Digital Trends

Panasonic TH-42PX50U February 14th, 2006 | by Rebecca Day

Setup and Use

I used the off-air feed from the rooftop antenna and divided it between my CRT and the plasma using a Viewsonic splitter. I ran a 12-foot RG6 cable from the splitter to the antenna input of the TV. First-time buyers get a first-time menu setup screen when they power on the TV for the first time. By the time this review model reached me, the TV had already gone through that initiation so I tackled setup midstream. The menu system is simple to understand, navigate and tweak—a pleasure to use.

I ran an automatic channel scan which locked in the available digital and analog channels. No complaints. For those who don't have to patience to fiddle with settings, Panasonic includes three picture modes with automatic settings: Vivid, Cinema and Normal. The TV had come to me jacked up: the picture setting was set to Vivid which made colors pop off the screen, maybe a little too much for the longevity of the phosphors but definitely pleasing to the eye. The many windows in my room demand this setting during the daytime.

Cinema mode is recommended for viewing movies in a darkened room, and that's what I used it for—movies only. Cinema held comfortable color and brightness levels but softened the detail, hardly what my crew and I wanted to experience during the Super Bowl. We wanted to see the individual blades of FieldTurf and the tiny holes in the jerseys. We auditioned the Normal picture mode, too, but its darker, more subdued overall picture was underwhelming. Once you've experience plasma in the rich, colorful Vivid mode it's hard to go back to more subtle settings.

There are plenty of options for the videophile to tweak the settings for brightness, color, tint and sharpness. Those who want to drill deeper can adjust black level and various noise reduction controls.

Performance

Most of my Super Bowl guests don't own an HDTV. It was amazing how quickly they became connoisseurs, opting overwhelmingly for the crisp, 8.5-billion color brilliance of the TH-42PX50U, compared with its 57-inch CRT neighbor. My focus group's preference mirrored current trends: if my group is any indication the rear-pro CRT doesn't have a chance against sexy flat-panel displays as they plummet in price.

For me, the saturated colors seemed a bit artificial, although with the colors-not-found-in nature hues of today's spectrum that may be the new reality.  The lime greens and fluorescent oranges of the football arena took on a slightly exaggerated look, although they were far preferable to the duller colors of my five-year-old CRT to the right.

My guests all preferred the crispness of the non-projected plasma image and the more intense color levels. One guest who had not viewed much HDTV before said, “The picture is so clear I don't need my glasses to watch the game.” A more seasoned HDTV viewer said, “I can't believe how saturated and vivid the colors are.” Another guest said the price/performance ratio for plasma TV had finally met his comfort level. He's ready to buy. 

Post Super Bowl, I demoed the set with DVDs. I was stunned by the images of the video montage Koyannisqatsi. Some of the footage looked like HD in clarity and detail. Animated content, both from TV and Nemo, displayed brilliantly. Black levels of both movie and TV content put any LCD I've seen to shame.

I'm happy with my 4-year-old rear-projection HD set when it's the only TV in the room, but having the TH-42PX50U within the same field of vision is a cruel tease. I want to buy this TV too.