Hannspree Xv-S Series review

Hannspree's website states that the Xv-S's "dark misty black front bezel is a fashion statement".

Sadly, it isn't a fashion statement that many people would like to make. This TV is ugly, with a gaudy plastic finish and oversized logos dotted around the front bezel.

Setting up for the first time was extremely awkward. There are two separate aerial sockets for the analogue and Freeview TV tuners, and no automated installation routine. It took us a while to find out how to get the tuner set up so we could watch TV programmes. It took us a long time to get used to the poorly laid-out remote control, and the EPG shows just Now and Next listings rather than a seven-day guide.

Freeview picture quality wasn't as smooth as on the best TVs, but wasn't far off. However, we noticed occasional sawtooth-like jagged lines in fast motion as a result of poor de-interlacing. Colours were oversaturated on the default setting, but reducing the Colour setting quickly resolved this. Sound quality was above average, with a reasonable bass response and better clarity than most.

After connecting to a PC via a DVI-to-HDMI cable, a 1:1 option appeared in the list of image sizes. Selecting it made a 1,360x768 desktop fit the screen, but text had ghosting due to excessive sharpness processing. Turning this down revealed that the image wasn't perfectly aligned, giving a soft image. Using a VGA cable proved more successful, giving a pixel-sharp image without too much tweaking.

Viewing testcard images from a PC, we found that both highlights and shadows were slightly clipped, and we weren't able to recover them by adjusting the contrast and brightness controls. Otherwise, colour accuracy was up to scratch, with more balanced midtones than most TVs manage. The 1080i and 1080p footage from a Blu-ray player exhibited sharp detail over HDMI and component connections. However, 720p signals resulted in rippling distortions over highly contrasting details.

Hannspree's Xv-S is a competent TV at a great price, but you'd have to be unfussy about design to put up with its ugly appearance.