valleyman's Full Review: Panasonic TH-42PX80U 42 in. HDTV TV
. Why TH-42PX80U?
An HD TV was in my mind but not on my agenda. So I had time to do research (including reading reviews on Epinions).
.. Plasma, LCD, or DLP?
The first consideration has to be technology. Plasma is about the oldest consumer HD technology. Then you have liquid crystal display (LCD). Then digital light processing (DLP).
If you are like me and never heard of DLP, it is really a reincarnation of back projection with some digital twist. A friend just bought one so I could experience first hand. Even though DLP uses laser (as opposed to bulbs) as light source, the picture still appears dim. This first impression nearly eliminated DLP. (Perception of brightness is often associated more with contrast than with light intensity. But intensity is still the base of brightness.) That was early summer 2008.
Between plasma and LCD, I had always preferred plasma for its colour and contrast. I did have concern about price, because plasma used to be expensive.
Turns out my knowledge was (very) outdated. Today, plasma is actually cheaper than LCD. So I set out to do online research. Turns out plasma still holds higher picture quality than LCD even today, but the gap is closing. (If you google, very likely you'll hit the same C|Net reviews I read, which did a great job at demystifying many of today's marketing gimmicks. 120 Hz vertical refresh? Poof!)
Size was easy. My living room is small. The TV must be smaller than 50" (127 cm). My old TV was 27" (68.5cm) diagonal, aspect ratio 4:3. With the 16:9 aspect ratio commonly found in HD TV's, that's equivalent to 36" (91.5 cm) diagonal. Then this "digital transition" provided a good excuse to do a bit upgrade. (I subscribe to cable, so a digital TV wasn't a necessity.)
Price range also was clear: It must not cost more than $1,000.
The next step: field trip to the store. I watched a lot of plasmas side by side, played with their settings, compared 720p sets with 1080p sets, and so on. (The first thing you want to do in a TV isle is to pick up the remote and put every setting to its default value. Never do side-by-side as the store has set them.) Then I walked the isles to watch some DLP and LCD. (It was a month before U.S. Thanksgiving.)
DLP is a lot cheaper than the other two technologies. Some of them looked brighter than at my friend's home. But if I am off centre, pictures started to dim. In any case, DLP is not as bright as plasma or LCD.
LCD is often cited for narrower view angles. But the technology has improved significantly over the years. In my unscientific comparison, LCD's view angle is larger than DLP's.
Another short-coming of LCD is contrast. If you've been looking, you must have noticed outrageous numbers on those LCD tags: 30,000:1, 100,000:1 are common. But if you read carefully, they invariably bear the qualifier "dynamic." If any tag lacks this qualifier, ask a sales person and he or she will tell you that's just an omission.
Dynamic contrast does enhance perceived brightness and black level. But there are other factors affecting these, such as response time. All in all, you just can't achieve the same black level in LCD as in plasma.
Another area LCD lacks is colour tone. Plasma still holds that little warmth advantage. Picture still looks more natural than LCD.
.. Brand and model
With my heart set on plasma, it was time to hit Internet again. At question was brand/model/price. Glad I did this. Not having been on TV market for years, I had the impression that Sony and Toshiba were the top brands in TV sets. Yet reviews universally point to Pioneer Kuro as top model, with Panasonic VIERA as a not-too-distant runner up. Key take-aways from these reviews: black levels are about the same, VIERA lags in prime colour accuracy.
But Kuro only has high end models, and the price is way up there. Mass market stores such as Fry's don't even carry any Pioneer.
At this point, I had already jotted down TH-42PX80U and TH-42PZ80U (its 1080p brother) from store tags, as well as read local and on-line ads. The price was about right, with 720p around $800 and 1080p around $1,200 - if on sale.
Granted, they are literally entry level in VIERA. But specific reviews, including those on Epinions, all tell me that their picture quality is in par with the rest of the line. They just lacks fine controls to get the picture "just right."
To 1080p, or not to 1080p? That was the question. By that time, I had already read that, for a 42" diagonal, 16:9 aspect ratio screen at 3 metres (9'10"), there is no visible difference between 720p and 1080p. (So much for the industry hype about "full HD.")
Time for another field trip. I stayed in the isle for hours, measuring my distance from the screen, and watched the extraordinarily produced demo program from Sony. The program included natural scenes with various graphic elements that emphasise each technical area. At about 2 metres (6'6", the most the isle allows), I hardly see any difference between 720p and 1080p sets even in scenes designed to test resolution. The only noticeable difference comes in one scene with a fine-grid curtain. Clearly discernible Moiré patterns appear in the 720p screen, while the 1080p screen showed great clarity.
That was 2 weeks before U.S. Thanksgiving of 2008. Given the economic state at the time, I passed the "Black Friday" promotion on TH-42PX80U from Fry's, for $599, hoping to catch a deeper discount. (Did I say I was cheap?) Christmas brought the same 1-day deal, so I grabbed it. Since then, I only saw TH-42PX80U at this price once at another local chain.
On the other hand, I saw TH-42PZ80U promotions, including a $800 deal at Costco. I never thought Costco's electronics could be competitive with Fry's. I'll have to think twice about Costco.
Update: The main body was written in April. In October 2009, Fry's ran two one-day sales that placed TH-42PX80U at $500. (With a gimmick they called "major name brand" to conceal the brand, but then they gave it away by listing "VIERA link" in the feature portion.)
. Using TH-42PX80U
TH-42PX80U has a plain, but visually pleasant glossy black finish. At 26 kg (57 lb) and 1 m x 0.7 m (40"x27"), it is a little clumsy to do the assembly required in order to use the stand that comes with the set, but still manageable by one person. (The LCD promise of a lighter panel doesn't materialize at this size. Most 42" LCD sets are heavier.)
The main connector panel (including the RF) is in a basin in the back to facilitate wall mount. For the same purpose the power cable goes into a 45-degree socket in the back. Here I only want to mention the RCA audio-video connectors and S-video socket for analogue output.
Under the display in the front is a cleverly concealed chamber of connectors and a control panel, including an HDMI socket, RCA connectors for analogue video and audio, and an S-video socket. The Secure Digital (SD) card reader is also in the chamber.
Front controls include five commonly used buttons, a menu button to invoke the on-screen menu, and an OK button to make selections. This is a reversal of the trend of simplified on-set physical controls that ruled the early half of the decade. If I ever lose the remote control, at least I can use the entire menu.
Of course, there is still that big, square power button in the front outside the concealed chamber. And of course, remote control remains the most convenient way to access various features in TH-42PX80U.
The black remote control is basic and unlit, but very functional. The buttons are well laid out, and labels clear. (All VIERA remote controls share similar layouts.) Like most analogue TV remotes, physical buttons are used for power, numbers, channel scroll and volume control, second audio programming (SAP, which is a misnomer in digital age as more than two audio tracks may be available), last channel recall (LAST), mute, and video source selection (TV/Video). Because digital channels can come with "sub" channels, there is a "-" button in the number pad so you can enter full channel IDs such as 32-4. (In most literature, the sub channel separator is ".", e.g., 32.4.)
Additionally, physical buttons are used for channel info (INFO - for channel ID, electronic programme guide (EPG), resolution, format, and so on), favourite channels (FAVORITE), and display format (FORMAT, wide screen, 4:3, zoom, and so on). There is even a dedicated button to select video source from SD card.
Further more, there is a row of coloured buttons marked R, G, B, Y, respectively. Presumably these are used to fine control colours, but this doesn't apply to TH-42PX80U as it lacks finer colour controls. The only use I find for these coloured buttons is in channel set up menu, where R and G buttons are borrowed to page forward and backward, respectively. (These buttons are also borrowed to set slide show mode when using SD card.)
VIERA remote features a ring with four arrows, and an OK button in the center; an "Exit" and a "Return" button are placed to the right of the arrow ring. These are used to navigate on-screen menus, which is invoked by the "MENU" button above the arrow ring. There is also a "Sub menu" button that brings up some frequently used sub menus so you don't have to go very deep into menu system.
Compared with higher end models, TH-42PX80U has rather basic picture controls. Aside from the ordinary brightness, colour saturation, tint, colour temperature, and sharpness settings, TH-42PX80U has a setting called "Picture" and no contrast - not in the menu. You can get to contrast control only by diving really deep - you'd have to risk voiding manufacturer's warranty. And I can't get a clue as to what this "picture" control really changes.
Like most digital TVs, VIERA has preset picture modes. TH-42PX80U has four: Vivid, Standard, Cinema, and Game. There is a "Custom" mode but that's really just to save your own settings. From what I read in TH-42PX80U discussion boards, most recommend starting from cinema mode and make small adjustments. (This is the least bright of the four, but the warmest. If you often watch with bright ambient light, standard is more suitable.)
My DVD player is up-converting, but only to VGA output. Meanwhile, TH-42PX80U has no VGA input. So I have to connect my DVD via component, and settle for 480i. I could use 480p, but after some testing, I determined that TH-42PX80U did a better job with up-conversion than my player. (Yes. If you haven't read thus far, "up-conversion" in DVD players may not be worth it.)
My VCR has no S-video output. So I put it on the RCA input in the back. When needed, I can connect my camcorder to S-video connector in the front. I can also record digital channels in my analogue VCR using the RCA video output from the back. (In reality, I put the S-video output into my DCR-VTR460, then connect the latter to Firewire input on the computer to record in DV - see the camcorder review for elaboration.)
TH-42PX80U only uses optical connector for digital audio output, but my old Bose Lifestyle 8 only uses coaxial connector for digital audio. So I have to settle with analogue audio via RCA. This limits external surround sound to Dolby Logical if the broadcast program supports it.
What's interesting about TH-42PX80U is that any active audio, including audio from external sources, will be fed directly into its audio output - effectively acting like a switch. This greatly simplifies audio connection with the external sound system. (With my old TV, I had to connect each audio source to the receiver and TV if I expect them to work in both.) In fact, you can turn the TV's internal speakers completely off and use external sound system exclusively.
TH-42PX80U doesn't come with any RF antenna. So don't throw away your rabbit ears if you rely on over-the-air signals. For me, I just plug in cable service and navigate to "Program channel" menu, and select automatic to scan for all channels, analogue channels only, or digital channels only. For me, Comcast has 161 digital channels, some 50 are clear (not scrambled). The only 8 HD channels are from my local stations.
. Picture and sound
Pictures in TH-42PX80U are no disappointment. When program source is good in HD channels, I have to move to within 0.5 m (1'7") from the screen to discover visible defects. Even SD (standard definition at 480i) channels look a lot better than pictures from an analogue TV if the source is good. In fact, even when SD source is stretched to Zoom mode (see below), the picture still looks better than analogue TV. I am using cinema mode exclusively now, as I don't do much day-time watching.
TH-42PX80U has a "Color mgmt" toggle that is explained as "Enhances green and blue color reproduction, especially outdoor scenes." Not knowing what it means by "enhance," I simply leave this one off. In addition to these, TH-42PX80U has some advanced settings; the only thing I find useful is MPEG NR (noise reduction) when playing back DVD.
I specifically tested two analogue sources: broadcast and VCR. In both cases, picture quality is acceptable, no "flatness" occurs. This is so different from some early HDTV's I saw from friends' homes merely three years ago. Then, HD programs looked great, but analogue programs were so badly smudged you just wanted to get the analogue TV back. On TH-42PX80U, pictures from analogue sources even look somewhat better than on analogue TV.
Sound from the TV speakers, on the other hand, is muffled. This is probably because there is no sound holes in the front (facing the viewer). I even looked around the set, and can't find any dedicated sound hole on the set. So, I press "Mute" after turning on the TV, then use Lifestyle 8 for sound. (For some time I disabled built-in sound. But this was too inconvenient to other family members.) Too bad for a set that boasts built-in surround sound and several advanced audio control features. (Audio output is out of these controls.)
Update: There are sound holes in the front after all: They are (also cleverly) concealed at the bottom of the set, at sides of the concealed chamber. This only says that the speaker system is really poor.
. Features
TH-42PX80U is relatively basic in additional features. After the initial channel scan, the most useful features to me are those under the "Sub Menu" button.
Before I dive into details, I need to explain my constraints. I do not use any set-top box. So I have to rely on TH-42PX80U's ATSC channel display that no TV listing service uses. Comcast sends me local channels in both HD and SD, then some unscrambled cable channels in SD.
.. Channel caption
By default, TH-42PX80U will set caption to EPG (electronic programme guide) provided by the broadcaster. For whatever reason, Comcast does not provide EPG for its cable channels (i.e., non-local channels) - at least not for clear SD channels. So I use the sub menu to set up channel captions myself. The caption setup includes common cable channel names from a selection list, but also allows you to set your own using alphanumerics. Selection of alphanumerics uses the arrow wheel, so it can be tedious.
After this, the caption will be briefly displayed when you change channel, or when you press the INFO button. The broadcaster or cable company can still mess up with your caption if they decide to add or modify EPG info, because TH-42PX80U allows EPG to override your manual entries when you rescan.
.. Favourites
Because I am unable to use Comcast's fake (a.k.a. guide) channel listing, I have to come up with my own means to perform channel surfing. Sure I can still use up/down button, but with a lot more channels than in analogue times, that's less than efficient. Or I can use number pad to enter the digital channel ID, a royal pain considering no TV listing uses the digital ID. So TH-42PX80U's favourites menu is a good way to point and shoot.
When you are on a channel you want to come back later, first click the "Sub Menu" button. Then you go to "Set favorite" in the menu. There, you can use the number key to save it to one of the ten spots displayed. (You can also use up and down arrows to position it to one of the spots, then press OK; if the spot already stores a channel, first press of OK will erase the existing channel, a second OK will save the new one.) Once saved, both the channel ID and the channel's caption are displayed on the page. If the first 10 spots are filled, or if this channel isn't interesting enough to warrant a spot in the top 10, you can press left and right arrows to access the next two pages, each containing 10 spots.
After saving your "favourite" channels, you use the "FAVORITE" button to recall any of them. The first press gives you the first list page, the second press gives the second page, and so on. While on a page, you can click a number to select a channel; alternatively, you can use the arrows, then press "OK."
So, instead of using the numbers in TV listing to select a channel, I set the channel caption to the string used in TV listing, and use the string to select channel from "favourites" - it somewhat works better because I don't have to rematch numbers with my municipality. For my subscription (limited basic), 30 "favourites" are good enough. (I leave all HD local channels to memory - I mean, my brain, leave out Spanish channels and less frequently watched channels.)
.. A/V sources
In addition to the built-in tuner, TH-42PX80U accepts 2 sets of composite input, 2 sets of component input, and 3 sets of digital input. You select among them by using the "TV/Video" button. The first press simply invokes the source list. Then you can either press again to cycle through the list, or use the arrow ring to walk. After highlighting the source of your choice, you press "OK" to confirm.
If you are like me, you do not have seven external sources. So I go to the main menu ("MENU" button), select "Setup," then "External devices" to deactivate sources that I do not have. This way, unused sources are greyed out in "TV/Video" menu; they are skipped when you navigate. The "External devices" menu also allows you select a label for each source. For example, my Component 1 is DVD, Video 1 is VCR, and so on. This way, when I press "TV/Video," I can visually select DVD instead of having to memorize what is connected to component 1.
TH-42PX80U also comes with a built-in SD card reader. You can play JPEG pictures. You may select auto play when card is inserted. Auto play will override any program currently on the screen and switch to card catalogue. There is also a dedicated physical button (SD) on the remote to switch source to and from the card reader.
My main digital camera, Canon G5, uses CF card. My main camcorder, Sony DCR-VTR460, uses Memory Stick. So I do not use the card reader very often. In my testing, high resolution photoes are handled nicely, with great detail, but access is very slow. For low resolution pictures, access is fast, but handling is very poor that they are unbearable. So the best use is for slide show of high resolution pictures. (Remember: Unless you use special wide screen format in your camera, pictures will not fill the screen.)
.. Channel programming
Because all analogue channels Comcast carries are represented in digital SD channels, I use "Digital only" to scan channels. Because most digital channels from Comcast are scrambled, I use Program channel menu to disable them. The last field in the channel Edit menu is "Add." When you first scan the channels, all available channels are marked "Yes." In the menu, you can toggle between "Yes" and "No." I also use this toggle to skip a channels that I do not wish to watch. (These channels can still by accessed by typing their channel ID.)
After using TH-42PX80U for a while, I realise that setting captions in each channel is very tedious, because there are multiple button presses to programme one channel. If "mass editing" is your thing, you can set captions for multiple channels from the channel programming menu.
In the "Edit" menu, one can navigate to any channel, then press "OK" in the Caption field. This will invoke the same channel caption edit menu. You can also press "OK" in the "Favorite" field to set the channel to a favourite spot. A less obvious shortcut to set favourite is to press the "Favourite" button while in the channel edit menu regardless of the cursor field. Oh - you cannot change either if the channel is set to "No."
Don't forget to press "Return" (this will bring you to "Apply" tab) then press "OK." And beware that your thumb may accidentally press on "Exit" instead; here, you risk losing your edit of Yes and No.
Another interesting feature in TH-42PX80U's channel programming is that it appears to automatically rescan previously "empty" channels (channels that had no signal) for add and "lost" channels (channels that no longer has signal) for deletion; these actions happen if you have not customized their captions. Now, if a channel is "lost" after you add it to a favourite, the favourite buffer will also lose it, leaving a blank spot in the list. Such behaviours are not described in the manual, so I am uncertain what exactly triggers them.
.. Others
TH-42PX80U's parental control (called "Lock" in VIERA) supports MPAA, U.S.TV and the two Canadian TV ratings. But I haven't explored them. To me, Comcast only supplies rating information for HD channels, so this is not that useful. TH-42PX80U also allows you to lock up to 7 channels regardless of program rating.
I do not have another VIERA device, so I have no knowledge about the usefulness of VIERA Link features in TH-42PX80U. Neither have I explored TH-42PX80U's elaborate timer features.
A most confounding feature is the ability to turn monitor off when using external sources (and not when using TV tuner). I can think of situations where I want the monitor to be off when I use the TV tuner - for example, when I am in the kitchen and want to save some energy and screen life. But why turn off monitor when you feed an external video source to it?
TH-42PX80U has no physical button for closed captions (CC). You use the Sub Menu to turn CC on and off. To set up CC mode, however, you must go through the main Menu. I find it somewhat cumbersome, but can't tell if this really affects people who really need CC.
My biggest peeve with the VIERA remote control is the tiny "Exit" and "Return" buttons. They look similar, feel similar, are located close to each other, but serve very different purposes in the same menus. ("Exit" is like cancel in many computer programs, whereas "Return" is like save in such.) Often, if you press the unintended button, a lot of your good work could be discarded or a lot of garbage could be entered.
Update: Maybe Panasonic has realized this. Or maybe the engineers couldn't make up their mind. I recently saw some VIERA remotes with "Exit" and "Return" buttons bigger and sufficiently separated. They are arranged horizontally instead of vertically, so the thumb has no chance of confusion.
. Energy consumption
What about power usage? LCD is a clear winner in this area, consuming as much as 50% less energy than plasma. Then I looked at the absolute power consumption. TH-42PX80U consumes 260 W in what C|Net calls "torch mode" - right at middle of 42" plasmas. 42" LCD averages 200 W, ranging wildly from 91 W to 236 W. My family watched TV less than 7 hours in a typical week. The extra 22 KWh a year will really be a blip in my total energy consumption, not enough to trigger my green guilt. Or so I figured.
After purchasing the TH-42PX80U, I found my TV watching increased to > 3 hours a day for a period of time. One factor here was the novelty of having many more channels. But another factor was the increased quality of pictures. It really makes TV watching more enjoyable.
Thank goodness all is back to normal.
. Image retention (burn-in)
The biggest objection - maybe the second biggest after energy consumption - against plasma TV is burn-in, where the display could temporarily or permanently retain a still pattern if a still image is displayed on the screen for an extended period of time. With the display being 16:9 but many of today's video sources are 4:3, aspect ratio mismatch is the most common cause of image burn-in.
To compensate for such, TH-42PX80U has a dedicated physical button (FORMAT) to cycle through several screen filling modes:
- Full (16:9) - the TV stretches the input to fill the horizontal length; it is the default selection for HD channels. But many programs in HD channels can still be 4:3. (I do not have HD external sources but I suspect this would be the default for HDMI inputs.) HD broadcasters sometimes fills the vertical stripes with some colour patterns, but these patterns are still nonetheless. In SD (4:3) channels, this mode creates a fattened picture, turning the Round Table into an Oval Office.
- 4:3 - the TV automatically selects this mode in SD and analogue channels/external sources as default. This mode leaves two vertical still bars on the sides.
- Zoom - this is like "digital zoom" mode in digital cameras - it stretches the picture isotropically to fill the screen. When a wide-screen program is broadcast in a letter box, this would be the best choice.
- Adjust - this is a compromise to stretch a 4:3 source horizontally to fill a 16:9 screen. The idea is that eyes are most sensitive in the centre of view, so it tries to stretch more in the sides and less in the middle.
- H-Fill - this mode is only available in HD channels, and I never get why I need to use it.
These modes appear to apply to categories of channels, sources. For example, if you select Zoom mode for one SD channel, all SD and analogue channels will be in Zoom mode. All external SD/analogue sources are in another category.
There has been a lot of debate about whether image retention is still plaguing plasma TV, and some discussions surrounding specific models. Do I notice image retention on TH-42PX80U? Absolutely. Is it bothering my viewing? Hardly. I do try to use Full and Zoom modes whenever appropriate, and sometimes use Adjust mode with SD sources. But even when I do not, image retention disappears within 5 minutes after switching back to one of the 16:9 modes.
Am I concerned about long term damage to screen? Not quite. According to many people's comments and articles, TH-42PX80U is not particularly vulnerable to permanent burn-in as long as you are conscious about the issue.
TH-42PX80U comes with some underlying technologies to mitigate the risk of burn-in, some of them can be activated in the setup menu. For example, in 4:3 mode, you can select the brightness of side bars - "Mid" gives a light grey and a preferred setting to reduce image retention; you may also activate so-called "Pixel orbiter" to periodically wobble the side bars. (Wobbling is invisible to my eyes.)
. Conclusions
TH-42PX80U is a solid choice for a quality HDTV under budget. Its picture quality is better than many more expensive TV sets, including LCDs and some other Plasmas. If 42" is sufficient for your viewing area, this is a better choice than TH-42PZ80U.
TH-42PX80U's main weakness is in built-in sound. It is best used with an external sound system.
Update: Since discovering the sound holes, I have to think really hard whether to lower my rating. After all, enjoyment of a TV programme cannot go without audio. I decide to stay with 5 stars for the following reasons: 1. The main problem with the speaker sound is an unnaturally response in the mid-low range. There is no loss of clarity in conversation despite lack of high response due to single driver speakers. 2. How many TV's at this size have really good built-in sound? 3. The sound is still generally enjoyable. At this price level, TH-42PX80U's superior pictures more than compensate for lack of audio performance.
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