Which 42 inch TV Should I Get?

The LG 42LH40 is the bigger and better specced brother of the LH30 which we have down below. The reason we chose this as the best overall is because you get everything that you need from your TV, without a load of unnecessary extras that are going to bump the price up and never get used (this is about $772 at the time of writing).

So you get a blistering fast 2.7ms motion response time (which is how well the TV can cope with fast moving action), plus you get the TruMotion 120Hz technology to upscale the 60Hz signal and reduce blur and juddering. Now be warned that not everyone likes anti-juddering technology as sometimes parts of films are meant to be blurred, like when they pan the camera really fast, but you can turn it off if you don't want it.

It is 1080p naturally, so you get the best resolution possible for watching the latest HD content, and you get a nice 70,000:1 contrast ratio which means dark scenes in films will render nicely and not be all murky.

It has an 'invisible' speaker system which just means they hid the speakers... but they have tweaked the sound using technology to help it pick out and amplify voices so when the background noise tries to drown it out then you should still be able to hear people talking.

You get 4 HDMI ports (v1.3) and a USB 2.0 connection so you can display any photos you have or even hook up an mp3 player to play through a home theatre system.

Finally you get the ability to tweak the picture endlessly, and cnet.com have been praising this for awhile now, there is a picture wizard to help you quickly and easily tweak the picture to your satisfaction, then if you want to get geeky you can get down and dirty in the menus to tweak things to your heart's content!

So altogether it delivers the goods, it is good value, and it has an overall rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon.com, so that is why this is our top pick.

>> Click here to grab up to 30% off the LG 42LH40 at Amazon.com

LG 42LH40 tech spec:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Motion response time: 2.7ms
Contrast ratio: 70,000:1
Audio: 4 x 5W invisible speakers (with Dolby Digital 5.1)
HDMI ports: 4 (v1.3)
ENERGY STAR® compliant: Yes
Online reviews: Excellent
Helpful tech: Has a USB 2.0 port to connect devices into an display images or play mp3 files from. Clear Voice II technology isolates and enhances speech so you can hear it over background noice, picture wizard makes fine tuning the picture easy. TruMotion 120Hz technology converts your 60Hz signal into 120Hz to reduce motion blur and improve image quality. Intelligent Sensor technology adjusts the picture to match your lighting conditions.

The Samsung PN42C430 is a new 42 inch plasma TV that has come onto the market (so new we're struggling to find the correct specs for it!) and it costs, wait for it... $549! (at the time of writing) That is an insane price for a full on 42 inch plasma TV, and it doesn't skimp on the technology either.

You get 2 HDMI ports, which is about the bare minimum you can survive with nowadays, but you do get a USB port and the ability to watch videos over that and look at photos. You also get a 'Game mode' which basically speeds everything up and enhances the picture to get the most out of a game.

It has two speakers with 10W of output each so the same as the LG TVs, but they have the voice isolation technology too. Yet with this TV you get 600Hz instead of the 120Hz of the LH40 and the 60Hz of the LH30, don't be fooled by the big numbers though, it is basically just adding in extra frames between the normal ones from the 60Hz signal to make it all seem smoother, it is nice to have, but after about 120Hz it only makes minor improvements to your viewing experience.

As this is a plasma then you get the advantage of hugely decreased motion response time, so you get a figure of just 0.001ms! 4ms is considered a good time in LCD TVs, so you can see why plasma TVs have a definite edge when it comes to fast moving movies.

The one drawback though is that it is 780p, so if you are a bit of a HDTV snob and you can't settle for less than the full 1080p, then this won't interest you. If you don't mind it being 780p though then you can get a top brand name and a huge plasma TV loaded with technology for less than $550!

Just make sure it has enough HDMI ports for you before you buy.

>> Click here to grab your Samsung PN42C430 from Amazon.com

PN42C430 tech spec:

Resolution: Unknown
Motion response time: 0.001ms
Contrast ratio: Unknown
Audio: 2 x 10W speakers
HDMI ports: 2
ENERGY STAR® compliant: Yes
Online reviews: Excellent
Helpful tech: Has a 'Game Mode' which temporarily enhances the contrast ratio and speeds up image processing to keep up with the fast paced action. USB port which can accept videos as well as pictures. 600Hz subfield motion technology to eliminate blurring with fast action scenes. Clear Image Panel technology makes everything stay crisp on the screen no matter what angle you look at it from.

This is the LG 42LH30 which is the baby brother of the LH40 at the top of this page, that means you get less tech, but you get a smaller price tag, so at around $664 at the time of writing then this is one of the best value 1080p 42 inch TVs we've seen.

So what's different to the LH40? Well you get a slower motion response time of 5ms, which is actually 1 better than the 32 inch version of this set, and still well below the 8ms that we'd recommend as a minimum, so it is not as fast as the LH40, but still good.

You also get a drop in contrast ratio to 50,000:1, but at that kind of level it is already great so it doesn't make that much difference to drop from 70k to 50k.

There are 2 less speakers with this TV too, but the same total wattage of power, and you only get 3 HDMI ports (still v1.3) and no USB connectivity which is something you need to consider.

There is no 120Hz technology either so you just get the standard 60Hz.

But it is over $100 cheaper and includes everything you want from an entry level TV, and you get the same ability to tweak the picture as you do with the LH40, so if you still want a proper 1080p TV and don't want to pay close to $800 for the LH40, then this is a great choice.

>> Click here to grab up to 22% off the LG 42LH30 at Amazon.com

LG 42LH30 tech spec:

Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Motion response time: 5ms
Contrast ratio: 50,000:1
Audio: 2 x 10W invisible speakers (with Dolby Digital 5.1)
HDMI ports: 3 (v1.3)
ENERGY STAR® compliant: Yes
Online reviews: Excellent
Helpful tech: Clear Voice II technology isolates and enhances speech so you can hear it over background noice, picture wizard makes fine tuning the picture easy.