The HANNSvibe is so quintessentially 1960s in appearance we were expecting to see images of the Fab Four flickering in the Test Labs, along with a 60s 007. 

There’s an affordably priced HD-ready TV beneath the retro sheen; it’s just a shame that a few key details have been overlooked in the hurry to make it stand out in an already crowded 32in LCD marketplace.

The design is chic and chunky, but we will wager that its looks will polarise opinion: there’ll be as many potential customers who wouldn’t showcase such a kitsch piece of kit as those who are seduced by its ‘Swinging London’ design aesthetic.

Good price vibe

The price of this TV is also suitably yesteryear. At just over £700, it’s resolutely within the grasp of most who are yearning for a flatscreen upgrade. But, as we’ll discover, there are limits that undermine the HANNSvibe’s bargain status.

The most obvious criticism we could make lies in the connections. Like its Evesham rival in this group test, the HANNSvibe only has one HDMI input – sending you up the creek if you want to hook up more than one hi-def source, unless you shell out on an HDMI switcher. 

Budget screen or not, the provision of a single HDMI just isn’t good enough. Still, the rest of the connections tick all the basic boxes, including component video inputs, two Scarts (one RGB-enabled), a PC input and all the lesser AV jacks.

Unfortunately, the next omission is more damning. Is HANNSpree taking the retro aspirations of this TV too far by failing to include a digital tuner? Yes, there’s only a built-in analogue tuner here – hardly useful when the digital switchover hits your area. Still, at least the HANNSvibe is HD-ready (with a native resolution of 1366 x 768) and has a few basic features such as noise reduction and 3D comb filter.

With that relatively basic feature count in mind, we didn’t have massive expectations of what the HANNSvibe would deliver, as we set our test Blu-ray disc of Casino Royale a-spinning. But, despite the lack of exciting features, it puts in a solid – if not earth-shattering – performance with hi-def feeds.