oCosmo CE4001

Design and Features
The CE4001 has black bezels that measure 0.5 inches wide around the top and sides, and 1 inch wide on the bottom edge. The brushed-metal texture adds a relatively premium aesthetic to an HDTV in the budget range, even if the bezels are still plastic. You'll find the chrome Ocosmo brand name on the bottom bezel's center, with a visible infrared receiver directly beneath it. The stand swivels 15 degrees in either direction.

View all 5 photos in gallery

The left side of the HDTV, around back, you'll find three HDMI ports, RCA stereo and coaxial audio outputs, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB port. An antenna connector, audio line in, VGA, component, and composite inputs face downward. Buttons for Power, Volume, Channel, Menu, and Select sit on the right edge of the screen.
One of the HDMI ports support MHL, whereas the comparable, bare-bones Toshiba 40L1400U does not. MHL lets you connect your compatible mobile devices to the CE4001 with a single cable that both carries the video signal and power, so you can stream content and media to the screen. MHL also provides power to the older MHL version of the Roku Streaming Stick through the HDMI port. The new HDMI version of the Roku Streaming Stick uses a USB connection for power, but that still occupies one of the two HDMI ports available on the CE4001.
The 9.5-inch black plastic remote feels somewhat flimsy and hollow, with raised rubber buttons in various colors. Despite the relatively busy look and feel of the remote, the direction pad and Volume Up/Down, Channel Up/Down, and Select buttons are easy enough to identify by touch.
Performance
We test HDTVs with a Klein K-10A colorimeter, SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 software, and DisplayMate test patterns. After a basic dark room calibration, we determined that the best settings for the purposes of our testing were Standard picture mode, Brightness at 47, Contrast at 60, and Warm Color Temperature. We measured a peak brightness of 202.86 cd/m² and a black level of 0.06 cd/m² for a 3,381:1 contrast ratio. These are respectable results for a budget-priced HDTV, and they're comparable with our current Editors' Choice in the category, the TCL 48FS4610R Roku TV$449.99 at Dell.

The chart above shows measured color levels as dots and ideal color levels as boxes. The CE4001 displayed some excellent color accuracy in the blues and reds. But whites ran very cool and greens were slightly oversaturated and warm with our calibrated settings, which don't adjust color levels outside of setting the warmest color temperature.
In testing, the overall viewing experience of The Amazing Spider-Man was pleasant on the oCosmo CE4001, with a clear, sharp, and generally vibrant picture. While the reds and blues of Spider-Man's suit looked fairly accurate, if somewhat harsh, skin tones showed some excessive redness, and there was some noticeable green tinting around cheekbones. Changing the color temperature to Normal made little difference in reducing this, and the Cool setting proved to have more of an impact, but at the cost of even more inaccurate overall color. Alley scenes were satisfyingly dark, and shadow details were generally visible except for the darkest objects.
See How We Test HDTVs
The bowling alley scene with The Jesus in The Big Lebowski showed the same excessive redness on the characters' skin tones. Steve Buscemi's usually pallid complexion was especially enlivened by the unbalanced reds, which isn't exactly a desired effect. We didn't notice the green tinting that affected character skin tones in Spider Man, and the viewing experience for this movie was also generally good for a budget HDTV.

Our lag test showed that the oCosmo CE4001 had a 37 millisecond lag time, which is decent for an HDTV in this price range. To compare, the TCL 40FS4610R Roku TV measured a lag time of 30.6 milliseconds. Neither result is as good as you'll find on a dedicated gaming monitor, which can achieve lag times of under ten milliseconds, but even discerning gamers should have little trouble with the CE4001's lag.
Power and Conclusions
Under normal viewing conditions, the CE4001 consumes 48 watts in our calibrated picture mode, which is very good for a 40-inch HDTV. Power consumption can go down to 42 watts when you switch to the Power Saver mode and the picture will remain perfectly watchable, but it disables some of the screen's calibration options. In comparison, the Hisense 40H4 Roku TV$349.99 at Best Buy consumed 60 watts in the same test.
The oCosmo CE4001 is a good budget HDTV that stays under the $400 mark, but it includes scant few features. It offers good picture quality and decent colors, if slightly skewed and oversaturated. The Toshiba 40L1400U slightly improves upon this, but you only get two HDMI ports. For $50 less than both the CE4001 and the 40L1400U, you can pick up the excellent and feature-filled TCL 40FS4610R Roku TV, which remains our Editors' Choice for budget TVs.