Nick Race29 February 2008, 3:27 PM
Grundig is a respectable brand of consumer electronics that has been churning out medium-to-high-end gear since the ‘40s. But is it finally losing its luxury status in the digital age? The Cinemo 40 is a ho-hum screen that passed through the APC Labs. Not bad by all accounts, but others outshone it.
It’s a 40in (101cm) 720p HD LCD TV with built-in speakers and tuner. It sports the usual swathe of connectivity options, including two HDMI ports, two composite, two S-Video and a single set of component inputs. Its contrast is 1,200:1 and is in native wide-screen format with a resolution of 1,377 x 720.
Video playback showed it deals with bright colours very well — it’s clear and well-defined in light areas of the pictures — but like many mid- and low-range sets, it turns into a mess of mud where dark detail is needed.
It doesn’t suffer from blur too terribly, there are worse examples out there, but it’s no plasma. The menu system is comprehensive and easy to navigate, but it covers too much of the screen. The built-in speakers were fine, but you’ll want something with more oomph for that cinema experience.
Its stylings seem quite 2005, with a large silver bar down the bottom of the screen, but it makes it look more like a TV than some of the large black holes a pure piano finish creates. All in all, the Cinemo 40 is a well-priced screen with middle-of-the-road performance.