It's been a
long time since we last found a new Loewe TV on our test benches. The
German brand - pronounced "Lerver" - has, like so many other TV brands
recently, had to undergo a major restructuring operation that's taken
rather longer to complete than its new owners had hoped.
It has, though, finally emerged from its enforced hibernation. And with the Connect 55 it's come out fighting.
The headline news is the fact that every model in Loewe's four-series strong new range of TVs sports a native 4K UHD resolution. This is a startlingly forward-thinking policy for a relatively small brand like Loewe to adopt - though it's probably also a necessary one.
It's pretty clear that HD TVs have already essentially become budget TVs in the eyes of most manufacturers, so it could have been awkward to say the least if we'd found Loewe trying to sell an HD TV at a premium price.
For yes, Loewe is a brand known for selling its kit at a premium price.
Its luxurious and often customisable designs together with its focus on creating AV ecosystems of interconnected, aesthetically complimentary products are not compatible with the ultra-aggressive price wars ravaging the shelves of the big electrical retailers for the past few years.
But there's no harm in that so far as I'm concerned; it would be a dull old world out there if there weren't brands like Loewe out there injecting a little variety into the TV industry's fringes.
Sure, you can get 55-inch UHD TVs for less than half that much these days, but the Connect 55 isn't just another 55-inch UHD TV.
As ever it boasts a seriously opulent design and some outstanding build quality that looks and feels far removed from the plasticky finish of the majority of today's TVs.
The Connect 55 separates itself out from the TV mainstream, too, by including what's effectively a built-in speaker bar along its bottom edge, and offering a fair degree of customisation in its design.
The core TV chassis comes in three colour options: black frame with black frame detail and black speaker section; black frame with cappuccino frame detail and cappuccino speaker section; and black frame with silver frame detail and silver speaker section.
Probably my favourite option, though, is the optional colour kit that converts the speaker cover and frame details to a striking Petrol Blue colour.
As if this wasn't enough, you can also buy a colour kit that lets you switch between the various speaker cover and detail colours at will should you fancy changing your TV's look to suit the season or your mood.
Dragging our attention away from the Connect 55's glamorous and flexible exterior to check out what's going on inside reveals more mostly good news.
As discussed already, the 55-inch screen squeezes in a 3840x2160 '4K UHD' native resolution. It also uses an edge LED lighting system driven by local dimming to boost contrast, and pictures should benefit from the latest generation of Loewe's Image+ processing - a system that has impressed in previous incarnations.
The sound bar built into the TV - along with Loewe's strong heritage with TV audio - promises more potent sound than we customarily hear from TVs.
Impressively the TV also sports a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder so that you can easily add a set of external surround sound speakers.
Perhaps best of all the Connect 55 carries a built-in 1TB hard disk video recorder able to hold hundreds of hours of recordings from the built-in Freeview HD tuner. The recorder simply stores the incoming digital streams, too, so there's no loss of quality, and the interface for making and finding recordings is well-designed and friendly.
Menus are much easier to navigate than the crushed-up efforts of Loewe's previous generation, and there are some great signs of joined up thinking in the way some menus provide links to other related menus and content options.
You can even set up your own customised page of favourite TV channel icons - ideal, for instance, for bringing the Freeview HD channels up to the top of the list. It's handy, too, that there are reasonably useful onscreen explanations for all of the TV's features that pop up when you highlight a feature in the menus.
The full-screen menu design lacks the elegance of overlaid systems like LG's webOS and Samsung's Tizen, but it gets the job done.
There is a significant weakness with Loewe's Smart TV features though, namely that they're severely lacking in online content options. At the time of writing there are no apps for any of the main TV catch up services - including the BBC iPlayer - and there are similarly no apps for either Netflix or Amazon.
But you still can't ignore the fact that almost every other TV in the UK DOES offer such video streaming features built in.
Also, no affordable, mass market external streaming boxes currently support the 4K UHD streams from Netflix and Amazon, whereas support for these key 4K sources is now built into almost all rival 4K TVs now.
For the record I should add that the Connect 55 also doesn't support high dynamic range (HDR) playback. Though nor do the vast majority of other TVs currently available, and it's also important to stress that no HDR content at all is currently available.
The Connect 55 does support 3D playback, though unfortunately you don't get any 3D glasses included for free, and I wasn't sent any to use for this test.
It has, though, finally emerged from its enforced hibernation. And with the Connect 55 it's come out fighting.
The headline news is the fact that every model in Loewe's four-series strong new range of TVs sports a native 4K UHD resolution. This is a startlingly forward-thinking policy for a relatively small brand like Loewe to adopt - though it's probably also a necessary one.
It's pretty clear that HD TVs have already essentially become budget TVs in the eyes of most manufacturers, so it could have been awkward to say the least if we'd found Loewe trying to sell an HD TV at a premium price.
For yes, Loewe is a brand known for selling its kit at a premium price.
Its luxurious and often customisable designs together with its focus on creating AV ecosystems of interconnected, aesthetically complimentary products are not compatible with the ultra-aggressive price wars ravaging the shelves of the big electrical retailers for the past few years.
But there's no harm in that so far as I'm concerned; it would be a dull old world out there if there weren't brands like Loewe out there injecting a little variety into the TV industry's fringes.
A question of price
Having said all that, with a starting price of £2,800 the Connect 55 (as is Loewe's custom, it carries the same name as Loewe's previous TV mid-range) is actually not as expensive as previous Loewe experience would have led me to expect.Sure, you can get 55-inch UHD TVs for less than half that much these days, but the Connect 55 isn't just another 55-inch UHD TV.
As ever it boasts a seriously opulent design and some outstanding build quality that looks and feels far removed from the plasticky finish of the majority of today's TVs.
The Connect 55 separates itself out from the TV mainstream, too, by including what's effectively a built-in speaker bar along its bottom edge, and offering a fair degree of customisation in its design.
Customisable design
There are a series of stand options, for instance, including a cool-looking pole floor mount, an even more startling floor-to-ceiling pole mount, and even Loewe-designed furniture options. Plus there are a few colour options to play with.The core TV chassis comes in three colour options: black frame with black frame detail and black speaker section; black frame with cappuccino frame detail and cappuccino speaker section; and black frame with silver frame detail and silver speaker section.
Probably my favourite option, though, is the optional colour kit that converts the speaker cover and frame details to a striking Petrol Blue colour.
As if this wasn't enough, you can also buy a colour kit that lets you switch between the various speaker cover and detail colours at will should you fancy changing your TV's look to suit the season or your mood.
Dragging our attention away from the Connect 55's glamorous and flexible exterior to check out what's going on inside reveals more mostly good news.
As discussed already, the 55-inch screen squeezes in a 3840x2160 '4K UHD' native resolution. It also uses an edge LED lighting system driven by local dimming to boost contrast, and pictures should benefit from the latest generation of Loewe's Image+ processing - a system that has impressed in previous incarnations.
The sound bar built into the TV - along with Loewe's strong heritage with TV audio - promises more potent sound than we customarily hear from TVs.
Impressively the TV also sports a built-in Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder so that you can easily add a set of external surround sound speakers.
Perhaps best of all the Connect 55 carries a built-in 1TB hard disk video recorder able to hold hundreds of hours of recordings from the built-in Freeview HD tuner. The recorder simply stores the incoming digital streams, too, so there's no loss of quality, and the interface for making and finding recordings is well-designed and friendly.
Interface and smart features
Loewe has revamped its menu design for its new TVs, and for the most part it's a revamp for the better.Menus are much easier to navigate than the crushed-up efforts of Loewe's previous generation, and there are some great signs of joined up thinking in the way some menus provide links to other related menus and content options.
You can even set up your own customised page of favourite TV channel icons - ideal, for instance, for bringing the Freeview HD channels up to the top of the list. It's handy, too, that there are reasonably useful onscreen explanations for all of the TV's features that pop up when you highlight a feature in the menus.
The full-screen menu design lacks the elegance of overlaid systems like LG's webOS and Samsung's Tizen, but it gets the job done.
There is a significant weakness with Loewe's Smart TV features though, namely that they're severely lacking in online content options. At the time of writing there are no apps for any of the main TV catch up services - including the BBC iPlayer - and there are similarly no apps for either Netflix or Amazon.
No 4K streaming support
Loewe claims this isn't really that big a deal as you can get plenty of relatively affordable external set-top boxes that offer such functionality.But you still can't ignore the fact that almost every other TV in the UK DOES offer such video streaming features built in.
Also, no affordable, mass market external streaming boxes currently support the 4K UHD streams from Netflix and Amazon, whereas support for these key 4K sources is now built into almost all rival 4K TVs now.
For the record I should add that the Connect 55 also doesn't support high dynamic range (HDR) playback. Though nor do the vast majority of other TVs currently available, and it's also important to stress that no HDR content at all is currently available.
The Connect 55 does support 3D playback, though unfortunately you don't get any 3D glasses included for free, and I wasn't sent any to use for this test.
For much
of the time, the Connect 55's pictures exude high end quality, thanks
primarily to an exceptional picture processing engine.
There has been a tendency in the past for the German brand to be a little too overenthusiastic with their picture processing, but here it's got the balance just about spot on. Especially if you're prepared to put in at least a little legwork to optimise the performance with different source types.
The Image+ system does a great job of enhancing the sense of detail in both 4K UHD and upscaled HD images, for instance, really selling the advantages of the native UHD screen resolution. Image+ also proves a confident handler of motion, doing a strong job of making sure the image's extreme clarity isn't spoiled by serious motion blur or judder.
Yet another reason to keep Image+ switched on (you can turn it off if you really want to) is that it helps the Connect 55 deliver its optimum contrast performance.
Oddly I couldn't manage to achieve manually quite such a winning balance between black level response and shadow detail as the Image+ system delivered. Its results still aren't perfect - as I'll explain later - but with Image+ active the Connect 55 produces an at least very respectable black level performance to underpin its images.
Inevitably this causes some of the subtlest details in dark scenes to disappear from the image, but the Connect 55 is hardly alone in this in the LCD world, and actually it clings on to shadow details better than most non-HDR rivals.
Yet another strength of Loewe's processing is its colour handling.
Tones look natural, as vibrant as they feasibly could given the screen's slight brightness shortcoming, and full of the sort of subtle blends and tones that always distinguish premium TVs from average ones. The tonal accuracy on show underlines the sense of detail in the 4K UHD picture too, as well as creating a lovely sense of solidity and richness.
During dark scenes it's common to spot some areas of the picture that look brighter than others, producing a cloud-like effect. This isn't just restricted to the image's corners either, as it sometimes can be on edge LED TVs; some of the clouds appear in quite central areas too, where their potential for distraction is higher.
As noted earlier, the Image+ engine does a solid job of minimising the clouding problem, especially if used in conjunction with Loewe's 'OPC' feature, which adjusts the image according to the ambient light levels in your room.
But no setting, or combination of settings, got rid of the clouding quite as fully as I would have liked.
Watching dark scenes on the Connect 55 uncovered another slight irritation to onscreen reflections. Part of the Connect 55's glamorous design involves a sheet of glass running across the screen, but while this looks great it does have a habit of picking up bright objects in your room with an almost mirror-like intensity.
And as with the backlight clouding, whenever you're aware of any such reflections you'll feel less immersed in what you're watching.
Overall it must be stressed that for the majority of the time the Connect 55 produces gorgeous, hugely watchable UHD pictures that move beyond anything Loewe has shown us before.
But if you're a serious film fan, at least, you may find yourself distracted from some scenes by the Connect 55's slight light control issues.
There has been a tendency in the past for the German brand to be a little too overenthusiastic with their picture processing, but here it's got the balance just about spot on. Especially if you're prepared to put in at least a little legwork to optimise the performance with different source types.
The Image+ system does a great job of enhancing the sense of detail in both 4K UHD and upscaled HD images, for instance, really selling the advantages of the native UHD screen resolution. Image+ also proves a confident handler of motion, doing a strong job of making sure the image's extreme clarity isn't spoiled by serious motion blur or judder.
Yet another reason to keep Image+ switched on (you can turn it off if you really want to) is that it helps the Connect 55 deliver its optimum contrast performance.
Oddly I couldn't manage to achieve manually quite such a winning balance between black level response and shadow detail as the Image+ system delivered. Its results still aren't perfect - as I'll explain later - but with Image+ active the Connect 55 produces an at least very respectable black level performance to underpin its images.
Good contrast - mostly
These black levels combine with a reasonable amount of brightness to produce a pretty strong contrast performance - though given that you can get Samsung's UE55JS9000 (an extremely bright, HDR-capable model) for around the same price as the Connect 55, I'm duty bound to point out that Loewe's set has to remove quite a bit of brightness from its pictures in order to deliver its best black level performance.Inevitably this causes some of the subtlest details in dark scenes to disappear from the image, but the Connect 55 is hardly alone in this in the LCD world, and actually it clings on to shadow details better than most non-HDR rivals.
Yet another strength of Loewe's processing is its colour handling.
Tones look natural, as vibrant as they feasibly could given the screen's slight brightness shortcoming, and full of the sort of subtle blends and tones that always distinguish premium TVs from average ones. The tonal accuracy on show underlines the sense of detail in the 4K UHD picture too, as well as creating a lovely sense of solidity and richness.
Dark scene problems
While there are many things to like about the Connect 55's pictures, though, they are let down by one sometimes distracting flaw: backlight clouding.During dark scenes it's common to spot some areas of the picture that look brighter than others, producing a cloud-like effect. This isn't just restricted to the image's corners either, as it sometimes can be on edge LED TVs; some of the clouds appear in quite central areas too, where their potential for distraction is higher.
As noted earlier, the Image+ engine does a solid job of minimising the clouding problem, especially if used in conjunction with Loewe's 'OPC' feature, which adjusts the image according to the ambient light levels in your room.
But no setting, or combination of settings, got rid of the clouding quite as fully as I would have liked.
Watching dark scenes on the Connect 55 uncovered another slight irritation to onscreen reflections. Part of the Connect 55's glamorous design involves a sheet of glass running across the screen, but while this looks great it does have a habit of picking up bright objects in your room with an almost mirror-like intensity.
And as with the backlight clouding, whenever you're aware of any such reflections you'll feel less immersed in what you're watching.
Overall it must be stressed that for the majority of the time the Connect 55 produces gorgeous, hugely watchable UHD pictures that move beyond anything Loewe has shown us before.
But if you're a serious film fan, at least, you may find yourself distracted from some scenes by the Connect 55's slight light control issues.
The Connect 55 is much more logical to use than Loewe's previous few TV generations.
Its menus make good use of graphics and large text, and contain some logical links to other features and menus that make the menus almost feel like web pages at times.
Another friendly touch is the way you and other members of your household can set up your own home pages, containing links to your favourite TV channels and apps. Though obviously this good idea is reduced in its usefulness by Loewe's lack of video streaming apps.
There is something a bit old-fashioned about the way Loewe's menus take over the whole screen rather than being overlaid over the picture.
Also I'm not a great fan of Loewe's remote control.
It looks elegant and its cold, heavy metallic body feels lovely in the hand, but the layout isn't helpful at all. Some of the important buttons are really quite tiny, and it offers none of the 'point and click' or touchpad smart control options now offered with most rival premium TVs.
The sound isn't quite as direct and impactful as that of one or two rival TVs though - as well as some previous Loewe TVs we've heard - and also occasionally suffers with some unexpected distortions when pushed really hard.
The Loewe's lack of built-in video streaming options - including any 4K services - is also exposed by comparisons with the smart TV services of all the big-name brands this year.
The Connect 55 does deliver mostly excellent picture quality, though.
While it might not tick all the boxes for forward thinking AV fans, its gorgeous build quality, customisable design and built-in hard disk recorder will and should find it a devoted audience more than willing to pay a premium for its unique attractions.
There's a lot riding on the Connect 55 for Loewe's new owners.
After a prolonged absence from a fast-paced TV market the German brand really needs to hit the ground running. Fortunately, for the most part the Connect 55 does exactly that.
Its design is both attractive and beautifully built, as well as offering Loewe's trademark customisation options. Its pictures meet the latest 4K UHD resolution requirement and are often first rate too, and its built-in HDD recorder is a great feature.
Some backlight clouding issues and a very limited number of video streaming services take a little shine off Loewe's big return, but the Connect 55 still does more than enough things right overall to convince me that Loewe is well positioned to re-establish itself as a vibrant if niche force in the UK TV marketplace.
Loewe's video processing system is one of the best around too, and if you're not a Sky or Virgin subscriber you will likely get plenty of use out of its well-implemented built-in recording features.
The set also carries hardly any useful video streaming services and zero built-in 4K streaming options.
Finally, spending the same sort of money elsewhere could also get you a few other cutting edge features, such as HDR support.
Overall, though, the new Connect 55 is a mostly very welcome return to the UK TV scene by Loewe, showing off a new, more forward thinking and price-sensitive approach by the German brand while still delivering plenty of the beloved old Loewe DNA.
Its menus make good use of graphics and large text, and contain some logical links to other features and menus that make the menus almost feel like web pages at times.
Another friendly touch is the way you and other members of your household can set up your own home pages, containing links to your favourite TV channels and apps. Though obviously this good idea is reduced in its usefulness by Loewe's lack of video streaming apps.
There is something a bit old-fashioned about the way Loewe's menus take over the whole screen rather than being overlaid over the picture.
Also I'm not a great fan of Loewe's remote control.
It looks elegant and its cold, heavy metallic body feels lovely in the hand, but the layout isn't helpful at all. Some of the important buttons are really quite tiny, and it offers none of the 'point and click' or touchpad smart control options now offered with most rival premium TVs.
Sound Quality
There's plenty of power on hand to push the Connect 55's sound far beyond the physical confines of the TV, helping to immerse you in the action, and the speakers deliver a wider dynamic range than most. There's punchy bass at one end, good amounts of treble detail at the other, and an impressively open mid-range that leaves plenty of space most of the time for voices to sound rich and clear.The sound isn't quite as direct and impactful as that of one or two rival TVs though - as well as some previous Loewe TVs we've heard - and also occasionally suffers with some unexpected distortions when pushed really hard.
Value
The Connect 55's price puts it up against some pretty stiff competition this year - especially Samsung's 55-inch UE55JS9000, with its high brightness panel, wide colour gamut technology, and most significantly, high dynamic range support.The Loewe's lack of built-in video streaming options - including any 4K services - is also exposed by comparisons with the smart TV services of all the big-name brands this year.
The Connect 55 does deliver mostly excellent picture quality, though.
While it might not tick all the boxes for forward thinking AV fans, its gorgeous build quality, customisable design and built-in hard disk recorder will and should find it a devoted audience more than willing to pay a premium for its unique attractions.
There's a lot riding on the Connect 55 for Loewe's new owners.
After a prolonged absence from a fast-paced TV market the German brand really needs to hit the ground running. Fortunately, for the most part the Connect 55 does exactly that.
Its design is both attractive and beautifully built, as well as offering Loewe's trademark customisation options. Its pictures meet the latest 4K UHD resolution requirement and are often first rate too, and its built-in HDD recorder is a great feature.
Some backlight clouding issues and a very limited number of video streaming services take a little shine off Loewe's big return, but the Connect 55 still does more than enough things right overall to convince me that Loewe is well positioned to re-establish itself as a vibrant if niche force in the UK TV marketplace.
We liked
The set is beautifully built and elegantly designed, and also supports a good range of customisation in its colour schemes and stand designs.Loewe's video processing system is one of the best around too, and if you're not a Sky or Virgin subscriber you will likely get plenty of use out of its well-implemented built-in recording features.
We disliked
Dark scenes suffer a little backlight clouding, and the screen is also reflective of bright objects in your room.The set also carries hardly any useful video streaming services and zero built-in 4K streaming options.
Finally, spending the same sort of money elsewhere could also get you a few other cutting edge features, such as HDR support.
Verdict
The Connect 55's picture quality is only very good rather than excellent, and it's a shame its smart TV platform doesn't include any of the most important video streaming platforms.Overall, though, the new Connect 55 is a mostly very welcome return to the UK TV scene by Loewe, showing off a new, more forward thinking and price-sensitive approach by the German brand while still delivering plenty of the beloved old Loewe DNA.
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