LG 60PF95 review

Performance
Hook it up to an HD DVD or Blu-ray player and the 60PF95 provides some of the finest high-definition pictures we've ever seen. The HD DVD version of King Kong is so well authored that it looks excellent on almost any HDTV, but here it's nothing short of astounding. The LG's 60-inch screen means that it shows off details that would be lost on smaller TVs, even those with 1080p compatibility. Whether it's the texture of skin on an actor's face, the surface of the sea or the New York skyline, things look incredibly sharp and rich.

Much of this is also down to the TV's colour reproduction, which is highly accurate and gives the image a very natural feel. You don't get the eye-searingly bright, oversaturated shades provided by some of the latest LCD televisions, but bright colours are strong enough, and gradation from light to dark is done smoothly, without any distracting banding or contouring. This means smoky or misty scenes, such as the boat's entry into the fog in King Kong, remain crisp and don't deteriorate into a noisy, odd-looking mess. The TV also delivers deep, strong blacks, which is another essential part of creating a top class picture.

Games look similarly brilliant, and as with almost all plasma screens, there's no ghosting during fast motion.

Standard-definition content doesn't impress half as much. Although the SD channels from our Sky HD box do look reasonably clean and detailed, the TV's built-in Freeview tuner fails to impress, with many of the channels looking noisy and dirty -- one unwelcome side effect of watching them on such a large screen. But then if you're buying a screen of this size, the hi-def side of things is going to be more important anyway.

One other slightly disappointing aspect of the television is its sound quality. While the stereo speakers work perfectly well 90 per cent of the time, we found that odd lines of movie dialogue occasionally got lost, becoming almost inaudibly soft at times. It's too infrequent a flaw to really wreck the sound performance, but it's worth noting all the same. Also, if you're spending this much money on a television, you'll probably want to add some external speakers.

Conclusion
£3,500 is a great deal of money in anyone's book, but in this case it does get you a fantastic HD television. 1080p pictures look absolutely brilliant on the LG's 60-inch screen, and when you consider that Pioneer is still charging around £4,500 for its year-old 50-inch PDP-5000EX (which doesn't have speakers or a TV tuner), it starts to look like a very reasonable deal.

One other factor to consider with this TV is its giant size and weight -- it's simply too big for most rooms, so do bear that in mind before buying.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Nick Hide