There are good and bad points regarding the 52HX903's operating system. On the plus side, the presentation of the onscreen menus is pretty, with good use of graphics in places, such as the screens where you can pick from your list of inputs or choose a thematic picture preset.

The remote control is comfortably sculpted and many aspects of its button layout work nicely. However, the concentric circle arrangement of buttons at the remote's heart makes it far too easy to select the wrong button, especially in a dark room.

Interface

As for the onscreen menus, while they're smartly presented, their twin-axis structure also means they can be a little tortuous to navigate - a situation not helped by the way they default to the input list every time you call them up, or by the slight delay caused by some of the menu selections.

One final niggle concerns the 3D controls. For while the remote sports a dedicated 3D button, pressing it doesn't give you access to key options like being able to select what sort of 3D content you're watching (side by side, over under, etc). Nor does the 3D option in the Home Menu give you this sort of control: instead, you have to press the Options button.