Refine search for TVs

  2 comments      Email TrustedReviews Newsletters

The 42DV1 also excels, in typical JVC style, with its colour response. Objects seem unusually solid and three-dimensional on the set thanks to its winning combination of vibrant hues, a seemingly very expansive colour range, and perhaps best of all, some superb subtlety when it comes to rendering blends and colour shifts.

As usual with DynaPix HD TVs, the 42DV1 benefits from some terrific sharpness and detailing with high definition pictures. So much so, for instance, that you can actually make out drops of water on the black pipes that crash to the ground after Bond releases them from a crane during the 'free running' sequence in Casino Royale.

Another massive strength of DynaPix HD is its ability to make standard definition pictures look good, adding lots of detail and sharpness without exaggerating noise - so long, at least, as you rein in the edge-harshening antics of the Super Digipure function. In fact, it's my belief that only the Philips Perfect Pixel HD engine upscales standard definition pictures more successfully than JVC's DynaPix HD engine.

While the 42DV1's pictures are excellent in most ways, they are ultimately let down a touch by a single problem: black levels.

With the set's dynamic contrast function turned off, really dark scenes, such as the night-time sequences on the Pirates of the Caribbean Blu-ray, look slightly cloudy in that familiar LCD kind of way. They also lack the formidable sense of depth and scale that's so evident during bright, colourful scenes, thanks to the way the TV fails to render as much subtle shadow detail in dark areas as the best of its rivals. JVC's 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio claims for the 42DV1 are now looking decidedly optimistic. It doesn't help the black level situation, either, that the level of greyness in dark pictures grows massively if you're forced to watch the set from much of an angle.

At this point I must stress that turning on the 42DV1's Dynamic Contrast feature improves the set's general black level response quite a bit; so much so that I personally would leave it on all the time. However, the feature also causes occasionally noticeable - and therefore distracting - 'jumping' of the image's general brightness level.

Turning to the 42DV1's audio, it's certainly got plenty of raw power on its side, and so can pump out a good action movie soundtrack with extreme volume and aggression. Just be warned that the set doesn't actually recognise its own limitations, and so the showy power can cause some pretty severe distortion if you try and push the volume level too far.

Verdict

JVC's latest stab at a super-slim TV is a big improvement over its 42DS9 predecessor; in spec, design and performance terms. Indeed, there are times when its pictures look really quite stunning. But in the end the fact that its black level response is only good rather than awesome leaves it a hair's breadth from a TrustedReviews recommendation.

Add your comment