Finlux 49UT3E310B-T

Finlux’s latest Ultra HD TV may be insanely cheap, but John Archer finds there’s a price to pay with its picture quality

The arrival of UHD is proving a great new opportunity for affordable TV brands such as Finlux; those that had started to find it difficult to achieve significant price advantages in the HD world compared to the leading TV brands. This 49in Finlux Ultra HD TV, the 49UT3E310B-T, sells for around £450, a tempting price when compared to the more expensive offerings from Japanese and Korean rivals. But is it really a bargain?

Panasonic DMP-UB900

Panasonic’s first UHD Blu-ray player is brilliant, and that’s without even factoring in fabulous 4K

After what seems like an age of speculation, 4K Ultra HD BD is finally here, and the Panasonic DMP-UB900 stands as its early champion. Positioned above Samsung’s rival UBD-K8500 in both price and spec, this a player designed to serve the AV enthusiast – it’s the first source component we’ve seen to get THX 4K Source certification, which implies some rigorous performance testing – without entirely pricing itself beyond the 4K curious.

Yamaha RX-V679

Dedicated home cinema owners can't live without their AVR. These metal slabs perform much of the grunt work when it comes to putting movies on screen and through your speakers, and – in our convergent era – tackle music streaming and home networking, too. But as our source gear and desired formats change, AVRs need to keep up.

Subsequently, Yamaha's RX-V679 has been born to run with next-gen 4K video sources. HDMI 2.0a connectivity, replete with HDCP 2.2 support, allows it to pass UHD HDR and copy-protected 4K sources. It's not full support across the board, though. Of the six HDMIs here (five rear, one at the front), three are HDCP 2.2-ready. That's no doubt enough for now, but maybe not in the future.

Panasonic TX-65DX902B

If you thought 4K was cool, wait till you get a load of HDR (High Dynamic Range). So goes this year’s TV sales patter. HDR promises hitherto unseen levels of dynamism to television, taking home viewing closer than ever (and even beyond) the modern cinematic experience. But, of course, not all HDR is created equal.

Panasonic’s TX-65DX902B is the first set to land that’s certified Ultra HD Premium by the UHD Alliance. This means (amongst other things) that it’s able to deliver peak whites of over 1,000 nits, along with an extended colour range, when fed HDR material from physical media, streaming services and broadcasters. In addition to this badge of honour, the DX902 (also available in a 58in version for around £2,800) earns THX 4K certification. If you’re looking for the bleeding edge (particularly from Panasonic, as none of its other sets get the UHD tick), you’ve found it.

FiiO M3

A small price to pay for a little delight

The last portable music player we saw from FiiO (the X5) was demonstrably big. Either the Chinese brand has taken our size-ist criticisms to heart or is simply up for the challenge, because the M3 is around the size (and weight) of a matchbox.

It's almost too portable, in the same way a wedding cake can be too pretty to eat. But size aside, it’s hardly a music player of humble stature. For £50 you get a device that can handle hi-res music - WAV support goes up to 24-bit/96kHz, while FLAC is limited to 24-bit/48kHz. There’s 8GB of internal storage onboard - enough for over 200 MP3 albums, or around ten hi-res albums - and that can be expanded with a microSD card of up to 64GB that slots into the bottom of the unit.