Sharp has abandoned the space-age silver design of previous Aquos LCDs, but the company still knows how to make a TV look good. Like most other TV manufacturers it’s embraced the black finish, which gives the LC26SD1E a moody, understated look that effuses class.

After letting a few rivals steal a march on it, Sharp is getting its LCD TV act very much back together. Our evidence? The huge improvements made over anything Sharp has done before as witnessed in the LC-42XD1E, and even more so by the company’s new LC-46XD1E we’re looking at today.

We’ve already seen and thoroughly enjoyed 42in and 46in models from Sharp’s potent new XD1E range. But today we’re stretching Sharp’s talents to a whole new dimension with the massive 52in 52XD1E – one of the UK’s biggest commercially available LCD TVs.

Contrary to popular belief, hi-def isn’t just intended for plasma TVs the size of a house. The extra detail on offer also makes a difference on small screens under 26in (although we recommend 26in and above), which is why more and more manufacturers are putting HDMIs and hi-def resolution panels inside 23in, 20in and even 15in LCD sets.

The bottom line of any HD-ready TV is how well it delivers high definition pictures – pure and simple. And in those terms, the Hitachi 32LD9700 is an unqualified success.

Toshiba’s latest largescreen LCD sets are currently earning rave reviews, so we’re hoping some of that quality has filtered down to the £450 20W330D.

IDTVs have become the norm on the high street, but IDTVs with built-in PVR functionality are few and far between, with Humax, Sanyo, Hitachi and now LG so far dipping their toes in the water.

A heck of a lot goes into a plasma TV picture. The gas that gets charged to give each cell its illumination, the electrodes that provide that charge, the phosphor array that gives the resulting light colour, the surrounding walls that stop the gas escaping…

If you’ve been casting an envious look in the direction of Philips’ Ambilight LCD TVs and rather fancy adding multi-coloured backlighting to your own screen, then Neon-Lights.co.uk has a neat upgrade solution.

LG’s 42LT75 is the UK’s first TV to meet the Freeview Playback standard, offering digital recording, similar to Sky+, but with the Freeview broadcast service. So should Sky be quaking in its boots?

From the perspective of a reviewer, 2007 was like one huge party. New, exciting toys just kept on arriving. The AV performance envelope was not only pushed, it was been sealed up, stamped and sent into the stratosphere.

This screen is comfortably the cheapest 42in plasma we’ve ever seen from Panasonic. Which is great, of course, provided we don’t find that too many corners have had to be cut to reach the sub-£1k price.

Having tended to stick to the upper slopes of the LCD TV market, Toshiba’s C series marks an effort to grab a chunk of the entry-level end of things. And although smaller C models haven’t impressed, the 42C3030 fits the budget bill nicely.

Samsung’s PS42Q97HD is ahead of the game when it comes to connections, offering three HDMIs where most of its rivals can only manage two.

The comely form of LG's 42LF66 is another LCD representative in this epic battle, and it wastes no time in reminding us of one of the technology'skey strengths: resolution. On board is a full HD pixel count of 1,920 x 1,080, something 42in plasma TVs find seriously hard to accomplish.

It’s hard to know where you stand with Sanyo. Just when you think you’ve got the company pegged as the last word in cheap and cheerful kit, it surprises you with something spectacularly ambitious – like the aggressively priced, full HD CE47FD51.

Polaroid, the brand most famous for producing those instant cameras so popular with partygoers and pranksters, has branched out into LCD televisions. The TLU-03723B is an ultra affordable set and looks that way, with a flimsy and unattractive chassis of mattblack plastic, but no-one’s ever won five stars just for being pretty.

Most of this 46in LCD TV’s peers have more advanced features, but who cares when a screen this big is edging its way down to the magic £1,000 mark?

The Aurea is like nothing else on the market. You may have seen Philips' Ambilight backlighting system before, but this, the firm's latest flagship model, takes things to a new level

Just as Full HD televisions are emerging as a mainstream product, Sharp has knocked out a ‘budget version’. However, to keep costs low, this particular screen dispenses with the current buzzword in LCD TV technology, '100Hz processing'

Samsung currently lays claim to a sizeable amount of flatscreen territory. It has planted its flag in the super-continent that is mainstream LCD and has been a pragmatic supplier of populist plasmas. Now it wants a piece of the big-screen plasma pie

Finding a TV with more on-paper appeal than Toshiba's 47WLT66 is a struggle. Aside from the attraction of a 47-inch screen, it employs an HD-loving 1920x1080 pixel count, and comes from the same range as Toshiba's acclaimed 42WLT66.

The smallest Full HD TV in this group test, don't think that Toshiba's 40XF355D is the runt of the litter: it's a work of art in more ways than one. The £1,700 40XF355D boasts the world's slimmest bezel, which makes this 40in LCD TV look like an art exhibit.

LG's largest Full HD LCD TV to date, the 47in 47LY95, is as big on design flourishes as it is on pixel count, but there are some picture issues that are impossible to ignore, even at £1,700.

Those after an all-in-one home entertainment package should look no further than this gas giant. The HD50 is a one stop media shop, comprising a 50in plasma TV, a Media Center PC, and a surround sound amplifier, all costing a cool £6,000.