Acer AT3201W LCD television

Upside

There are already plenty of LCD television brands crowding your local electrical store's shelves, but Acer's hoping to make an impact with its own offerings based on their affordability and features. The 32" AT3201W is the largest of the three being launched on 1 August (there's also a 26" and 20" model), and with a RRP of AU$2199 it certainly has the affordability bit down pat.

The set itself looks decent but not outstanding, sporting the same silver body as most other televisions out there. The screen, however, is bordered by a shiny black frame, and with the silver speakers at either end detachable, could look quite stylish in a home entertainment set-up. The AT3201W isn't too bulky, weighing in at 20.7kgs with dimensions of 1018x616x210mm (WxDxH)

The AT3201W boasts a screen resolution of 1366x768 pixels, which means it's fully compatible with high definition signals. It has decent brightness of 550 cd/m2, a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a 12ms response time (meaning fast action scenes should be no problem). As per Acer's plans for releasing an affordable yet well specced out unit, the AT3201W features decent connectors, including a DVI input for an all digital video connection. Other inputs include three components and four S-Video/Composite. Sadly, there's no HDMI, but that's not surprising considering the price of this particular unit.

Acer's also making a big deal about the Empowering Key -- a dedicated button on the remote control which contains preset video and audio levels depending on what's being viewed (such as movies, games, sports and concerts).

Downside

The AT3201W has decent specs for its price, and from the brief view CNET.com.au had of the set at it Sydney launch it seemed to perform well. But as a brand new player in the LCD television space, Acer has no track record in terms of quality or performance that we can point to. It's been quite a success in the IT field, with it PC and monitor products being consistently above average, but we'll have to wait until we have an extended hands-on play with one of the new sets before any judgements can be made.

Outlook

The price is right, and on paper the specs are also quite attractive. If it can manage to stand out from the LCD TV crowd, then Acer may have a hit with its AT3201W.