Kogan KULED19XXXYA – Performance

Although the information about the KULED19XXXYA on Kogan’s website stresses the energy efficiency of edge LED lighting, the sticker fastened to the TV’s screen when we got it out of its box signifies that it only bagged a B grade from EnerG – a reminder that budget TVs tend to be more power hungry than more expensive ones from the mainstream brands.

While we’re on the subject of power, you might be interested to know
that the KULED19XXXYA can be powered by an optional 12V power adaptor,
enabling it to jack into the power outlets found in cars, caravans and
boats.

Kogan KULED19XXXYA – Menus and Features

The Kogan’s onscreen menus are extremely bland – just a text list, really. What’s more, this text is too small for comfortable use on a 19in screen. Just as well, perhaps, that these menus don’t actually have many features in there for you to bother seeking out.

Not surprisingly given how cheap the KULED19XXXYA is, its picture features are basic in the extreme. It’s just a 50Hz panel, and a noise reduction system makes up the only slight bonus on top of the most basic brightness, contrast, colour etc adjustments you’d find on any TV worthy of the name.

We wouldn’t have been surprised if the KULED19XXXYA’s performance was, well, crap, frankly. Happily, though, it turns out to be far better than any TV costing just £89 has any right to be.

Kogan KULED19XXXYA – Picture Quality

Its brightness, for instance, is potent enough to make images eye-catching even if you put the set in an extremely light environment like a conservatory or sun-drenched kitchen. Even better, this brightness is used to illuminate some surprisingly punchy looking colours. We’re used to even quite expensive, big-brand small screen TVs tending to suffer with colours that look washed out, but tones look agreeably dynamic on this Kogan.

They also look more natural than we would have expected. Many budget TVs produce colours that are overcooked and unnatural looking, usually thanks to them being biassed towards PC colour temperatures rather than the 6500 Kelvin level generally best for video. But the tones delivered by the Kogan really aren’t bad, enabling everything from naturally lit skin tones to bold graphics and artificially lit, gaudily coloured studio footage to look surprisingly believable and balanced.

If we were being really picky we’d say that rich reds tend to look rather orangey while greens can look a little ‘grungy’, but overall things are far better than they should be on anything costing £89.