Panasonic TH-42PX80E

...money' category by the new Panasonic TC-PG10 series *** ]
Many other reviews just tell the same story.

If you want to impress yourself as well as your friends and family with images in your leaving-room, not just with specs and numbers on paper, in this size/price range, there is simply no competition.

The TH-42PX81E is basically the same now with an HD tuner.

[*** Update : The 2009 successor ... more

Do not let the resolution and/or price of this set blind you. Its images are just awesome. And this is what really counts. This is truly a 'Pioneer for the layman'.

It actually took me some time to get to that conclusion. As anybody else, I was convinced resolution was paramount. Yet in so many reviews, tests and comparisons, this set kept coming up on top in the user and jury appreciation category, So I checked it out in many different stores, and it was just impossible to ignore : it truly is amazing. Do not let the gorgeous full HD demo images you can see in stores fool you. This is not what you will get at home, most of the time. Too many people I know have bought expensive sets that just look, well, not so good, when showing standard TV. Which is almost all the time.

If you ever wondered where all the buzz about Plasmas being superior to LCDs came from, this is where. This set has solid blacks, gorgeous colours, vibrant images, whatever the source. Colours are especially impressive, being both deep and always realistic.
The internal tuner is excellent. Standard DVDs fed through HDMI just make you wonder what need there may be for HD.

This set, just as any other, as good as it can be with SD TV and plain DVD, is of course at its best with HD signals. In fact, I'd say it loves HD. It will display the same qualities it did with SD, only more of them : solid, true blacks which contribute so much to give images structure and realism and even more of those rich, deep and believable colours only plasmas have.

The simple fact is, High Definition looks awesome on this TV. Do not let it's not being *full* HD turn you off. Things being what they are in this world, at normal (i.e. home) viewing distance, you can't tell the difference. Don't stand 1.5m from it, as most people unwittingly do in stores. Instead, stand back and about double that distance as you would do at home. This TV will then truly stand out. More expensive sets beware !

It's even more of a winner when showing ubiquitous standard definition TV. It has so much less image tweaking to perform compared to full HD sets. And what little it has to do, it does awesomely.
(I only sparsely use the zoom feature to fill up the screen with older 4:3 signals, except for cartoons).
In fact, with images like this, even watching ads is great ;o)

Again, make sure you are sitting at least 2.5-3 meters from the set for the best viewing experience. This is the distance at which not being full HD makes no difference to the human eye. Or maybe have a look at its possibly even better 37" sibling.

I bought my set in August '08 after a long time of detailed research and comparisons of all models on the market. I could have bought and indeed I had prepared to purchase a more expensive set, but the quality/price ratio of this one was just unbeatable and simply impossible to ignore.

After all this time I still find myself in awe at the images it displays.

Yet it's not like I had never seen a flat screen TV before. I'm the guy other people call when they need to connect and tune their flat TVs. So sad so many of them just aren't as good as this one.

I still have my trusty old CRT TV right next to it, and I am telling you, this set gives it a run for its money. Which is saying something.
And of course, it's so much larger !

Still don't believe me ? Then check this : reviews.cnet.com just awarded it the title of, nothing less, one of the Best 5 HDTVs anywhere !
See http://reviews.cnet.com/best-hdtvs/
[*** update : this has now been replaced in the 2009 'Best picture for the money' category by the new Panasonic TC-PG10 series *** ]
Many other reviews just tell the same story.

If you want to impress yourself as well as your friends and family with images in your leaving-room, not just with specs and numbers on paper, in this size/price range, there is simply no competition.

The TH-42PX81E is basically the same now with an HD tuner.

[*** Update : The 2009 successor to this set is the newer Panasonic-TX-P42X10
Check the excellent review here :
http://whathifi.com/Review/Panasonic-TX-P42X10B/ *** ]

 

...less