Televisions

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.

This is yet another 32in LED TV from Toshiba that does the business. Whether specced as the centre-piece of a smallscale surround sound setup or plonked in a second room, it offers a heady mix of thoughtful design, watchable pictures and bonus features. £400 may be more than other 32inchers on the market, but I reckon it’s worthy of the price.

We’re increasingly living in a connected world. Last year, 400 of the world’s 600 million broadband homes deployed home networking technology. By 2015, upwards of 700 million homes will be running local networks. Small wonder then that TV makers have put the pedal to the metal when it comes to making Smart TVs.

Earlier this year, Toshiba announced a slew of upmarket 3D-ready TVs. Dressed in togas, and liberally invoking the god Bacchus, the brand’s senior executives took over the Italian film set used to make Rome, the BBC/HBO co-production, and proclaimed that a legion of advanced tellyboxes brandishing the banner of its new Toshiba Places online portal, would march on the combined rival armies.

Anyone of a certain vintage will fondly recall the ‘Ullo Tosh’ ads of the mid-80s. Inspired by an Alexei Sayle comedy single and voiced by the much-missed Ian Dury, Toshiba’s ‘Blueprint Man’ would extol the virtues of the company’s midi systems and the latest in flatter, squarer TV sets. But none of the copywriters involved in this memorable ad campaign could have foreseen the sophistication that today’s TV sets would reach.