Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42-inch HDTV launches for $599 SRP

Sceptre has already introduced another 40-inch screen full HDTV this month. The company today has announced the launch of a new HDTV that has a slightly larger 42-inch screen called the X425BV-FHD. The new set is one of the more popular sizes since it will fit in most rooms and offers a larger image. The screen has a native 1080p resolution and has a lot more features as well.


It has four HDMI inputs allowing you to hook up multiple components without running out of space. The screen has integrated ATSC/NTSC/Clear QAM tuners inside. The response time is 8ms for the screen so the image should be clear and lag free. The brightness for the panel is rated at 400 cd/m2. The screen also has a 60Hz refresh rate and SRS TruSurround XT sound.
The internal speakers are 10W x 2 and the set has a 7-band EQ. Other features include a USB 2.0 port for playing audio through the TV speakers and viewing photos, a swiveling base, and a 50,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. The MSRP for the set is $599, but it is on Walmart.com for under $370 making it impressively cheap.

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Samsung PS51D550 Plasma 3D TV Review

Samsung’s Plasma TVs just seem to be going from strength to strength. In view of this, we were eager to check out the Korean manufacturer’s entry-level 1080p Plasma TV for 2011, the PS51D550. A gander at the spec sheets reveals that when compared to the company’s more expensive Plasma Display Panels (PDPs), the D550 is missing the “Smart TV” internet-connected features, the ultra-slim design, and the satellite connectivity. You still get 4 HDMI inputs, the aforementioned 1080p panel, and surprisingly at this price point, 3D capability. Let’s see if we have a big-screen bargain on our hands here…

mportant Notice: Our Samsung PS51D550 review sample (supplied by Simply Electricals) was delivered to us with a bug whereby the [Digital Noise Filter] setting would operate on its highest setting, even when the menu reported it as being “Off”. This often caused a substantial loss of detail with Blu-ray Discs scanned from film, and other high quality HD sources. We reported this problem to Samsung when we noticed it on the company’s other models, but it is particularly damaging on the PS51D550 due to the fact that as a less expensive model, its noise reduction processing (when enabled) is of lower quality. Fortunately, Samsung has since fixed this issue with a firmware update. This review discusses the Samsung PS51D550 running firmware version 1024 which is, the most recent at the time of writing. The corrected firmware is available as a download from Samsung’s web site or via the TV’s own setup menus if it is connected to a home network.

Please ensure you are running the latest firmware (version 1024 or higher) by checking in the Menu > Support > Contact Samsung > Software Version screen, as the improvement in picture quality is dramatic.

Design

The PS51D550 is more simply styled than more expensive models, although like everything Samsung has put out in recent years, the aesthetics of this HDTV are nothing to sniff at. The 51-inch panel is framed by a glossy black bezel which has a rounded border, made of glass-like acrylic. It’s tastefully done and really shouldn’t offend anyone’s design sensibilities.

It’s not as slim as some of Samsung’s higher-up Plasma models, which is what we expected as this price point, so people looking for an HDTV to mount close to their wall might want to go slightly higher-up to the D6900 series (which we’ll be reviewing shortly).

Connections

The Samsung PS51D550 features 4 HDMI inputs, an aerial input to feed the Freeview HD tuner, a shared Composite/Component input (how’s that for two polar opposites of video quality?), a single SCART terminal, and an analogue RGB input for use with computers. There’s also a LAN socket for connecting the TV to a router, although as a cheaper model, the 51D550 doesn’t really have much in the way of internet features. There is no built-in wireless capability on this display, although a Samsung wireless dongle can still be attached to a USB input at additional cost.

Rear: 4 x HDMI, VGA, Component, SCART, aerial, ethernet & audio outs

One thing we noticed was that the PS51D550′s supplied power cable is unusually short. This is going to pose a problem for users wall-mounting the plasma. In fact, even when we reviewed the TV with its table-top stand, we had difficulty in finding a socket to plug it into for this reason.

Operation

The D550 PDP doesn’t feature the newly styled 2011 Samsung menus, but rather the 2010 variant with a font change. That’s fine by us, since they are easy to navigate, and fairly quick to use (although we’d appreciate being able to turn off the transition animations to make things even quicker).

[Picture] menu

The Samsung PS51D550 features all of the basic video controls you’d expect, but lacks the advanced three-axis Colour Management menus present on some more expensive HDTVs from the TV maker, and also features a traditional 2-point Greyscale calibration control rather than the more precise 10-point variant. Neither of these are necessarily problems, unless the PS51D550′s out-of-the-box picture accuracy is lacking (previous Samsung Plasmas have had this problem and have needed adjustment, so, fingers crossed that isn’t the case here). We’ll find out if this is a big oversight in the next section, when we measure and then adjust the D550 plasma for the best possible picture.

2D Calibration

Note: Our Samsung PS51D550 review sample was calibrated using Calman Professional, the industry-leading video calibration software.

2D Mode Greyscale

After we let the 51D550 “break in” for a few hours (with Plasma TVs, the overall tint to the image can change most when new), we changed the picture mode to “Movie” and the [Colour Temperature] to “Warm2″, since these settings usually give the most accurate starting point. We displayed some Greyscale test patterns and used our calibration meter to see how pure they were:

Pre-calibration RGB tracking and delta errors (dEs)

This is a good pre-calibrated result, with the overall Greyscale shades being produced by the Samsung PS51D550 review unit being slightly green-deficient overall. We noticed also that the HDTV ships with its [Contrast] control set too high, which results in pure white tones appearing blue-tinted. We reduced this as part of the calibration process to achieve better neutrality.

Post-calibration RGB tracking and dEs in [Movie] mode

After calibration, we were left with high quality Greyscale tracking. It was difficult to keep the brighter parts of the image free of tints, but fortunately, errors in brighter areas are generally easier to ignore, anyway. A slight excess of red in the dark 10% region was the only (fairly minor) complaint we had left. Higher-end models will be able to avoid this slight inaccuracy with their 10-point White Balance calibration tool.

Gamma curve in [Movie] mode	Corresponding gamma tracking

We were surprised by how accurate the Samsung PS51D550′s Gamma tracking measured, since this is an area where (affordable) Plasmas typically lag behind LCDs. Panasonic’s comparable ST30 entry-level 3D Plasma television presented less accurate brightness distribution compared to this Samsung, during the same measurements. Linear gamma tracking means that the TV will be able to show a smooth, steady gradation from the darkest to the brightest tones in the image, resulting in a subtly more realistic picture. It’s also worth pointing out that the TV’s [Gamma] control can be adjusted in several steps to give a richer or brighter picture; we left it at its default “0″ setting to achieve the above result (2.2).

2D Mode Colour

The Samsung PS51D550 features just two [Colour Space] options: “Auto” and “Native”. “Auto” is the best of the two, with the latter option over-saturating Green (and by extension, Cyan) a little more. The “Auto” mode isn’t perfect, but given the value for money on offer here, we don’t think these small hue and saturation errors will trouble too many people.
We did make minor adjustments to the [Colour] and [Hue] controls to achieve the following results:

Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec.709

Post-calibration colour luminance (coloured bars = targets; black bars = measured values)

3D Calibration

As an entry level model, the PS51D550 doesn’t come supplied with any 3D active-shutter eyewear, but we used a pair of the Samsung SSG-3100 glasses we had to hand to assess this 3DTV’s extra-dimensional capabilities (and also to calibrate it using our Klein K-10 meter).
Like all 2011 Samsung TVs, we were glad to see that the D550 plasma features discrete picture settings for both the 2D and 3D modes. This means that when you start watching 3D content, the TV switches to a different picture mode (which we can optimise for 3D) automatically, and then switches back when you return to 2D. This is good user interface design.
We pulled out our disc of 3D test patterns, and with the 3D glasses turned on and attached to our meter, we measured Greyscale neutrality:

3D Mode Greyscale

3D Pre-calibration RGB tracking and delta errors (dEs)

Greyscale tracking looked promising in the early stages of measurement, but as we progressed through the different brightness levels, we soon saw the PS51D550 adding far too much blue to brighter shades. Perhaps this is a deliberate ploy on Samsung’s part to make the image seem superficially brighter? The glasses themselves add a cold blue tint to the image, so we knew that we would have to increase the amount of red to compensate during calibration.

3D Post-calibration RGB tracking and dEs in [Movie] mode

We managed to make a tremendous improvement to the 3-dimensional image neutrality by compensating for the 3D glasses’ own colour tint. We were stuck with a mysterious excess of red in the 30% and 40% stimulus levels, but we were happy to tolerate this remaining limitation given how overly blue the image was before we calibrated the 3D TV.

3D Mode Colour

Colour was acceptable in the third dimension, although the green primary was oversaturated compared to the Rec.709 HDTV standard. This isn’t an area that greatly concerns us at present, since there is so little 3D content – and so much of it is animated. That’s not to say that animated films don’t deserve accurate representation (we’re sure the artists who work hard on them wouldn’t be happy if we took that attitude!), but simply to say that we don’t expect the same level of realism from them.

3D Post-calibration CIE chart with reference to HD Rec.709

3D Post-calibration colour luminance (coloured bars = targets; black bars = measured values)

Benchmark Test Results

Dead pixels	One purple in top-right; one sometimes black in top-centre
Screen uniformity	Perfect
Overscanning on HDMI	0% with aspect ratio set to “Screen Fit”
Blacker than black	Passed
Calibrated black level in cd/m2 (black screen)	0.06 (24p Cinema Smooth); 0.04 (60hz); 0.066 (50hz)
Calibrated black level in cd/m2 (ANSI)	0.07 (24p Cinema Smooth); 0.057 (60hz); 0.074 (50hz)
Black level retention	No instability noted
Primary chromaticity	Very Good
Scaling	Poor (576i), Average (576p)
Video mode deinterlacing	Very effective jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing	Passed 2-2 PAL and 3-2 NTSC tests
Viewing angle	Perfect (Plasma)
Motion resolution	900
Digital noise reduction	Present, optional, see note at beginning of review
Sharpness	Defeatable edge enhancement
Luma/Chroma bandwidth (2D Blu-ray)	Full Luma, Chroma horizontally blurred
Image retention	Yes, but fades quickly
Posterization	Very small “hardened” edges during fast motion
Phosphor trails	Very mild
1080p/24 capability	No judder in 2D or 3D
Input lag	16ms on HDMI1 input set to “PC”, 31ms otherwise
Full 4:4:4 reproduction (PC)	Yes, on HDMI1 input set to “PC” or “DVI PC” only

Power Consumption

Default [Standard] mode (2D)	212 watts
Default [Standard] mode (3D)	284 watts
Calibrated [Movie] mode (2D)	212 watts
Calibrated [Movie] mode (3D)	288 watts
Standby	1 watt

Measurements taken with full 50% grey screen.

Picture Performance

Black Level

When we viewed the Samsung PS51D550 in a darkened room, we could tell that the darkness of its blacks wasn’t up to the market-leading standards of the Panasonic Plasma TVs, although we weren’t really troubled by the image on offer. In other words, the black level quality was adequate, although not class-leading. Imagine our delight when we used our Klein K-10 meter to get the hard data on the PS51D550′s black level quality, and found that it performed almost identically to Samsung’s top-end Plasma TV for 2011, the D8000. The PS51D8000 did manage to retain black levels during the mixed white/black ANSI checkerboard test, however, although the differences are negligible in real world usage.
As usual for Samsung Plasmas, the depth of the blacks depends on the type of content you are watching, with the darkest blacks coming from US (and Korea)-centric 60hz signals, and the worst coming from European-standard 50hz (24p Blu-ray content sits right in the middle). The reason for this is to avoid flicker. 60hz is high enough to be output by the screen at 60hz, whereas 50hz output would produce too much flicker, so is output at 100hz, with each frame from the source being flashed up on the screen twice before the panel begins drawing the next frame. Likewise, 24hz film content would be intolerable if it were output at 24hz, so the PS51D550 outputs these signals at a higher rate. With Samsung’s Plasma design, the higher the refresh rate, the lighter the blacks.
As a film lover, I’m personally most concerned about the black level in the 24p mode, since this is the frame rate delivered by a Blu-ray player. The 0.06 cd/m² blacks with 24p film content didn’t really disappoint. 0.06 cd/m² is similar to the black levels put out by some current-generation LCD displays (although Samsung’s LCD TVs are managing 0.03-0.04 cd/m²). However, we feel that any lingering greyness in the blacks put out by a Plasma television draw less attention to themselves than on LCDs, due to the fact that the darkness is more consistent across the entire screen. With LCD, the blacks almost always appear brighter at some screen locations, especially near the edges, and they change depending on the viewer’s sitting location.
With 60hz material (such as modern console games, and any non-24p film content coming from the US), blacks were a respectable 0.04 cd/m², just slightly (but not noticeably) higher than those put out by Panasonic’s comparably priced and specced ST30 plasma range. For European 50hz content, blacks measured at 0.066 cd/m². To the human eye, this won’t really look any different to the 0.060 cd/m² put out by the 24p mode.
All in all, we were happy with this level of performance (it’s also a big step up on last year’s Samsung Plasmas). Who knows – maybe next year they’ll be at Panasonic levels?

Motion Resolution

We clocked the PS51D550′s motion resolution somewhere in the region of 900 lines, making it high enough to not be an issue. We did occasionally spot some slight red phosphor trailing in test sequences and on the edges of the details in the chart.
Unlike competing Plasma televisions from Panasonic, we almost never noticed posterisation (contouring) during movement, as is typical for Samsung’s Plasmas. High-motion video content did reveal some “hardened” edges if we looked closely, but these artefacts were minor and did not display with unwanted colour tints.

3D Material

The Samsung PS51D550 passed all our 3D tests with flying colours. Unlike the company’s comparable LCD TV models, the D550 displays all three frame rates (24, 50 and 60) without any judder or stutter in 3D. It also reproduces all 1080 lines of the 3D image, which is something that Panasonic Plasmas don’t do this year – not even the top-end VT30 model. The 3D experience presented by Samsung’s Plasma panels appears to be remarkably consistent from the entry-level models up to the high-end.
During subjective viewing, we were happy to see almost no crosstalk present. If we ramped up the 3D depth settings to exaggerate the 3D effect, it became visible, but this is to be expected. Our only real criticisms of the PS51D550 operating in 3D mode were the darkening of the picture, and the rougher gradation (with a higher amount of dither noise in the picture) when compared to 2D. The same goes for other manufacturer’s Plasma-based 3D TVs, too. Although things are much improved on the first generation 3D Plasmas, the fact still remains that 2D images have the edge for overall quality, and ultimately, looks.

Standard Definition

Standard-def handling was a mixed bag on the Samsung PS51D550. The quality of the scaling (that’s the actual resizing step) with our European-standard PAL (576i) test chart was the worst we’ve seen from an HDTV in years, with horizontal details appearing hugely blurred, with ringing around edges. Vertical detail fared a little better. The test chart represents an idealised scenario, however, and a lot of SD content in the real world is so soft that the TV’s limitation might not really be noticeable.
When we output the same test chart in Progressive mode (576p), it was more tolerable, but still below our expectations. This will be of consequence to owners of standard-def games consoles such as the Nintendo Wii (or anything from the previous generation). We imagine it’s less of an issue for DVD, since most of us have an upscaling DVD (or Blu-ray) player now (remember that the TV’s standard def handling capabilities only matter when standard-def is input to it – when played through a Blu-ray player, DVDs are “seen” by the TV as High Definition). Interestingly, this poor scaling did not really show itself with standard def channels accessed via the PS51D550′s own digital TV tuner… perhaps the fact that most SD TV channels are blurry to begin with simply disguised the limitation.
Interestingly, the D550 plasma had no trouble at all locking onto the PAL 2-2 film cadence, which is something that higher-end Samsung HDTVs have been tripped up by lately. This meant that films transferred to the European standard-def TV system played back without any annoying flickering/loss of resolution in detailed areas. Its handling of diagonal interpolation – in other words, concealing jaggedness in interlaced standard-def images – was also good, meaning that jagged lines on diagonal edges (the markings on a football pitch, for example) will be kept to a minimum.
In other words, the PS51D550′s SD performance was overall acceptable, if a little bit blurred.

High Definition

When we first received the PS51D550, we were upset at the quality presented during Blu-ray viewing. Although some edges in the image still appeared sharp, fine details were being smudged out, and the overall clarity of the picture was reduced. We soon found out that this was due to the [Digital Noise Filter], which was chomping through film grain and other high frequency textures in the picture and giving the whole film a slight “watercolour painting” look.
We found out that the culprit was a bug which we reported to Samsung with their LCD televisions some months ago; where the [Digital Noise Filter] setting would actually be stuck at its highest level, despite the TV’s menus reporting it as being Off. We could actually get all the picture detail back by turning the filter on to “Low” and then to “Off” again – but we had to do this every single time we selected the input that our player was connected to.

Fortunately, the bug has been solved with the latest firmware update. We upgraded to this by downloading the file from Samsung’s web site and feeding it to the TV on a USB drive, and were delighted to see that after a few minutes, our freshly updated PS51D550 was playing back high-quality film material from Blu-ray without skipping a beat (or a pixel, for that matter). Unlike higher-up Samsung displays, “Off” with the D550 plasma actually does mean “Off”, probably because the TV we reviewed used the MStar processor and doesn’t have access to the more advanced noise reduction which Samsung are so eager to enable on TVs which use their own chip. With the 51D550 as we reviewed it, there is no unwanted noise reduction, allowing all of the clarity, texture and detail from high quality film scans to come through on the Samsung PS51D550. Excellent!
With that out of the way, we were only left with the many other positives of the Samsung PS51D550′s images. The black levels aren’t class-leading (that award currently goes to Panasonic), but the HDTV produces a brighter image with enough positives of its own. Greyscale tracking and colour reproduction were both of a high standard, presenting films without too much in the way of unwanted tints. Motion was handled perfectly when we set the [Film Mode] setting to “Cinema Smooth” (it can be left “Off” to reproduce films at 60hz, which results in judder, but slightly deeper blacks). Unlike older Samsung Plasmas, 50hz material was also trouble-free.
The Samsung PS51D550′s panel driving method appears a little noisier than that of Panasonic’s Plasmas, but it’s cleaner than Pioneer’s were, and perhaps because of the additional slight noise in the picture, false contouring (an artefact related to Plasma TVs which causes high motion areas to appear as separated stripes rather than a smooth, continuous tone) is kept to a bare minimum.
Automatic brightness limiting, a drawback of Plasma display technology, was visible with some content (we should point out that this isn’t specific to HD). A fully white screen will appear dimmer than on an LCD display. Supposedly, this is to decrease load on the power supply. The effects of it are not really visible with most content, but adverts (for example) with fully white screens will sometimes reveal some brightness fluctuation.
The last plasma-specific thing to note is image retention. Samsung’s PDPs have improved in this regard in recent years, but they are still behind Panasonic’s. After watching a 4:3 film, or after watching the BBC News channel, for example, we were usually left with some faint residual images (either of side-borders, or the BBC News channel logo) hanging around. These cleared up very quickly, though, and we don’t think it’s too big an issue. First time PDP owners might be terrified that these residual images are permanent damage, but rest assured, every case of image persistence we came across cleared up quickly.
One last thing to mention for completeness: during one point of a film we used to test the PS51D550, we saw a subtle flicker in the image (which lasted for only a few frames) which occurred each time we played the scene – but only in the “Cinema Smooth” output mode. It was very minor and we only noticed it once.
Bottom line: we were very, very happy with the 2D HD image quality with this plasma television.

Console Gaming

We weren’t expecting the PS51D550 to do wonderfully or woefully when it came to gaming, because most of Samsung’s plasmas have managed respectable, but not leading amounts of responsiveness lately. The 51D550 exceeded our expectations with an exceptionally speedy 16ms, but we had to use the “PC” input label (accessed by pressing Source > HDMI1/DVI > Tools > Edit Name > PC) to achieve this speed. We’re also not sure if it will enable with all sources, although it did with our Xbox 360 Elite feeding the panel. (This also results in full uncompressed colour being displayed in the 4:4:4 format, for those of you who are both hardcore gamers and hardcore videophiles). Remember that this trick only works on the HDMI1 input, so gamers should give their favourite system priority when connecting.
Without this trick, the Samsung PS51D550 still managed a respectable, but slightly game-altering 31ms of input lag.

Conclusion

It’s a winner. After upgrading the firmware to eradicate the rogue noise reduction system, we were absolutely delighted with the detail, clarity, texture, and overall image put out by this affordable big-screen Plasma TV. It can also deliver a remarkably speedy gaming experience. While it’s not without flaws, we think that given these strengths and a bargain price tag, the Samsung PS51D550 deserves a “Highly Recommended” rating.

The PS51D550′s most direct competitor is the Panasonic TX-P50ST30, which now costs around £160 more and does have some advantages over this cheaper Samsung, including a superior (and consistent) black level: Panasonic’s 3D plasma goes as dark as 0.03 cd/m² in all modes, compared to the D550′s 0.04, 0.06, or 0.07 (depending on the video format). The ST30 also has a superior light rejecting screen coating, allowing it to produce a richer picture even when ambient light is present in the room, and slightly better colour accuracy, resulting in picture reproduction which is that bit closer to what was intended by the filmmakers and colourists. However, not one of these categories is actually bad on the PS51D550 – it’s just that they’re slightly better on the Panasonic. (Keep in mind that when we reviewed the rival ST30, we gave it a “Recommended” – rather than “Highly Recommended” – rating due to its high price at launch, which has now fallen.)

However, the Samsung PS51D550 has several advantages of its own, on top of its less expensive price. For a start, it portrays slightly cleaner motion (with less false contouring during high-speed content like televised sports), has more accurate gamma tracking for a subtly more realistic image, can produce a brighter picture, and displays all 1080 lines of the full HD 3D signal with not a drop of detail appearing blurred or jagged. For the minority of users who will be calibrating the 3DTV in 3D mode, it also has separate control over 3D Greyscale (White Balance), which Panasonic’s ST30 does not (in fact, that plasma can only be calibrated in 2D in a hidden service menu). There’s also the extra inch of screen size, if you’re counting.

These strengths, coupled with the lower price, mean that the Samsung PS51D550 is a tempting alternative and a worthy competitor in a marketplace which is dominated by Panasonic. Comparisons aside, it’s also a very nice HDTV in its own right, especially at the price we reviewed it at. Samsung, please keep improving your Plasma products like this – we can’t wait to see what you do with this display technology next year!

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Sony Bravia 46HX820 LED HDTV Review: Great Quality, Slightly Pricey

The 46-inch 1080p Sony Bravia 46HX820 is one of the most attractive HDTVs I've ever seen. This ultrathin, ultraslick LED LCD television delivers excellent picture quality, good simulated surround sound, active-shutter 3D, and a wealth of Internet options. Plus, it's practically a work of art.

Design and Peripherals

Sony outdid itself in designing the Bravia 46HX820. The set's very thin black bezel almost disappears when the machine is turned off, thanks to a glass screen that extends to the bezel's edges. The LG Infinia 50PZ950 has a similar "bezel-less" design, but Sony's set pulls it off much more successfully because the turned-off screen is just as black as the bezel that surrounds it. At the bottom of the screen, a small Sony logo subtly lights up for a moment when you turn the TV on or off. The Bravia logo (located in the upper left corner) does cheapens the look just slightly.

A member of Sony's edge-lit HX820 series, the Bravia 46HX820 measures just over 1 inch thick and weighs approximately 37 pounds, two characteristics that make it easily to mount on a wall. In case you prefer a more traditional set-up, the TV also comes with a black, rectangular, brushed- aluminum swivel stand that can turn 20 degrees to either side. The stand also tilts up 6 degrees.

Sony moved all of the set's buttons and ports to locations behind the screen, so as not to disrupt the visual style. The physical buttons--including power, input, home, channel up/down, volume up/down, and an Energy Saving switch--are on the right side.

The 46HX820's ports are located on the left side of the screen, and all of them run parallel to the screen to preserve the screen's ultrathin profile. Though parallel ports are convenient for wall mounting, they can be difficult to access (especially when they face downward). On the port panel facing to the left, you'll find two USB ports, two HDMI ports, a headphone jack, an optical audio-out, a PC connection, and a PC/HDMI 4 audio-in. The downward-facing panel has two more HDMI ports, a video/component-in, a cable/antenna hookup, and an ethernet port.

The Bravia's backlit remote looks and feels like other Sony remotes we've seen, which means, unfortunately, that it's blocky, heavy, and a bit uncomfortable to use. The remote is flat and shiny on the back, with a power button, but the front is concave. I can only assume that Sony adopted this design so that users can lay the remote face-down (without inadvertently pressing any of the buttons on the face) and enjoy its attractive, minimalist look. This may be visually appealing, but it's kind of clunky to use.

Most of the remote's dedicated buttons are located near its top, while numbers, channel up/down, and volume up/down buttons are on the bottom. The dedicated buttons include various input buttons; multimedia controls; and shortcuts to Netflix, Widgets, Internet Video, and Qriocity. In the center of the remote is a directional pad surrounded by navigational buttons--Sync Menu, Display, Options, Home, Return, and Guide. You also get four programmable buttons, each one a different color.

Internet-Connected TV, Basic Setup, and Onscreen Menus

The Bravia 46HX820 comes preloaded with Sony's video- and music-streaming service, Qriocity, as well as with various Internet widgets and apps. The app selection includes Amazon On Demand, Hulu Plus, Netflix, NHL Vault, Pandora, Skype (though you'll need your own camera/mic), Slacker, and YouTube. Widgets connect to eBay, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Weather, Yahoo Widgets, and some weird thing from Cracked.com called the Daily Puppy (it shows you a picture of a puppy).

Sony also supplies a Web browser for connecting directly to the Internet. The browser looks excellent and uses the available screen real-estate to the fullest, but it's extremely tedious to work with. Sony uses number-pad typing for entering in text--a method that seems slow at first, but quickly becomes pretty easy. If you'd prefer to use a QWERTY keyboard, you can download Sony's free Media Remote App for iOS/Android.

Initial setup for the TV is nice and thorough, covering not the regular options (language, viewing environment, country, date/time, and channel scanning), but speaker optimization, wireless or wired network setup, and automatic downloading of firmware updates.

Sony's user interface is slick and easy to use. The onscreen menus look good: Transitions are smooth and easy to navigate, and they don't obstruct your current content. The menus are a bit too numerous (why are there three menus for Internet content?), but they are generally easy to get around in. Pressing the Options button on your remote brings up a different menu, depending on the content you're currently viewing: If you're looking at a Web page, the menu lets you choose favorites or enter a URL; if you're watching a YouTube video, it allows rating or favoriting the video; if you're watching 3D media you can adjust the 3D settings.

If you want to adjust picture and audio settings, press the dedicated Home button on your remote. In the Home menu you'll find all sorts of settings: Preferences, Sound, Picture/Display, Product Support, Network, Channels & Inputs, and an i-Manual (Interactive Manual). In the Sound menu you can adjust audio and turn off keytones and startup sounds; and in the Picture/Display menu you can adjust backlight, brightness, color, hue, temperature, and sharpness, as well as advanced settings such as gamma and white balance. The i-Manual is an excellent addition-- easy to navigate, very thorough, and easy to understand.

Testing

The Bravia 46HX820 performed very well in our jury testing. One reviewer commented that our 720p Wheel of Fortune clip appeared to have fewer artifacts than we usually see in that clip. The set also did a nice job in our DVD upconversion tests of Phantom of the Opera, which other impressive sets haven't handled so well. And the 46HX820 performed well in our horizontal and diagonal panning tests, though the picture on the screen looked a little too bright in our still-life image comparison test.

This 3D-ready HDTV ships with two pairs of active-shutter glasses--a nice touch, considering how expensive active-shutter glasses typically are. In our tests, 3D images showed excellent depth, but motion-heavy scenes were sometimes jarring and a little nauseating. The shutter glasses were a bit heavy, too.

Sony lets you adjust 3D settings while you watch 3D content. The 3D menu includes options for turning the 3D on or off, adjusting the depth (between -2 and 2), adjusting the brightness of the glasses, and turning on "simulated 3D." Simulated 3D involves attempting to transform regular 2D content into pseudo-3D. It sort of works--basically the entire picture ends up looking a little recessed, but there's no depth within the picture.

The Bravia 46HX820's audio quality is extremely good. The sound system consists of three rear-facing 10-watt speakers in a 2.1 configuration. The maximum volume is quite loud, sound has depth, and the virtual surround sound option replicates real surround sound effectively.

Conclusion

Sony's Bravia 46HX820 is a gorgeous 46-inch HDTV with superb picture quality, great sound quality, and plenty of Internet-connected options. The primary selling point of this set is obviously the design--as I said earlier, it's one of the sexiest HDTVs I've ever seen--but it does have some drawbacks: fewer (and less accessible) ports than other TVs, potentially confusing menus, and a big and clunky remote. But if you're looking for some HDTV eye-candy, this set definitely qualifies.

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LG Infinia 50PZ950T review

Listed at £1,088 inc VAT, our review model has a 50-inch 1080p plasma screen surrounded by a thin black bezel. This HDTV lacks some features you might expect in a high-end model, such as built-in Wi-Fi (it does ship with an LG Wi-Fi dongle, however), but it does support both the manufacturer's new LG Smart TV connected TV platform and its app store.

LG Infinia 50PZ950T: Design and Peripherals

The LG Infinia 50PZ950T sports a thin black bezel that helps give it a "bezel-less" look. A sheet of glass extends across the screen to the edges of the bezel; as a result, when the HDTV is turned off, the set almost seems to lack a bezel altogether. In the 50PZ950's case, however, the blank screen is much lighter gray than the bezel, so the effect isn't perfect. A superthin strip of clear glass surrounds the bezel.

The set sits on a rectangular swivel stand that curves upward, so it resembles a little hill on your TV stand. At the bottom of the screen is a small LG logo, as well as touch buttons (power, input, home, enter, volume up/down, and channel up/down) along the right side. You'll also see some dancing blue lights in the bottom corner that appear only momentarily when you turn the TV on or off.

Many of the LG Infinia 50PZ950T's ports are located on the back of the set, with only a few on the side (running parallel to the screen). All of the HDMI ports are on the side, though--a convenience for people who want to wall-mount their set. Four HDMI ports occupy the side, along with two USB2.0 ports and an AV port. On the back of the TV, running perpendicular to the screen, are an ethernet port, a remote control-in, a PC connection, an optical audio-out, a serial port, another AV port, two component ports, and an antenna/cable hookup. All of the ports are situated on the left side of the television.

The ILG Infinia 50PZ950T comes with a wealth of peripherals, including the Wi-Fi USB dongle, a pair of active shutter glasses, and two remote controls: a regular, backlit remote, and LG's new Magic Motion remote. The latter is a wand-shaped remote equipped with only a few buttons--power, home, volume up/down, channel up/down, mute, enter, and a directional pad. The Magic Motion remote supports gestures such as flicking, rotating, and pointing, and works reasonably well. It reminds me of Nintendo's Wii controller, but it isn't as accurate.

The standard remote is thin, light, and comfortable to hold--and it looks a lot like previous LG remotes we've seen. It has large numbers, several convenient buttons at the top (such as 'Energy Saving', 'AV Mode', 'Input', and 'TV'), a directional pad surrounded by dedicated buttons ('Home', 'Quick Menu', 'Info', and so on), and media playback buttons. The standard remote also has a welcome but somewhat weak backlight.

LG Infinia 50PZ950T: Internet-Connected TV, Basic Setup, and Onscreen Menus

The Infinia 50PZ950T can access the company's Internet-connected LG Smart TV platform. LG Smart TV contains a Web browser for accessing the Internet directly, plus several preinstalled apps. You can find and download additional apps from LG's app store. The Magic Motion remote comes in especially handy with LG Smart TV--it's a treat to be able to point and click in apps, rather than having to use a joypad to move a "mouse" across the screen step-by-step. In case you still long for a keyboard, LG offers a free QWERTY keyboard app that you can download for your iPhone or Android device.

LG's initial setup wizard is quick and perhaps a little too simple. It covers channel setup and nothing else. You can't even connect to the Internet until you plug in an ethernet cord or open your Wi-Fi dongle; perhaps that's why LG skips all the extras. Once you're set up, the onscreen menus are easy to navigate, though a bit busy. Hitting the Home button on the standard remote brings up a list of apps across the bottom of the screen, as well as two columns of apps on the right side, with the picture relegated to a box on the left.

A simpler menu system features (for the most part) basic settings such as picture and audio mode. To get to this menu system, you press the "Q.MENU" (for "Quick Menu") button on the remote. This menu is much better-laid-out, and it appears unassumingly across the bottom of the screen. You can use the Quick Menu to scan for channels or change your Picture or Audio mode. If you want to make detailed changes to your picture or audio, however, you'll still have to go through the Home menu.

To get to the main setup menu, you must open the Home menu and select Setup. Here you can change real picture settings--such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, colour, tint, and colour temperature--and advanced settings. You can also adjust your 3D settings, balance your speakers, adjust your bass or treble, and find all of the usual parental lock controls and miscellaneous options.

LG Infinia 50PZ950T: Testing

In our jury testing, the Infinia 50PZ950T scored fairly well. All of our testers agreed that the set had consistently good picture quality in both 720p and 1080i "over the air" transport streams. The 50PZ950T also did a good job of DVD upconversion--though in our Phantom of the Opera scenes, colours and skin tones sometimes looked slightly off. The television scored poorly in our motion test for diagonal panning, as the picture looked very blurry while moving across the screen. On the other hand, it scored pretty well in our horizontal-panning motion test.

The 50PZ950T supports active-shutter 3D, and ships with a pair of active-shutter glasses. The glasses are fairly comfortable and not too dark, though they may give you a headache if you wear them while other lights are on in the room. The 50PZ950T looked very good in 3D, with plenty of picture depth, and fast-moving scenes displayed fairly smoothly. If you press the Q.MENU button while watching a 3D picture, you can access the 3D menu, where you can adjust the picture size, picture depth, 3D viewpoint, and picture balance, and switch L/R to R/L (useful for different 3D media formats).

Audio on the Infinia 50PZ950T sounded quite good as well. The maximum volume is very loud, and the system's virtual surround-sound option does an adequate job of replicating real surround sound. The sound occasionally lacks depth, but it's scarcely noticeable. Among the few audio presets are Music, Cinema, Sport, and Game.

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New Pioneer micro-hifi systems announced for fans of small things

Prepare to be confused by complex hi-fi nomenclature and gadgetry as Pioneer launches a trio of micro stereo systems. The robotically named X-HM20DAB-K, X-HM50DAB-K, X-HM70DAB-K and X-HM10-K feature a range of different features to suit various audio needs.

The X-HM20DAB-K, for example builds on the X-HM10's CD player with iPhone and iPad docking capability as well as featuring better grade speakers.

Higher up the audio ladder is the X-HM70DAB which includes all the features of the lesser models, but adds internet radio and home network playback. There is also DNLA 1.5 connectivity.

All three micro systems feature DAB radio (the name is a bit of a giveaway) and a sleek aluminium build. Pioneer has slightly upped the ante on the amplifier front with the X-HM70DAB which takes advantage of a class D amplifier.

Price-wise, things start at £129.99 for the HM10, then jump to £199 for the HM20, finally topping out at the £449 asking price for the HM70.

Expect the new micro systems to make an appearance in shops around Autumn time.

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