If a movie fan were to dream of the perfect home cinema screen, it would probably resemble Panasonic's new TH-65PX600 plasma TV. For starters, there's its size: 65in from corner to corner. Next, there's its resolution: 1920 x 1080. In other words, it's Panasonic's very first 'full HD' plasma TV.

Then there are its three HDMIs. This should be enough to cover all your high-quality connection needs for the near future. Especially since all these HDMIs can take 1080p sources.

Another key element in the TH-65PX600's home cinema appeal is the V-Real image processing system. This sophisticated operation continually assesses incoming images and automatically manipulates a wide selection of image variables – such as colour tone, contrast levels, and noise reduction routines – to ensure the final picture always looks as good as possible.

Panasonic TH-65PX600

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Humax has produced some of the more successful PVRs over the last year so it's no real surprise to see the name behind the feature-rich LP32-TDR1. This 32" LCD is most notable for the inclusion of a built in PVR sporting a generous 160GB hard drive and room for up to 100 hours of stored content.

Combining two such devices (three if you count the built in Freeview tuner) is undoubtedly a good idea, and one that will most likely be copied by a range of rival manufacturers in the not too distant future. Focusing initially on the TDR1's capabilities as an LCD television, you'll find a pretty straightforward setup procedure to configure digital and analogue channels and populate a channel list. Quality on these standard definition formats, especially from the digital tuner, is very impressive from a manufacturer not renowned for its success in this area.

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Humax has produced some of the more successful PVRs over the last year so it's no real surprise to see the name behind the feature-rich LP32-TDR1. This 32" LCD is most notable for the inclusion of a built in PVR sporting a generous 160GB hard drive and room for up to 100 hours of stored content.

Combining two such devices (three if you count the built in Freeview tuner) is undoubtedly a good idea, and one that will most likely be copied by a range of rival manufacturers in the not too distant future. Focusing initially on the TDR1's capabilities as an LCD television, you'll find a pretty straightforward setup procedure to configure digital and analogue channels and populate a channel list. Quality on these standard definition formats, especially from the digital tuner, is very impressive from a manufacturer not renowned for its success in this area.

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Samsung's recent assault on the plasma and LCD market certainly seems to be causing some waves. The R87 is the "value" range from the LCD corner (being that it doesn't support 1080p), and we got our hands on the 26" model to see how smaller sizes perform for less demanding home users or those who want a second TV for another room.

The majority of the Samsung line follows a similar style in terms of design, with a distinctive piano black finish and chrome lined circular power control amidst the covered under-mounted speakers. It's pretty stylish by modern standards, and comes with a swivel stand that adds a bit of versatility. You'll find a DTV tuner built-in and it's quite a straightforward process to tune this and the analogue tuner in to populate a channel list. Samsung's EPG is particularly impressive, offering an adjustable transparent channel guide, a "now and next" list and a full guide that makes it easy to view and select programmes.

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We can't deny the buzz of excitement when a Panasonic plasma TV winds up on our test benches. The company's standards have long been so high it seems unimaginable that it might make a bad one.

This situation is reinforced by the superb new 42-inch TH-42PX700 but as we'll see, it's not necessarily a TV we can wholeheartedly recommend. Confused? All will become clear…

But let's start at the beginning, with the 42PX700's pretty combination of a gloss black screen surround and silver undersection. This silver part sets the 42PX700 apart aesthetically from Panasonic's entry-level all-black PX70 models.

The same undersection also contains another PX700 advantage over the PX70 range with a slot capable of taking either SD or SDHC (high capacity) cards, for showing digital photos.

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Having tried its hand at full HD with some success with the XD1E models, Sharp is now having its first stab at another en vogue picture-boosting technology: 100Hz.
As you may recall from reviews we’ve carried of other TVs carrying this technology, such as Toshiba’s WLT68 models and Panasonic’s new LXD70 LCDs, 100Hz uses processing to double the picture’s refresh rate. Originally designed to counter flicker with old CRT technology, it’s now used in the LCD world in a bid to tackle problems with motion blur, where difficulties in making LCD pixels cycle fast enough can cause moving objects to lose resolution as they pass across the screen.

So far, we’re pleased to say, we’ve found the 100Hz approach to work pretty well, making moving objects look clearer without throwing up the sort of processing side effects that used to plague some CRT 100Hz incarnations.


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The TH-50PZ750U is in Panasonic's first group of 50" 1080p consumer plasma televisions. There is even a 50" model in the 700 series that offers fewer features than the set we're reviewing here, but costs $500 less.

So, at $3,999, the TH-50PZ750U isn't quite the least expensive 1920 x 1080 plasma of its size. Of course, its only real competitor as of now is the Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1, listing at $8,000 but widely available for under $6,000.

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Perhaps not since the industrial revolution has rapid technological growth been as commonplace as it is in today’s red-hot flat-panel HDTV marketplace. Less than five years ago, a 42-inch plasma was a $20,000 toy only for the wealthiest. Today, seemingly anyone and everyone with a club is heading down to Costco, Sam’s Club and any number of mass market retailers to buy a big, beautiful, flat HDTV for prices that seem impossibly low. Leading this “video for the people” movement is, without question, Vizio.


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A 42in HD Ready TV from one of the flat TV world’s most respected brands costing just £650? What’s not to like, for heaven’s sake? Um, quite a lot, actually…

The uncertainties about Philips’ 42PF5521D start to gather as soon as you clap eyes on it. For while it’s not exactly ugly, there’s no doubt that the brash contrast of deep black screen frame with slightly cheap-looking silver speaker section certainly lacks the refinement and build quality of many TV rivals these days. Still, we guess we can live with aesthetic compromises for £650, provided the performance quality turns out to be there.

The set’s connections are mixed too. The provision of two HDMIs seems actually pretty generous, but the gloss is taken off this by the fact that there’s no dedicated analogue PC interface, meaning that one of the HDMIs has to do double duty as a digital PC input as well as a jack for HDMI video sources.

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