Absolute Gadget

Review: LG 32LT75 LCD TV with Freeview Playback PVR

Written by Rene Millman Monday, 21 January 2008 06:24

It's taken the manufacturers long enough, but now we are beginning to see a new range of televisions that combine PVR functionality that should please the wife as that means there is one less thing to clog up the space under the telly (or perhaps it frees up space to put that PS3 you've always set your heart on!). LG has a new TV that will let you record your favourite programmes should you need to pop out for a pint of milk.

The LG 32LT75 is an LCD TV that somehow manages to use alien technology to squeeze in a 160GB PVR. Normally trying to prize in such a piece of kit should result in a thick telly but this still manages to look thinner than a model who's just swallowed a pack of Ex-Lax.

But at least the LG TV is still attractive. It's sleek black casing is by far one of the best we've seen and doesn't have to rely on fancy gimmicks, such asback-lighting , to make its point. Setting up the stand is a cinch as the set is quite light (13.8kg). Just plonk it on the supplied stand and if you find the four screws that should come with it you can secure this to the base.

On the back of the telly are the customary inputs; two HDMI sockets, plus VGA, Component and a couple of Scart sockets as well. The remote is nice looking and sturdy as well. IT is efficient too, as it reacts very quickly to its buttons being pressed.

The TV doesn't take too long to set up and find the channels. It still sports an analogue tuner as well as a digital one. The picture itself is fantastic - it would seem that 32-inches is about the best size for Freeview pictures (any bigger than than and you will see the limitations of digital broadcasting; blocking, mosiacing, etc). This is the telly that can make the picture on Channel 5 look great - if it can do that it could probably also find a cure for the common cold.

The sound is just about OK, but then again a lot of people output the sound into a dedicated amp so if you have that kind of set up you can forgive LG for not trying harder here.

As mentioned earlier, the PVR has a 160GB hard drive within the telly and this conforms to the Freeview Playback and press the record button and you're done. It also has a "Series Link" function so it can record every episode of Harry Hill's TV Burp. It can also record from the standard. To record, just go to the 8-day EPGScart and composite inputs, so you can also record from your Sky box as well. The one drawback we encountered was the apparent lack of a second digital tuner to record one digital channel while watching another. We set up the box to record a programme on digital and tried to watch something on the other side - it didn't want us to do that. Hopefully, future generations of this telly will ditch the analogue tuner (won't be needed soon) and put another digital tuner instead (or maybe even make it three!)

Overall, it is very hard not to like this TV - if this had a second digital tuner and better sound it would be perfect but as you can pick one up for around £500 - it may be worth buying it anyway and living with the drawbacks.

Rating 8/10