Review: Logik L423ED11

Overview and features

While TV manufacturers claim that they're satisfied with the sales of 3D TVs, to the outside observer it seems clear that 3D hasn't captured the public's imagination as strongly as the AV industry wanted (and possibly needed?) it to.

This might well explain why UK retailer Dixons has decided to have a go at injecting some new life into 3D's flagging fortunes by selling its own in-house range of 3D TVs for the lowest prices yet seen.

One of the highlight models from this new Logik-branded Dixons range is the L423ED11: a 42-inch 3D TV costing just £599 that uses Edge LED lighting, has a Full HD resolution and, at the time of writing, ships with a free Philips 3D Blu-ray player and 10 - yes, 10 - free pairs of 3D glasses.

So the set could turn out to be the mass market 3D bargain the UK TV market has been waiting for.

The Logik L423ED11 is joined by the 32-inch L323ED11, which costs £449, and the 47-inch L473ED11 for £699. You can also buy a trio of even cheaper models - the 32-inch L323CD11, priced at just £379, the 42-inch L423CD11, costing £479, and the 47-inch L473CD11, with a £599 price tag that use standard CCFL lighting instead of LED lighting.

The million dollar question, of course, has to be if 3D TVs so outlandishly cheap can actually be any good. So let's find out how the Logik L423ED11 fares.

Features

Not surprisingly, the Logik L423ED11 isn't the best-looking TV in the world. It's just another in the endless line of glossy black rectangles, except for having a slightly wider bezel than you usually see these days. It's bulkier round the back than most Edge LED TVs too - although of course, only the oddest people actually spend time looking at the rear of their TVs!

Connections are surprisingly solid, with three v1.4 HDMI ports (all 3D ready) alongside, among other things, a D-Sub PC input so the screen can double up as a computer monitor, and even a USB port capable of playing a surprisingly wide variety of video, photo and music file formats.

The one noticeable connection absentee is a LAN port. The fact that this means the TV doesn't have any Smart TV or DLNA functionality is only to be expected on such a cheap set. But the missing LAN port also alerts us to the fact that the Logik L423ED11 doesn't have a Freeview HD tuner, which is rather harder to take.

The fact that you currently get 10 free pairs of 3D glasses with the Logik L423ED11 reveals right away that the TV uses LG's passive 3D technology - as seen on the LG 50PZ850T, LG 55LW980T and other LG TVs - rather than the active shutter system. This reaffirms the sense that it's the passive 3D system that's driving the affordable part of the 3D TV market.

In terms of other features of note, there's precious little going on - as you might expect. The only surprise is the presence of a 2D to 3D conversion system.

It's actually quite a relief that the Logik L423ED11 doesn't have many features to navigate through, because it's ridiculously hard to get the TV to pick up commands from the cheap, plasticky remote. It's maddening.

Picture, sound and gaming

3D performance

Kicking the picture testing off with 3D, the Logik L423ED11 looks a little rough and ready thanks to the appearance of some horizontal line structure in the image caused by the passive 3D filter, and a slightly soft look versus the finest active 3D images. There's also a little more crosstalk than you get with LG's costlier passive 3D TVs.

However, the amount of crosstalk is still minimal versus that seen with most active TVs. And as usual, watching passive 3D feels more relaxing than the active approach, especially because there's no flickering to deal with.

Also likable is how bright and colourful 3D pictures look on the Logik L423ED11, and the TV handles 3D motion surprisingly decently too, with little sign of the sort of blurring often found with cheap LCD TVs.

2D performance

There are times when the Logik L423ED11 looks better than expected with 2D, too. Feed it a bright HD image and you'll likely feel very happy indeed with how pictures look. The sharpness and detail on show with such footage shames some TVs costing twice as much, while colours also look clean and punchy.

Unfortunately the Logik L423ED11 is a heck of a lot less comfortable with any other sort of footage - as in, anything that's standard definition and/or mostly dark. With standard definition the TV set's upscaling processing doesn't do a great job of either adding sharpness to the source or suppressing any noise it might contain. It's also notable that colours tend to suffer with more 'offish' tones than you get during HD viewing.

The Logik L423ED11's biggest single problem, though, is without doubt its total inability to produce anything approaching a convincing black colour. Dark scenes instead look like they're appearing through a grey fog, making it hard to see what's going on at times, and making dark colours look routinely unnatural.

There's practically no shadow detail to be seen either, making dark scenes feel flat and empty and thus startlingly different to any bright scenes that might appear either side of them.

Making matters even worse are unmissable signs during dark scenes of backlight inconsistency from the Edge LED backlight system. And then there's the way that the Logik L423ED11's contrast drops to almost nothing if you have to watch the screen from a wider angle down the side than 30-35 degrees.

There's a separate viewing angle limitation with 3D, too. If you find yourself watching the screen from as little as 10 degrees or so above or below it, 3D images go from having very little crosstalk to being absolutely plagued by it.

However, it's worth adding that the black level problems on the Logik L423ED11 are slightly less pronounced with 3D, thanks to the gentle dimming effect of the passive 3D glasses.

Sound

Joining the Logik L423ED11's strikingly up and down pictures is a passable audio performance that manages to avoid the horrible weediness and tendency to distort sound of many budget TVs, but also lacks the range and raw power to really do action scenes justice.

Gaming

Any gamers thinking the Logik L423ED11 might be a good budget 3D gaming option might be cheered to hear that the set only introduces a respectable sub-40ms of input lag. But to be honest, the severe lack of black level response is likely to cause far more 'unfair' deaths during your games than a bit more input lag probably would have!

Verdict

Being able to say that it's the cheapest 42-inch 3D Edge LED TV in the UK at the moment gets the Logik L423ED11 off to a highly attractive start. Especially since its price currently includes 10 pairs of glasses and a free Blu-ray player! What's more, it doesn't seem as badly compromised in terms of its design and connectivity as you might expect for its low price.

There are even some good points about the Logik L423ED11's performance. Its sound is passable, and its 3D pictures are fun, if short of finesse.

However, it's ultimately severely hamstrung by its inability to render dark scenes with any real quality, and it's possible that its extreme viewing angle limitations might be problematic to some people too.

We liked

The Logik L423ED11's price is definitely right, especially because the £599 currently gets you 10 pairs of glasses and a 3D Blu-ray player. The set's pictures look surprisingly good with bright HD content too, and its 3D images are relaxing and engaging.

We disliked

There's no Freeview HD tuner, the TV's viewing angle is extremely limited, and the set's black level response isn't really good enough.

Final verdict

It's a little difficult to know what to say about the Logik L423ED11. On the one hand, even after finding a few problems with it, its value is undeniable - even quite incredible with the Blu-ray player and glasses offered for free at the time of writing taken into account.

So if you really are desperate for big-screen 3D for a large family and you can't afford more than £600, the Logik L423ED11 is your only option. And actually, it's really not unpleasant to watch with 3D.

The catch comes when you're watching dark 2D scenes, which look far less pleasant than bright scenes, thanks to a fairly fundamental lack of contrast. Only you can decide if the Logik's value appeal is so strong that it overwhelms the black level problems.