JVC LT-32DG8 review

Performance
As always, digital TV broadcasts outperform their analogue understudies. Freeview programmes are solid and stable, with reasonable detail and rich colours. The LT-32DG8 has a bright picture that suits the harsh studio lighting used in daytime TV programmes -- but the backlight needs toning down to deepen black levels if you're watching anything else. Images are generally clean, but edges occasionally appear frayed and movement staggers during slow camera pans.

High-definition performance is impressive for the price, without being exceptional enough to trouble the best models from the likes of Sony and Panasonic. Upscaled images introduce more detail and reinforce edges, while colours appear cohesively gradated and evenly balanced. This is especially apparent while watching Pixar's The Incredibles, where the vibrant reds of the superheroes' suits share the screen with natural skin tones and textures. Backgrounds and straight edges occasionally shimmer, but these flaws are forgotten when you turn to true high-definition content.

Using Toshiba's HD-E1 HD DVD player produces even deeper black levels, which enable precise detail and good contrast. Playing Batman Returns produces impressively bold and pristinely clean images without losing detail in dark scenes, such as the entrance to the Bat Cave -- where you can pick out individual bats hanging from the ceiling. And movement is decent whether it's trying to keep pace with the destructive, rooftop Batmobile chase or the more sedate scrolling of the final credits.

Despite a new oblique cone speaker system, the sound is underwhelming for a flat-panel TV. It's reasonably detailed and expressive enough to enjoy TV programmes, but film images this good deserve to be complemented with more substantial sound.

You can use the bass enhancer to make special effects seem more explosive, but dialogue clarity suffers as a result. The virtual-surround system does produce a more expansive and involving sound stage that can enhance films, but also sounds muddled at times.

Conclusion
JVC's LT-32DG8 is an affordable entry-level LCD with a pretty standard specification for the money. Its build quality isn't the best and connectivity is slightly limited, but the screen is easy to use and offers more advanced picture and sound settings than your average budget model.

Performance is reasonably impressive too, especially if you're using high-definition sources, although the sound is not of the same standard. Since this is such a competitive market, however, you can get better performance for around the same cost with models such as Sharp's Aquos LC32GD8E and our current favourite, Panasonic's Viera TX-32LMD70.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide