| Like all things JVC, the PD-42DX6 is particularly handsome, fulfilling the role of a perfect finishing touch to your living room. Promising sensational performance and packed with features up to the eyeballs, this plasma is undeniably a frontrunner on the plasma TV market. Design When mounted on the deluxe floor stand the PD-42DX6 looks futuristic in design, as the stand reaches up from a pair of stylish glass shelves there is about a 5 inch gap making the TV stand proud. It also has an optional adjustable wall bracket, when the PD-42DX6 is mounted looks equally as cool. It comes with a tabletop stand in the box, this isn‘t as attractive but still looks good. The TV itself has a predominantly black surround with a silver strip including speakers and the JVC logo along the bottom. | 
Cool Stand Not Included |
Features The River Nile came to my mind when I clapped eyes on the PD-42DX6‘s extensive features list. Let’s start with connections, you get three scarts, S-in, AV-in, HDMI connection, component Input and PC Input. The TV itself has a built-in tuner, Digital Image Scaling Technology (DIST) giving a higher resolution picture, with the core components being the high-precision I-P Converter and Formatter. Supporting components include Super DigiPure, IC with dedicated 32-bit CPU to process Dynamic Picture Management, Colour Management, Dynamic Black Level Control and Gamma Curve Control. What more could you possibly ask for? Well, get this, there’s more - It’s got an XGA (1024 x 768 pixel) Panel and an Integrated Digital TV Receiver. We really like the Picture and Picture feature with options of a 12 multi-pictures and the picture and text dual screen. That explains the brains behind the picture, now let’s see what’s behind the sound. Audio on the PD-42DX6 is supported by a 4 speaker system with 2 oblique cone and 2 bass speakers, these are supported by the centre channel input and subwoofer output terminals, to provide awesome 3D sound. | Performance | Well, you wouldn’t expect anything short of a sensational performance with all of these features and you would be right in doing so. The picture performance with both HD and SD was superb, although it was slightly lower quality with the latter. The integrated FreeView was a pleasure to watch, with absolutely zilch noise or interference. The black levels were good but could have been better in very dark scenes, they seemed slightly better when watching a DVD. It handled motion particularly well without any slur or blurriness. The colours weren’t the most vibrant, the last TV we reviewed, the JVC 56ZR7 put on a much better show in this department. Apart from that the overall opinion was that the picture held first class detail with sharp, in-depth pictures. We find that we enjoy the whole viewing experience more if the audio lives up to the excellent picture performance and in this case - it does. The BBE sound system provides wicked bass and crisp, sharp dialogue without any sign of muffling. It is designed to give a 3D sound experience and we can honestly say it does just that. It’s nowhere near as good as having a surround sound system but it’s close enough for those on a budget. | | Overall Opinion | The JVC PD-42DX6 is not just highly specified, the features are supported by its outstanding performance. It’s a pleasure to look at with its simple, but classy design too, making it an all rounder winner for us. There are only two small pitfalls - one being the lack of a second HDMI and two being the not so amazing colour performance. If you are prepared to overlook these small glitches it’s happy days. | By Lisa Malyon | | | | | | |
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