Televisions

Back when HCC was fresh of face, Star Wars was a trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe had peaked at Howard the Duck, the very thought of a 48in TV would have blown my mind. A 36in set was typically as large as you could get back then, and even that would have required a van full of mates just to get it out of the box. An ultra-thin 48-incher would have been the screen of dreams, home cinema nirvana.

Not content with a user base of 53million devices, Roku accelerates its migration from media player OS to smart TV technology, taking up residence in this affordable line of 4K flatscreens from TCL. TCL has actually launched two Roku models in the UK, the entry-level RP520K series, and the RP620K reviewed here, replete with Dolby Vision HDR and a higher-spec video processor.

The big new buzzword in the TV world is mini LED. This premium backlighting technology uses much smaller LEDs than those found on conventional LED-lit LCD screens, allowing more to be deployed behind the glass. The result is a boost to both potential brightness and contrast, particularly if the mini LEDs – which typically number in their thousands – are driven by a healthy amount of separate dimming zones.

LG's BX Series OLED TV is a tempting gateway to the joys of the screen technology. Positioned below the brand's headline-hogging CX range, it looks much the same, yet comes in at a significantly lower price thanks to a step-down image processor and a few specification compromises. Is the price saving worth such sacrifices? I think so.