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"Smartest purchase I've made" on by J_Flo41
Pros: Vivid colors, Anti-reflective coating, Digital photo viewer, easy menus
Cons: Tough to find in any store
Summary: In November '06, I made an impulse purchase - a 50" LG plasma television, surround sound, and even a fancy stand (I must admit Circuit City played me pretty well). After nearly a month of severe image quality issues, I returned the set and decided to hold out for the new Spring '07 models.
I am here to report that it was worth the wait. I did a little more research this time around, and in May 2007 I bought the Panasonic TH-42PX77U. While it's not quite as large as some of them out there, I really believe that this - not Vizio - is the best bang for the buck on planet earth.
Almost 100% of the retailers don't sell this model in their stores, or at all. They sell the "step-down" 75-U series version w/o anti-glare coating. When I asked why, the ignorant reps (and even a few Panasonic guys!) told me that the anti-reflective coating wouldn't really matter. Well, I firmly believe it does. I can plainly tell where some of my room's glares would be annoying, but they are virtually squashed by this screen's design. Bravo, Panasonic. I can now watch TV with the curtains wide open on a sunny day, and that's the truth. I never anticipated that it would matter, but it does. Well worth the extra $80 or whatever it was to order the better model.
On top of that, the colors are vivid and the blacks are noticeably deeper than my previous LG set. I really wanted a TV that could play standard-def stations well, and this TV really surpassed my expectations. We have also used a PS3 and an up-converting DVD player, and the picture is quite crisp. There are a few contouring hiccups (seems like older programming like an 80's movie on standard-def cable), but honestly I'm nit-picking.
I am told the 50" is even better, so I guess you can't go wrong either way. Consider this my ringing endorsement to join Team Panasonic...hope this review was useful. -
"Outstanding HDTV!!" on by rpfeister
Pros: picture quality, anti-reflective screen, ease of use, digital picture viewing
Cons: Can't find it in retail stores (sold out)
Summary: after months of research, i decided on this model and am really happy with my purchase. the tv looks amazing on or off, it was fairly easy to assemble (using stand), the remote is easy to use and the picture has this incredible sense of realism. the anti-reflective coating does a great job. i have a fairly bright living room during the day and cannot control every element of light. so this screen was a must for my setup and it's been working great.
one of my surprises was the tv's ability to produce a great standard definition picture. i've witnessed other hdtvs fail miserably at producing a respectable SD picture, and this one keeps you happy while surfing thru the channels (HD and non). the sound is great and the side speakers help to add a wider range of sound from the tv. this is a nice feature b/c i don't have surround sound set up.
bottom line, you will not be disappointed with this tv. you'll be hard pressed to find a tv with the same quality to price ratio. at $1350 it's almost impossible. good luck and enjoy! -
"Great TV... Great Value... I held out for this one & am happy." on by sirspe
Pros: Panasonic Repuation (best blacks, great color), Anti glare, style, speakers, HD Tuner
Cons: All minor - Slight Delay when turning on, no PIP, no VGA for PC input.
Summary: I've been on the HD sidelines for a long, long time. I've always thought I'd settle on a Panasonic (unless Pioneer became far cheaper), and after looking everywhere at everything, this was the TV for me.
With my living room, I needed a flat panel. Honestly, for the difference in money, I might have gone with other HDTV's if space weren't a concern. I only had a certain amount of height, so 37-42 inches was the biggest I could/should go... The side mounted speakers on this TV were a big plus. But enough about why this model was made for my living room...
More generally, this TV is a great value. I'd been checking out Costco for the best prices (worst selection), but this TV was there. It's price was better than everywhere else... until I saw the same regular price at Sears... But Sears doesn't require membership AND they will run promotions to further reduce the price. I was fortunate enough to hit it just right 1,299 minus $150 promo (check on sears.com first, Sears Stores will price match any discrepancy with their Website Plus an additional 15% of the difference) minus another $150 for opening a Sears Card... so, under $1000 once everything is done!
Style is nice… clean, thin black border with thin speakers on each side.
Like all TV's the settings out-of-the-box needed to be cranked way down. CNET has the optimum settings for this line (copied here):
Normal: No
Picture mode: Custom
Picture: +20
Brightness: +11
Color: - 4
Tint: - 1
Sharpness: -30
Color temp.: Warm
Color mgmt.: Off
Zoom adjust: N/A
Each input remembers its own settings, which is a nice feature, but a minor pain to re-enter each time. On the definite plus side, everything can be labeled… So instead of HDMI Input 1, you can label it “Cable”, so there’s never any confusion as to which input display which device. Also, you can skip unused inputs, so you can cycle between the 3-4 you actually use instead of all 8.
I was very concerned about Plasma burn-in... so, I was careful for the first 100 hours as recommended (filling the screen with moving images. Simply toggling aspect ratios to keep watermarks or scrolling text in different places)... Now, I'm not as careful and have had Zero burn in issues...
Only 2 HDMI and 2 Component inputs, so I had to figure the best way to divide them among peripherals.
With its Toslink Optical Out (no optical in), I decided to use the TV to switch between Cable, DVD, and Video Game and the audio receiver simply plays whatever is on the screen (my wife hates the "I can see the TV, but can't hear anything" and the "I turned off the TV, but the audio is still playing" issues...).
The anti-glare is a big difference - and most apparent on the showroom floor. The reflection of the store's fluorescent lights are diffused nicely (and FAR better than any other plasma screens, including the Pioneers). I'm not sure it's as good as LCD, but it's really really close. I have a very bright and glare-y living room, and I have no problems (but I did install room brightening shades on my windows, just in case).
Although I love my audio system (Ascend Acoustic speakers, Hsu Sub, Denon Receiver), sometimes the whole house doesn't want to hear the TV... and I'll say that the built-in stereo speakers are really good. They're still TV speakers, but the range is very good and discreet; and the audio imaging exceeded my expectations. And they can go quite loud too (I've never cranked it past half, but if I want volume, I'll switch to the audio receiver anyway).
While waiting for the Verizon FiOS install, I purchased an HDTV antenna to check out what was available for free... The built-in Tuner was great. And considered cancelling cable (but didn't
). The TV will display the signal quality, allow you to select which channels to keep in channel up button (of course this is only if you're using the tuner... not with a cable box.) With any input, the is a great feature on the remote - a "recall" button - that will display the current channel/input (which is typical), but also will display the current resolution!!! I can see if I'm watching something that's 480p, 720p or 1080i... In fact, my FiOS box defaults it's output at 720p... and the tech was able to access the Box's setup menu to default everything to 1080i... without this simple feature I'm sure I'd never have known if I wasn't watching at the highest resolution I could (I certainly paid for it!).
All the important stuff is exactly right with this TV... good service (both Panasonic and Sears), great picture, great sound, 1080i HDTV tuner (I think it'll down-convert 1080p... but it's generally thought that one can't really distinguish between 1080i and 1080p with anything 42" and lower... and most cable doesn't broadcast at 1080p anyway).
The side panel inputs are nice for a video camera or other AUX. There's an SD slot, too.
I wish it had a VGA for PC input... but I'd never really use it if it did... I plan to use a DVI to HDMI adapter to plug in a laptop if I ever needed to... and if the PC doesn't have a DVI out, I could simply use an S-Video too.
I wish it had Picture-in-Picture, but again, I'd rarely use that... and many cable boxes with dual tuners can add that functionality anyway.
Overall, I love it. I've had it for about a month and recommend it to anyone. -
"Another great TV from Panasonic" on by waltrip21
Pros: Great picture, no surprises, easy to setup, not cutting ege
Cons: Might be tempted to go bigger
Summary: Replaced my 12 yr old Panasonic with TH-42PC77U bought at Costco for $999. Great price for a great brand. Someone told me that this is Panasonic's 10th generation plasma which confirmed my opinion to stay away from cutting edge technology and high price (1080P LCD) and stay with proven 720P plasma which to my eyes is beautiful. I expect very reliable, long life. Have been very impressed so far by the picture and it has plenty of resolution for my taste. I compared it to other mid-size plasmas (Philips, LG, Samsung, Toshiba), and LCDs (Vizio, Samsung, Sony, etc). Although in a store the brightness of the pictures and variability of the signal makes it difficult to choose the best TV, I think the Panasonic was the best combo of picture, brand reliability, and price. The anti-glare screen sold me too. I would have bought LCD if the Panasonic did not have anti-glare. Love it so far and has worked without a glitch no matter what I have hooked up to it (standard def cable, hi def cable, standard def DVD, hi def DVD). The sound is very good, but I did add a 2.1 stereo surround system to augment the built-in speakers. Very happy so far, although if you are coming from a 4:3 format screen the 42" Panasonic doesn't "seem" as big as you might expect upgrading to a 42". I had a budget of $1000 so I am happy with the Th-42, but it does not seem as big in my living room as I expected a 42" screen to look. I would have loved to have gone up to 46" or even 50".
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"Good blacks, sharp picture and anti-glare works great controlling ambient light" on by pbhirdo
Pros: Easy set-up, great anti-glare filter
Cons: No PC Input, wished it was 1920 xresolution
Summary: Had already convinced myself I was going to buy an LCD because ambient light in my living room was hard to control. Went to Best buy and saw this TV and one was available as open-box item with 20% off so got it for $1040 and took it home myself. I'm very happy with the picture quality, anti-glare screen works great, blacks are very crisp and color contrast is excellent. The sales guy told us Consumer Reports gave this TV high ratings and I thought I recalled a good write-up from CNET in doing my research so snapped it up and am happy I did. Sure you can buy a better TV but for the money I saved, I'll invest in a good sound system to complement the TV. My rating of 9 is price adjusted after having done much research before my purchase. No TV has everything and since price is a factor for most of us, I do consider this a variable.
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