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If you're feeling disappointed that the 50PG6000's resolution isn't full HD, now would seem a pertinent time to remind you that this TV costs less than £1100. For a 50in TV with an award-winning design, oodles of connections, and mostly impressive specifications, this really is one hell of a price. Especially since we're actually nowhere near done with the 50PG6000's interesting features yet.

For instance, on the picture processing front you get the latest incarnation of LG's XD Engine processing, dubbed Dual XD Engine to stress the way it employs two main chipsets - one to work on the input/source and one for the panel itself - both designed in-house by LG to deliver greater harmony than you'd get where a manufacturer has sourced different chipsets from different third parties.

Plus, unusually for a plasma TV, there's 100Hz processing, designed to make images more stable and less troubled by flicker, especially over edge detailing during camera pans.

There are one or two interesting tricks to report on the sound front, too. For starters, part of the reason the design looks so striking is the fact that it doesn't boast any obvious speakers; instead exciters placed in the bezel produce the set's sound.

Final more prosaic tricks up the 50PG6000's sleeve include a Game mode for optimising the screen's performance with console sources, and an onscreen display for the Freeview Electronic Programme Guide that is now mapped to match the screen's resolution, making it look far, far crisper and clearer than was the case previously.

Actually, the 50PG6000's entire operating system is much improved thanks to the introduction of big, bold, exceptionally clean icon-driven onscreen menus that many other manufacturers would do well to imitate.

So far it's fair to say we've seen little if any reason why the 50PG6000 should be anywhere near as cheap as it is. And remarkably this theme continues into its picture performance.

Starting with Sky HD's impressive broadcast of Braveheart, the 50PG6000's pictures prove really very good indeed. They look superbly sharp, for instance, showing every blade of grass in Braveheart's sumptuous Scottish landscapes, and every exquisite texture in King Edward's regal clothes. Seriously, this is about as sharp as you're ever going to get without having a full HD resolution.

HD images also benefit from an impressive colour palette, as rich saturations join with easily LG's most natural plasma skin tones ever. The deep greens of some of the film's forest backdrops also avoid the slightly ‘radioactive' look still common on many plasma screens.

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