Logik L24DVDB21 review: Logik L24DVDB21
The 24-inch, 1080p Logik L24DVDB21 offers good performance for a TV in its price range. The integrated DVD player and TV-recording features will come in useful for many people too.
Logik is the budget, own-brand range of Dixon Retail, the company that owns Currys, Dixons and Pixmania. The 24-inch L24DVDB21 LCD telly has an integrated DVD player and a 1080p panel, yet costs only £230. Could it be an ideal TV for the kitchen or bedroom?
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Thick as a plank
As you'd expect, the TV isn't exactly gorgeous. The chassis is made from fairly lightweight plastic and, although the simple bolt-on stand does the job, it too feels slightly flimsy. The set is also very thick, measuring a full 200mm deep. From the side, the DVD mechanism protrudes a good deal further than on other such sets we've seen recently.
Nevertheless, the black finish means the TV blends into the background of a room and, from the front, the slightly rounded corners aren't without their appeal.
Around the back, the range of inputs is rather limited. Although you get component, composite and VGA connections, there's only a lone HDMI socket. We'd have liked one more, so you could have, say, a set-top box and game console connected at the same time. On the plus side, there's a USB port on the right of the TV that comes in useful for a few features we'll come to later.
The TV is built around a 1080p panel. The benefits of a 'Full HD' resolution on a screen this small are debatable, but we're not going to argue with the march of progress. The on-board Freeview tuner is standard-definition only, though, so you can't use it to pick up high-definition services from BBC, ITV and Channel 4, for example.
Picture doesn't suck
Standard-definition broadcasts look pretty crisp, partly due to the TV's small screen. Although many TVs of this size suffer from poor contrast performance, leading to dark and dingy pictures, that's not the case here. Black levels are generally pretty good for this type of TV and the set isn't half bad at teasing out shadow detail in darker, moodier scenes.
Colours are also surprisingly refined, lacking the garishness that often afflicts smaller sets. High-definition sources, such as Blu-ray movies, look pin-sharp too. In fact, the only real bummers are the motion blur that creeps in now and again, and the slightly tight horizontal viewing angles. Other than those gripes, this set is a pretty competent performer.
The integrated DVD player may take up plenty of room in the chassis, but it'll really save space when used in small rooms. The mechanism is quite quiet too, and it's quick to respond to remote-control commands. The playback quality is also pretty good.
Along with the DVD player, the set has a personal-video-recorder feature. If you plug a USB memory stick or hard drive into the port on the right-hand side, you can pause live TV or record shows. You can even schedule recordings as you would on a PVR, via the TV's electronic programme guide. The system works well and the recordings are top-class.
There are a couple of disappointments, though. The EPG isn't the best, as it only shows two programmes per channel at one time, so you have to do a fair amount of scrolling around to check what's coming up of an evening. Also, the USB media player and DVD player don't support playback of Xvid and DivX files -- something that's reasonably common on small TVs such as this.
The set's audio is on the weak side too. The TV's performance in this area isn't completely disastrous, though.
Conclusion
The Logik L24DVDB21 represents decent value for money. The DVD player and TV recording features work well and the picture quality is above average for this kind of set. It's a shame that DivX files aren't supported, but we guess you can't have everything at this price.
Edited by Charles Kloet