Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ80U (03/05/2008)

Review: Very nice TV

Review: The tv will only last you about 2 years and it will die on you.

Review: If you are new to HD TVs, this is a great and affordable option. Often, when I see the word "affordable" in a review, it makes me think lower quality. Not the case here.

Review: I tried and returned 2 top-rated LCD TVs before I got this one at a good deal...none of the LCD TVs was in the same ballpark. The picture is really stunning,

Review: Overall good product, and we love ours. In their marketing, though, Panasonic needs to be more up-front about the actual refresh rate, and how it is that their "gadget" makes the refresh rate exceed the industry norm. Also, they need to include a specific function button on the remote to make it easy to switch between video modes.

Review: We bought this as an upgrade from a Sharp Aquos 32" LCD HDTV --- an excellent television, but a bit too small for our new, larger living space. I first looked at 46" and 50" sets, but they use a lot more power, and after looking at units in the store decided the 42" was quite large enough (70% more viewing area than our old TV). For environmental reasons we wanted low power consumption --- usually plasmas lose out there, but Panasonic comes through --- only 170 watts, as measured by an independent test, which is less even than some of the similar-sized LCD TVs tested by that same outfit!

The picture is stunning --- though our old Aquos looks great, this Panasonic blows it away in terms of contrast, black levels, and overall picture quality. Properly adjusted, the DirecTV HD channels look fantastic --- much better than they do on the Sharp or most other TVs I have seen. (DirecTV tends to compress its HD channels quite a bit --- yet on this Panasonic, after adjusting it, the image looks very clean and cinematic.)

Blu-Ray discs are unbelievable --- Planet Earth on this set is tremendous. Another thing I really like about the set is it passes through Dolby 5.1 sound from the HDMI connector to the optical digital out --- which I then pass into my Logitech Z-5500 THX speakers (an inexpensive way to get surprisingly good home theater sound) --- the Sharp didn't pass through the signal from our PS3 Blu-Ray player.

As others have noted burn-in and ghosting are mostly non-issues with the new plasma sets --- some basic precautions will prevent any problems, and this Panasonic set comes with some display "reset" patterns to cure any burn-in issues you might face.

The number of connections is extremely handy --- with 3 HDMI connectors I have enough for my DirecTV box, my PS3, and a front connector for the occasional times when I hook up my MacBook Pro via a DVI-HDMI cable.

There's not much to say about the built-in speakers --- serviceable but not great --- but who uses the built-in speakers on their HDTV? I certainly don't...

The picture out of the box definitely needs adjustment for optimal results --- I set the black levels to dark, turned up the Picture (contrast) and brightness, lowered the color and sharpness, in Standard mode. Fiddle with it a bit and you can get a stunning picture.

This set is cheaper than most LCD sets of the same size, and the picture quality is better. Definitely recommended.

Review: Ive been waiting to get a HD thats good for my bedroom, so not to big, I wanted 36"-42", I was looking at the Samsung series 6, this was almost 1/2 the price and looked better. Plasma is so much better then LCD, especially for what I watch , sports mainly.
The colors on this TV are amazing , it reminds me of looking still pictures from a high camera.
I was also very impressed at how nice the black side bars in the 4:3 picture blend in between the picture and the TV frame, most TVs they stand out like big ugly rectangles that are distracting.
My only gripe is the SD signal is not as good as a CRT analog, (regular old TV), although this is better then other HD TVs, Id give this TV a C+, if C was a passing grade. Example when I watch a baseball game and they pan across the field it looks like someone smeared vaseline on the screen. HD is perfect , but if someone knows a cure to make SD look better let me know.

Review: This is an awesome value, the best HDTV in it's class. I got a great deal from my man Tyler at HHGREGG...$1,279. These new Plasma's offer the best of all worlds; great black levels, no motion blur, phenomenal picture clarity (Standard & HD), 100k hour half life, and technical advances that really mitigate burn-in issues associated with early model Plasma technology. If you don't have a separate surround sound system, you will be surprised at how well this TV sounds, the simulated surround sound mode actually sounds very good. I highly recommend this HDTV, and if you can get it on sale, as I did, better yet...