Well, we've tested over 1200 products so far this year and they keep on coming.  But with the nights drawing in, it's time to think of the holidays and we're pleased to bring you our Gift Guide for Christmas 2008.

Whatever digital goodies you're planning on offering your nearest and dearest, our advice should help you make sure that nobody ends up disappointed.

We've kicked things off today with three product lines, but we'll publishing more every day for the next two weeks:

• Digital Cameras

• MP3 Players

• Camcorders

The end of 2008 has seen the arrival of a new breed of TVs that use LEDs, rather than lamps, for backlighting.

These new screens have been a long time coming but are eagerly-anticipated because they promise to take contrast ratios up to over 1 000 000:1.

Thousands of triplets of red, green and blue diodes light up independently to provide a white light behind different parts of the screen, replacing the ten or so tubes that featured in earlier LCD screens. 

The key advantage isn't brighter backlighting, but that the lighting of particular parts of the scren can be more closely controlled: the whole screen is divided up into dozens of zones which can each have a different level of brightness.

In very dark areas, the LEDs can be turned off, and in the brightest of areas, they are turned up as high as possible--elsewhere, they can be anywhere in between.

First Tests

The first models that we've had a chance to test come from Philips and Samsung respectively:

• The Philips 42PFL9803H sees the return of Philps' Ambilight technology, which back projects a gentle light onto the wall behind the screen.  Designed to complement the image currently on screen, it makes watching TV in the dark a more enticing prospect.

• Samsung's new A796 series has a very similar configuration, but comes without the Ambilight system.  For the time being, it is available in two sizes: 40''--the LE40A796--and 46''--the LE46A796.

> Product Survey: 40'' to 49'' TVs

It's no great leap forward for science or enginereeing, but it looks pretty neat, so why not?

Still, it's nice to see what it looks like on the inside, and makes a change from all those fans who've been eagerly ripping their Macs apart ...