Panasonic TH-42PZ80B - 42" Widescreen Viera 1080P Full HD Plasma TV - With Freeview
from Panasonic
|
|
Customer Rating: 
Model No: TH-42PZ80B
Release Date: 06/03/2008
Availability: dispatched within 3 to 5 weeks
Index: Digital & Electronics
|
Digital Box Price: £734.00
 |
Product Description High definition graphics become accessible to all with Panasonic?s TH-42PZ80B! The TH-42PZ80B brings out the best in your favourite films on its 42-inch viewing surface. It?s entirely Full HD and has a contrast rate of 30000:1, so images will turn out perfectly every time. The TH-42PZ80B also has a triple HDMI connection and two scart sockets, so you can hook up different video devices, or enjoy content stored from your memory card directly on your TV. The TH-42PZ80B is even equipped with a digital tuner, allowing you to watch Freeview channels while adding a touch of style to your home!
Very impressive plasma  Sent: 29 December 2008
Having researched plasmas / LCDs for several months finally settled for this model as it has generally excellent reviews, looks great and is available at a good price currently. Finally went with local small retailer with 5 year Panasonic warranty & free installation / delivery. Ok we paid a bit more (not much actually) compared to the pile it high - sell it cheap Comets of this world but we've got peace of mind.
Fantastic TV, have Sky digital and it looks great even without the HD channels. Sport particularly impressive.
Thoroughly recommended.
Good SD performance is important to me. Sent: 22 December 2008
Having visited an number of showrooms to check out the latest TVs both LCD and plasma I was left very concerned about what standard definition would look like in my home. The SD pictures on display, even in places like John Lewis, were very poor. If, after making a considerable investment in a new TV, the picture on programmes such as Coronation Street and the like looked no better than on our current CRT TV, I would never had heard the end of it from my wife - no matter how fantastic the HD and Blu-ray pictures looked. In the end it was a choice between the Sony 40W4500 and the Panasonic plasma. Having read many reviews I went for the PZ80B, backlight bleed and clouding issues reported by a number of Sony owners helped me come to that decision.
I have connected the Panasonic to a standard sky+ box using the RGB scart and the results are very good on SD. The pictures using a Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player are outstanding. The sound on the PZ80B is OK for normal listening but for films you really need to use a surround sound system. I use a Sony-DA2400ES which is excellent.
Excellent TV - an LCD beater Sent: 15 December 2008
As a Sony fan I've been tempted by the lastest Sony LCD range for some time. Good price, great looking TV etc.. but have always had reservations about grainy picture quality whan compared objectively to my old 29" Trinitron, still going strong.
After much deliberation I concluded LCDs were still not quite there for me, so thought I would wait - until I almost stumbled across Panasonic's range. Firstly I was amazed at just how much the price had dropped since I'd last considered these as an option. I also wanted future proofing for a long term purchase so, despite still being a standard definition household, I felt anything other than 1080p I would probably want to replace in a few years, which is not what I wanted. This seemed to fit the bill.
So, I've been v impressed by this Panasonic. With confidence I can say that the picture is definitely better than both the old CRT and really does beat the very latest and best LCDs I have seen. No grainy-ness at all. Easy to use, the TV does look great (better in the house than in the shops as other reviewers have said) and I am delighted. All this with a good but standard def DVD player through a scart at the moment and normal freeview. Looking forward to going blue-ray next year...
Footnote - since purchasing I went back to re-examine LCD and watched part a little of Quantum of Solace in the Terminal 5 Sony shop - this Plasma handles movement so much better it's staggering.
Excellent TV - great motion handling, HD and SD Sent: 05 December 2008
Very impressed by how this TV handles both standard and hi-def. Very few motion artifacts. Excellent picture. Sound is OK but nothing special.
Superb set but has a fundamental handset design problem. Sent: 24 November 2008
Great TV I completely agree. I just got one for a non technical friend. I agree with the directional "fussyness" problem of the R/C handset though. I have a 32" Pana LCD that I got over a year ago. It comes with the exact same handset and suffers the same issue with having to point it downwards quite carefully at the IR sensor on the TV whilst pressing the keys. This makes it very awkward and fussy to use. Within reason, it should not be necessary to point it so accurately. It is down to the design/manufacture of the handset. The LED is simply shielded from full angular operation by being recessed too far into the handset plastic moulding. I fixed mine by taking the handset apart and remounting the LED about 5mm further forwards. This meant extending the LED leads from the PCB. The LED now extends further out and this enables the handset to work very well virtually irrespective of pointing direction. Problem fixed.
Getting the handset apart was not easy, but to an engineer, it is possible with care. Shame on Panasonic for this really stupid design error which presumably affects literally 100% of their Viera TV range produced over the last year or maybe more!!!
With such a small production change, it could so very easily be made so much better. I hope they are reading this and do something about it ASAP for the benefit of everyone. Otherwise superb as are all Pana products IMO. I am an electronics engineer with experience of IR handset system design.
|
Associated digital product categories: Home Entertainment Accessories, Plasma TV, panasonic, viera, tv, widescreen, hd, full hd, plasma, freeview, plasma tv, 1080p, TH-42PZ80B |
|
|
