Panasonic TH-L26X10A

As you'd expect from a 26in television at this price, this Panasonic has a very decent feature set that includes three HDMI inputs, support for 720p video at 24fps, and an SD card slot for displaying JPEGs.

Admittedly the company's hardly pushed the boat out with the styling, and the set is deeper than most, but it's solidly built and far from ugly.

Good with subdued colours
Setting the set up using a THX Optimiser is nice and simple, thanks to clear, concise menu options.

Only the Eco Mode really needs to be experimented with outside the optimiser, as it involves a little compromise between black depth and white punch.

Whether you prefer it on or off is a matter of taste. Play the funeral opening of the Gran Torino Blu-ray and the TH-L26X10A does a great job with the subdued picture.

Blacks have decent depth but remain detailed, while whites are clean and pure, even if they don't have quite the punch of some rival sets.

High levels of image detail
Detail levels are very high throughout, and the set refuses to become confused by the challenging pattern of Clint Eastwood's suit.

Peculiarly, when you switch to standard definition, the picture that was just a touch warmer than neutral with HD becomes more overcooked. Even so, both Tropic Thunder on DVD and Torchwood via Freeview are vibrant and stable.

While sound is far from perfect, there's greater scale and depth than most, and it rounds out a solid, if rather pricey showing.

For
Good with scale and depth; excellent detail

Against
Overcooks standard definition pictures