Times are confusing enough for your average TV punter these days without more format fisticuffs to worry about. Yet it looks like 2006 might not only be the year HD DVD locks horns with Blu-ray, it may also mark battle for the TV middle ground, between plasma and LCD.

For, while both technologies have so far co-existed alongside each other, with LCD servicing the smaller end of the market while plasma caters for larger screen sizes, LCD is about to muscle in on plasma's patch.

Sony, Samsung and Philips all have a new range of 40in plus LCD TVs ready to ship soon, meaning buyers are about to be faced with a decision not just between which brand of screen to buy, but which technology to support. It's hardly surprising, then, that plasma vendors like Pioneer and Panasonic are becoming much more vocal about why they believe plasma is the better technology for big-screen viewing.

Talking only gets you so far, though; if plasma really wants to outgun its fast-rising rival, it's going to have to back up its fi ne words with some hard evidence. Which is exactly what Panasonic hopes to do with its 9th-generation plasma screen, the Viera TH-42PX60.

Set atop one of the brand's eye-catching fl oor-standing mounts (my favourite configuration), the 42PX60 is both strikingly attractive and slightly disappointing. The new sculpting for the stand and TV emphasises the screen's slenderness even more than the previous Viera look, but on the downside, the 2006 matt, silverdominated fi nish just doesn't look as luxurious as the old gloss-black approach.

Connectivity includes dual HDMI sockets, component video for analogue HD sources, a trio of Scarts, and a D-Sub PC jack.

The 42PX60's feature list is a solid mix of handy 'upfront' options and new 'behindthe- scenes' picture processing.

Top of the up-front stuff is a digital tuner, complete with a CI slot for adding Top Up TV channels to the standard Freeview service. Full support for the Freeview 7-day electronic programme guide is provided, complete with genre fi ltering and an 8-event timer memory.

Also present is HDAVI, which cleverly routes system control codes via the HDMI link from one compatible Panasonic unit to another.