Pages | 1 | 2 | 3 |    

As you can see from the dimensions, that the rain, dust, insects, humidity, and salt air repellant outer coating adds some bulk to the SunBriteTV 4660HD.

To mount the unit, SunBriteTV sells a variety of wall mounts (articulating and non) and something they call a deck planter pole.

For those tailgaters on the go, you can opt for table top stands in silver or black.

To blend into the surroundings, the "ASA outdoor rated high-impact resin" exterior comes in three different colors, white, silver or black.

Simply, everything about this TV is weatherproofed one way or another. For example, the basic operation buttons, that are located on the back right corner of the case, are sealed from the elements.

The major concern is isolating the connection panel and its wires from dirt and moisture. On the back of the cabinet, the SunBriteTV designers fashioned a Cable Entry System which seals in the panel and cords with a rubber gasket door.

The Cable Entry System closed with thumbscrews (top image) and open revealing the connection panel with the rubber gasket surround (bottom image).

The panel itself furnishes the basic connections, two HDMI inputs, two sets of Component Video Ins (with matching stereo Audio Ins), one Composite Video In (with matching stereo Audio Ins), one 15-pin D-sub VGA (with analog Audio In stereo minijack), one SPDIF Audio Out, one analog Audio Out (1/8" headphone jack), an RF Antenna/CATV connection and one S-Video - yes, S-Video - input, which shares the Audio In pair with the Composite Input.

Also included are two Service ports, which the manual states "for factory service only...do not use." This could cause some confusion because one of them is a USB port, which on other TVs is commonly used to attach a USB flash drive, but not on this SunBriteTV.

For custom installations, there is an IR window and an RS232 port.

Of note, the panel on the 4660HD does not supply an Ethernet port and there is no built-in wireless adapter, which means no Internet connection, no apps, and no streaming video.

Of course, this shortcoming can be remedied by hooking the TV up to a streaming Blu-ray player or a set top box like those from Roku or Apple. Then again, you will need to protect those from the weather.

The non-backlit remote control is long, thin and water resistant.

Because of the protective surface, the buttons are not as raised as they are on a normal remote, making them a little harder to discern by touch.

But if you drop the remote in the swimming pool, you'll be glad that it's sealed.

The EPA publishes a list of ENERGY STAR qualified TVs. (You can find it here.) I couldn't find the SunBriteTV 4660HD on the list and I'm not surprised since this is a specially outfitted TV with a multi-fan airflow system.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) now requires those yellow-and-black labels that show the product's estimated annual energy cost to be attached to all TVs.

You can find that label on the SunBriteTV website.

If you read the label, you will see that the $34.27 amount is a yearly energy cost based on the TV being on five hours a day, which is probably not normal for an outdoor television.

Many of the newer plasma and LED backlit TVs that I have reviewed in the last couple of years have been easy to set up initially because the Picture Mode presets required very minor tweaking.

But since most of these models were Smart TVs, the real time and study came in familiarizing yourself with all the features and registering with the myriad streaming content providers.

I found the process flipped with this SunBriteTV 4660HD. Initially, I needed to do a lot more tweaking to get picture the way I liked it. But when that task was complete, there is no backend toiling with streaming content or fancy features that require reading the manual.

I won't delve into the details of how I adjusted the TV because I never took it outside and dealt with bright sunlight and reflections.

Since I set it up under muted controlled lighting, my settings would not be indicative of what you might need to adjust for in an outdoor environment.

I will say that, not surprisingly, the TV was very bright when I first turned it on. But to its credit, I was able to tone it down and achieve a quite respectable picture.

The adjustment tools are not that robust, for example, the Tint slider is not functional on the 4660HD model. But the TV is responsive to the tweaks and it doesn't take long to fine tune the display.

If you don't have someone come out and calibrate the TV, plan on spending some time with it. And I would suggest that you set up two picture modes, one for daylight and another for night time.