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Less open to debate is the impressive amount of video processing the 42LG6100 carries. The most significant component of this is its TruMotion 100Hz system, which not only doubles the normal PAL refresh rate to reduce motion blur, but also interpolates wholly new frames of image data designed to fill in the gaps between the real image frames to either side. The 42LG6100 also plays host to LG’s XD Engine, a multipurpose processor designed to focus on boosting the key picture areas of noise, contrast, colour, motion and sharpness.

As well as these ‘behind the scenes’ features (most of which can actually be turned on or off as you see fit), the colourful onscreen menus contain a striking number of tweaks. In fact, contrast boosters, noise reduction, a colour booster, gamma adjustment, and even a degree of colour management conspire to make the 42LG6100 ISF compatible. In other words, you could if you wanted, pay a trained Imaging Science Foundation engineer to come and optimise the TV’s picture settings to suit your living room conditions.

At this point it’s well worth reflecting on the 42LG6100’s price. For at only a smidge
over £600, it’s really very cheap indeed for a 42in TV with such a remarkably attractive and slender profile. Indeed, it kind of makes us wonder why other manufacturers’ slim TVs should have to carry such a premium.

As always when a manufacturer makes its first foray into a new technology, there have to be concerns about whether picture quality has suffered along the way. So it’s a relief to see almost straight away that while not perfect, the 42LG6100’s pictures certainly appear to be as good as those of most ‘normal’ LG TVs.

The picture’s contrast, for instance, looks impressive, with decently deep black levels sitting side by side with pretty extreme peak whites. This sort of talent inevitably helps colours look dynamic and vibrant – just the job for bringing my burgeoning garden and colourful collection of sweet-filled paper animals in Viva Pinata 2 to sparkling, joyful life. Ah. Stop sniggering at the back….

Tellingly, though, the rich colour saturations aren’t, like some other LG sets, delivered at the expense of generally natural tones. Skin tones, for instance, look both believable and very subtle with quality HD fare such as the town meeting near the start of There Will Be Blood.

Even better, colours don’t lose too much tonal accuracy with standard definition, either. Sure, there’s a slightly speckly, waxy look to standard def skin tones, but there’s only very minor trouble from the tendency to over-egg red and green colours with standard def sources that some LG LCD TVs exhibit.

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