The story of JVC's P300 series of HDTVs is simple. They are the only large screen TVs, (to my knowledge), that feature an integrated dock for an Apple iPod.

Basically, a little cradle flips down from below the screen allowing you to attach your iPod. The TV then takes over and displays an onscreen menu of your iPod's contents. You navigate with your TV's remote to choose the music or videos to playback on the TV.

The HDTV part of the JVC LT-46P300 is a high end 1080p 60Hz display, which was top of the line technology 18 months ago. Even though it has been surpassed by newer, more expensive models with 120Hz frame rate and LED backlights, this 46" HDTV still produces excellent picture quality.

The real question for you is, do you need a TV with an iPod dock? If you do, then the JVC P300 series fits the bill. JVC also has a J300 series that has similar specifications except with no iPod dock. The MSRPs for the P300 series are $50 more than their J300 counterparts, which means that JVC is only charging a slight premium for the docking feature.

(Editor's note: Since the specifications for the LT-32P300 and the LT-42P300 are similar to their 46" sibling, this review can be applied to all three.)

Our Star Ratings

Performance: 4.0

Video performance of the JVC LT-46P300 is good, though contrast could be wider allowing more detail in the shadows. And this 60Hz TV does not exhibit the detailed pop of some 120Hz models. Audio playback from the iPod is room filling.

Features: 4.5

If you take away the iPod docking feature, this TeleDock rates about a 4.0. It provides three HDMIs. I'm seeing four on many TVs these days. And the one USB port accepts JPEGs, but JVC does not include a LAN port for accessing the Internet or your home network.

Of course, if you are looking for a large screen HDTV that has an iPod dock, then this JVC series is the only game in town, which would push the Features rating past 5.0.

Ease of Use: 4.0

It's not rocket science to configure all the iPod features, but it takes a little digging through the manual to work through the subtleties. Choosing the Theater Picture Mode makes setup an almost one step process.

Value: 4.0

When I determine value, I usually ignore the stated MSRP and base my rating on what I see as an average street price. In this marketplace, considering that the JVC LT-46P300 is a 60Hz 1080p HDTV, I would award this 46" model a solid 4.0. But if you crave the iPod dock feature, bumps it to at least a 4.5.

Star Ratings Description

Ratings are relative to when the review was written. The obvious example is Value, what you could purchase for $2000 two years ago or even two months ago would seem like a bad value for that price now. We have given only a precious few 5 Star ratings, which we reserve for truly outstanding accomplishment.

Without the flip-down iPod dock protruding from its navel, the JVC LT-46P300 measures four and a half inches deep, which these days must be considered rather portly. The iPod cradle adds about and inch and a half, making this belly button an outie. When attached to its non-swivel stand, this 46" TV weighs just under 56 pounds.

Even with its non-glare surface, the LCD screen does reflect bright lights though when the TV is on, they are not noticeable. The two inch wide piano black bezel has become a standard, but the JVC designers have accented the bottom frame with snazzy blue wedges of light.

And when you drop your iPod into the deck, two small blue lights glow on either end of the cradle. If the effect is too disco for you, you can dim or turn off the lights in the Power menu.

All of the connections are situated in a back-bending, neck-twisting location in the center of the rear of the TV. Believe me, you will have a much more comfortable time plugging in cables if you turn your TV to face you.

Especially difficult to manage are the three HDMI connections that are facing down and not easily visible. Also back there facing out are two sets of Component video (YPbPr) Ins (with matching stereo Audio Ins), two Composite video inputs, one VGA PC input (15 pin D-Sub), an S-Video In, and two Audio Outs (one digital optical and one analog stereo).

In addition, the panel includes a Sync (PC), which allows your computer to sync with your docked iPod just as if it were directly connected to your PC.

The one RF antenna connector links to integrated ATSC/QAM tuners. Since the tuner system is Clear QAM compatible, you can attach your cable TV signal into the RF connector and tune in unscrambled cable stations.

Notice that these mid-2009 TVs no longer list an NTSC tuner. With the now completed DTV transition in the U.S., the ATSC tuner is the key. With the proper antenna, you will be able to tune in digital signals broadcast over the air.

Of note, the LT-46P300 does not furnish a LAN port to connect to the Internet and your home network. This is becoming a must have item for me because I like the convenience of tapping into my PC directly.

Finally, on the left edge of the TV, below the operational buttons, JVC has conveniently placed a USB port where you can upload JPEG photos into the TV's Photo Viewer. From what I can see, you cannot access MPEG2 videos or MP3 songs through this USB port.

The Photo Viewer software is somewhat limited. You only have one transition between slides, (a wipe down) and three slide intervals, (5, 10 and 20 seconds). I do appreciate the ability to access the Picture menu and adjust image settings while in the Photo Viewer mode.

Of course, the main feature of this P300 series is the iPod dock. I find its fundamental operation simple to use; but to perform other options, the steps are a bit of a kludge, an inelegant workaround.

Let's begin with the basics. On the TV, you simply flip down the cradle and fit your iPod over the connector. (The instructions suggest that you first attach the adapter supplied for the iPod.) Even if the TV is not turned on, the iPod can be charging.

When the TV is on, you punch the iPod button on the TV's remote to activate the iPod and bring up an onscreen menu. From there, through a series of menus, you can choose music or videos that you have downloaded on to your iPod and play them back on the TV.

Notice that the initial menu does not give you the option to access photos that you have stored on your iPod. If you wish to view those photos, you run into one of those kludges.

The solution is to click the PCON button on the TV's remote and the control switches back to the iPod. With it still docked, you can now use the iPod's menu to go to the Photos area and then start an iPod generated slideshow which plays on the big screen TV. When you are ready to stop the slides, you can do it from the iPod controls or hit the iPod button on the TV remote to return operations to the TV.

Now, if you stored high resolution JPEGs on your iPod, you need to access them by undocking your iPod and reconnecting to the TV through its USB port. Then you can open the TV's Photo Viewer interface and playback the images from there.

As you can begin to see, the JVC designers haven't provided a one-stop interface that can handle all the possible options. Ideally, in the future, they can create a more robust integrated system.

A couple of other points worth mentioning about this iPod feature. First, when you are listening to music from your docked iPod, if you hit the iTV button on the TV's remote, you can watch a TV program while the music continues to play. To switch between the audio on the iPod and the TV, you punch the TV button.

Also, remember that most videos and photos that you store on your iPod will not be in high resolution. Even though the LT-46P300 will upscale the content to 1080p, the images may not look that great, especially on a 46" screen.

If you click on the Aspect button, you can select either a 16:9 Mini or a 4:3 Mini playback mode. Since the images are no longer blown up to fill the screen, they look much better.

I have mentioned the TV's remote control a lot and indeed, it does contain a number of functions that you will never see on a remote that doesn't control an iPod.

Other than that, the big black, non-backlit, boxy remote feels familiar. I salute JVC for dedicated Input buttons. Usually, you have to click into a menu to change Input sources. With this remote, you just pick from the V1 to V5 keys.

I understand the necessity to squeeze in a lot of buttons on limited real estate, but I'm not a big fan of encircling the navigation arrow keys with another set of controls. Inevitably, my unruly thumb will hit the wrong button and jump me out of a menu when all I wanted to do was scroll down a list.

The EPA publishes a list of ENERGY STAR qualified TVs. (You can find it here.) The JVC LT-46P300 is on the list.

TV manufacturers have caught the Green bug and are making their 2009 models more energy efficient. The LT-46P300 is a good example.

The EPA states that this 46" TeleDock TV's On Mode Power is a reasonable 131.5 W and Standby Power Consumption is .06W. Based on the formula that the TV is on five hours a day and in Standby for the other 19, the Estimated Annual Energy Use is 244 kWh/year.

You need to check your electric bill to see how much you are paying for a kWh. The national average is 10.4 cents. Doing the multiplication, at that rate, the yearly energy cost is $25.38.

Since manufacturers are not attaching those yellow ENERGY STAR tags that you find on air conditioners and refrigerators, you will have to study the ENERGY STAR list to see how the LT-46P300 compares to other 46" TVs.

To give you a reference point, the Estimated Annual Energy Use of the 46" version of the energy conscious Samsung LED TV 6000 series is 190 kWh/year. On the power hungry end of the scale, I see other 46" TVs on the list using well over 300 kWh/year.

One problem that I can foresee with this TeleDock TV is that if you are listening to the iPod, the TV screen is active, displaying information about the song you are playing. If you think about it, running a 46" TV simply to listen to music isn't the most energy conscious idea.

To calibrate the TV, we use the Blu-ray version of the Digital Video Essentials DVD called HD Basics. We are playing the DVD on a Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray player connected to the HDTV with an HDMI cable.

We use the test patterns to adjust black level, white level, and color bias. The player is set to output a 1080p signal, which is the native resolution of the LT-46P300.

JVC provides four Picture Modes: Dynamic, Standard, Theater and Game.

Maybe over the years my eyes have begun to realign to appreciate the understated beauty of the warm looking Theater mode. Or maybe I have just become more pragmatic as I review these TVs and realize that many of you don't want to futz with test patterns and filter cards. Or just maybe TV engineers have become more proficient at building and calibrating TVs to look quite respectable right out of the box.

Whatever the combination of reasons, I once again find that the default Theater Picture Mode gives you a great place to start tuning your TV, and for many, a more than satisfactory destination.

But I must do my due diligence and therefore I worked through the test patterns.

After admiring the Theater mode, I decided to begin by tweaking Standard and using Theater for a reference. On the LT-46P300, JVC only provides one list of Picture Adjustments with no Advanced Settings submenus.

I started with Color Temperature. I chose Natural over Cool or Warm. In this case, I leaned towards Warm but decided on Natural to see how it would compare to Theater's Warm setting. (The answer is they are different but close and I could get used to either. Cool is just too blue.)

I turned the Backlight down a couple of notches to 50. As always, Backlight depends on your room environment. I left Brightness near the default of 50 and Contrast near 56.

Color (Saturation) was the major shift, from a too rich 52 to a more subdued 40. And Tint (Hue) settled around 45.

Detail (Sharpness) runs from 0 to 100. Anything north of 30 starts to reveal fringing, though it wasn't severe even at the default of 42. I simply tend to turn Detail down. This is a personal decision and I opted for 20.

Unless you are a slave to test patterns, ultimately all the settings are open to personal readjustments. For example, I have an aversion to overly pinkish skin tones. Others may like to overfertilize the green in baseball, football or soccer fields.

After I dialed in a satisfactory picture under Standard, I returned to the Theater mode to see if it needed any alignment. It really didn't require much. I inched up Tint and down Color. Brightness and Contrast were fine.

As I was testing Brightness in Theater Mode, I noticed that it didn't have as much latitude in changing the test pattern. If you like a wider range of control over Brightness, then I would suggest picking Standard.

The three advanced settings are Color Management, Dynamic Gamma, and Smart Picture. All of them, in one way or another, take over your TV and readjust on the fly depending on the characteristics of the program you are watching.

My gut reaction is to leave them off, which I did with Color Management and Smart Picture. But when it came to Dynamic Gamma, the manual insisted that, "Normally, this feature should be left On for optimum picture quality." If you turn it on and off you will see a visible difference, which is good because then you can decide if you want to follow their advice.

You will be disappointed if you are expecting finer tuning features like Red, Green and Blue Bias and Gain controls. JVC decided not to include them.

I will admit that I never felt completely comfortable with my calibrations. Every time I came back and went through the test patterns, the numbers changed - not much, but enough to make me think that I was trying to hit a moving target.

With that said, when watching regular programming, I was consistently happy with the quality of the images that the LT-46P300 produced.

If you are hoping for cutting-edge performance from the JVC LT-46P300, you will be disappointed. What you should expect from a 46" HDTV at this price point is solid, highly respectable picture quality. And that is what this TV delivers.

I'm not a big believer in judging a TV by its statistics, especially when it comes to the confusing Contrast Ratio numbers. But I did notice that the contrast range, especially in the shadows, was less than some of the pricier TVs that I have been reviewing lately. If you are a real contrast connoisseur, then you should take a hard look at this TV to see if it meets your standards.

Of course, the obvious reason to buy one of the P300 series is the iPod docking ability. I've already chronicled some of the interface issues that I had.

As for performance, I think the JVC engineers were realistic in how much they could improve low resolutions photos and videos that are commonly downloaded to an iPod. If you are willing to accept the Mini screen modes that I mentioned previously, I think that you will be pleased with the quality of iPod generated images.

For many iPod owners, the majority of their content remains music therefore the audio output of the LT-46P300 is paramount. JVC touts their Oblique Cone Speakers. But whatever you label them, at 20W total power, they are never going to rival a dedicated A/V system.

Within those limitations, the audio quality is good. The speakers seem to have a problem handling the lower frequencies. And the output is a little too bright for me, even after adjusting the software's five band equalizer.

Of course, one of the advantages of the docking system is that the TV speakers can fill a good sized room with music from your iPod. As an alternative to the TV's speakers, you could run audio out of the TV and into a more robust 5.1 or 7.1 surround setup.

The JVC LT-46P300 provides solid middle of the pack performance, but its integrated iPod docking feature separates it from the crowd.