LG 42LB1D review

The menu systems are neatly presented using graphical icons and there's an extensive range of options to play with. Although you can customise and save your own picture settings there are also several preset modes, including an Artificial Eye mode, which uses a sensor to automatically adjust settings according to your room's brightness. The XD Engine has advanced settings for altering individual colour tones and noise reduction, so you can fine-tune the image if you have the patience.

The sound system deserves mention, as the front stereo speakers are accompanied by two dedicated woofers at the rear, which allows the sound more presence and impact than your average flat-screen TV. There's also an SRS TruSurround XT sound mode that attempts to recreate spacious effects to enhance films.

Finally, an elaborate picture-in-picture system lets you view two inputs on the screen at the same time using a smaller window or split screen, although there are some restrictions, such as not being able to view HDMI inputs while watching Freeview TV. There's also a system that lets you search channels using three separate windows, which is useful for flicking through while you're still watching a programme.

Performance
Although you can improve image quality by fine-tuning the exaggerated default settings, the 42LB1D's picture performance left us largely unimpressed.

The backlight seems to bleach out the blacks, depriving images of density and contrast. This would be easier to ignore if images weren't plagued by considerable instability, with even HDMI sources suffering from graininess, shimmering edges and stuttered movement. True hi-def content appears cleaner, but still struggles to compare with some of the similarly priced models, such as Samsung's LE40N73B, although that's only 40 inches.

Terrestrial broadcasts, especially the almost unbearable analogue channels, suffer from the same problems and it's only reasonable detail and an extensive colour spectrum that save the screen from embarrassment.

Sound performance fares far better, with an expressive midrange supported by low-frequency depth from the woofers that gives the audio more authority than flat-screen speakers are typically capable of.

Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Nick Hide