Evesham Alqemi 32SX: Hi-def, low cost
The Evesham Alqemi 32SX is an HD Ready LCD that's ideal for gamers and won't break the bank -- just what we've been looking for
The first thing that struck us when we got the Evesham Alqemi 32SX out of its box this morning is how good looking it is, especially for a budget television. Finished in the same glossy black as televisions costing twice as much, it's hard to fault the styling. Sadly, the elegant design doesn't go as far as the remote control, which is basic and fairly ugly, although with logically laid out controls that are perfectly useable.
The 32SX is no slouch in the features department. It sports both analogue and digital tuners, so you can enjoy the extra channels offered by Freeview. It has the usual inputs, including two Scart sockets, component, a D-Sub VGA connector for hooking up a PC and a single HDMI socket -- it's a shame there aren't two of these. Additional S-Video and composite connections can be found at the side of the set.
The 32SX also has picture-in-picture support from separate inputs, which will please chaps who want to check the footie results while their better halves enjoy a Sex and the City DVD marathon (warning: this may be dangerous).
The Evesham supports both 720p and 1080i, although the latter will be downscaled to fit on the 1,366x768-pixel panel. The size and connectivity will probably make this an attractive screen for gamers -- the response time is a reasonable 8ms too, which should help. A quick play with the screen was encouraging. Freeview looked reasonable and HD DVD looked brilliant, as you'd expect.
You can pick up the Evesham Alqemi 32SX for about £550, which is pretty good value for money, although you can get the Toshiba 32WLT66 for about £50 more if you shop around online. The Toshiba has the benefit of an extra HDMI socket, which might sway gamers who also want to run cable or satellite through this screen. -IM
Update: We now have a full review of the Evesham Alqemi 32 SX live in our Reviews channel.