Picture quality

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I second the motion of hartl's review below. The picture quality is better than or equal to most of the true HD plasma's on the market. I've been viewing it for more than a year now and have been truly astounded by the picture. HD programing (over-the-air and the DirecTV HD package channels) and DVD picture quality is top-notch. I've viewed a Philips HD plasma utilizing digital cable signal and a Pioneer HD plasma utilizing a satellite signal, and my Panasonic EDTV/DirecTV setup was equal to or better than either of them. Bottom line: If you purchase the Panasonic, you will not be disappointed! System Hardware: Panasonic TH-42PW4 Plasma Display Pioneer Elite VSX-24TX Philips DVD 953 Hughes DirecTV HD Satellite Receiver Adcom ACE-515 Power Conditioner Monster Interconnects AudioQuest Speaker Cable Energy Take 5 Speaker System

Excellent contrast--when used with a Hi-Def source, blacks are really black and colors jump out of the screen. AND...It's only 2" thick!! Very easy to move around--can't say that about the projection TV's. Very accurate zoom feature to help eliminate the 'letterbox' effect (for those who don't like it). I've seen some other vendors attempts at a zoom function--completely destroys the integrity of the picture though.

Only 1 set of component video inputs. Make sure you have a component video switch or a A/V receiver that will handle this. Otherwise you'll be manually swapping cables :) Unless you want to use s-video for one of your sources :-p No DVI input--this one will probably bite me in the a** in the next few years. Price dropping too quick...After 6 months of owning, I can now get the 50" version for almost the same price. At $4k, still expensive for a TV though

Panasonic does it again with one of the most amazing picutures available. Time Warner Cable in Houston now has 12 Hi-Def channels available and they are a dream to watch on the PD3. Be aware that the PD3 does not have a built in tuner or speakers. I imagine most folks looking at this unit will already have a home theater setup anyway :) To truly enjoy the PD3, you must use either a hi-definition capable cable/sat receiver or a progressive scan DVD player. Also, spring for the component video cables, I seen a huge difference compared to the S-video cable. While the video from a non hi-def source is good, you won't get the same level of contrast or color detail which makes this unit shine. The only negative experiences I have had with this set is the quality of VCR video playback and non-digital cable channels. While it is watchable, the quality is much worse than a digital source--this is probably due to my eyes getting use to the HD video. At $4000, it still expensive for a TV. It's a great value compared to the competition though. Don't settle for the Sampo,Sansui,fujitsu 'deals' you'll see in the wholesale clubs. Spend the extra few hundred bucks and get a panasonic!

Great picture

Known problem as yet resolved. Very expensive to fix after warranty has expired.

My Panasonic plasma (TH-42PWD4) failed one month after the manufacturers warranty expired. According to Panasonic, the "plasma" was failing. They will not honor the warranty and it will cost $2600 to repair. Buyer beware. According to the suppport people I spoke with, this happens a lot.

PICTURE! contrast, ability to display "true" black, color saturation, space saving, price, plenty of inputs, PICTURE!

none as far as i can tell

i've had this for a few days and couldn't be more impressed. this is one of the few plasmas that i've seen which can truly reproduce black. the blacker-than-black pluge test on Video Essentials worked like a charm to get the contrast and brightness levels down from the blinding factory presets (the sharpness setting was also adding way too much additional detail to the picture and had to be reduced as far as it could go). the picture quality is amazing from any source, with no noticible difference between a progressive-scan component signal (panasonic RP62) and an s-video 480i signal (sony dvps7700). i would guess that this is due to the fantastic panasonic progressive display system. the set-up is easy, and i'm sure the picture will only get better once i figure out how to access the service-mode to fine tune some other parameters.

Similar Products Used:

32" Sony XBR48

Price, look, picture quality

If you are obsessed with having an HDTV set, even though there are only about 7 channels broadcast in this way, then this tv can't display those programs. But it does a better job than you may imagine

First of all, for the person above, the PT42PD3P is actually the consumer version of the TH-42PWD5UY, not the 4UY--some slight differences. This plasma is probably the best plasma television under $4000 (you can get them for around $3600 online). Although it's not a high definition tv (it only has 852 x 480 pixels of resolution), it does have a very high contrast ratio, advertised at 3000:1, which produces exceptional color depth, true color contrasts, and accurate whites, grays, and blacks. This tv is actually supposed to present VCR, cable, and DVD better than your average HDTV (1024 x 1024) tv, because it's 480 vertical pixels match up perfectly with the output of standard DVD, and it's non-hdtv resolution makes cable, which is a poor soure, actually quite watchable, which on a 1024 x 1024 tv would look terrible. Why is this the case? 1024 x 1024 plasma use interlace processors, while lower resolution plasmas, like the Panasonic, use a progressive processor, which displays every source better than an hdtv television, except of course HDTV itself. Yet hdtv is only supposed to look about 10% or 15% better on a 1024 x 1024 tv, and they are generally thousands more, so how much does it matter? This plasma is affordable, good-looking, and better for most people than many 1024 x 1024 plasmas--advertising tries to sell these as "HDTV," charging much more for them, when in reality true hdtv is only displayed at a much higher resolution, a technology that in fact has not yet been released on the market. This tv is bright, vivid, space-saving, and accurate--faces have true coloring, sharp-edges, and color definition--this plasma is loved by many consumers around the internet more than many Pioneer or Hitachi "HDTV" sets, costing more, with higher resolution--again, this is mainly due to Panasonic's fantastic progressive processor, and the amazing contrast ratio of this set.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi 4121HDU, Pioneer 433CMX, many direct-view, LCD, and rear-projection sets.

So far this television is completely amazing. Unlike any tv other I've owned or seen. I compared all of the major brands and kept coming back to the panasonic. An absolutely wonderful piece of gear.

everything

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Killer plasma!!!I actually have the th-pwd4uy(same plasma,pd3is the consumer version pwd4uy is the commercial model).Vibrant colors,best blacks out there.Panasonic is the true leader when it comes to plasmas.Pioneer is a close second.Forget daewoo,sampo,philips,hitachi,sony.They're all junk.Especially the korean brands.Not quite up to speed with the japanese

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looked at them all