Televisions

Sony's newly-minted 55XD9305 TV is a flatscreen style icon with some cool new technology, introducing a novel Slim Backlight Drive which effectively divides the panel backlight in two, and sporting a waif-like frame that makes it perfect for wall-hanging. The set reviewed here is a 55-incher, but it’s also available in 65-inch guise. 

For many serious AV fans, OLED currently looks like the holy grail of TV technology, ready to usurp LED-lit LCD TV and light the way to a new era of home entertainment. If OLED doesn't excite you, then you may be reading the wrong website.

While there’s no doubt that we’re hurtling towards a 4K/UHD TV future, we’re not quite there yet. Much as we might love 4K, there are still a huge amount of living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and studies across the UK where 4K is either not wanted, not needed or not affordable. So it’s good to know there are Full HD sets like this Philips that still care about picture quality.

The 55in KD-55X8505C is the honey trap for Sony’s 2015 4K UHD models. Priced considerably below the ultra-slim X90C and the hi-res audio-capable X93C/X94C behemoths, this is UHD for the brand-buying mainstream.

Samsung has already set the 2015 TV world alight with the High Dynamic Range (HDR) glories of its UE65JS9500 LCD/LED flagship screen (reviewed here). Sadly, though, the £6,000 price tag attached to that ground-breaking TV makes it nothing more than a pipe dream for most AV fans. Cue the £1,400 Samsung UE48JU7000, which preserves some of the key features of the JS9500 series for just a fraction of the price. Let's be honest – this is a 4K screen that many more people will seriously consider buying. There's even a 40in version for the space-constrained 4K fan.

The TX-55AX902 has a lot to live up to. First teased over a year ago, when Panasonic created headlines with the promise that it was working on an LED LCD able to exceed the picture performance of its plasma TVs, it bristles with advanced image wizardry, plus a full-array LED backlight with advanced local dimming. So can it lay claim to the high-end 4K market?