Videocon Integra 32 HD Review

Videocon is one of India's largest consumer electronic brands and sells a host of products ranging from plasma TVs to washing machines. Once considered a premium brand, it still continues to be the market leader - but at the same time, has managed to carve a niche for itself by managing to produce competitive products for a comparatively cheaper price bracket.

The once nascent large screen TV market has opened up with continuous drop in the price of LCD and Plasma displays. There still is a premium tag applied to LCD and plasma displays -- although screen sizes below 26" have become affordable even for lower middle class income groups. But what if you are a movie freak who needs to set up a budget home theater on a shoestring budget? A 26" won't do justice for large screen viewing. You would require at least a 32 incher for that. Forget high definition for the moment.. because there is no way you'd be able to set up an HD system under 1 lakh. But, I bet you'd be happy with a cheap 32 inch screen that could offer you the big screen experience at home. That is where Videocon's LCD TV range comes to your aid.

Enter the Videocon Integra 32 HD! Let me start off by saying - this is no Sony Bravia. You'd find basic features with this TV.. most of which would suffice for a moderately demanding user.. (like yours truly)


Design and Looks
The 32 HD might as well be one of the largest 32 inchers around. It simply dwarfed the other 32 inchers I saw at the showroom. At a time when we've been inundated with "all black", glossy panels, the 32 HD offers visual relief by sporting a black+silver look. However, this might not go well with design connoisseurs.. nevertheless, the large speaker grills and the overall size does make it stand out from the crowd.

Features & Connectivity
The 32 HD supports a resolution of 1366 x 768, has a dynamic contrast ratio of 6000:1, which seems to be good enough considering even direct sunlight did not affect the picture quality as much as I expected. The response time is a decent 6.5 ms and the panel supports a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2.

On the connectivity front, the set has two HDMI ports, component input, S-Video, a VGA in, and AV IN and out ports. Oh and there is a rarely used SCART input as well. A decent AV receiver should be able to take care of whatever is lacking here.


Picture quality:
I had the opportunity to compare the picture quality of this TV with that of more more expensive models - including a Sony Bravia and -- the Videocon did manage to hold its own in the illustrious company that included an LG and Samsung as well. The contrast seems to be very good and produces good brightness levels. The DCDi technology supposedly produces crisper and more realistic pictures. However that is yet to be seen as I did not notice much difference with DCDi turned off. As I do not have a PS3 or Xbox 360, I am not able to comment on the gaming performance now. But the low response time and the good brightness levels does promise a decent performance with fast moving images. Cable TV watching up close is not at all enjoyable -- although it looks great from a distance greater than 2 metres. This is however common with any LCD display in the market. Not really the Videocon's fault. To sum it up, unless you're a hard-core videophile, you would not mind the quality that this set offers.


Sound
The sound quality is nothing exceptional.. but heck, you do not expect great sound with an LCD display -- as in most cases, it would be connected to external speakers.

Conclusion
At a decent price of 28,000 (or less!)this TV is a steal and compares well with other similarly spec-ed TVs. If you do not prefer the dual tone look, there is an all black version as well in the 32 C. To sum things up, this is a good buy for someone on a tight budget. With a large scale network of Videocon dealers and service centres, warranty should not be a concern.