Marantz is a firm known primarily for its high-class hi-fi gear, but it's also doing its best to make an impression on the home cinema market, launching feature-laden DVD players and plasma screens, and now this mid-sized LCD. As with other Marantz products, the 30in LC3050 radiates quality: it is reassuringly solid and reasonably stylish, with a classic silver and black finish and desktop stand.

All aboard

There's no separate multimedia box here. Everything - tuner, speakers and socketry - is fitted neatly into the screen's compact frame. The lack of component video is a disappointment but you get two Scarts and an S-video input, as well as VGA and DVI sockets for a PC. The DVI is also HDCP compliant, for connecting to HDMI and DVI-outputting DVD players (Marantz is one of the few companies that makes one: the superb DV12S2), and it will be able to handle Sky's planned high-def broadcasts. A couple of stereo audio inputs are included - one phono, one 3.5mm - as well as a connection for hooking up an active subwoofer.

The LC3050 is ideal for those that aren't confident around technology thanks to automatic tuning and a clear, well laid out on-screen menu system that is easy to navigate with the remote control. There isn't a ton of extra functionality, but you do get picture-in-picture (and picture-on-picture) and basics like teletext and a sleep timer.

The screen is a 30in TFT panel with a pretty generous resolution of 1,280 by 768 pixels, but a closer look suggests that Marantz has opted for an older model. First, it's not a true widescreen shape, its aspect ratio being 15:9 rather than the standard 16:9. Then there's the unimpressive 450:1 contrast ratio, and the response time isn't particularly speedy - which leads to rapidly moving objects creating a small but nonetheless visible blur.

These symptoms put the LC3050 at an immediate disadvantage when facing the brand-new panels sported by some rivals in this test; these have a true 16:9 shape and are blessed with higher response times, resolutions and contrast ratios.