TH42PX80 Panasonic Plasma
Every spring time of the new year, we always see Panasonic launch their new range of Viera plasma and LCD televisions, and this year is no different. The Panasonic TH42PX80 is the direct successor to the best-selling PX70 series. With a higher quoted contrast ratio, updated V-real 3 processing engine, 100Hz Double Scan refresh rate technology and a host of other features, the Panasonic TH42PX80 indeed looks good on paper, but will it live up to expectations? More specifically, will it finally be able to compete with the king of 42-inch plasma televisions, the Pioneer Kuro? We've tested the Panasonic TH42PX80, and think that while it is still not up to the level of the Kuro, it's cheap price makes it an extremely tempting proposition. Here's a quick run down of its good and bad points:
The Good
- The best bit of TH42PX80 is that it's the first consumer plasma television from Panasonic capable of processing 24Hz or 24fps video signal smoothly, meaning that you can now enjoy movies from 1080p/24 source without seeing the much maligned 3:2 pulldown judder.
- While its black-level performance is not as good as the best-in-class Pioneer Kuro plasmas, the Panasonic TH42PX80 still produce inky blacks with quite revelationary shadow detail to boot.
- As with all plasma TVs, the Panasonic TH42PX80 depicts motion on screen with a lot less motion ghosting/ blurring than your typical LCD television, making it the technology that comes closest to achieving the blur-free motion on CRT TVs.
The Bad
- Even though whether you'll notice this or not depends on how far you sit from the screen, but high definition pictures on the Panasonic TH42PX80 may not look as sharp as those displayed on true HD TVs, simply because the TH42PX80 only sports a native resolution of 1024x768.
- Panasonic plasmas have a reputation of evincing posterization or banding when displaying material of lower transmission or broadcast quality, and the TH42PX80 is no exception.
- Panasonic plasma televisions in the past have also suffered from black level fluctuation. The Panasonic TH42PX80 still do, causing the black level to sometimes become brighter or dimmer at certain times. It is very subtle, but it's certainly there.