Kogan ELITE LED32 LED television

The Kogan ELITE LED32 is a 32in LED television with a 1366x768 LCD panel. Its quoted 3,000,000:1 contrast ratio is equal to Samsung's Series 7 LED television (UA46B7100). Like the Samsung Series 7, it uses an edge-lit LED system that offers significant power and size advantages over regular CCFL backlights. The Kogan ELITE LED32's price of $799 is a thousand dollars less than Samsung's cheapest 32in LED television, though — if you have no pressing need for a 1080p panel we'd advise giving Kogan's product strong consideration.

We've criticised Kogan televisions before for their somewhat clunky approach to industrial design, with the Kogan KEVIN37 and Kogan 1080P-32 both featuring bland chassis and bezels. While the Kogan ELITE LED32's frame is still plastic, it is finished in glossy black with a slightly rounded bezel that looks far superior to the earlier designs. The television's style is reminiscent of Samsung's thin LED TVs, with a translucent edge to the base and a chrome accent running along the television's lower bezel. Most impressive is the television's shallow depth — it's only 4.5cm across at its thickest point, so it's suitable for a low-profile wall mount.

Three HDMI ports allow several digital video devices to be connected simultaneously, with one port on the television's side for quick access. Two USB ports have support for displaying AVI and JPG files and playing MP3 files — we connected a Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drive and were able to play back a variety of video formats including DivX videos. Older video players can be attached using the VGA, composite and component connectors, while a coaxial output can transfer digital audio to a compatible A/V receiver — we were disappointed that no optical digital audio output was included.

The LCD panel of the Kogan ELITE LED32 television is not Full HD — a 1366x768 panel is used to keep production costs low, meaning overall resolution is closer to 720p. When supplied with 720p content it displays a clean image with good detail levels. 1080p content also looks good, but we did notice a very small number of downscaling aliasing artefacts in some fast motion scenes. Generally the Kogan ELITE LED32 has good picture quality: colours are accurate in the Cinema preset and the screen's contrast is high enough that only a very small amount of black crush occurs, and bright area detail is generally maintained. For the sub-$800 price tag we were consistently impressed by the Kogan ELITE LED32's image quality when watching broadcast television and 720p video content.

Where the Kogan ELITE LED32 LED television struggles most is in its display of fast motion. We watched some 1080p motor racing video clips and saw a small amount of ghosting in especially fast pans and motion with high contrast — it wasn't an issue for the majority of television viewing, but the occasional instance of it slightly detracted from viewing pleasure. We think a 100Hz frame interpolation mode would significantly cut down on this occurrence.

The Kogan ELITE LED32 television boasts great power consumption figures, with a 5 star energy rating. It uses up to 95 Watts during normal operation — significantly less than the 140W of Samsung's 32in LED-lit TV — but less impressive is the 1W standby power consumption. Thankfully a physical power switch on the television's right side cuts usage to zero.

The Kogan ELITE LED32 television's only real competition is the Samsung UA32B6000, which retails for $1799 — $1000 more than Kogan's product. Image quality from the Kogan's 1366x768 panel isn't as great for Full HD content as Samsung's TV, but with the $1000 saving in mind we were impressed by the Kogan ELITE LED32's performance.

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