TrustedReviews Awards 2007

If you've just picked up our top award winning TV, you're going to need a decent HD source to give it a work out. Toshiba always said that HD DVD players would be cheaper than Blu-ray and this has certainly been the case. The HD-EP30 isn't quite the cheapest dedicated player out there, the outgoing HD-E1 can be had for only £180, but the new EP30 is the better buy. Why? It offers up to 1080p output and also supports 1080p 24Hz output. Also present is support for the new DolbyTrue HD, Dolby Digital Plus and the DTS HD in DTS core guise. It's also, slim, sleek and a touch faster than the Toshiba HD-E1, which is welcome. The picture it generates is one of the best out there, with bags of detail, buckets of colour, and smooth motion. It also boasts a decent DVD upscaler - protecting the investment in your carefully built-up disc library. If you want to move to HD, it's an excellent value choice.

Nothing quite provides the home cinema experience as actually watching movies at home on a projector. And if you're serious about home cinema you'll want a serious bit of kit handling the pictures - step up JVC's DLA-HD1 projector. In the UK at least, JVC has less of a presence than some brands but over the past year the HD1 has really taken the market by storm. It beams a full HD 1,920 x 1,080 image using JVC's D-ILA technology, a variant of Lcos that means there's no fear of DLP's ‘rainbow effect' or LCD's ‘chicken-wire' issues. Even more impressively is its claimed contrast ratio of 15,000:1 - the highest ever for a domestic projector and a remarkable figure for D-ILA, which traditionally has suffered from poor black level response. It isn't just talk either, as black levels are phenomenal, as is colour vividness and overall image sharpness, all combined in a picture wonderfully free from noise. A cinematic tour-de-force from JVC.

Flat HD Ready TVs, be it, LCD or plasma used to be expensive, and now they are not. But TVs offering Full HD resolution remained expensive - and certainly a lot more than a grand. Yet, Toshiba's Full HD Regza 42X3030D 42in TV blew us away by displaying signals up to and including 1080p for only £974 - and now you can get it for less that £800! The TV looks rather swanky, with a glossy black bezel and a curved silver stand with the speakers neatly running across the bottom. It also sports two HDMI 1.3 ports, so you're ready for Deep Colour discs, should ever any appear. There's also component input, two SCART sockets, composite video in, two sets of analogue stereo inputs, analogue stereo out, a subwoofer out and an optical digital output. Very comprehensive. Then there's the built-in Freeview tuner and a CI slot, so you can get your Satanta fix. Oh, and the picture is superb. At this price - it's job done really.

In the size to price ratio, not many TVs come close to the rather catchy named PS42Q97HDX. A 42in plasma TV for less than £700 is not to be sniffed at, especially one as well equipped and as high quality as this one. Three HDMI ports are unusual for a TV at this price, and if your PC just has an analogue D-Sub connection, then you don't have to mess around with adaptors, as this has a suitable socket ready and waiting. You also get two SCARTs, composite, and S-Video and a CAM slot for adding Pay-TV to the built-in Freeview tuner. Image quality was noted as being crisp and clean, with impressive colours and accurate skin tones. Certainly at this price, you can't hope for perfection, but you will get a great picture, plenty of screen acreage and a wallet with some change left in it.