Updated: Top 10 best 42-inch HDTVs in the world today
Top 10 best 40-42-inch LCD TVs in the world today
Once known simply as 'plasma screens' in the collective consciousness, the 42-inch size is where the flatscreen dream started in the late 1990s – and where it's still at its best.
Now a lot more varied, with plasmas rubbing shoulders with (and quickly being outnumbered by) LCD TVs and their ultra-modern LED TV spin-offs, 42 inches is still the sweet spot for anyone not overly concerned with ruining the interior design of their living room.
They're also great value. Serious home cinema addicts have moved on to 50-inch and bigger screens, leaving this category a swarm of slashed prices.
Arguably the minimum size where Full HD makes most sense and where a Blu-ray player is a must, the 42-inch size hasn't lost its allure despite becoming affordable.
LCD domination
Fine, but why are there so few plasmas in a size category the gas tech used to dominate?
It's largely down to the boring business reality that LCD TVs are cheaper to produce, though that's not the case for Panasonic, which has achieved economies of scale by making squillions of plasmas.
The big brands think you just want a big screen and haven't always been concerned about LCD's problem with reproducing believable black, and blurring whenever the camera moves quickly.
A Full HD screen that blurs away all that extra hi-def detail? That would be pointless, but happily the makers of LCD TVs have got their game together at last and put a stop to the tech's general ropey-ness.
So much so that, for the first time we can present a line-up of the finest 42-inchers on the market without caring whether they contain liquid crystal diodes or gas-driven cells.
So here they are, in order of price, starting with the cheapest...
Sony KDL-40W5500
Marvel at Sony's 40" LCD all-rounder, even if it is 10cm thick
Neither super-thin nor packing LED backlighting, this 40-incher delivers great pictures at an appealing price point, and throws in some tasty features, too.
Image quality with both HD and SD is impressive. Black levels are sufficiently deep and dark, and contrast levels are extraordinary.
The W5500 doesn't feature the brand's top Motionflow 200Hz wizardry. Instead it offers a standard 100Hz refresh rate, but in practice this is perfectly adequate.
Sony's Applicast online dimensions comprises just RSS news feeds, a calculator and a worldwide clock - no third-party content (Flickr, YouTube) as delivered by other brands - but it should expand in the future.
If you want great-looking pictures served up with a raft of media functionality and money-saving eco goodness, you'll find it right here.
Read: full Sony KDL-40W5500 review
Price check: get cheapest Sony KDL-40W5500 price
Sharp LC40LE700E
Sharp delivers one the UK's most affordable LED-backlit TVs to date
When the 40LE700E is at the top of its game, its pictures are really pretty brilliant.
The bad news is that it's not at the top of its game for as much of the time as we'd like it to be.
The key to the moments of brilliance we just referred to is, as we might have expected, the 40LE700E's black level response.
The local dimming engine really does enable the set to blow the straight, CCFL-lit LCD crowd out of the water when it comes to showing dark scenes without the customary, distracting pall of greyness hanging over everything that should look black.
On the 40LE700E, if something is supposed to be black, it looks black.
It's just a shame that during that you'll have to weigh up whether the set's motion handling weakness is a reasonable price to pay for the set's affordable black level glories.
Read: full Sharp LC40LE700E LCD TV review
Price check: get cheapest Sharp LC40LE700E price
Panasonic TX-P42G15
Panasonic charges a premium for the luxury of a 1080p plasma panel, but in the case of the TX-P42G15 it's certainly worth it as the pictures either from Blu-ray or BBC HD via the onboard Freesat HD tuner are simply stunning.
Useful extras include that Freesat HD tuner, Viera Cast internet connectivity and an SD card slot for viewing photo and video files, though it's the use of NeoPDP plasma tech and 600Hz scanning that make this screen such a steal.
Add the impressive standard-definition performance, plus the useful Viera Tools and Viera Cast features, and you've got an excellent high-end set that really delivers.
Read: full Panasonic TX-P42G15 review
Price check: get cheapest Panasonic TX-P42G15 price
LG 42SL8000
This HDTV is ultra thin, it's packed with features, and all in all it's really rather good
Just 45mm deep, this Edge LED telly sports an ultra-glossy finish, angled top edge and subtle blue tinge.
Surprisingly, the TV's connections and tuners are built in, rather than being housed in an external media box. LG's current onscreen menu system is as attractive and logical as any in the TV world.
Even better, the set carries a Picture Wizard system that generates a series of test signals to help you calibrate the image properly yourself. And picture quality is easily LG's best to date - particularly startling is how extremely sharp HD pictures look.
Pristine Blu-ray signals are packed with spectacular amounts of fine detail, texture and subtlety, and black levels are generally very accomplished.
In typical LG style, the 42SL8000 offers far more in terms of design prowess, features and performance than you've any right to expect for such a modest outlay.
Read: full LG 42SL8000 review
Price check: get cheapest LG 42SL8000 price
LG 42SL9000 42-inch LCD TV
LG's brilliant new LED TV heralds 'borderless' era
The TV that has put LED backlighting firmly on the mainstream map, this chic 42-inch set is decked out in an elegant 'frameless' design and comes with the sort of spec sheet that should have home movie fans instinctively reaching for their wallets.
It's all here - a Full HD panel, 100Hz processing, Bluetooth, DivX HD playback from a USB stick.
It's one of the most imaginatively featured sets around, while detail and colours are superb, black levels are good and the whole is wrapped up in a super stylish cabinet.
An immensely capable set that should appeal to discerning casual viewers and demanding videophiles alike.
Read: full LG 42SL9000 review
Price check: get the cheapest LG 42SL9000 price
Samsung 40B7000 40-inch LCD TV
This LED-backlit screen takes slim TV design to new extremes
Despite being just over an inch in depth, the UE40B7000 manages to pack-in LED backlighting, 100Hz scanning, a full suite of digital media, and networking features - including web-connected Yahoo Widgets and photo, music and video streaming.
With a gloss-black crystal finish (with a hint of red), audio is the only low point; Samsung has managed to whip up a fantastic TV here.
It's brilliantly thin and stylish, but still succeeds in delivering a high level of picture performance and some very useful digital media and web features.
Just over a grand, it makes rival sets like the Sony KDL-40ZX1 and Philips 42PFL9803H look rather expensive in comparison.
Read: full Samsung 40B7000 LCD TV review
Price check: get cheapest Samsung 40B7000 price
Philips 42PFL9664
Excellent web-ready 42" set with Perfect Pixel pyrotechnics
Other companies may be more adventurous and plenty are cheaper, but few seem able to deliver the last word in flatscreen design and specification in a particular price range so consistently in 2009 as Philips.
The 42PFL9664H is the Dutch maestro's latest mid to higher-end LCD and comes bristling with state-of-the-art spec, the best examples of AV and multimedia gadgetry currently found on TVs sets - and it wraps it all up in a frame that makes just about every one of its peers seem plain.
A beautifully conceived and executed set for the serious (and better-heeled) AV fan.
Read: full Philips 42PFL9664 review
Price check: get cheapest Philips 42PFL9664 price
Sony KDL-40ZX1
At only 28mm at its widest point, slimming down to a frightfully slender 9.9mm for half the time, the KDL-40ZX1 weighs just 12.2kg - it's probably one of the first 40in TVs you could carry out of a shop under your arm.
A designer product with a price tag to match, the ZX1 is so thin that it can't pack a TV tuner or speakers, while it uses LED lighting only around the edges of the screen, so ultra-realistic black levels are off the menu.
Connectivity is either via a single HDMI input, or from the external media box, which houses the Freeview tuner. The box is wireless, using a 5GHz RF system for streaming.
It's stable, but unable to deliver 1080p. So Blu-ray owners will end up using that HDMI input anyway - but it's convenience and style that the KDL-30ZX1 is all about.
Read: full Sony KDL-40ZX1 review
Price check: get cheapest Sony KDL-40ZX1 price
Philips 40PFL9704
Pricey 40-inch LED screen that pulverises plasma
With tumbling prices and features galore, standing out in the big-screen TV market isn't easy.
However, Philips has managed it with distinction in the last 12 months - and amazingly the 40PFL9704 tops its previous successes.
It's part of Philips' 9000 series LED Pro range of TVs, which also includes the 46-inch Philips 46PFL9704.
A benchmark LED set it may be, but a good plasma - which costs half the price - remains a good alternative. Our advice is to bide your time and shop around for a lower price, but don't let the 40PFL9704 fall off your radar, because this is one luscious LED TV.
Read: full Philips 40PFL9704 40-inch LCD TV review
Price check: get cheapest Philips 40PFL9704 price
Philips 42PFL9903D Aurea II
True colours shining through
Don't let the brightly-coloured flashing lights around its edges distract you from some eye-catching tech inside this LED backlit telly.
As is often the case with Philips 2009 sets, there's some disadvantages; you have to be careful with the 42PFL9903H's bountiful Perfect Pixel HD settings to achieve picture greatness, but it's worth the commitment.
And unlike most flat tellies, the 42PFL9903H's sound quality is excellent. Two subwoofers tucked away on the TV's rear give a reasonably dynamic, wide-ranging and clear soundstage that goes well beyond the flat TV norm.
Read: full Philips 42PFL9903D Aurea II review
Price check: get cheapest Philips 42PFL9903D Aurea II price
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