I have now had my BeoVision 10 for nearly a week so feel able to put some thoughts to paper - or ether!

Arrival

It actually beat me home as I was working a Saturday surgery and had dropped in on one of my poorly patients on the way home. It was deliverd at fitted by Terry Carr who used to be part of B&O Newcastle but who is now self employed but contracts to the local stores. As an aside, he is also qualified to service B&O - he had a Beogram 4000 and a 4002 on the go as I was talking to him. He and Kevin arrived to fit the set and also moved the Avant into the study and the AV9000 upstairs (thank you very much!) The Avant had been moved and the AV9000 unplugged by the time of my return. Kevin spent a good time setting up the cables for the BV10 first and only when he was happy did they bring it in. As usual with B&O sets, it was on a pallet and we disassembled this outside the house. I had opted for the floor stand so this had already been assembled and it was then a matter of moments to attach the bracket to the back of the BV10 and then fix it to the stand. The cables were neatly attached under the removable cover and run through the sock to the wall. A much neater job than I had managed with the Avant and very unobtrusive. After a little trouble tuning the digital tuner (it was determined to use the Teeside transmitter) all the stations were present and after a hand over, I was left with it.

First Impressions

The visual footpint when looking at the set is very much the same as the Avant. Very similar height and width but obviously a cleaner profile as the front is almost completely flat with only the very slim speaker cover interupting the glass screen. The black cover almost disappears in the setting I have the BV10 in and this is very pleasing to the eye. When in stand by, there is a small red LED at the bottom of the set, below the speaker cover and this turns to green when the set switches on. It then disappears so not to be obtrusive - a nice touch.

The frame is polished aluminium with BANG & OLUFSEN written on the top - not obtrusive. The corners are quite sharp - you would not want to poke you eye with one and the back of the bezel is also a little sharp. Worth knowing with kids around. The bezel itself looks a lot thinner than it actually is - quite an attractive feature. The floor stand is that from the BeoVision 6-26 only slightly modified, so it is the whole base that rotates, not the pole.

Impressions are of a well made set, heavy and certainly quite a looker in my eyes.

The Picture

Excellent in a word! Very good colour, good blacks and a fine ability to cope with fast moving objects. To my (poor) eyes, it is the equal of the Avant when used on digital sources and the HD sources possibly offer that little bit more. I do think that this is however largely down to the quality of the broadcasts as I had noticed an improvement of picture on the Avant when using the SKY HD box (a Samsung by the way...)My twelve year old daughter, with much better eyes, thinks it is great and just as good as the old one!

Pictures on the DVB-HD tuner were fine though the signal strength is not great and some channels can become blocky. Unfortunately this is unlikely to improve unless the tree preservation rules change and I get a bigger chain saw. I did not try the analogue tuner as there seemed little point! I will try the V8000 through it though and will report back!!

The Sound

The sound, the sound! Compared to other TVs, not B&O, it is fine. Indeed it is remarkable for the thin design of the set. However compared to the Avant or LX6000, it is disappointing. So much so that I am considering getting another pair of speakers and seeing if they can be used as a centre speaker instead. I am getting used to it but it does not have the warm body of sound that the Avant and LX offer and which make those TV sets  realistic channels to play Hi-Fi through. I would say that it is less impressive than the BeoVision 8-40 as well. This is certainly the Achilles heel of the BV10.

Operation

The manual comes with instructions on how to work the set with both a Beo4 and a Beo5. To a B&O novice, the Beo5 could well prove to be the way to go - nice backlighting, clever buttons and a neat design. To a B&O geek, use a Beo4. Much easier and you don't need to look at the remote. It works with a Beolink 1000 as well! Highpoints include the magic curtains, nice menus and clear channel identifiers at the top of the picture - no separate display area but fine. I mainly use Sky HD so the programme guide is that of Sky, but the built in EPG is clear and usable. I would bemoan the lack of a decent hard disc recorder but Sky HD integrates perfectly. To powewr link rooms, a RF amplifier is required and this surprised me by offering a far better picture in the link room than the RF distributor in the Avant. I imagine it is a stronger signal as the Avant had needed considerable fiddling with and altering of the link frequency to obtain a watchable picture on my LX6000 whereas the picture now is excellent. Fooled me initially as I had to retune the LX but the memory kicked in eventually! A big disadvantage though is the lack of a proper timer in the BV10. There is a sleep timer which will switch off the set after a predetermined time but the BV10 cannot act as a master in a Beolink system. The options are either to use an audio product with a timer - I use the BeoCenter 2 - or get a BeoTime. There is also no PIN system - an omission that points to the origins of this TV. The chassis is that of the BV8-40. Another feature missing is the P-i-P function - not a huge miss if I am honest.One comment from the main user is that it takes a long time to turn on!

Summary

I believed this set could be the answer to what to get to replace an Avant. Instead it has shown itself to be a very capable set ideally suited to wall mounting and offering superb picture quality. For someone used to the sound of an Avant or better, this is not a replacement. An excellent bedroom set and it will work reasonably in a surround set up. The BV10-46 needs more sound quality though. Or the abilty to bypass the fitted speakers. Ultimately this is a set I have bought with my own money and I am satisfied - it does not however take me to a new level - I still may get a Beovision 5!!