Technika is Tesco's own brand of consumer electronics gear. It would be all to easy to dismiss this set as a cheapie that's here only to prove it's still possible to buy a rubbish TV – but we're happy to report that the 42-2030 has two big surprises up its sleeve.
First, it isn't the cheapest we've seen recently. The second, and probably bigger, surprise is that it's not the worst, either. In fact, it's pretty decent.
Surprisingly good performance
True, it's the most basic-looking television imaginable, but it's more nondescript than genuinely ugly, and even the logo's been kept so small as to be almost unnoticeable.
Also, although it's not exactly slim, the Technika isn't massive either, and it has a handful of connections facing sideways for easy access even when wall mounted.
However, while the design is far from an affront to the senses, the menu system doesn't get off so lightly thanks to its mess of primary colours and MS-DOS-quality fonts.
Still, thanks to a spec that's short on processing modes and options, you'll need to spend only minimal time looking at them.
Besides, far more importantly, when you plug a Blu-ray player into one of the three HDMI inputs and play The Lovely Bones, the Technika produces a very respectable picture.
Struggles with black levels
It does struggle for black depth, which can leave the night scenes looking a touch grey next to the best on test, but colours are impressively balanced and natural, offering-up realistic skin tones and avoiding over-exposure in the LSD-like ‘heaven' scenes.
Detail and definition are also very impressive for the money, although it is true that without any sort of motion processing available the '2030 does struggle a little to maintain those qualities during fast movement.
Having said that, we've seen recent tellies with far worse judder and smear.
The very darkest scenes of The Departed on DVD reveal a smidge of leakage from the four corners of the backlight, but this is minor and doesn't overly detract from a performance with decent detail, stability and balance.
Freeview HD tuner included
Impressively, the Tesco special does have a Freeview HD tuner, but it is more susceptible to poor signals than other comparable TVs.
If you're in a strong signal area this isn't going to be a problem, but if you have any problems receiving standard-definition channels you might find that the HD ones don't work at all.
Assuming you can receive HD, you'll be rewarded with a sharp and vibrant picture, and while there's a touch of in-your-face-ness to the way it handles garish colours on standard-definition channels, the overall delivery is still fairly clean and detailed.
Whatever the source, the speakers deliver a sound that lacks some directness to its midrange, so while vocals aren't as clear as perhaps they could be, they still have reasonable punch: not brilliant, but not bad, either.
And honestly, is there a better way to sum up the Technika? Nope. Three stars it is.
