How to set up a new Thompson TV. How to Tune Channels on an Old Thomson TV. ⇡ Picture and sound

Setting up channels

Initial settings

During initial setup, all

options for searching and saving available

analog and digital channels.
Make sure the TV is turned on and

all the following steps in the order shown.

Note. If when searching for channels there were

only analog received

channels, this may be caused

weak broadcast signal,

what is not covered by the warranty

manufacturer. Manufacturers

are not responsible for

absent or weak level

broadcast signal.

When you turn on the TV for the first time, it will open

Initial Setup(initial settings),

which will help you complete the initial

setting.

Step 1: Setting up your environment

1. Click ▲/▼ to select a language and then

OK/ to go to next

2. Click ▲/▼ to select your country and then

OK/ to go to next

Note. If you select

France (France)

Italy (Italy) , will be required

enter the password in the setup menu

password. Using digital

buttons, enter a 4-digit password.

(0000 is too simple

password.) Enter the password again

for confirmation. After that

you will automatically be taken to

next step. (At this step

you can press

◄ to return to

previous step.)

3. Click ▲/▼ to select a location,

and then click

OK/ to go to

next step.

Step 2. Network setup

1. Click ▲/▼ to select network type

connections (

Wired(Wired) or Wireless

(Wireless)), and then press

OK/ For

proceed to the next step.

2.

to continue.

Note. You can skip this one

step and step 3 by selecting the option

I don't have a network

connection"("I don't have network

connections") , and connect

to the Internet later.

For more information, see

section

Network connection.

Step 3. Software update

1. If the TV is successfully connected to

network, a search will be performed automatically

updates.

2. Follow the onscreen instructions and press

corresponding buttons on the control panel

to continue.

Step 4: Setting up channels

1. Click ▲/▼ to select Continue

(Continue) and configure channels.

2. Follow the onscreen instructions and press

corresponding buttons on the control panel

to continue.

Note. In order not to interrupt the process

channel settings, wait

a message about

completing the setup. You

you can skip this step,

choosing«

I don't want to install

channels» (“Do not configure

channels") . In this case for

search and save channels

you can use

automatic function

channel search described

in the next section,

Automatic channel search.

Step 5: Setting the Clock

If the TV is not connected to the information

network, you can use the number buttons to

enter the date and time, and then select the button

OK for confirmation.

After the initial installation is complete, you will see

message

Congratulations(Congratulations).

Click the button

OK for confirmation.

Advertising

Manual channel installation

If you find that some channels were not recorded during the
Pre-installation, follow the instructions below. This is the situation
may appear during installation of cable TV channels. When manual
When installing channels, you can only enter one selected channel at a time.
After pressing the button MENU a menu will appear OVERVIEW. Select an option
Installation[Install] and click OK. Select Manual Installation[Manual
setting] in the menu Installation and press OK to confirm your selection.

Select an option Standard. Using buttons

Select standard for

your country.

Note: The following standards are supported:IUnited
Kingdom and Irelandi,FranceFrance and Luxembourg,DDK'Eastern
and Central Europe, Middle East and Asia,EURO BGWestern Europe,
AustraliaAustralia as wellNew ZealandNew Zealand.

Select an option Reception[Reception]. Using the buttons

select the option that determines the reception of a television signal (antenna or
cable television network).

Select an option Channel search[Search for channel]. Enter the receive channel number
or use the buttons

to search for channels. When the channel is found,

an image will appear.

If the image is not accurate, adjust the settings. Select an option Fine
tuning[Adjust] and make adjustments using the buttons

Select an option Channel name[Channel Name] and select the name
from the list using the buttons

If none of the available names

is appropriate, please select CH_ _ _ _. Using buttons

select a character from the list (letters of the English alphabet, numbers from 0 to 9
and some punctuation marks). Use the buttons

To go

to the next character. Click to confirm OK.

If the channel is encrypted and you want to connect a decoder to the AV1 socket,
select the Decoder option and check the box with the OK button.

Then select the option Teletext char. set[Teletext] and using the buttons

select teletext on this channel. The following symbols are available:
1: Western Europe
2: Eastern Europe
3: Russian and Bulgarian
4: Greek
5: Arabic
6: Ukrainian
7: Belarusian

Then select the option Store on number[Save by number] and using
numbered keys, enter the number you want to assign
given channel (for example, for BBC 1 enter 01). Click OK. Important
Information: Always when changing values ​​in the menu Manual Installation,
option starts flashing Store on number. To confirm your choice, you must
select option Store on number and press OK. Unconfirmed change
will disappear as you change channels or while switching the TV
to standby mode.

Repeat the above procedure to search for other channels.

Notes:
To find missing channels on your cable TV network,
select the Other option from the list of countries, and thenAutomatic update
[Automatic update] in the menuAutomatic Installation.
If you wish to repeat the entire pre-installation procedure,
switch the TV to standby mode and then press and hold
VOL

on TV andMENUon the remote control until it displays

menu. Proceed in the same way as for presets.

Following installation procedures:
–

FunctionAutomatic updatemakes it possible to install channels after
startup, as well as missing and incorrectly installed channels.

Thanks to the functionAutomatic searchyou can program channels
after introducing preliminary settings (for example, after moving).
This process leads to the cancellation of all previously recorded channels. To
install a new channel it is better to use the optionAutomatic Update
orManual Installation.

Channel installation

Smart TV is not a new thing and, one might even say, banal - if we are talking about A-brands presented on the Russian market. Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Sony, Philips have been offering their smart hub for seven years now, continuously developing platforms that are based on Tizen, Firefox OS or, most often, Android TV. But we are talking about TVs in the middle and upper price categories - the simplest TVs from big brands today are not always equipped with a built-in Wi-Fi module. What can we say about other companies.

However, for an outdated TV or budget model today there is the possibility of an “upgrade” using an external Smart TV set-top box - the successor to the media players that were super popular 7-8 years ago. As a rule, they are equipped with Android, which is not the latest version, and allow you, first of all, to provide access to the Internet - then the use is at your discretion.

Thomson, on the one hand, created a budget line of TVs with built-in Smart TV, on the other hand, it did without Android, trying to put together something unique, its own. Let's see how the company did it. And did it make sense? At the same time, we’ll test the TV itself.

⇡ Design and construction

We received the basic model of the Thomson Smart TV line for the 2016 model year - D18 (18th series), with a minimum 40-inch display diagonal (versions with 43, 49 and 55-inch displays are also available). The full model index is T40D18SFS-01B, in the future we will stick to the abbreviated spelling of the name - T40D18. Also an important disclaimer - we visited a pre-production copy with its own features, which are not and will not be in market samples.

The T40D18 does not offer any design delights, striving for extreme simplicity that is understandable in the budget segment. This is a classic black rectangle, without tacky inclusions, but with a very thin frame around the screen. It is decorated with glossy plastic - unfortunately, the display itself also has a glossy surface; it glares if you do not curtain the windows during daytime viewing.

The IR signal receiver from the remote control is located under the lower edge of the front panel, but the body control keys are hidden on the rear panel.

The options for installing the TV are classic: either tabletop, using two small and relatively elegant legs (4 screws for this are included in the kit), or wall-mounted, but fasteners must be purchased separately.

The dimensions of the TV without legs are 924 × 545 × 86 mm. The legs add another 15 centimeters of thickness. In principle, it is not the thickest TV, although in the age of victorious liquid crystals (and organic light-emitting diodes that already fit them), there are also panels 15-20 mm thick. Actually, the thickness here is mainly given by the “hump”, where the electronics, cooling system, interfaces and speakers are hidden.

Speaking of interfaces. There is everything you need here: 3 × HDMI, optical audio output, 3.5 mm mini-jack for headphones, SCART, 2 × USB, Ethernet and 2 connectors for antennas, terrestrial and satellite TV (DVB-T/T2/C, DVB -S/S2). It is worth noting that to facilitate the search for satellite TV programs, there are preset broadcast parameters for providers NTV, Tricolor and MTS. CI+ access cards are also supported for these providers.

Via USB ports you can play content from external drives - the TV works with the H.265 codec with support for Full HD resolution.

⇡ Smart TV

In the last paragraph of the previous section, you may have noticed that the Thomson T40D18 has an Ethernet connector, which allows you to connect the TV to wired Internet. In addition to it, the device also has a built-in Wi-Fi module - there is no need to pull wires at all. The first time you turn on the device, you can see a characteristic icon in the main menu - go to it and select the required one from the list of networks. The password will have to be entered using the on-screen keyboard, of course - this is standard for TV. By the way, the TV remembers the network - the next time it is turned on, it connects to it independently.

Before talking about the system and available applications, a few words about the technical aspect and the control panel. The TV has a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor, well known from ultra-budget smartphones, for example. There, however, complexes are built from them - full-fledged systems-on-a-chip. Here it works alone, together with the ARM MALI MP2 graphics subsystem with a clock frequency of 450 MHz, one gigabyte of RAM and four gigabytes of permanent memory. The latter allows you to save content from Smart TV applications directly to your TV.

The main way to control the TV is using a classic remote control configuration. It is very large - it is simply impossible to control it with one hand; you have to constantly grab it in your hand or use your second hand to press keys in a certain sector. At the same time, the shape itself with a recess in the center is very successful, and the rubberized keys are pleasant to press. We pay special attention to the dedicated Netflix button, the Info (i) button and the Home key in the very center - these, together with the navigation arrows, are the key controls for the Thomson Smart TV.

The Info button, by the way, provides access to another way to control the TV - through a smartphone. Press it for 4 seconds - and a QR code appears on the screen, from which you can download the TV REMOTE application. The application can also be downloaded via Google Play (you need to find a program with the name mentioned above and the publisher is TCL).

The third control method is using a traditional mouse and keyboard; they can be connected via USB.

The TV can work as a DLNA client: it plays media files from a network storage device or computer connected to the local network.

To work with a TV, you just need to connect to the same Wi-Fi network as the TV, and then select it from the list of devices available for connection. As a result, you can exchange media data with it (due to Miracast technology you can play Full HD content without the slightest difficulty) and control it remotely, only with a fully functional cursor on the TV screen (which is not available when using a regular remote control) - quite good for a budget model.

As for Smart TV itself, it is based on Linux OS using the NetRange platform, which has long and quite successfully created various variations on the theme of smart television for various brands. In this case, we see a quite clear interface, which by default displays recommended videos and the last ones you watched. Below them are tabs with content distributed by type: “Video”, “Sports”, “TV”. Only the last tab contains the actual applications - the very essence of the philosophy of most Smart TV platforms. In the case of the pre-production Thomson D18, the above tabs are filled with content from Youtube, and among the video-on-demand services, only Netflix, which recently entered the Russian market, is presented here. Russian services are also available in serial versions.

Smart TV works fine - the interface does not slow down, applications open quickly, the browser is not the most convenient, but it also works quite smoothly.

⇡ Picture and sound

The Thomson T40D18 display is based on a PSA matrix with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (Full HD). The natural aspect ratio is 16:9. LEDs located on the rear surface of the screen (Direct LED) are used to illuminate the liquid crystal matrix. As a result, the image is subject to minimal flare, there are no serious problems with this. Progressive scan is supported - this is now the standard for budget models.

Viewing angles are quite good - they claim 178 degrees, but such extreme values ​​are not required for real use. With a deviation of 30-45 degrees, the contrast drops significantly, but the colors change minimally - you can watch TV not only while standing directly in front of its screen.

The TV works with five picture presets: standard, natural, dynamic, cinema, stadium. Well, custom, of course. We highly recommend installing the “cinema” preset right away - you should only switch from it if you want to watch TV during the day with the curtains open. In this mode, the maximum brightness of the image is reduced, but the color tones and contrast become noticeably more pleasant. Also, of course, there are manual settings - you can customize the brightness, contrast, backlight, and so on. Everything is very detailed, right down to manual control of additional functions and white balance - this is atypical for a budget model. The menu contains a guide to working with the TV; it will help you configure it more accurately.

In cinema mode, the TV produces a static contrast ratio of 3899:1 - this is even more than the stated 3000:1. A very good result. The brightness is 183 cd/m2 - in direct sunlight, taking into account the highly glare glass, it will be uncomfortable to watch anything on the Thomson T40D18. By increasing the display brightness to maximum, we can achieve 274 cd/m2. The contrast drops, but you can watch the broadcast without curtaining the windows.

The color temperature cannot be changed digitally - you can only switch between three presets: normal, cold and warm. Unfortunately, even in film mode and with a “warm” preset, the temperature is too high and fluctuates around 8000-8500 K. Unfortunately, you can’t count on accurate color rendition in any mode - the minimum average deviation is DeltaE, which we managed to achieve when playing with settings - 6.00. DeltaE for grayscale is 12.20, gamma is also not impressive. The screen is not set up brilliantly - but this is a normal level for a budget model.

The Thomson T40D18 operates at a standard frequency of 50 Hz, without software increasing it to 100 or more - this eliminates the picture from possible artifacts, but dynamic scenes also look a little blurry. However, viewing them does not cause serious discomfort; everything is within normal limits.

The response time is stated at 6.5 ms - this is quite enough for a comfortable game, subjective sensations are confirmed by the numbers. For a professional gamer, of course, it is better not to use the Thomson T40D18 as the main display, but to play from time to time - why not.

It is also possible to watch TV in eco mode - if you want to save energy and do not need extreme brightness, you can use it.

The sound subsystem includes two 8-watt speakers - they sound quite loud and clear. Without any gloss and thunderous bass - but there is no need to rush immediately after buying a TV for additional speakers. The menu has quite detailed sound settings, by the way, including an equalizer. But if you really want to build a home theater based on the Thomson T40D18, you will, of course, need an audio system.

⇡ Conclusion

Budget TV has always been just a means of displaying pictures - and then with varying success, but certainly without claims to any big role in the home ecosystem. The 2016 Thomson Smart TV tries to break this tradition.

Yes, these TVs have a built-in Linux-based operating system - and it works quite well. They also know how to access the Internet. In the pre-production version, we were able to gain access to Netflix and Youtube - but in production models there is also access to Russian services, and their number, we dare to hope, will expand.

As for the ability to display pictures directly, this is quite a good level for budget TVs. Decent contrast and normal brightness are combined with not very impressive color rendition, but for 23,990 rubles (the official price of Thomson T40D18SFS-01B) a 40-inch TV with native Full HD is not a bad option at all in today’s realities.