This 16:9 widescreen plasma set a bright display that will look good in any room, on any wall or on any surface. It comes standard with both basic video and PC inputs and is easily expandable to accommodate a variety of different sources. Image
Panasonic's Multi-Facet Asymmetrical Configuration Hyper-Pixel (MACH) panel features new materials and technology that improves the light-emitting efficiency and intensity of their plasma screens. The result is a deeper contrast ratio (up to 3,000:1 in dark areas), 2,048 shades of gradation (4,096 shades via HDMI or DVI connection and optional accessory board),3.62 billion full-time displayable colors. It is compatible with a whole host of HD signals, from 1080i to 480p.
The TH-42PWD8UK also uses a host of Panasonic image improving features. Adaptive Gain Control raises contrast while suppressing noise by detecting and boosting only the image edges. Motion Picture Noise Disturbance Reduction detects motion patterns that tend to generate noise and makes adjustments to maximize image quality without diminishing the quality of stationary background objects. The Active Interlace/Progressive Conversion System reduces interlace to progressive conversion noise that often occurs when reproducing tiny movements, resulting in better vertical resolution.
Connections
The TH-42PWD8UK features both flexible A/V and IT system configurations. Built-in video connections include S-video, BNC, and component. Accessory boards expand your possibilities to include SDI, HD-SDI, HDMI, DVI-D w/HDCP, Twisted-Pair cable, and IEEE 802.11b. Have the set do double duty as your PC monitor, too, since it supports VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, and UXGA PC signals and comes with a common PC monitor port. The Remotes System Monitoring Command feature allows users to control their TH-42PWD8UK via RS-232C interface. If you really want to get fancy, a built-in wall processor allows you to array TH-42PWD8UKs in 2x2, 3x3, or even 4x4 multi-screen video walls.
37-inch Wide Screen
A general rule of thumb for selecting the right size television screen is that the screen width--not its 37-inch diagonal measurement--should be between three and five times the optimum viewing distance, such as the distance from the TV screen to where your eyes are while sitting on the couch. Less than that and you may be distracted by the scan lines of the picture. More than that, and you may lose the detail of your TV. Based on this guide, the TH-42PWD8UK is ideal for viewing distances of nine to 15 feet.
Other Features
Panasonic's new Advanced Dual Picture Mode simultaneously displays images from two different video sources or a video and PC source. 4x Digital Zoom allows you to divide the screen into zones and enlarge images up to 400%. The set also features enhanced screen saver and energy-saving functions.
What's in the Box
TH-42PWD8UK plasma TV, remote control unit, battery, band, power cord, warranty, and operating instructions book
Customer Review: Works extremely well with 1080i or 720p signals!
I've been pretty happy with the performance of the TH-42PWD8UK. I've had it for over a year now. Picture quality from DVD using component cable is very good, and has been what I am using it mostly for. I never feel the need for HD. DVDs looks awesome, as this unit is the native resolution of DVDs. I won't be far off to say that none of the HD sets in the store looks better than this one. But the reason I am writing this review is my surprise finding of how well it scales 1080i or 720p image when fed such signals. I recently got a Samsung HD tuner, and naturally I set the output to 480p, my TV's resolution. I also tried a Panasonic DVD recorder with HD-tuner, and the picture quality was about the same as the Samsung, very good. However, while tweaking some settings on the Samsung, I changed the output setting on the back of the unit to 720p and 1080i. I was expecting the TV not to display anything, but much to my surprise, a proper image is displayed. Even to my bigger surprise, the picture looks noticeably sharper and more detailed!! How can that be? The set is not HD! I pondered this for a while and came to the conclusion that the TV must have a much better scaling algorithm than the Samsung tuner. With HD tuner sending a 1080i signal, picture quality looks astounding! My friend was looking to buy a Panasonic 50" plasma, and came by to take a look at my TV. Both he and his wife were stunned by the picture quality and how it looks better than all the HD units they've seen. Anyway, I am extremely happy with the performance of the scaling algorithm on the TV. If you have HD source, set it to 1080i output and enjoy! You will not be disappointed. One thing that still puzzles me a bit is why HD materials look sharper and more detailed than DVDs, and I am talking about good quality DVDs here. Since this set is the native resolution of DVD, theoretically it's as good as it will get. HD material should look the same as DVDs, since the end result of what you see, IS 480p. I wonder if I get an upconverting DVDs, and send the unit a 1080i signal, whether it will look better than the standard DVD. In theory it shouldn't, since scaling 480p to 1080i and scale back would not gain you much, but does it? I guess when my current DVD player dies I'll get a new one and find out.
Customer Review: Great Value - Best Buy - No brainer ;)
This is an excellent plasma TV. I have it for little more than 6 months and I am happy that I bought this baby! I did research for about 8 months before I bought Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK. First thing, look @ at consumer reports or any website for reviews on Plasmas - on top 10 list more than 50% will be from Panasonic. This company knows how to dig plasmas. Second part is you need to decide about your needs - what exactly you are looking for. In my case, I wanted a plasma that's slim & slick. I ddin't want any speakers associated with the plasma for two reasons - the OEM speakers are NEVER decent quality & I didn't want huge looking thing on my wall. This plasma is basically industrial/commercial display - no speakers, no stands. And that was perfect for me as I can just hang it on the wall (I had to buy seperate wall mount). Another thing to keep in mind - this EDTV not HDTV. To be frank, I still can't understand the hype for HDTV. I don't have HDTV cable so for me it didn't matter. The quality I think equal to or better than HDTV (compared to HDTV plasmas what I had seen in retail stores). This TV doesn't have any stand or mount so you need to buy something on day 1 - otherwise you won't be able to put it anywhere. I bought the mount from CostCo and happy with that. For the connections - look @ the other review over here - there' all possible technical details on that one so I won't bore you with those. In the end, I will say this is a great plasma with awesome picture quality. If you are buying plasma, get yourself decent home theatre system too. Your A/V receiver can handle all the connections to your cable box, DVD, VCR, CD player etc. And finally, get yourself one of the fancy Logitech/harmony universal remote too. I got harmony 880 and love it. Tip - Plasma on wall, nice slick speakers with high output and 1 universal remote to manage everything will impress anyone anytime - including yourself!
There are various other reviews that relate to Blu-Ray as well. Many people are curious as to whether this new technology is worth their hard-earned money. They are looking to see what the true differences are between Blu-Ray and standard DVD's. People want to know what else Blu-Ray offers than just higher definition and clarity.
So what is this whole Blu-Ray about, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc.
Speaking from reviews that can be found online, Blu-Ray technology is here to stay. People have been very impressed with this new product and what it offers. They are in love with the high quality and will tell you they wouldn't choose a regular DVD over it.
There is one complaint about this new Blu-Ray technology though. There is not a large enough movie collection out in Blu-Ray yet. New releases come out in this way but the older movies that are already out aren't available. What do you do when you want to see an older movie but it's not in Blu-Ray?
Go out and see what this Blu-Ray technology is all about if this interests you. There is a likely chance you will find it amazin. There are so many options like even writing your own materials onto blank Blu-Ray discs. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.
There isn't much to complain about this Blu-Ray technology. The only main problem is that they have to release movies in this format that people have already bought in standard DVD format. In fact, seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox, Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) have released movies in the Blu-ray format and six of them (Disney, Fox, Sony, Warner, Lionsgate and MGM) are releasing their movies exclusively in the Blu-ray format.
Chris Jensen is a contributing Author of Jetfly Blog. For more related articles and reviews visit Jetfly Electronic Gadgets Blog now. Also, for the Best up-to-date related Online Products, check out Jetfly DVD Players Shop for Today's Current Online Deals.
Panasonic Plasma TV 103 inch
No comments:
Post a Comment