Anyone know anything about this Panasonic 42" 1080p plasma?

[kylejn]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?sk...d=1186004963573

TH-42PZ77U

My parents are thinking of picking this TV up for themselves for Christmas, and since I'm their "go to" guy for electronics, they'd like my opinion on the set. Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about Panasonic televisions, so I figured I'd ask here and see what y'all know. It's on sale right now for $1500 at Best Buy, which seems like an incredible deal for a 42", 1080p plasma, but I haven't been able to find any good reviews on this particular television. Anybody here know anything about this model?

[soniqstylz]

Buy it from best buy and get a free blu-ray player.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?ty...cat138200050160

Only (user) review on Cnet gave it a 9/10.

[PyX]

I have a similar TV from Panasonic, a 50 inch model which was 4 000 this summer and it is simply incredible. I've never seen such a good video quality.

I couldn't tell about your model though.

[kylejn]

Buy it from best buy and get a free blu-ray player.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?ty...cat138200050160

Only (user) review on Cnet gave it a 9/10.

Holy crap, that's a great deal! Thanks!

[PixilEyes]

Waiiiiit. Plasma tv. Best buy. I think bang bang will be poping up any minute now. :p

[JonathanVP]

i have both the Panasonic 42 and 50 inch at home and I am very impressed with them. THey have all the connection in the back as well as front for connecting your Xbox 360,. PS3, and Wii all together! The image quality is very impressive!! These panasonics are highly recommended!

[kylejn]

Just wanted to post again and say that we did end up getting it, along with the free Blu-Ray player (thanks again for that info, soniqstylz!). They were out of stock of the TV, but it's being delivered tomorrow. My dad's pretty excited! Thanks for all your help, everybody!

[soniqstylz]

Just wanted to post again and say that we did end up getting it, along with the free Blu-Ray player (thanks again for that info, soniqstylz!). They were out of stock of the TV, but it's being delivered tomorrow. My dad's pretty excited! Thanks for all your help, everybody!

Glad to help. After looking around at the particular player offered, it is in fact one of the better ones on the market, and is BDProfile 1.1.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Waiiiiit. Plasma tv. Best buy. I think bang bang will be poping up any minute now. :p

While we sell the model in my store, we don't have it on display, so I can't really say much about it.

[Boz]

Just wanted to post again and say that we did end up getting it, along with the free Blu-Ray player (thanks again for that info, soniqstylz!). They were out of stock of the TV, but it's being delivered tomorrow. My dad's pretty excited! Thanks for all your help, everybody!

You got a great deal.. I hope you didn't overpay the TV as 42" ones hover between $1500-$1700 for those 1080p models, but you definitely got 2 great things. Panasonic plasmas are simply one of the best, if not the best. They are ahead of all other manufacturers. The Blu-Ray player you got is definitely A GOOD one.. actually the ONLY player on the market from Blu-Ray except PS3 that is a safe buy. Enjoy it.. you will be mesmerized with the experience.. both TV and player are very good and you got that Panny Blu-Ray for free, so it's one hellava deal..

Now all you need is $100-$199 HD DVD player and you'll be enjoying the benefits of full HD experience. You would be HD neutral for the price of $100-$200 in addition to the price of TV you paid.. but what a deal.. I guess Samsung and LG are not too happy with these scenarios, selling their dual format players for $700-$800 :)

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Panasonic plasmas are simply one of the best, if not the best. They are ahead of all other manufacturers.

Pioneer still trumps them all, though Panasonic does make very good plasmas.

[Wannes]

Pioneer still trumps them all, though Panasonic does make very good plasmas.

True that and we are waaaaaay behind.

First of all you're fine buying a plasma at 42" as plasma is, in my opinion, only for above 40".

Secondly you can't go wrong with buying a Panasonic plasma nowadays. They have a very strong position on the market and continue to improve it. An old friend of mine has a 42" Panasonic plasma and all I can say is that the image is great (PS3 and HDMI).

PS. Yes I did say PS3. I'm old but not worn out.

[Boz]

Pioneer still trumps them all, though Panasonic does make very good plasmas.

Yes, that's why I do have the Elite in my living room and the new Kuros looks incredible, but Panasonic are the best mainstream plasmas. They are ages ahead of everyone.

Pioneer is slighly better in some things and that's when it comes to Kuro Elite or older Elite series when compared to Panasonic, but overall, and the quality of the build is incredible with Panasonic. I have both one Panasonic in my office and Pioneer in my living room.. Panasonic is EASILY compared the Elite in quality and I paid Pioneer 2 or 3 times more when I got it. Kind of puts things in perspective :)

[Wannes]

Just a little addition: If you can find a LCD 42" TV I advise you to get the LCD. It lasts longer, better resolution, quality, ... .

[TruckWEB]

Just a little addition: If you can find a LCD 42" TV I advise you to get the LCD. It lasts longer, better resolution, quality, ... .

Last longer? How so? Plasma can last a very long time, enough to make you want to buy a new TV anyway...

Better resolution? This guy is looking at a 42" Plasma that is 1080p 1920x1080. Can you show me a 42" LCD TV that give better resolution?

Quality? Colors reproduction tend to be better with Plasma and you can't argue the fact that black level are much better on Plasma.

So what where you trying to say??

[bangbang023 Veteran]

Just a little addition: If you can find a LCD 42" TV I advise you to get the LCD. It lasts longer, better resolution, quality, ... .

No offense, but that's terrible advice. Plasma and LCD has almost identical life spans and plasma has much better color reproduction. On top of that, while this set is 1080p, so there won't be any :CD with a higher resolution, I think you'd be hard pressed to find much difference between 720p and 1080p at that size.

[Wannes]

A plasma will have the specs saying 1080p but that 1080p is reached by using "bypass methods". I admit that they have a good color reproduction, that's true, but because they need to use "tricks" to get to the 1080p the lifespan will be shorter. This could be not noticible by some, because they change faster than their tv dies, but it is.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't buy the plasma as it has his advantages. The problem is that most people, here, start going for LCD when they can get the size in LCD.

Ps. My opinion may be a little leaning towards one side.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Couch Potato

[Boz]

A plasma will have the specs saying 1080p but that 1080p is reached by using "bypass methods". I admit that they have a good color reproduction, that's true, but because they need to use "tricks" to get to the 1080p the lifespan will be shorter. This could be not noticible by some, because they change faster than their tv dies, but it is.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't buy the plasma as it has his advantages. The problem is that most people, here, start going for LCD when they can get the size in LCD.

Ps. My opinion may be a little leaning towards one side.

nonsense.. the only advantage LCD has over plasmas even now is the price overall.. sub 50" models are cheaper then those plasmas but they are inferior overlal.. you can't even find LCDs larger then 42" .. maybe a few 50" but that's rarity. If you want cheap, good saturation then LCD is fine, if you want great picture, no refresh rate problems, no viewing angle problem on some LCDs and deep blacks with more uniformed color, plasma is the ONLY way to go. The only thing better with colors and uniformity of colors are DLP TVs but they have other more pronounced problems thus for the best quality plasmas are still king.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

A plasma will have the specs saying 1080p but that 1080p is reached by using "bypass methods". I admit that they have a good color reproduction, that's true, but because they need to use "tricks" to get to the 1080p the lifespan will be shorter. This could be not noticible by some, because they change faster than their tv dies, but it is.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't buy the plasma as it has his advantages. The problem is that most people, here, start going for LCD when they can get the size in LCD.

Ps. My opinion may be a little leaning towards one side.

Seriously, I don't even know where you're getting this information but it's about as inaccurate as it can get.

[TruckWEB]

Seriously, I don't even know where you're getting this information but it's about as inaccurate as it can get.

+1

This guy don't know what he's talking about. Plasma is now able to do real 1080p, older one did use some tricks to simulate 1080p (I guess it was Hitachi that had some kind of ligne doubling thing to simulate a better resolution?!), but it's not true anymore.

[bangbang023 Veteran]

+1

This guy don't know what he's talking about. Plasma is now able to do real 1080p, older one did use some tricks to simulate 1080p (I guess it was Hitachi that had some kind of ligne doubling thing to simulate a better resolution?!), but it's not true anymore.

Yeah, it was Hitachi. They still do it. However, everyone else has caught up and shrunk the cells down small enough, finally.

[Wannes]

Maybe I'm talking history then, it's probably been over 3 or 5 years since I left the tv world and moved on to cars. Sorry about the inaccurate information then. I guess a lot changed.