When choosing a new TV you have to see if the television is stylish and delivers great pictures, and thankfully the Hitachi P42T01 ticks both boxes. Oh did I forget to mention that Hitachi have also put a motorised stand on this TV as well.

When you mention Hitachi to some people, they will say to you that their TV’s are a little boring, well that is until now as the Hitachi P42T01 has a very funky design. The first thing you will notice with this 42 inch HD Ready Plasma TV is that the you will think that the speakers are on the bottom, however this is not the case as they are in fact on the sides.

To test black levels playing a Sci-Fi movie is perfect for this, the black are good but not as good as they could have been. The overall picture quality is very good giving you great detail, although when viewing bright objects the TV does give off a bit of noise. Sound is better than average, speech music and special effects all sound good, however the Hitachi P42T01 certainly lacks in bass.

Plasma TV with 42-inch screen and motorised stand
What we think: A mixed bag — great picture, average sound and relatively poor connectivity

Features Include:
• 106cm Visible Plasma Widescreen Television
• 2000 Page Teletext
• 3 x SCART Sockets
• HD Ready
• High Resolution of 1024 x 1080 Pixels
• Integrated Digital Television (IDTV)
• Motorised Swivel Stand
• Multi Picture Modes
• Optical Audio Output Terminal
• PICTURE MASTER FHD Engine

Connections:
• 2 x HDMI
• 3 x Scart
• SD Card Reader
• USB Socket

The Good: Great picture quality
The Bad: Sound is average and connectivity is poor