Finlux 32F8030-T review

About £400 is what we'd judge most people count on spending on a normal TV with no flashy features, but get to the shops and there's always something else that bumps up the price. Maybe smart TV apps, 3D, Full HD or LED backlighting edges the costs up, so much so that a decent cheap TV isn't easy to find.

Step forward Finlux, for long a brand associated with basic TVs most often found in supermarkets. Nervous? You shouldn't be. So that £279.99 price tag is the big attraction on the Finlux 32F8030-T, but somehow this 32-inch TV has three of those four price-pushers - LED backlighting, a Full HD resolution and smart TV apps - onboard by default.

We've seen false dawns before, where TV manufacturers promise all the latest features only for usability and quality to be non-existent. Even LED backlighting isn't a badge of quality - we've seen plenty of ropey TVs that promise the latest picture tech but in use blur, smear and leak light from around the edges of the panel.

Not so the Finlux 32F8030-T, which piles on the value in plenty of other areas, too. Its four HDMI inputs are something that TVs costing twice - or more - as much often fail to deliver, while its two integrated Scarts will appeal to those with legacy kit. Here, too, is a Freeview HD tuner, USB recording and even a thoroughly usable remote control. Yes, that last one surprised us, too.

Stylistically the Finlux 32F8030-T's designers have come up with a cunning plan: copy Samsung. And why not? With the Korean brand still number one in the flatscreen TV market, Finlux has fashioned the Finlux 32F8030-T's bezel in a clever kind of plastic.

It has an 8mm wide rim of transparent plastic around it, but the bezel itself looks like it's made of brushed metal. It's really very effective, its subtle scratch-look texture catching the light nicely, while a Finlux logo sits above some barely visible manual touch-sensitive controls (which even include an input changer, channel toggle and a menu button).

That's crucial because that bezel is rather wide at 34mm, while in terms of depth the Finlux 32F8030-T measures 40mm.

Add access to BBC iPlayer and YouTube - via a bundled Wi-Fi dongle, no less - and a decent, contrast-heavy picture, and the Finlux 32F8030-T is one of the best value 32-inch TVs available.

The Finlux 32F8030-T is accompanied in the Finlux F8030 Series by the 40-inch Finlux 40F8030-T (£499.99) and 46-inch Finlux 46F8030-T (£679.99).

The latter includes a 100Hz refresh mode, a feature that's found on all models in the step-up S8070 Series. Comprising the 40-inch Finlux 40S8070-T (£649.99) and 46-inch Finlux 46S8070-T (£799.99), these S8070 Series TVs add a 'frameless' design, which translates as a single pane of glass across the front. The 40mm depth remains.

Finlux sells some other 32-inch Full HD-toting LED-backlit LCD TVs, too, including the 32-inch Finlux 32F6030-T for £349.99, but that's an older model and doesn't include smart TV apps.

Features

We don't underestimate how good value a proposition the Finlux 32F8030-T's combination of Full HD, Freeview HD tuner, Wi-Fi and LED backlighting is, but there's more here - much more.

The headline feature on such an affordable TV is a smart TV portal. It's presented nicely, with a thumbnail of the live source - be it the built-in TV tuner or, say, a connected Blu-ray player - displayed, with sound, above two feeds - one for Facebook and one for Twitter.

During our review there were 13 dedicated apps presented in a grid: BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, CineTrailer, Viewster, Flickr, DailyMotion, PlayJam, Joomeo, AccuWeather, World of Red Bull and a third-party Skype app.

The big worry is the lack of any movie streaming apps, such as Netflix, Lovefilm, Now TV and Acetrax, especially since they're increasing in popularity and importance.

You could also argue that most of this TV's apps will never be used, but we're happy to give our stamp of approval to anything hosting BBC iPlayer and YouTube - by far and away the most important two smart TVs apps.

Where the Finlux 32F8030-T scores highly elsewhere is primarily with its ins and outs. Almost unique in the market are its two Scart connections; once common, they've disappeared since the HD-ready age kicked off, but those with older DVD players might appreciate them. However, it's probably a feature that will be used more heavily elsewhere in Europe.

Of more universal use is the Finlux 32F8030-T's four HDMI inputs. Now that is impressive - as is the provision of both a digital optical output and a subwoofer output, the latter of which is very rare to see.

Wired LAN, a VGA input for a PC, component video and a set of phono inputs are also found on the TV's rear, while a side panel presents two USB slots, the fourth HDMI slot, a composite video input, a Common Interface slot and a headphones jack.

Though with limited opportunities to tweak the picture, the Finlux 32F8030-T uses bizarre parameters for adjusting contrast, colour, sharpness and so on - instead of 0-100, the sliding scale goes from 0-63.