A big TV at a surprisingly low price
Finlux, a Turkish company previously owned by Nokia, have been making HD TVs since 2006, and its 48FT3E242S-T is the biggest and most attractive smart TV we’ve seen for less than £400. The borders around the screen are narrower than we’d expect at this price, while its sleek metal stand is a welcome change from the usual chunky plastic ones. The 48in screen is the only available size, but this shouldn’t be a problem unless you have a very cramped living room.
While the display is not as bright as on some TVs we've tested, we were still able make out details without any problem in our brightly lit test room, including darker scenes in movies and TV shows. We were also pleased with the TV's wide viewing angles and impressive contrast levels.
However, you'll need to give the picture settings a little tweak to optimise image quality. Without this adjustment, videos will look a little blue-ish and washed out. There is a noise-reduction setting which is designed to improve lower resolution broadcasts (from standard definition TV channels, for example), but we found it didn’t make a huge difference.
The TV also supports 3D and comes with two pairs of 3D glasses. The only image quality problem we encountered here was a small amount of ghosting on subtitles. This didn’t prevent us from reading them, but it was annoying, and there arc no 3D settings you can tweak to compensate.
The remote control has dedicated buttons for opening the Netflix and YouTube apps. Pressing the Hub button takes you to the main TV interface, where you'll find additional apps for BBC iPlayer, Flickr and a handful of other, lesser known services. There’s no All 4 (Channel 4’s TV service). ITV Player. Demand 5 or Amazon Instant Video, but the interface is at least a doddle to navigate and loads in no time.
The remote control itself would benefit from a better design. Its buttons don’t provide much feedback, while some are too spongy and stiff. Still, thanks to its generous dimensions, at least you won’t lose it down the back of the sofa.
While the TV isn’t exactly crammed with connections, the three HDMI ports, SCART, VGA and composite inputs should be more than enough for most people. Wi-Fi is built in so you don't have to mess about with Ethernet to access online-video content. Oddly, the S/PDIF connector is coaxial rather than the more common optical S/PDIF, which means you won't be able to connect most S/PDIF-equipped soundbars. Fortunately, you can use an HDMI-equipped soundbar as an alternative.
The 48FT3E242S-T has a few flaws, but these are forgivable because £399 is a bargain for such a large TV with this level of image quality. An equivalent TV from one of the market leading brands would cost about £100 more. However, if you don’t mind paying that extra, you will get a few extra benefits. The 48in Samsung UE48H5500, for example, guarantees a wider selection of smart-TV services and a digital S/PDIF output, which are worth the additional expense. Otherwise, the Finlux 48FT3E242S-T is a great choice.
VERDICT
The Finlux 48FT3E242S-T is a bargain. It looks smart and has great picture quality, though app support is quite limited.
SPECIFICATIONS
48in • 1920x1080-pixel resolution • 3x HDMI • 2x USB 2.0 • 1x SCART • 1x composite • 1x VGA • 1x Ethernet • Wi-Fi • Freeview HD • 720x1084x220mm (HxWxD) • 16kg • One-year warranty