Humax LGB-32TPVR: Dual-tuner PVR TV
Humax's LGB-32TPVR is a huge pie of televisual goodness, with an HD Ready panel, dual digital tuners and an integrated 40GB hard drive for Freeview recording
While the industry giants have only just got around to putting a Freeview tuner in their flat-screen TVs, the ever-nimble giant killer Humax has thrown dual digital tuners and a hard drive into its latest TV. The LGB-32TPVR can record one digital TV channel to its 40GB hard drive while you watch another. It's also fully HD Ready with a 1,366x768-pixel panel resolution and a DVI video input and component inputs, so you can connect it up to an Xbox 360 and Sky HD box simultaneously.
While the 40GB hard drive is disappointingly small, with only around 25 hours capacity, one of the great features of the Humax is that you can connect up an external hard drive and backup your recordings. You can even edit and archive them to DVD on your computer. The integrated Freeview guide is really useful for scheduling recordings, because you can highlight programmes up to a week in advance and record them automatically.
The Humax isn't that impressive in terms of its other specs -- the 8ms response time, 1,000:1 contrast ratio and 500cd/m2 brightness are pretty average for a TV at just over £1,000. On the other hand, its hi-def support ensures that the TV provides a stable, detailed picture. But are the recording features enough to make it worth the premium over an equivalent Samsung? Find out in our full review soon. -GC