TVs

Humax LP40-TDR1

With Freeview recording and an attractive price, this 40in LCD is an intriguing buy.

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Last reviewed: August 19th

By today's standards, the Humax LP40-TDR1 is huge, but then it does cram in plenty of features, including a 160GB hard drive

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The first thing that you'll notice about the Humax LP40-TDR1 has nothing to do with its Freeview recording talents, and everything to do with its size.

It's enormous, especially by today's increasingly svelte standards. An expansive gloss black bezel, a further outer frame, and a slightly separated speaker bar running along the entire length of the TV's bottom edge, all equate to a beefy footprint. The set also sticks out further round the back than Beyonce.

Mind you, the LP40's aesthetics are positively futuristic when compared with its connectivity.

Disappointing connectivity

A solitary HDMI lurks around the back, like a latter-day spiv. This is unforgivable in these times of PS3s, Xbox 360 Elites, upscaling DVD players, Blu-ray players, Sky HD boxes and so on.

You could add an external HDMI switching box, I guess., but that would fly in the face of the LP40's 'no separate recording box' appeal, surely? Not to mention cost a few quid.

To add insult to injury, the solitary HDMI is a v1.2 affair rather than the latest v1.3 spec, meaning the TV
can't deliver DeepColor video. Other connections are solid, though, including a component video input,
a D-Sub PC jack and even a digital audio output. But personally I'm still stuck on the one HDMI thing.

No Full HD here

Turning to the LP40's inner specs, it's a tad disappointing, as a home cinema fan, to find it only has a native resolution of 1366 x 768. Most 40in TVs are Full HD these days.

That said, a 1366 x 768 resolution is arguably more suited to the TV's standard-definition focus.

Other key specifications include a claimed native contrast ratio of 1,600:1, boosted further via an optional dynamic backlight system; a fleshtone correction setting; a noise reduction engine; and SRS TruSurround XT audio processing. But what is really important here is the in-built recording system...

Pause and record TV

Unlike models from LG, this Humax screen is not certified Freeview Playback (or Freeview+ as it's now known), the standard designed to introduce most of the same recording functionality available on Sky+ boxes to digital terrestrial TV users.

While this set, with its twin tuners, allows rewinding and pausing of 'Live' TV, all without any subscription charges, it doesn't offer one-touch series recording. Hence, I suspect, the lack of a Freeview Playback badge.