Panasonic TX-L19X10

One odd thing about the small TV market is the willingness ofmanufacturers to offer different colour options. Even the usually soberPanasonic is offering its 19X10BW in white or black.

The company has also seen fit to grace the body with some seductive curves and ridges.

Aroundthe back among the connections there's a handy SD card slot enablingpeople to play digital photos stored on SD cards directly onto thescreen.

The 19X10's specifications are very credible,meanwhile. Its HD Ready native resolution of 1,366 x 768-pixels, forinstance, equates to a proper 16:9 ratio rather than the slightlysuspect proportions found on some rivals. Its 4,000:1 contrast ratiolooks strong for a 19in screen, too, and its impressively legibleonscreen menus host a passable set of tweaks and options, includingnoise reduction routines, an automated colour management circuit, pluscinema and game picture presets.

Many of the other TVs in thisgroup test actually deliver more features than the 19X10. But Panasoniccould argue, with some justification, that its set provides you withall the things you actually need on such a small set.

Performance

Imagesare given a surprising amount of impact for a 19-inch TV by thescreen's impressive brightness levels and by the startling intensity ofits colour tones.

Even deep reds and greens look very credibleand that's something that even the manufacturer's top-spec plasmascreens struggle to achieve.

Also noteworthy is how sharp the19X10's images are, as the set proves capable of defining thedifference between standard and hi-def sources, even though the TV'sprocessing actually does a far cannier job than most of upconvertingstandard definition to its HD resolution.

Perhaps the mostsurprising strength of the 19X10 is its black level response. This hasbeen a real weakness of Panasonic's larger LCD TVs, but dark scenes aredisplayed on the screen with surprisingly little of the usual grey mistand no patches of inconsistency, making it a credible movie-viewingmachine – notwithstanding its 19-inch screen size, of course.

Theset also sounds quite decent. It can deliver good volumes withoutdistortion, as well as believable and well-rounded dialogue, anddoesn't fall flat during action scenes nearly as badly as most of itsrivals.

The only disappointments about the TX-19X10BW are thatpeak whites aren't particularly crisp and the appearance of motionblur. But while these weaknesses cost the set a picture mark, it mustbe said that the blur isn't bad enough to be a deal breaker.

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