The G9 Pioneer Kuro promises extreme contrast for deep luscious blacks at a much more affordable pricing of S$8,999.

Its 28.9-billion color palette is a strong pro, thought the new HD Natural Motion engine fails to live up to our expectations.

 Sharp and punchy DVD and HD visuals; revealing shadow details; good standard-definition upscaling; plenty mid-bass presence; streamline LCD bezel; triple 1080p24-ready HDMI; affordable.

 Motion blurring and artifacts with HD Natural Motion, less than ideal PC support; buggy pixel-to-pixel aspect ratio setting; single component-video.

 We like the Philips 47PFL5403's wide viewing angle, rich colors and shadow detail, but not its questionable motion-enhancing HD Natural Motion engine.

This Dutch flagship has most of the essentials covered. These range from a brilliant 2,250 trillion color palette to a 100Hz engine and quad HDMIs.

The Samsung PS42A450P1 is a 42-inch plasma which features 100Hz motion compensation and is capable of displaying 3D games and videos.

This 2008 entry-level LCD TV offers a combination of high dynamic contrast and outstanding value with an all-time low S$2,499 sticker price.

Overall sharp and clean visuals; accurate color decoding; full-HD resolution and 1080p input-compatibility; dual HDMI 1.3 terminals; simple yet appealing visual design; extremely affordable.

Cumbersome toggle input and confusing control buttons; soft PC text.

Smooth film-like visuals; accurate and natural colors; bassy audio; triple HDMI and SDHC card reader; digital optical audio out; effective anti-reflection coating; excellent value for money.

Pictures can be a bit soft at times; bulky; fixed pedestal stand; lackluster surround sound.

The Dutch has gone LED. Not for the LCD TV's panel backlighting, but rather its latest Ambilight system.

The Koreans' push for tri-HDMI has trickled into many segments of its flat TVs and the Q9-series plasma is one fine example.

The Panasonic TH-42PV700H comes highly recommended for its solid picture and sound qualities, though there are very limited advanced settings to satisfy the deep-pocketed videophiles and enthusiasts.

Sharp pictures and vibrant colors; bass-filled audio; effective anti-glare coating; three 1080p-ready HDMI; SDHC (high-capacity) card slot; onboard JPEG playback; digital optical audio output.

Limited video-tweaking options; cumbersome video switching; softer-than-expected PC text.