Customer Reviews

Panasonic VIERA C1 Series TC-P42C1 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've had this t.v. for a week now and I love it. I bought this Panny to replace a Sharp Aquos 1080p LCD that I returned. The LCD was terrible, any fast movement across the screen would cause mass pixilation. Also, blue-ray movies with heavy contrasting scenes looked grainy. I was so disgusted with the picture I returned it. Anyway this Panasonic Plasma is sooo much better it's like night and day. Even though this t.v. is only 720p, it looks much clearer and sharper than the LCD. No pixilation whatsoever. No graininess. Dark blacks and bright whites. The only con for this t.v., which I think goes for most plasma t.v.'s is that the screen is so glossy that it's hard to watch in bright rooms. I think that is the one and only advantage the LCD Aquos had over this t.v. Hope this was helpful and oh p.s. when you're comparing hdtv's in a store make sure whatever you're watching on there isn't a cartoon because cartoons make any hdtv look good. I learned that the hard way.

Picked the Panasonic TC-P42C1 42" plasma TV set a few days ago at Target so I haven't had it very long. So far I am VERY pleased. I have always had great luck with Panasonic TVs in the past, so I was pretty confident with my selection.

The Target guys helped me get it loaded and I was able to move it by myself from my van to the house with a small dolly. Setup couldn't have been easier. I decided to go with plasma since my living room has very low light most of the day and everything I have read said that plasma was better than LCD under those conditions.

The picture is stunning! There are several different picture settings, including the ability for custom setups. Sound is better than average for TV speakers, but I will be getting a home theater setup soon for full enjoyment.

I love this TV!!!

I have had this tv for more than 6 months now and am extremely pleased. The color is very sharp and very well detailed. No problem with refresh rates at all, and you won't be able to tell this is not a 1080 tv.

One issue I do have is the sound. The speaker is fine with broadcast tv or with cable; however, when playing a blu-ray disk or PS3 game the sound needs to be cranked up. I don't know if it is the nature of the tv itself or if the hardware is defective. I should note I returned this tv once after purchasing because the speaker gave off a hissing noise. Replacement model had no such problem...it just seems strange that my only issue has been the speakers (which have caused me problems in the past). Perhaps it is just my own experience and not reflective of this model as a whole...but I thought it worth mentioning.

Regardless...this tv is a great value.

Pros: Price, Black levels, Price, Build Quality,Price ,Energy Star Compliant and did I mention price

Cons: Lack of 3rd HDMI connection, No PC input, No anti-glare coating ,Remote not as good as the previous generation

Summary: I purchased this product as a secondary panel to go in my home office (primary panel Pansonic TH-50PZ800U resides in the living room).Because of the following: Viewing distance, Screen size and the fact that all HD broadcasts are either 720p or 1080i I had no problem choosing a 720p model. Being a fan of Panasonic TV's,selecting the TC-P42C1 was a no brainer. The black level and color are very good as is the detail ( especially considering the price). Connectivity issues ( only 2 hdmi / no pc ) and lack of a anti-glare screen aside , this panel offers great bang for the buck ( sub $600) . In other words .....I'm very happy with purchase......

We bought this TV as a gift to replace an old Sharp 25 inch CRT TV. Wow! Even with "just" 720p resolution the picture is stunning. Are there better TVs out there? No doubt. Are those better TVs worth 2 to 4 times the price of this TV? Not in my book.

The picture is great. The Panasonic menus are pretty intuitive -- we had it out of the box and were watching it in under 10 mins. The sound is pretty good, etc.. The SD card slot is handy for viewing photos (though slow.) The only downside is that, as with many plasma TVs, you have to be careful with placement of the TV to avoid reflections from windows or lamps. Also the bezel around the actual screen is a bit wide.

But at this price point, you cannot go wrong with this TV.

Ordered one and it was shipped and recieved in great shape. Just ordered a 2nd one for my grand daughter and her husband. I surfed the web and no one could come close to the same exact #model and price, with free shipping.

I am comparing this tv with a 1920x1080p lcd (60 hz) from lg. I bought this plasma and am very pleased it. The videos/tv broadcast is better than the lcd. There is some pixelation during fast moving HD scenes IE football games but it's better than the lcd. On the lcd it was very difficult to find a sweet spot on picture settings. This panasonic makes picture adjustment very simple and finding a good setting is very easy. The hdtv tuner seems to have some issue with finding one of my local channels even though the subchannel for that station is coming in fine. It acutally finds all the other channels better than either my hdtv tuner card or the lg lcd tv but this one channel is giving me problems. This was not a problem on the lg lcd using the same antenna. If you use cable/sat this shouldn't be an issue for you. I've also tested a PC connected via hdmi and the lg lcd is far superior for that than this model. There seems to be flickering on bright white screens and of course 1920x1080 is far better than 1024x768. This model has no vga connection. Finding a resolution that fits into the 1024x768 16:9 format is very difficult. I couldn't get a full screen to fit in the tv's display using the hdmi > hdmi connection. I tried every resolution imaginable. I imagine a dvi > hdmi cord will end up with the same results.
If you have a western digital media player it looks awesome on this tv using hdmi and the 720p setting. On the lcd tv it looked very disappointing on the 1080 setting. I recorded hdtv using a tv tuner and played back the .tp .ts files and they look awesome. The panasonic can't read the CC signal from those .tp .ts recordings and neither can the western digital. I have since found out that you can rip the CC information from the .tp .ts files and extract them to .srt format which the WD media player can read and display.

I purchased this Panasonic Plasma T.V. a Week ago(not from Amazon but from Target) and i have loved every minute of owning it. I purchased a Vizio origanlly under the impression that it wasn"t White tube backlit but it was and it was crap. I returned and for 60 dollars more got this. Amazing picture right out of the box on HD channels PS3 everything looks great. Well worth the money and would recommed it to anyone. While I am certianly on a budget its worth every penny of 60 dollars for such a huge difference.

Best bang for the buck! This is now my 3rd Panasonic HD TV. Once again a fantastic picture. An incredible picture when hooked up to HD TIVO via HDMI! At under $600 with the wall bracket how could you go wrong!

My in law bought this TV in Target (Charlotte, NC) and after three months , and using it for less than five hours a day, the unit is not working any more. The power light is flashing seven times after a pause with a black screen, and according to info published in Internet, the flashing light indicates a "SD" board failure (the SD board prices I've checked are in a price range of $40 to $60, but one of the problems is knowing wich board is the one for this plasma TV, not to mention the cost and procedure to replace the part). Please read more about this type of TV and learn what many other users say about this problem. Evaluate your options before purchasing this TV.