Picking a high-definition TV that won't blow a large hole in your wallet is difficult enough. Getting change out of a grand would be a challenge worthy of Anneka Rice. But those lovely people at LG have managed to make a full 1080p telly for around £800 and they've also managed to make it look good too.

This "Design Art" 42-inch model is has the looks of a telly twice its price and punches its weight with the likes of Sony and Samsung. The curvy stand looks good too. The thing is darn light too, weighing in at 27.2kg.

The LCD screen has a 1920 x 1080 resolution so will be able to handle any Blu-ray (or HD-DVD) movie at full pelt 1080p and 24 fps in its stride.

Around the back it just about has every connection you could ever need. Three HDMI ports; one S-Video and one AV down the left side plus two Scart sockets on the rear. There is also the RF antenna socket (for the built-in digital TV tuner), one component port (with audio) and an optical digital audio out as well.

Picture quality is quite good, given the price. One of the features that helps improve things is the "Intelligent Eye" that automatically adjust brightness to the ambient levels using a sensor on the front of the set. There are also other settings (dynamic, standard, and "mild" - which makes the picture muted with lower brightness levels).

Colours are bright and reasonably sharp, the black levels are also not bad for LCD and motion is consistent, even when watching fast-paced action movies. Sound quality from the speakers isn't great, but then you can always pump the sound through an amp.

Overall, at the price it is certainly one of the best 42-inch models we've seen at the lower end of the market.

Rating: 9/10