in 16:9 mode then enlarged vertically stopping the black bands at the top and bottom of the screen.

I am not keen on 16:9 widescreen mode. When programmes are transmitted in this format it's okay but otherwise I find a lot of pictures appear squashed and everyone ends up looking like Sandi Toskvig. I have set my preference as cinema mode which gets rid of that squashed look.

Picture in General:
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The picture is very clear especially when through the digital sky service. I have looked at next doors full fangled television and yes their picture is seriously clear, almost to the point of being 3-d. I will be honest and say this picture is not to that standard but at less than half the price you wouldn't expect it to be. Personally I'm far happier with a smaller bill and a very good picture.

I've been surprised at how easy the screen is to watch. Being widescreen I thought it may be tiring after a while and take over the room. On the contrary it's been a very comfortable watch and not overbearing in the slightest.

Teletext:
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I love teletext and this set has fastext which is a joy to a teletext junkie like myself.

Other features:
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There's a couple of extra points I think I should make.

Cleverly in the left hand side of the television are the 'front avs'. The what? On inspection its where you can connect headphones, playstations, video cameras extra. You get to these by pressing a little spring door - very natty.

Programme swapping: this button swaps between the last two channels you've watched - great if you're watching two different football matches etc!

Stuff I don't understand but may mean something to the potential buyer:

*TV broadcasting - Pal I/I

*Receiving channels -
VHF (Band I/III),
UHF (Band U)HYPERBAND,

*CABLE TV (S1-S20/S21-S41)

*Number of preset channels - 100

*RF Aerial Input - 75Ohm (unbalanced)

*Operating voltage - 230-240V AC, 50Hz

*Audio Output -Nicam Stereo

*Audio Output Power (Wrms) (%10 THD) - 2 x 8

*Power consumption (W) (max) - 120

*Picture Tube - 28"16:9

Overview:
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I am overjoyed with my purchase. In the flesh it isn't as bulky or large as I suspected it might be and fits in to my room far better than I hoped. The picture and sound quality are excellent and it ahs all the features I need for my uses. But the most stunning feature is the price. £350, though even less when I take into account my catalogue commission, seems a stunningly fair price for this television especially in comparison to more expensive models. Whilst I can see the some where some of the extra cost goes I certainly don't feel they merit it and would say that the price difference is probably a mixture of the Bush being extremely good value and the flash models being slightly overpriced making it seem like a huge gulf. Whilst this model may not have the ultra sophisticated picture features of other televisions on the market I am giving it 5/5 as a reflection of the product and its price, I think this is an all round good package.

Whether buying on a budget or not it is certainly a television to consider. It comes with a one year warranty which can be increased up to 4 years , prices for extra cover are supplied with the television. The one thing I cannot comment on as of yet is its performance over time and should anything go wrong I shall certainly come back and update this opinion.

Summary: