Humax LGB-19DRT review

Performance
Given the size of the 19DRT, we're confident in predicting it will commonly be used for games consoles. We hooked it up via HDMI to our PlayStation 3 and fired up Colin McRae's DiRT and were impressed to see the TV reproduce a detailed and colourful image.

The same can be said of movies played via the PS3 from Blu-ray, a viewing of one of the Resident Evil movies -- we don't know for sure which one, but they're pretty much the same anyway -- proved that the TV can handle itself with an HD input.

Freeview picture quality was good too -- at this screen size you don't generally notice the compression artefacts that are common on digital terrestrial. This means everything looks sharp and colourful. A quick viewing of This Morning on ITV1 told us that this TV is very capable -- we also learnt about a cross-dressing man who entertains at parties with his wife.

Sound quality was pretty good. The speakers in this TV really pack a punch for such a small package. We didn't think they produced especially deep and resonant bass, so if you're looking for that, you might want to invest in a separate sound system. For day-to-day viewing though, the sound is clear and the quality good.

The Humax remote is large, but the buttons are nice and clicky

The recording functionality is impressive for such a small TV, although it's not as slick as a standalone PVR. That said, it works and once you get used to it, it's unlikely to cause you any problems. You can press the record button on the remote at any time to begin recording.

We do think Humax missed a trick with this TV, however. It would have been easy for it to allow access to the hard drive via a PC, so people could save their favourite TV programmes, or transfer them to DVD or a portable media player. Regrettably, Humax has used a proprietary method of writing the data to disk. We're sure a determined and skilled user could use Linux to get at the files, but it's too much hassle for most of us.

Conclusion
The main problem with the Humax LGB-19DRT is the relatively high price. We think the TV offers some great functionality, but we're not sure if it will suit the pockets of many people. That said, if you have £300 to spend, this plucky little TV will keep you satisfied for quite some time.

We liked the LG 32LT75 much more by comparison, and although it's much more expensive, it's also a far larger TV with better Freeview PVR functionality.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide