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Like all the TVs in the roundup, the Evesham only has an analogue tuner built in, so if you want digital you’ll have to connect a Freeview box or, more sensibly a Sky HD box. The internal tuner is reasonable, but you really don’t buy a high definition LCD TV to watch an SD analogue tuner. The problem with watching SD on an HDTV is that you’re upscaling the content to fit a higher resolution screen. All the TVs on test have a 1,366 x 768 resolution, so scaling a 576 line PAL SD image up to a 768 line panel can make it look worse than it would on a standard television. How good standard definition content looks on a high definition television comes down to image processing, and often this is where the big brand TVs have an advantage over budget models. Again though, the Evesham handles standard definition sources better than the other two sets, but it’s not up to the standards of other high definition TVs we’ve looked at – but to be fair you need to put price into this context.

It’s also worth mentioning that the viewing angle on the Evesham is superb in both the horizontal and vertical planes. With this in mind you should be able to place this TV almost anywhere in your room and still get a good view, no matter where you’re sitting.

If you feed the Evesham high definition sources the results are far better than I had expected. Using both component video and HDMI connections, the Evesham turned in a performance that was significantly better than the Rock and light years ahead of the ViewSonic. Colours are vivid, but skin tones manage to remain neutral. Dark areas are also well rendered, with blacks looking reasonably black, rather than misty grey. Evesham quotes a contrast ratio of 1000:1, and it looks like it's being true to its words on the grounds of this unit.

I hooked up an Xbox 360 to the component video input and the results were pretty good. Firing up a fast moving, bright and vibrant game like DOA4 showed the Evesham off to very good effect. The colours literally jump out of the screen at you, while I didn’t notice any hint of motion smear. I also hooked up a Toshiba DVD player via HDMI and watched a couple of movies upscaled to both 720p and 1080i , both of which were handled with aplomb. I also used a Media Center PC, complete with a Sapphire HDMI graphics card and pumped both WMV and DivX high definition content to the screen – again the Evesham coped admirably.

There remote control is pretty generic but still a definite improvement on the ViewSonic. The OSD is pretty basic, but there is manual adjustment for the backlight, which you don’t see on too many TVs at this price point.

Talking of price point, Evesham is selling this 32in model for £699 including VAT, which makes it the same price as the Rock, but the Evesham is definitely the better buy. Also, Evesham is offering two years interest free credit, making it a pretty tempting proposition for anyone looking for a first step on the high definition ladder.

Verdict

Evesham has created a very creditable 32in high definition television at an impressive price. If you’re looking for a companion for your Xbox 360 or Sky HD box, but don’t want to pay the earth, this is well worth considering.

Update: Evesham has informed me that the price of the V32EMRO-ZE3 has now dropped to an amazing £599 including VAT, although the interest free credit offer is no longer available.

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