Apr 25, 2007 03:40 PM
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This review is actually on a close cousin of this product - TH-42PA60H. Other than the fact that the PA-60 carries a newer generation plasma glass screen, there is no difference in the features.
My search for a'big' TV began about a year ago when I got bored of watching widescreen movies with black bars on my old 29" Samsung CRT TV. There was nothing wrong with that TV but watching only about half of the screen filled with video was getting annoying! That made me decide on two things: 1. My next step-up needed to be significantly bigger(i.e., 40" or more) and 2. following from the previous point - it had to be a widescreen TV(16:9).
I was then faced with another dilemma - Plasma or LCD? Initially, I was drawn towards LCD TVs - they looked so bright and colourful in every store with the picture popping out at you! That they were more expensive than Plasma was a hiccup, but a minor one. Plus, I had heard stories of Plasma TVs dying young because the "gas" leaked out or the screen getting burnt-in because of static images. My subsequent reseach taught me quite a few things:
LCD TVs(or for that matter most TVs) look "bright & shiny" in a store because they have their contrast and colour turned all the way up. Thats because these stores are lit by extremely bright light and if the TV picture is not turned all the way up, they would all look dull!
In a typical store, an LCD TV picture would like brighter than a similar Plasma placed next to it. Inherently, LCD TVs ARE brighter than Plasmas. And because of point 1 above, they look even brighter in a store. However, thats not how your living room or bedroom is lit, right? When you watch cable TV with the family, you probably have half the lighting as that of a store. While watching a DVD, you'd probably turn down the lights even more - many people even watch movies in complete darkness.
Now, in a darker room, the brightness comparison between LCD & Plasma becomes less relevant. Plus, you notice something else - the Plasma picture actually looks "smoother" and more life-like while the LCD picture looks like an animated film or video.
And of course, the most obvious difference between the two - contrast or, to be specific - black level. LCDs, with some exceptions such as Sony, are incapable of producing a true black - similar to what you see on your regular CRT TVs. Technically, neither are Plasmas, but they come much closer. This is painfully obvious when you watch a movie with dark/night scenes(try the Star Wars or Alien series DVDs) on an LCD - the picture appears slightly washed out with blacks actually showing up as dark greys!
So, armed with these learnings, I set out to evaluate the Plasma TVs available - Samsung, LG, Philips and Panasonic. Most reviews rate the Pioneer & Panasonic TVs as the best Plasmas in the industry. Since the Pioneer is not available directly in India, I went out to test the others. I picked up two of my own DVDs(Minority Report & Master and Commander) and did the rounds. The picture quality on the Panasonic stands out as compared to the others. It is crisp, detailed and with a sense of depth & realism. Play the chase scene in Minority Report when Tom Cruise runs from his own team and you'll know what I mean. And then, play the opening scene of Master and Commander to get an idea of the difference in black level. Only the Panasonic TVs were able to achieve a picture similar to what I would see on my old TV. All the others produced "globs" or contours of dark grey where it should have been smooth shades of black.
And the clincher was of course, the price! While the Panasonic was the most expensive of all the 42" Plasmas I saw, the difference was minor(Rs. 5-6 thousand) compared to the overall price range.
One final choice I was faced with was whether to buy the 42" EDTV or HDTV. Considering the lack of HD programming and Hi-Def DVD formats in India, this was the simplest choice to make(more on all this in a later review).
Features, Service etc.
I won't bore you with details on features etc - its got all the usual picture & sound settings. The remote looks a bit old-age and plasticky(my old Rs.5K DVD player remote looks better!) but it does the job. A useful feature is a set of four coloured buttons which can do multiple tasks based on what setting you are trying to change. I've had the TV for about 2 months now and no complaints. The dealer gave me a choice of wall-mounting or stand - included in the price. Since I live in a rented apartment(with weak walls!), I went with the vertical stand.
I have to tell you - watching movies was never this good! I know its silly but my whole audio system sounds so much better after this TV was installed. Btw, the audio output of this TV is average - you would definitely want to mate it with a 5.1 channel surround system. I know most people would be horrified at the thought of spending so much on a TV (no, my dad's not a millionare - I'm a regular salaried guy), but if you are a movie buff like me, it is totally worth it.
My configuration:
TV: Panasonic TH-42PA60H
A/V Receiver: Yamaha RX-V520
Speakers: Yamaha NS-P220 5.1 channel set
DVD Player: Harman/Kardon DVD 27
