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The L37X01 also reproduces all the fine detail and clarity in an HD picture without succumbing to noise or the common tendency to overcook edges. Plus it shows uncommon subtlety when it comes to colours, with totally smooth blends and unusually natural tones. You might initially think the L37X01's colours are a little muted in fact, but trust us when we say they're actually just doing a better job of reflecting the real world we live in than many LCD rivals.

Yet another string to the L37X01's bow concerns its standard definition playback, which contains less noise and more sharpness and fine detail than the standard-def performance of practically any other full HD TV we can think of.

It's a damn shame, then, that so much positive work by the L37X01 is spoiled by a single, but rather glaring flaw: average black levels. It's still common, of course, for LCD TVs to suffer with some greyness or cloudiness over dark parts of the picture. But the L37X01 suffers from this more than most, or at least most premium LCD TVs. This means that dark scenes can be left looking rather flat, as well as suffering the occasional off-message colour tone.

The L37X01's sound, meanwhile, is solid rather than outstanding. Voices always sound clear and reasonably rich, and treble effects are rendered with plenty of vigour but without harshness. There's even a little bit of bass around. But a general lack of power means the soundstage can't open up particularly well to accommodate action scenes, leaving them sounding a little thin.

Verdict

The L37X01 shows signs of real quality, especially in the image processing department. And it's not a bad price either considering everything it offers. But Hitachi definitely needs to work on its black levels if it really wants to get our attention.

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