Our reviews of HDTV televisions find the best plasma TVOur reviews of HDTV televisions in the 42 inch screen size narrowed down the choices of best HDTV to
Here is the Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY (Reviewed 8/15/04). Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY – 40H by 22W by 3.5D inches, 64 pounds The Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY industrial plasma TV is one of the most popular selling 42" plasmas in our reviews of HDTV televisions. If you have your own speakers and tuner this probably is the plasma for you.
The Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY has a better overall picture than most of the competition (except the NEC) in the 42-inch size category. This plasma is definitely the best value of the high-resolution 42-inch flat-panels in our reviews of HDTV televisions. Let me digress a brief moment about buying electronics on line. I've always been a big believer in Consumer Reports magazine and generally follow their recommendations. They're always looking out for you the consumer. In the Dec/04 issue (pp.18-19) Consumer Reports has this to say about buying electronics at Amazon. "In our survey, no retailer received topmarks across the board for price, selection, and service. Amazon.com did receive top marks in the categories in which it was rated-the only outlet to do so.....Consumer Reports readers gave Amazon.com very high marks."
You even save on sales tax (not for long though if the goverment has its way). You can find the Panasonic TH-PHD7UY Let's finish the review of this Panny plasma.
The remote is small and simply laid out, very easy to use. The internal menu system is also basic and intuitive.
The Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY has 1,024x768 resolution. The panel also has PIP, PAP (picture and picture) and POP (picture out picture). You can simultaneously display images from any two different kinds of AV sources. If you add an optional terminal boards you can display images from two of the same type of image source, such as two PCs or two DVD players thereby splitting the screen.
Additionally it has a 4X Zoom mode that splits the screen into zones and allows you to magnify the images up to 400 percent. For picture-enhancing features, it has the 2:3 pull-down for the elimination of motion artifacts with film-based video sources (DVD movies). The panel offers three aspect ratio selections.
The Panasonic TH-42PHD7UY has picture presets such as Dynamic and Cinema. It lacks some of the more useless features found on its consumer models. It does have an independent input memory with screensavers to help prevent burn-in.
Since the Panny is an industrial plasma the connections are limited.
However this will allow you to customize the TH-42PHD7UY's connectivity with optional inputs, such as DVI and HDMI. These can easily plug into card slots on the rear of the panel. Two of the slots are occupied by the A/V inputs so one is left open. But you can mix and match the 3 card slots with different interface cards.
The contrast ratio (range from black to white), color saturation and dead on color reproduction are what make this Panny stand out from other plasma TVs in our reviews of HDTV televisions. Throw in the fact that the Panasonics have the best black level performance and you get quite good PQ (picture quality).
Out of the
box the TH-42PHD7UY actually comes with a toned down contrast and is not
overblown with brightness. Like all plasmas in our reviews of HDTV televisions
it should be calibrated. HDTV on this panel is superb. Remember like all
current 42” plasmas the resolution is only 1,024x768 but the color saturation,
detail in dark scenes, and the overall crispness of the picture are impressive.
In our
reviews of HDTV televisions we've found that resolution
isn't as important as the contrast ratio, color saturation and color reproduction of
the picture. The Panasonic TH-PHD7UY
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