Samsung PS42Q97HDX review

Samsung has designed its latest 42-inch plasma TV, the PS42Q97HDX, with a very specific aim in mind: to tread as perfect a balance as possible between performance standards, build quality and price.

With prices ranging around £800, has it hit on the perfect formula, or does something not quite add up?

Strengths
Let's reiterate this: paying £800 for a 42-inch plasma TV is cheap. So if Samsung wanted to grab our attention before we even got the 42Q97HDX out of the box, it succeeded. But the set actually grabs our attention even more once it's unboxed, as it's great looking, with a high gloss finish and stylish combination of angles and curves.

The good times continue to roll as we find three HDMI sockets, where most 42-inch TVs costing considerably more only carry two. What's more, these HDMIs support the CEC industry standard, which allows the TV's remote to operate any connected CEC-capable source equipment.

The 42Q97HDX's attractive on-screen menus, meanwhile, play host to far more features than you'd expect, while the specifications quoted for the 1,024x768 screen include a sky-high contrast ratio of 15,000:1.

All too often at the budget end of the market, such impressive on-paper specifications fail to translate into the final performance -- this is not so with the 42Q97HDX.

Right from the off we're struck by its great HD picture quality, as a winning combination of deep, rich, noiseless black levels and bright, vibrant colours inject real cinematic vigour into the Blu-ray scenes, for example where Captain Jack first appears in Pirates of the Caribbean. Colours are nearly as natural in tone as they are vibrant, too. Plus, there's a far crisper, more detailed look to texture-rich sequences in Pirates -- like those in Barbossa's treasure cave -- than we usually see at this price level.

Finally, there's hardly a trace of common budget plasma flaws such as colour striping and fizzing noise over motion.