Loewe Connect 32 Media Full-HD+ DR+: What recession?
If you're one of those people who doesn't know what a pint of milk costs, or what a dole queue is, then this TV might well be for you. It does everything you could ever want, albeit at a substantial price
If you are worried about the long-term economic future of our country, and the prospects of keeping your job over the next couple of years you might not want to consider the Loewe Connect 32, which in this particular configuration costs £2,300.
At that price, this is the sort of TV you buy if you don't want to derail the work of your interior designer. The Loewe is a lifestyle product, designed for people who want total control over what they are buying. Because it understands the people who buy its products, Loewe allows you to customise virtually every aspect of the TV. You can change the colour, the sort of stand it comes with, how many tuners it has and you can even add a 5.1 speaker system if you so chose.
It goes without saying that the TV has a 1080p panel with the ability to cope with 24hz pictures from Blu-ray. There are also little extras like picture-in-picture and of course, the Loewe trademark media streaming, which we've used in the past, and found a brilliant way to watch MPEG-4 video from a PC in your living room. Combine this screen with a pair of homeplugs, and you don't even need to worry about messy cables everywhere. Perfect for that £3 million penthouse you live in.
The sample Loewe sent us has all sort of digital trickery built-in. For example, we got a dual satellite tuner, which enables us to watch some free-to-air satellite services, and the TV supports MPEG-4 HD decoding too, which enables us to watch BBC HD. However, it is crucial to point out this is not a Freesat TV. You won't get ITV HD, and you'll have no access to any EPG data. That said, BBC HD is the only thing really terrific about freesat at the moment, so you might consider that a decent advantage.
With the DR+ you also get a built in Freeview recorder too, which means you can store your favourite shows on the built-in 160GB hard drive. Most impressive with Loewe TVs is the user interface, which makes setting up a recording, or altering the TVs settings a truly pleasant process. It does take a while to get used to how the menus are laid out, but like Apple products, Loewe is about the user experience, and this TV certainly does make you think that the TV cares.
We will be reviewing the Connect 32 in full soon, so now might be a good time to arrange that loan. –Ian Morris
Update: Read our full Loewe Connect 32 Media Full-HD+ DR+ review here.