Philips has been known for producing some of the most dramatic and awe-inspiring screens in the HD business, in large due to the impact of its patented ambilight technology.

It’s been refined since though, and although the on-test 47PFL96 only utilises a two channel effect it’s just as dramatic.

This is mainly down to the refinement of the design, which now uses LED lighting to not only make colour selection more adaptable, but save on power as well.

The results are quite fantastic; this is still one of the best technologies we’ve ever seen for enhancing the already impressive audio and video quality available with HD.

Continue Reading…

It might only be December 15th as we’re writing this review, but for us, Christmas has come early. For sat imperiously on our test benches is something we’ve been frankly desperate to get our hands on for months: the first of Pioneer’s KURO plasma TVs with a full HD resolution.

And now that the LX608D is finally here, first impressions suggest that it isn’t going to disappoint. For starters, there’s the sheer size of the thing; with its 60in screen it’s an attention-seeking behemoth reminiscent of that black monolith at the start of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sadly we can’t say for sure if its presence in our test rooms is having any beneficial effect on our brains in the same way the monolith boosts the mental abilities of 2001’s apemen. But you never know. Maybe you’ll find this review even more intellectually rigorous than usual.

Continue Reading…

LG tends to stand a step or two behind the front runners when it comes to performance on its range of televisions, but you have to give it points for effort with a new range of LCDs offering full 1080p HD quality.

The 42-inch screen on test is the largest in the LF range, and certainly looks pretty stylish with a sleek black finish and slim build.

It also offers a few interesting features, including a Simplink AV control that allows you to access (albeit limited) functionality of other components connected to your system, such as a DVD player and surround sound, and 3D surround max sound technology to offer pseudo-surround.

The controls and functionality of the display, both in terms of the remote and on-screen menus are fairly basic, but this does make the television pretty easy to set up and configure. This is a good thing when you consider that the instruction manual, which weighs almost as much as the TV itself, is all but useless.

Continue Reading…

Today is a good day to be my back. Just for once I’ve been able to take a break from hoicking around the sort of monstrously large TVs that seem to be all the rage these days in favour of something you can easily tuck under your arm.

That ‘something’ is the Humax LGB-19DTT: a 19in LCD TV which, despite its smallness and low £240 cost, boasts a built-in digital tuner and HD Ready specification. In other words, it has the potential to be a pretty much perfect option for a kitchen, study, bedroom or child’s room. All that it needs to do to finish the job is perform well.

Considering how affordable it is, the 19DTT is rather good-looking by small TV standards. Its combination of a matt black bezel with a silver outer trim and shiny silver strip running along near the bottom edge resembles the current fashion among large LCD TVs right now, and is certainly a cut above the cheapo grey plastic adorned by many of its rivals. What’s more, if you don’t fancy the black version I tested, the set is also available in white or pink (!) versions at no extra cost.

Continue Reading…

With so many big screens with similar model names in its massive flat TV range these days, you could be forgiven for not even noticing that Samsung has now added the LE52F96BD to its big-screen offering. But this would be a mighty shame, for the reality is that this TV is anything but ‘more of the same’ from the Korean mega-brand. In fact, it’s arguably the most revolutionary LCD TV that’s so far passed through our doors. Honestly; we’re not just exaggerating in some desperate bid to keep you reading right to the end of the review (for a change?!). Its genuinely ground-breaking nature is just a simple fact, no more, no less.

Essentially, it’s all about the backlight. Now when you put it like this, I’ll grant you that this Samsung’s ‘big feature’ doesn’t sound all that exciting. But maybe if we point out that normal LCD TVs’ static, constantly on backlights are responsible for the vast majority of problems LCD technology has with showing video, then you might start to get an inkling of where we’re headed.

Take, for instance, normal LCD technology’s problems reproducing a convincing black level response. This is largely down to the fact that the need to keep a single backlight shining at all times means that even pixels that should be dark end up with a bit of the backlight creeping into them, resulting in the greying over effect we so commonly talk about in our reviews.

Continue Reading…

Even in today’s world of plummeting prices and cut-throat competition, LG’s 37LF66 looks, on the surface at least, to be something a little bit special. For despite being readily available online for under £600, it offers a very respectable 37in screen size together with the sort of features and specifications that you’d be happy to find on a similarly sized TV costing twice as much.

Getting the ball rolling nicely is the TV’s very attractive design. Yes, the glossy black bezel isn’t particularly innovative, but there’s enough class in the TV’s subtle sculpting to make it stand out. Plus the glossiness of the finish seems that bit more, well, ‘twinkly’ than usual. And you can’t beat a bit of twinkle, can you?

The set’s connections belie its remarkably low price, too, by placing alongside such likeables as a PC port, SCARTs, a component video input and a digital audio output, two HDMIs that can handle the 1080p/24fps format now delivered from the better HD DVD and Blu-ray players out there.

Continue Reading…

Despite the fact that Panasonic is best known for its excellent plasma TVs, the company also does a nice line in LCD screens too. However, Panasonic does things differently from other TV manufacturers, drawing a definite distinction between its LCD and plasma ranges. Panasonic has always insisted that LCD is good for screen sizes up to 32in, but above that plasma is the better option – until now, that is.

The Viera TX-37LZD70 heralds a departure from Panasonic’s previous stance, in that it’s a 37in LCD TV. There’s a very good reason why Panasonic has upped the maximum screen size for its LCD TVs, and that reason is Full HD. Back in July I reviewed the Panasonic TH-42PZ700B and marvelled at the fact that Panasonic had managed to shrink its plasma chambers enough to squeeze a 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD resolution into a 42in screen. As such, the chances of seeing a 37in Full HD plasma are pretty slim for a while – hence Panasonic’s decision to release a 37in Full HD LCD TV to bridge the gap.

Continue Reading…

There’s been significant buzz on the LCD HDTV front lately, much of it surrounding models with 120-Hz scanning, a feature designed to combat picture lag in fast-motion images. But the arrival of panels that do away with the standard CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent light) backlight in favor of LED lamp arrays is another development that tech-savvy shoppers have been anticipating. Both Samsung and Sony rolled out mega-size versions of such sets in 2007 — and, at $30,000-plus, with mega-size price tags to match. But Samsung’s new LN-T4681F 46-inch model, priced at $3,999, represents a more real-world implementation.

The LED backlight allows Samsung’s 81 Series LCDs (also available with 40-, 52-, and 57-inch screens) to pack a number of notable features. First and foremost is LED SmartLighting, also known as "local dimming." When active, this feature divides the TV’s LED array into zones that can be turned off in areas where dark shadows are being displayed. By selectively shutting off sections in this manner, the TV can achieve deeper blacks than those on models with a CCFL backlight, which is always turned on. Another useful feature of the Samsung is LED Motion Plus, which effectively reduces motion lag in fast-motion images by cycling the eight individual rows in the LED array, sequentially turning each row off and on every eighth of a second.

Continue Reading…

Panasonic has a fierce reputation when it comes to consistently delivering the HDTV goods, but is its 32in TX-32LMD70 LCD TV likely to blot that copybook? Hitting the shelves for a modest £700, and with a stripped-down feature count compared with some same-sized TVs in the manufacturer’s stable, it’ll be interesting to see if its picture performance suffers.

The most noticeable omission from the TX-32LMD70’s feature set is 100Hz processing. We’ve seen this feature work its magic with fast motion footage Panasonic’s TX-32LXD700 and were suitably impressed. Removing 100Hz’s doubled scanning rate should lead to more loss of resolution over moving objects.

Continue Reading…