0212WHC13 TV Group

28/10/02

5:04 PM

Page 67

Group Test: 32in TVs

Best in Test

Philips 32PW9527

JVC AV32X25EK

Hardly a beauty, this Philips set makes up for its bland looks with a winning performance. A very capable home cinema screen which should survive the plasma style-onslaught. Hook it up to your home cinema system, sit back, and feast your eyes
nother page, another fancily-monikered piece of digital chicanery in this case, DigiPure Pro, as found on JVCs AV32X25EK. But at least this one does something a little bit different namely removing any unwanted extra edges from very contrasty images, and sharpening the edges on low-contrast images. The real question is should we actually give a damn? Before we find out, a word to the AV32X25EKs looks. Its rather slinky combination of curves and rectangles makes for a deeply pleasant piece of eye-candy especially as the geometrical contrasts are banged home by the cheeky use of different shades of grey. Lovely. Mulholland Drives relentless darkness would be unforgiving of the sort of processing-induced murkiness weve seen on previous JVC 100Hz/Digipure TVs. But the AV32X25EK actually makes a decent fist of it; the crash scene shows a reasonable true black, authentic colours, and fairly minimal signs of smearing and image lag. The latest Digipure Pro incarnation does fine, too, optimising contrast without over-emphasis or over-muting no matter how much Lynchs film tries to catch it out!
Loewe Aconda Living 9281 Great-looking TV this, but its price (somewhere around 1,800) might put you off somewhat

Lynch mob

Theres still haloing around bright patches, though, plus general softness and traces of image lag, especially on all those lovely fleshtones Lynch peppers his film with. Some new JVC TVs feature a special bolt-on subwoofer to boost bass. But the AV32X25EK isnt one of them. And it shows, for, while the TV is perfectly at home with Mulholland Drives occasional quiet moments, it struggles to rise to the challenge when the mix hits pulsating overdrive. JVC is going in the right direction with its digital processing. But at the same time, the AV32X25EK still feels a generation Ratings Picture ########$$ or two behind some of its rivals. But then, its Style #########$ a couple of hundred quid cheaper too. Sound ########$$ Features #######$$$ Further Info Value #########$ Call or visit www.jvc.co.uk Overall ########$$
Panasonic TX-32PH40 A huge let-down from one of the giants of TV. Great design values, though
Toshiba 32ZD26 A wonderful TV which is perfect for those of you who intend to import American DVDs. Progressive performer
Samsung WS-32Z48D Terrible onscreen menus, but the sets low price and surround sound is very appealing indeed
JVC AV32X25EK Another generous price, and pretty good pictures for the money, too. The set looks lovely as well
What Home Cinema December 2002