Customer Reviews

Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42-Inch Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(148)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I purchased this TV a couple of weeks ago and absolutely love it, and I haven't even connected HD yet (Comcast to add HD service next week). The analog stations look beautiful, which is very important since most channels don't come in HD.

Out of the box it's very bright and the contrast is kicked up to the top so it didn't look great at first viewing. I found a legitimate website that calibrated this particular television and recorded the settings for optimal picture quality. After changing my settings to match their findings, the picture looks twice as good. Here they are:

Picture Mode: Standard
Picture: +22
Brightness: +8
Color: -1
Tint: -4
Sharpness: -14
Color Temperature: Warm

Big multifunction remote with easy-to-read keys. The on-screen menu is easy to use and you can rename the inputs to one of several options (DVD, Cable, etc.). Plenty of inputs, including 2 HDMI ports, which is unheard of in this price range.

One final note, if you're sitting close to the TV (6' or less), I would recommend going with a smaller model than the 42". I find that when viewing non-HD programming at that short distance everything looks grainy. Once you step back to 8' or more, everything just pops into place and looks crystal-clear. If your viewing distance is 10' or more, then you might consider stepping up to a larger model such as the 50" of the same line (also a beautiful picture).

I did lots of homework and this was by far the best buy!

I recently purchased this model plasma and am very impressed with the performance and picture. I previously had the older model (42px50u) before upgrading. I have read some negative complaints on other review sites however I believe alot of people dont have their plasma set up right. It comes preset with a "vivid" setting which makes the picture look terrible. Change this to standard increase brightness levels and tone down other variables and the picture is as good as any other HDTV picture out there and especially impressive given the reasonable price point. Definitely a step up in picture quality from the previous model which I too thought was good.

This tv is the model that replaced Panasonics 42 inch plasma that won the consumer reports ratings. This one delivers in the same way and is supposed to last longer. It just came out in April 2006 so the price will come down pretty soon.

This is my 1st plasma, but I'm impressed. It is thin, light and bright. Tons of connections in the back, works great with my Tivo, xbox and DVD player. I watched a couple of test movies and was really impressed with the clarity. You see individual waves in the ocean and blades of grass in a field. No problems having it delivered or setting it up.

Works great with regular TV signals and HD. No complaints and highly recommended.

I researched heavily before I made this purchase, and my sentiments favored an LCD TV, but I couldn't get past the picture superiority of this Panasonic plasma. When the product hit my price point, I ordered through Amazon and after a month I'm very happy with my purchase.

Setup was a snap, and the HDTV picture is perfect from a digital cable feed. I've been very pleasantly surprised with the good quality pictures from analog cable channels. Noise reduction on this model works far better than most HDTVs, and if you watch any significant amount of analog cable, you'll appreciate this.

TV menus are very intuitive, which is good, because the manual is extremely difficult to decipher. I've noticed this before on other Panasonic electronics products, and their presentation has gotten worse, not better.

One last comment---you will find a lot of upper end electronics stores trumpeting the 600 series of Panasonic as being superior to the 60 series, but you won't find the products side-by-side for comparison, in fact you probably won't even find them in the same store. Compare the pictures and I think you will find that the 600 series has a more luxurious cabinet and a little stronger sound system, but the picture is identical---then decide if the difference is worth several hundred dollars.

Quote...
"As far as all HDTV lies: THIS SET IS NOT HDTV!!!!
Don't get all upset, now. The only HDTV set capable of producing 720p signal is 50" plasma. This 42" plasma has only 1024 vertical lines and for so called HDTV (720P) you need 1280. So this set will never show 720 progressively scanned HD picture. This is not being a nock against Panasonic, every manufacturer unapologetically lies to consumers right now due to lack of FCC regulations.
If you want to get 42" set look into cheaper EDTV. They have better black level performance and also work better with analog cables. If you must have so called HDTV save money for 50" set. Currently only 50" Panasonic plasma TV is capable of producing 720P resolution. "


The problem with the internet is that misinformed people have equal access to posting reviews. This set IS HD, and the set DOES display 720p.

The resolution is 1024x768. The horizontal lines are 768, and therefore IS capable of displaying 720p.

The 50" has the same number of horizontal lines, but 1366 vertical lines. (1366x768)

Quote...
"As far as up converting DVDs., don't waist your money if you already have progressive scan DVD player. You will not notice any picture improvement. Despite what the mass consumer believes., those up-converting DVDs do not convert DVD signal into 720P or 1080i resolutions those numbers just used by industry (frivolously) to indicate some process that produces "better" picture by way of line-doubling. There is no DVD on earth that can take 680x480 signal and make it 1280x720."

Again it's probably better to do some research before taking D.Karzoff 'free' advice. Up-converting or up-scaling DVD players DO output 720p or 1080i. The benefit of these players varies between tvs. The reason they give better picture is because the good ones have better chipsets for up-scalling than what cheap televisions do. If buying, the HDMI players give much better colours/contrast on the Panasonic.

If you already have a progressive player of good quality though, I would wait for Bluray or HD DVD players latter this year.

Like most other reviews, the blacks are excellent on the Panasonic, much better than LCD. The colours are individually adjustable in the settings menu and seem pretty neutral when setup well.

I finally decided to take the plunge into HDTV and a flat screen. I looked at many sets at Amazon, Costco, Best Buy and Circuit City. First off, I was going to buy a Samsung LCD TV on Amazon or Costco. Anything would be an improvement for me. Then, I saw the Vizio Plasma at Costco for about $1500. I knew the advantages of Plasma for sports, so I almost bought that set to save money. After reading the average reviews for that set and the poor customer service, I decided against it. Also, Costco gives you a good warranty, but zero help in deciding which set to buy. I knew I really wanted the Panasonic, but the price was putting me off. About $2300. Then I found the set on sale at Circuit City, they gave me another $200 off of their sale price. I paid just under 2k. I bought a Samsung DVD with HD converter, on Amazon for about $180. This is a nice unit, and it came with two HD cables, one for the cable box and one for the DVD player. No need to buy another cable if you get a unit like this one.
Now, unto the Panasonic. My cable company has HD and WOW! This set is incredible! Watching the world cup in HD, you actually feel like you are at the match. Colors are great, picture quality unsurpassed. You can sit at an angle and still have an incredible view of the action. I bought this set because of the top reviews and reliable service. I've only had it a week, but so far a great decision.

Thank you Amazon and all the reviewers. I was looking at local (Reno) store ads on Thanksgiving Day and decided to look at consumer reviews on Amazon. I soon found this model TH-42PX60U. Impressed by those who took time to write and had done much research before buying, I took the plunge.

I received an email confirmation from Amazon on Friday, but it was Monday before my credit card showed the charge backdated to the day I made the purchase. TigerDirect's site had the order and I knew it had gone out on a truck. I was not successful in getting other tracking info from Tiger. On Thursday, a week after my order, a local freight firm called to set up an appointment for delivery on Monday. The delivery was on time, and thanks to my apartment manager's sending 2 maintenance men, the TV was on its pedestal within a half hour of its coming through the door. It takes 2 people to lift the TV onto the pedestal (about 90 pounds).

Neither Amazon nor TigerDirect charged me for sales tax or shipping, so I got the TV for $1,279.99--a bargain, I believe.

In my community, our cable service has some HDTV. I already had digital with the DVR box. My connections are component. No HDMI yet. Pictures of non HD channels are better than the 5 year-old 27" Sony Wega I replaced. But the HD channels are not to be believed! A PBS documentary of churches in Buffalo NY looks so realistic, I think I could reach out and touch the wood, stained glass, or granite.

At the Panasonic website, [...] I found info not in the manual. They recommend setting picture values down for the first 100 hours. This I did through the Picture Menu. Also, they want us to set the aspect ratio so that there are no black bars on the edges. It took me awhile to discover that I could easily change the aspect ratio with a button on the Panasonic remote. (I was trying to do it through the Picture menu.)

A phone call to Charter Cable, and a 20 minute wait for a real person, gave me the code to reprogram my cable remote which I need. My DVR box is similar to TiVo and lets me easily record shows. I approved a $8 increase in my monthly cable fee to pick up more HD channels. In this computerized world, the change has already taken place.

I'm a 65 year-old woman. Though a former computer programmer, I am not great with TV technology. I so appreciate what other users have shared and unconditionally recommend this TV for average size living or family rooms.

I've had my tv for over a month, and it does not cease to amaze me how gorgeous the tv itself is, and the quality of the images. We had it delivered, and it was pretty easy to set up. Upon receiving the tv, we upgraded to digital cable. The HD channels are spectacular. I was watching a show on Hawaii, and the way the waves on the beach are shown in HD made me just want to dive right into my tv!! It's sleek looking, and I love the style of this tv and the way it is designed. The menus, and the remote control are easy to use. Watching dvds on this tv.. there is no comparison. Everything is so crystal clear. I can't believe we had our old Sony 27" Trinitron for as long as we did. If you are thinking of upgrading, don't even hesitate. I have absolutely no regrets getting this tv, even though it was pricey (over $2K). It's one of our best purchases. Watching tv is completely a new experience!

This is an incredible television for an incredible price. I had been researching plasma and LCD televisions for three years before finally making the purchase. Some of the major considerations the TV had to have: high definition resolution of 1080i, priced under $2000, and consistently excellent professional reviews. Over three years of research revealed that Panasonic plasmas are, bar none, the best plasmas on the market. The picture quality is uniformly excellent and the price is practically unbeatable. (If price is no object, you may be able to get a television with 5% better performance for 300% more cash, but I'll stick with the Panasonic, thank you.)

Finally, about six months ago, the prices for high definition 42" screens came below $2000. I bought the Panasonic after a couple weeks of deliberation and, although the price has continued to come down, I haven't been disappointed. The picture quality is incredible. The resolution is stunning and the color production is simply mind-blowing. I've never seen flesh tones so accurate and the reds, greens and blues so accurately reproduced. Getting this kind of a quality picture may take a little bit of tweaking on your part, but it's worth it, and the Panasonic interface is relatively simply to navigate and use so you don't need to be a technical genius to figure it out. My settings are:

Pic.Mod: Standard
Picture: +22
Brightness: +12
Color: -1
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -14
ColorTemp: Normal
Color mng.: On
Black Level: Light (while "dark" nicely setoff the screen, it also drowned out the details in dark and gloomy movies like Underdark or Aliens)

If you've been waiting to make the plunge into HD, now is the time. If you're trying to figure out which to buy, look no further and get the Panasonic 42". It's the best quality at a great price. Other screens have either comparatively poor picture quality or poor manufacturing quality and have an increased risk of pixel burnout.

After researching LCD and Plasma TVs for almost a year, I finally brought the Panasonic TH-42PX60U Plasma TV (42"). I think I owe a review to fellow buyers, considering how I benefited from other reviews.

My requirements:
I need an HDTV to replace my 27' CRT TV in my 15 x 18 family room. The main factors that went into the decison making was:

1. Budget - the price should be around $1500
2. Size - I will be viewing the TV from a maximum distance of 8 feet, and may sit as close as 3 feet at its side.
3. I should be able to watch ED TV and Digital TV with reasonable clarity.

After all the research I did, I finally narrowed on the Sharp Aquos 37" LCD TV. This was a great TV, with a perfect picture, the right colors (better than Vizio), great price (beat Sony) and good styling. But this was just not a big screen TV. I needed a big screen TV, not something little bigger than the 27' TV I had.

Then I met the Panasonic TH-42PX60U plasma, and brought it home last week. Here is my review:

1. Price - This TV is very reasonably priced (I hate Circuit-city's return policy).
2. Setting it up (including HD connections) took about 15 min.
3. The first thing I watched was the Jets-Patriot game. Played in rain, usually I would have seen just a blurry screen. But now I was able to see the players, the spectators, the rain and everything else so clearly. The game was played in foggy weather, but the picture wasn't. HDTV is amazing!
4. View angle - I sit about 6 feet away - picture quality is excellent. Sometimes I sit about 3.5 feet away about 60 degrees off its center. The picture is still very good.
5. No burn in noticed.
6. The picture at the store appeared less bright than LCD - but that was due to its "cinema" setting. I could change it, but I like it best.
7. It has 2 HDMI inputs, and all other stuff the latest TVs have.
8. The audio is pretty good.
9. Analog and digital signals appear very good (I was aghast at the ED TV picture in some TVs, including Sony).
10. Cons - No PIP, and of course it is not 1080p.

I am very happy about this TVs performance. I would definitely recommend it.