The Loewe Art SL 42 Full HD+ 100 DR+ TV is a 42-inch, Full HD, LCD TV, on the market since autumn 2008 for a list price of 2,685 GBP.

Florian Friedrich, tested on December 21, 2009

Accurate 24p playback even from 60i/60p signals.
Built-in hard-disk recorder.
Double hybrid tuner, with HDTV reception.
Program guide also for analogue TV.

Imperfect de-interlacing of film material.
Cannot adjust recording quality.
Weak contrast.

In terms of ticks in boxes, you get your money’s worth with this Loewe — smooth operation, a top feature set, excellent HD-signal processing, sonorous sound, and natural colours. But many buyers would only ever consider paying this much money in exchange for an absolutely perfect picture — and that, sadly, is something the Loewe cannot offer. The low contrast ratio is a real let down, but does little to spoil the set’s overall score — to call this simply a case of “form over function” would be unfair.

Most important connections:

3x 1x 2x 1x

Operation

The side of the TV hosts a USB connection.

The on-screen menu’s rolling-index interface deprives the user of an overview, but looks attractive, in light-grey and blue, and uses clearly legible text. Neither the “AV selection” menu nor the remote control’s clearly labelled AV button gives access to the USB input, but once you get the photo player up and running, it offers speedy, clear navigation and perfect picture-quality.

Tuner and Hard-Disk Recorder

Tightly packed: Although there are plenty of connections, the Loewe doesn’t leave a lot of room for manoeuvre.

The Loewe receives analogue TV via cable or antenna, as well as terrestrial digital TV and digital cable TV (DVB-T and DVB-C), the latter also in HD where such broadcasts exist. In the United Kingdom, users won’t be able to take advantage of the cable tuner, since the cable operators forbid subscribers to access the cable network using third-party equipment. Even analogue channels are listed in the Loewe’s clearly structured Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which also lists digital broadcasts.

Thanks to a double tuner, the Loewe can record two programs simultaneously using the optional hard-disk recorder, which can hold around 85 hours of video and works very quietly. The user can set the TV to record after a certain period of time, as well as the recording duration. A recording buffer also runs constantly to allow time-shift TV.

The Loewe’s metallic remote control is both stylish and functional.

The hard-disk recorder does a decent job — recordings of digital TV signals were impressive, but analogue recordings lacked some of the detail of the original signals, as well as sometimes showing slight compression-related fringing. A choice of recording quality would help here.

High-Definition Picture Quality

This CIE diagram reveals the Loewe’s impressive colour-fidelity.

Motion depiction scores highly on the Loewe, which produces perfect 24p playback — without irritating, irregular judder — even with signals arriving in 60p or 60i format. The Loewe’s convincing colours also impress, particularly in bright images: In “Casino Royale” on Blu-ray, for example, skin tones, the turquoise of the ocean, and the black-and-white opening sequence are all totally accurate.

It’s a different story altogether when it comes to contrast. Producing an ANSI contrast of just 314:1, the Loewe even fails to beat competitors that cost just half as much. The effect is clear in dark scenes, where the obvious residual illumination leaves pictures looking relatively flat.

TV and DVD Picture Quality

The Scart-RGB input produces a better-than-average level of detail, especially if the images were recorded on a TV camera, as opposed to on film. Films, on the other hand, suffer at the hands of the less-than-perfect de-interlacing. The camera pan across the beach in Chapter 5 of the DVD “Six Days Seven Nights”, for example, shows flickering edges on sun-loungers.

TV pictures look well-balanced and display neutral colours, although only once we’d tweaked the odd picture-setting (see Ideal settings). Details appeared correctly, and motion sequences resolved crisply. We recommend turning the contrast setting down a little to get a clean, 100-hertz picture with no blurred edges.

Sound Quality

Two 20-watt speakers are more than your average spec for a flat-panel TV. Nevertheless, this is still a flat-panel TV, and the casing is simply too thin to produce the best sound. Still, the Loewe managed to impress — the speakers do, indeed, sound better than average, producing powerful bass and nice, clean treble.

Still, for more powerful sound, you’re always better off hooking the TV up to an external system. In the Loewe’s case, you can do this either in analogue, via the stereo cinch output, or digital, via a coaxial output. Both are found on the rear of the unit, along with inputs for both analogue and digital audio.

Ideal Settings

Contrast: 8

Colour Intensity: 10

Brightness: 10

Sharpness: 1

Image+ Active: Off

Picture Format: 16:9 PC

DMM: Off

Colour Temperature: Soft

DNC: Off

* These settings apply to realistic playback from HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations might necessitate slight adjustment.