Probably the DLP world's first genuine classic rear projection TV was Samsung's SP50L7HX - a stunning set I fell in love with when I reviewed it back in HCC 112. So you can imagine that my hopes are very high indeed for Samsung's brand new, 46in DLP rear-pro set, the SP46L6HX.

This new model does not share its predecessor's design genes. I felt a little pang of disappointment when I hoicked the SP46L6HX from its box. While certainly not ugly in its combination of black screen frame and silver speaker section, it's no match for the stunning extravagance of the flagship SP50L7HX model.

But this slight backward design step becomes eminently forgivable when you look at the 46in model's price: at just £1,500, it's clearly made for a whole different viewer than its bigger, costlier brother. So from now on it's probably fairer that I treat the SP46L6HX on its own merits, and leave off with the SP50L7HX comparisons.

The SP46L6HX's connections are useful for such an affordable screen, including, as they do, an HDMI jack and a set of HD-compatible component jacks. These inputs fulfil the connection requirement of the industry's official HD Ready specification. The set goes on to tick all the other HD Ready boxes thanks to a native widescreen resolution of 1280 x 720 and compatibility with all the necessary HD formats.

Other connectivity worthy of mention includes a trio of Scarts (two RGB enabled) and a standard VGA connection that allows it to double up as a PC monitor.

Specs beyond the HD Ready native resolution already mentioned include a decent but certainly not outstanding (for DLP) claimed contrast ratio of 2000:1, and a claimed brightness of 1000cd/m2. The set also carries Samsung's proprietary DNIe processing, for - and I'm quoting now - enhancing the appearance of fine detail in the picture, improving motion handling, and boosting both the screen's colour response and contrast levels.