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- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 39 reviews Back to product review
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38 out of 40 people found this review helpful
4.0 stars
"Great monitor for the money!"
Pros: Excellent picture, flexible inputs, clean ergonomics
Cons: Black level shifting, no in-home warranty
Summary: This monitor was delivered to my home a couple of weeks ago. We're still in the process of setting up the TV room (no couch...yikes!), so it hasn't gotten a lot of use yet, but I've seen enough to pass on my opinions.
I'm not a trained video expert, but I've been watching tv for years. My current tv is a Toshiba RP CRT with HD DirecTV. I've set up the new plasma with an HD DirecTiVo. I bought an optional DVI blade for the monitor, and run the TiVo HDMI output to the DVI input. Currently, the sound is through my old NHT bookshelf speakers driven by the internal amp on the plasma.
It is important to note that this "TV" is really a "monitor", 'cause it doesn't have any sort of internal tuner for television broadcast. You can't just plug in your cable or an antenna. Any signal must be processed through an external box (cable/satellite/computer/DVD/etc.) and passed to the display through cables. It also does not come with a wall mount or stand.
The picture is great, even on standard definition broadcasts. The TiVo doesn't have a "native" output option, so I generally just have it upscale everything to 1080i, although I can also set it to output 480i/p for SD stuff. Either way, the SD looks acceptible. It's better than the Toshiba's picture with SD input (it's a 16:9 display, too), but the standard definition picture doesn't justify dropping this much money on a TV. I generally watch 4:3 format stuff in "full" mode, or have it stretched by the TiVo. I tried to use Panasonic's "just" mode, which does less stretching in the middle of the picture to minimize visible distortion. Ouch! I've read lots of posts where people really seem to love "just" mode, but it makes me ill. It's like watching tv through a fishbowl, with weird distortion and zooming. It's possible that the effect is increased by the "rectangular" pixels used on the 42" and 37" HD displays, versus the "square" pixels used on the 50"+ displays, but I honestly don't know. My Toshiba has a similar mode, which works great, but the Panasonic plasma just doesn't pull it off well.
The HD picture, though, simply blows away my Toshiba RP CRT, which also claims to be an HDTV. No comparison. Much richer and deeper images. It's simply fantastic. The display handles HD content(from HBO/Showtime/etc) flawlessly, and HD sports broadcasts are stunning. And then I get sad because I have to go back to the SD content that dominates the airwaves these days. Thankfully more and more stuff is being shot in HD, but the vast majority of cable/sat/OTA stuff is low res.
Per the recommendations of several on-line reviewers, as well as Panasonic itself, I'm taking it easy on the panel for the first 100 hours or so. I turned the contrast ("picture") way down, along with brightness, so I can't be sure the picture's as good as it's going to get. Once I've broken past the 100hr mark, I'll use an Avia or DVE disc to calibrate the display. Even if it doesn't get better, though, it's still the best money I've ever spent on a display.
I have several friends with Samsung DLP displays, and my parents have a new Sony Wega LCoS tv, so those are the modern displays that I can compare this to. And, honestly, they all look great to me. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them (that I've seen). The deciding factors for me were price (see below), picture quality, Panasonic's reputation for good price-performance, and the ability to hang this display on the wall in my small viewing area.
As for ED vs. HD, I've only really checked out ED panels at Best Buy, etc. One thing I've noticed, though, is that my Best Buy has a whole wall/room set up with RP/DLP/LCoS tv's, but (mysteriously), the plasmas are found down several aisles. I can't be sure, but I'd put money down that this is because the difference between ED and HD is most visible at less than 8'-10', especially in the 42" and 50" ranges. So the 5' wide aisles really accentuate the lower resolution on the ED sets. Beyond that distance, they pretty much look the same (this is based largely on my research and not so much personal observation). My room is small, so I spent a little extra on the HD version. If you're more than 8' from your 42" display, I'd strongly recommend looking at an ED (such as the TH-42PWD8UK).
Panasonic's commercial panels come with plenty of inputs and a good look-and-feel to them. It's a thin black bezel with NO buttons/controls on the front panel. The buttons are on the bottom edge, and the only things visible on the bezel are a silver "panasonic" logo and the green/red power LED. Once I get the install cleaned up, it will approach the "painting on the wall" look that I was shooting for...much better than the cluttered look of many panels out there with buttons, labels, speakers, etc. to mess it all up.
As for inputs, even the stripped down standard configuration is okay for many applications, with some caveats. If you have old-schools inputs, such as an SD TiVo or a VHS player, the panel has an S-video and composite video inputs. For current sources, there is a component input, but you'll need cables with BNC connectors (it's a type that twists onto the panel) or RCA-BNC adapters ($4/ea at Radio Shack). There is also a VGA input that can be set to accept RGB (computer) or Component signals. To use that input with your cable box or DVD, you just need to buy a component-VGA cable. Then there are also two empty slots available to plug in Panasonics optional input boards. You can buy these boards ("blades") with component inputs (RCA or BNC), a DVI input w/an audio-in mini-jack, and/or an HDMI audio/video input. The DVI and HDMI inputs have the added benefit of supporting 4096 gradations vs. 2048 through component. Be aware that the current HDMI board (the "7" series) will work with this panel, but apparently won't support the 4096 levels...but the "8" series isn't available in the US yet. The current DVI board supports the increased levels, which allows for smoother gradations with less "banding" between colors. At least that's the theory. I can't claim that I would know the difference, but the DVI board is cheaper than the HDMI board, so I figured it was win-win. Note that DVI and HDMI are related standards, so boxes with HDMI output can connect to a DVI input through an adapter (and vice-versa, at least for video).
The only negative that I've seen so far is a strange black-level shifting that occurs during tv viewing (I haven't hooked up a DVD source yet, so I can't comment on that). It's kind of hard to describe, but in some scenes, you can see the blacks in the picture become "grayer" (for lack of a better turn). It's most obvious in any letterboxing on the screen, but can be seen across the whole picture. I almost hate to mention it, 'cause I think it's something most people won't notice until they know to look for it. I will say that I've seen the same thing on my Toshiba RP CRT for years, so either I'm sensitive to it, it supposed to happen, or there's something wrong with my eyes. It may very well be the poor "DC restoration" CNet notes on some of the other Panasonic plasmas (42px25, I think, is one of them). It may also be something designed into the plasma for burn-in protection or image correction or whatever. I simply don't know.
Also, while this monitor does have a one-year warranty from Panasonic, it looks like in-home service is limited to Canadian purchasers on their commercial models. That's a bummer. I recommend buying the plasma with a credit card like AmEx that will double the manufacturer's warranty, and I recommend against extended warranties. That's based on personal experience and the conventional wisdom that electronics will break in the first year or the fifth year (and later), but tend to be pretty stable in the 2nd and 3rd years. And I figure that any product which consistently returns the largest profit to the seller (yes...warranties) can't be that great a deal for the consumer.
I bought this monitor from VisualApex.com for $2084. Don't forget the optional mount/stand and any input blades you may need. The VA people were fantastic, and the unit shipped in record time. Shipping was a little expensive, but the lack of sales tax compensated nicely. Shipping included the Peerless flat wall mount and the Panasonic DVI blade, which shipped separately from the monitor. This was my first experience with VA, but I've found them to be well thought of on AVSForum.com (an excellent source for plasma and HDTV info), and now I wouldn't think of buying anywhere else, even for less money.
eBay is by far the best source for cables that I've found. Keep in mind that I believe that any reasonably built cable will do the job, and that high priced cables are for suckers. But that is just one non-audio/non-videophile opinion.
- 3 replies to this review
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I purchased this Plasma about 60 days ago and it came highly recommended. I'm hearing a fan noise when the volume is low. Anyone else?
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Just wanted to confirm that I've also seen the blacks shift to dark gray and back again on my TH-42PHD8UK. I've even found parts of DVDs where the shift happens and gone back and forth frame by frame watching the shift happen! It must be the TV's algorithm for displaying the best contrast possible, using a little cheat to deliver brightness at the expense of those lucious deep blacks.
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I am hearing that I don't need to buy Monster cables, and that I can get a very good cable for a more reasonable price. I am a novice in this area, and not sure who the other reputable makers are.
Thanks!
