Metz TV range lands in the UK with Roku smarts and tempting prices

Long-running German telly brand Metz is setting up shop in the UK for the first time in its near 90-year history, with an all-new line-up of refreshingly affordable TVs powered by Roku’s slick smart TV OS. The range is made up of two 1080p models and four 4K ones, with prices starting from a bargain-tastic £159 for Full HD and £229 for UHD.

They’re packing Freeview Play across the board, along with all the familiar streaming services and UK catch-up TV. The Roku remote even comes with a bunch of one-button shortcuts for quickly diving into the most popular services. Roku also brings wireless display mirroring, voice assistant support and a smartphone companion app – rarely features you expect from a wallet-friendly set.

Styling isn’t like that of your typical budget TV, either. There are super-skinny screen bezels across the board, with minimal branding and subtle stands that make sure your focus is on what’s happening on screen, not the screen itself.

The Full HD models come in 32in and 40in flavours. They get two HDMI inputs each and use VA panel tech. The 43in, 50in, 55in and 65in 4K models make the switch to IPS panels and get three HDMI 2.0s, with pass-through support for things like Dolby Atmos. All use 60Hz panels, and include a game mode for reduced input lag. The 4K versions all support HDR10 and HLG playback.

Prices for the 4K models start at £229 for the 43in model, rising to £279 for 50in and £449 for 65in. There’s also a 55in, with prices starting at £329. If you’re sticking with Full HD, expect to pay £159 for the 32in and £199 for the 40in set. All comfortably undercut the value-minded competition, and Metz reckons teaming up with Roku also gives it a performance advantage.

As Roku’s software is a lot less power-hungry than rival systems, and each TV is powered by a quad-core CPU (even the entry-level 1080p model), everything should feel snappier out of the box – and stay quick over time too, with regular over-the-air updates handled entirely by Roku. It means you won’t be left twiddling your thumbs when new streaming services launch, either.

First impressions: bargain potential

At an extensive hands-on session ahead of the line-up’s official launch, we got the chance to try out the UI and watch some 4K demo footage to see how Metz is shaping up. While there was no chance of a back-to-back test with an equally affordable rival, we still walked away impressed with the value on offer.

Leaving the interface up to Roku was a smart move: even the 32in 1080p TV felt zippy when jumping between catch-up services and navigating around the home screen menus. Streaming apps like Netflix load quickly enough, and the remote had satisfyingly firm buttons – nothing like the spongey, poorly laid-out zappers we’ve come to expect from certain bargain-priced sets.

There’s not an awful lot in the way of picture options, with just a handful of basic brightness/contrast/colour sliders and noise reduction strength controls. But then cinephiles aren’t exactly the target market, and what is on offer should be enough for those that are mainly interested in getting the largest screen going for their money. Upscaled terrestrial TV might be a weak point, which is true of most tellies without seriously fine-grain image processing.

We’ll withhold final judgment on image quality for now, as we didn’t get to pick the footage being displayed and had no curtains to block out what was an especially sunny day, but when fed a 4K image the larger models certainly looked impressive from a typical sofa’s distance away. The 65in makes sense as a budget-oriented front room-filler, although the 50in looks like the best bang per buck.

The Metz line-up will be going on sale from October, from the usual online and bricks-and-mortar retailers.

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