great value and engineering
Written: Mar 27 '02 (Updated Mar 09 '05)
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Pros: Style, depth, quality of image, price
Cons: gradually increasing buzz from transformers, "auto" aspect mode is quirky.
The Bottom Line: If you have the cash, and an acoustic environment which will mask the low buzzing, this is a great unit.
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| patrickthickey's Full Review: Panasonic PT-42PD3-P 42 in. EDTV-Ready TV |
It is important to draw a distinction between the commercial and the industrial versions of this unit. The image associated with this review is the shiny chrome version - the commercial one. It is marked up 2-3 thousand over the industrial version which is flat black. They are otherwise the exact same unit save for the specious FCC radiation ratings. Take a week to educate yourself about the differences between FCC ratings - then ignore them. It reminds me of the issues we all face having termite inspections on our dwellings. The person doing the inspection also provides the service - somewhat suspect in my mind....but I digress.
First "the bad".....
I am on my second TH42TWD4UY. The first one was replaced by a new unit directly from Panasonic after the transformer buzzing became unacceptable. I am VERY pleased with the response from Panasonic. They have integrity and I recommend them on the basis of this issue alone.
The buzzing noise was part of an early production and resulted in dozens of units being replaced. After living with the new unit, produced in Feb 02, I am convinced they have reduced but NOT eliminated the issue. Some of the noise can be eliminated by the location and acoustics of the space in which you operate the set. But be warned, there IS a low level buzzing from the upper right hand of the set (when facing it) which under certain conditions can be annoying.
I don't wish to make a huge issue out if this, just be aware. If you use the unit without volume (like a computer display) or against/in front of a very blank wall, YOU WILL hear the buzzing. Under normal volume levels and with normal ambient noise it is not an issue - OK?
There are no fans, and that's a good thing.
I referenced the quirky automatic aspect feature. It's not a huge deal but here's my beef. This set is obviously 16x9 in aspect. As such you need to fiddle with the settings to fill the screen out. You are not mandated to do this, you can view 4x3 material with gray bars on the sides, but what's the point of getting a 16x9 set if you wish to view 4x3 material most of the time? Most users wish to fill the screen out in order to gain the screen real estate.
Panasonic offers multiple modes to achieve this, the most useful mode being "just", short for justified. Justfied does a very minimal stretching of the image and keeps things pretty well undistorted to fill them out to the limits of the screen.
One of the many setup menus allows the user to configure the default setting for this issue, called "Panasonic Auto", and in that category you can choose from the multiple screen aspect settings. It is logical to select "Just" and leave it alone. What is not made clear in the manual is that auto = set the default but that it will change as it sees fit!
The set gets confused by the "Auto" setting and will toggle between "just" and other modes at weird times. Often commercials trigger the shift, it can also shift in the middle of a scene, etc. It bugs me and therefore I find myself setting the aspect manually when I power the unit on. I set it to "just" instead of "Panasonic Auto" and the set stays locked in "just" mode.
OK, it's not a deal breaker but it is annoying and they could fix this if they cared.
What's good about the set?....
Plenty. Mostly it is the balance the set achieves between trying to resolve HDTV (1080i or 720p) signals and just doing a fabulous job presenting progressively scanned (480p) NTSC signals or DVD, etc.
The unit does not make specious claims (like Fuji and Sony) to resolve more than 480p on this smaller plasma. There simply is not enough space, nor are the pixels small enough to allow this. Instead it does just a fabulous, clean, colorful, balanced job with the 480p image. It downconverts HDTV signals into the best non-HDTV image you will ever see. Stunning depth, stunning black levels (dark areas on the screen with detail), edge to edge color fidelity and no distortion.
It does a great job upconverting normal TV to 480p with a very good internal scaler.
It has one each of the important inputs. It has a built-in amplifier of nominal output (7 or 8 watts per channel?) which mates very well with the optional hang-on-the-side speakers. I like the hang on speakers for day to day viewing, or late night viewing when it isn't desirable to crank up a big system.
The best part of the package ?
The price. This is/was a breakthru product which is hands-down better than anything else in this size. Hands down. Panasonic bought a former IBM division which was doing nothing but Plasma reserch. This is why the Panasonic plasmas have superior Black Levels and lack the previous bane of plasma - the curse of False Contouring. FC manifests itself in gray areas of the screen, low light areas, and is sort of a monotone moirre pattern. Really cheezy looking and easily discernable on many (not all) other plasma units. This units produces nothing like that.
If you have the cash, and are looking for a fabulous unit which not only looks stunning, but produces jaw-dropping DVD, perfectly down-converted HDTV, and great normal television, take a close look at this unit. The size of the device may be one of the compelling reasons to consider a plasma. They make cathode ray devices look like the huge, heavy, hot and lame 50 year old technology they are.
regards,
patrick
Update: 3_9_05 - keep in mind this unit is not even manufactured anymore. There are two distinct classes of unit in this 42" range now, the SD (or standard definition) and the HDTV versions which will show (most) of an HDTV signal. It may well be an issue determined by cost, but you can also use viewing distance as a means to decide if you need the HD-capable set. Under 10 feet or so you should consider the HD unit, over that and you likely can see little or no difference in the image. In addition, do a search on the term HDCP and realize your next set should be compatible with this (yet to be invoked) standard. Without this capability, you risk viewing HD signals in less than full resolution due to lame congressional rules.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 6000
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Epinions.com ID:
patrickthickey
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Location: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 1 member
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