Fujitsu P42HHA40US 42

Making those or any other adjustments can be quite a chore because of the Fujitsu's incomprehensible menus. The TV has, for example, two different contrast controls, one called "Signal Contrast" and the other "Drive Contrast." Neither the on-screen menus nor the manual offers a clear description of how the two differ. (After contacting Fujitsu, we learned that "Signal Contrast" corresponds to the regular contrast control on other TVs--the one we needed for our calibration. We're still not positive what the other one does.)

Even more baffling was setting the color temperature. In addition to the custom setting (adjusting the red, green, and blue primaries), the menu offers three cryptic presets: "-3500," "Standard," and "+3500." None of these looked very close to the industry standard of 6500 Kelvin. Again, it took an e-mail to Fujitsu to explain: Though not labeled as such, "Standard" corresponds to 9000 Kelvin--so selecting "-3500" would get us to the value of 6500 we needed. Of course! Why didn't we think of that?

Like the NEC PX-42XR3A, the Fujitsu is a plain monitor, without a television tuner or speakers (though a pair of 20-watt units sells for a reasonable $199). One notable bonus over the NEC is that the Fujitsu has an HDMI port, instead of a DVI connection. But that feature isn't worth an extra $2000--the difference between the two products' street prices.

Upshot: This panel has pretty good image quality; but uneven performance, awkward design, and a relatively high price keep it well out of the running.

Seán Captain