Goodmans GTV42P2

Another bargain from the Goodmans basement

Attention, Scrooge-loving film fans - we may well have found the ideal plasma telly for you! Okay, so you're still going to need to stump up nigh on two grand - not the sort of cash you find just lying behind the sofa - but for a 42-incher such as this, that ain't a whole lot.

It's admittedly a Goodmans, a brand not known for its all-conquering home entertainment quality, and the separate tuner box's lack of a component video input set off the alarm bells in our head. How on earth do you connect your lovely progressive-scan DVD player? Well, the short answer is that you don't. If, however, you're one of the millions who use an RGB Scart connection instead, you're sorted - two of the four Scarts on this screen support RGB.

The lack of a component socket and the poorly conceived remote led us to suspect that performance might also be lacking in the visual department, but our prejudice turned out to be unfounded - while this model doesn't match up to the likes of those from Philips, Hitachi or Pioneer picture-wise, once you've given the settings a much- needed tweak, it produces a respectable enough image.

The okay-ish sound comes courtesy of a pair of separate speakers, which can be mounted either side of the screen or on their own stands. Oddly, though, you have to connect them to the tuner box rather than the TV.

All in all, this is a decent plasma at a bargain price. Don't expect the latest in features or top-class performance and you won't be disappointed.