Reviews : Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV |
Technical Details
- 1920 x 1080 Resolution
- 1000000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for the Brightest whites and darkest blacks
- 4096 Shades of Gradation for spectacular Color Reproduction
- Viera LinK™ HDAVI Control lets you operate all of your home theater components by pressing a single button on your TV's remote control
- GalleryPlayer® allows you to enjoy the world's finest high definition art and photography on your Panasonic HD plasma TV
Product Description
PRODUCT FEATURES:42" class (41.6" diagonal) widescreen VIERA Plasma 1080p HDTV with increased native contrast ratioPC inputAnti-reflective filterDeep color technologyGame modeBuilt-in SD card slotGalleryPlayer ready to view3 HDMI inputsVIERA Link HDAVI controlAmazon.com Product Description--March 10, 2008
Amazon.com Product Description--March 10, 2008 With its 2008 Panasonic Viera Plasmas, Panasonic brings anastonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ration to the table. advanced pixel resolution and image-processing technology with the plasma TV's natural ability to beautifully reproduce fast moving images, so every detail is rendered with amazing clarity, and all the action is delivered with a high degree of fluidity.What's New This Year?
- Super Contrast--native contrast ratios on the PZ85, PZ800 and PX 850 series are 30,000:1, double last year's 15,000:1.
- Dynamic contrast ratios are up to 1,000,000:1.
- new anti-reflective filter; lead-free "Tough Under Force" panel is resistant to impacts and scratches
- Built-in SD card slot with Photo Viewer/Gallery Player software
- x.v. Color and Deep Color (HDMI 1.3 features)
- Game Mode auto-adjusts image quality suitable to games and includes anti-image retention
- Viera Link is now compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems
- At least 3 HDMI inputs on all models (4 on PZ800 and PZ850 series)
- THX Certification on PZ800 and PZ850 series
Which Viera is Right For You?
Click here to see a comparison of step up features on each Viera series.Amazing color reproduction
The incredible black reproduction of a Panasonic High-Definition Plasma TV results in impressive contrast and beautiful, natural colors. So you'll get warm, accurate skin tones, gorgeous greens, breathtaking blues and vivid reds. For color that's as rich and bold as life itself, look to a Panasonic Plasma TV.Consistent brightness from any angle
A Panasonic Plasma combines anti-glare and anti-reflection technology with the natural light-emitting properties of plasma, to give you a super-wide viewing range with a crisp, beautiful image from almost any angle.Smooth, graceful motion
When you're watching sports or movies with fast-motion graphics, you want a TV that can keep up with the action. With over 900 lines of moving picture, self-illuminating plasma displays eliminate afterimages in fast-action scenes. So whether you're watching a sporting event or an action-packed movie, you'll always get the most impressive viewing experience possible. |
1,000,000:1 Contrast
The Panasonic's Real Black system (a pre-discharge suppression system) and improved panel production processes combine to reproduce outstanding blacks with superb contrast. Each image is richly expressive, from bright scense, like scorching desert landscapes, to dark cave scenes. Compare the image produced by conventional HDTV on the left to the Real Black image produced on the right |
More Colors
Viera HDTVs support the xvYCC color profile (Extended YCC Colorimetry for Video Applications), or "x.v. color" for short. Standard RGB color space allows the display of a portion of the colors that are viewable to the human eye. The next generation "xvYCC" color space actually offers an available range of colors that exceeds what human eyes can recognize.
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Deep Color
Where x.v. color expands the available range of colors your HDTV can display, Deep Color increases the number of colors your HDTV can display within that range, for smoother transitions from color to color.
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Connectivity
Viera flat panel HDTVs interact with an array of high-definition devices and services, making it easy for consumers to access and enjoy content as never before. As of 2008, Viera Link is compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems.Videos and stills recorded on SD cards can easily be viewed via the SD slots on Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc players and Viera HDTVs. | Viera Link means easy connectivity via HDMI cables. Finally, consumers can easily operate their Blu-Ray Disc players, DVD recorders and home theater systems with a single remote control device. |
4 HDMI inputs to connect all of your devices directly to your television. | Equipped with an RGB input terminal, VIERA can connect with your PC and serve as a large-screen monitor. |
Long Life
Panasonic plasma panels are rated to last 100,000 hours, which is about 30 years of regular or 11 years of non-stop usage before the brightness of the display is halved. |
Get Full HD with Blu-Ray Disc Players
A Panasonic 1080p plasma television is able to render 1920x1080 pixels, but standard DVDs have a resolution of just 720x480. Blu-ray discs output true 1080p High-Definition resolution and have a storage capacity ten times greater than standard DVDs, so no pixel gos to waste. |
Which is the Right Viera for You?
Screen Size Measured Diagonally | 1080p Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels | Native Contrast Ratio | PC Input | THX Cert | 24p | Speakers | HDMI Inputs | One Sheet of Glass Design | Swivel Base | Shades of Gradation | H.264 Codec | Digital Cinema Color | Studio Reference Mode | Pro Setting Menu | Serial Port | Standard Features | |
TH-42PX80U | 42 inches | 15,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 |
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TH-50PX80U | 50 inches | 15,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-42PZ80U | 42 inches | 20,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-46PZ80U | 46 inches | 20,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-50PZ80U | 50 inches | 20,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-42PZ85U | 42 inches | 30,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-46PZ85U | 46 inches | 30,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-50PZ85U | 50 inches | 30,000:1 | 2 | 3 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-42PZ800U | 42 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-46PZ800U | 46 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-50PZ800U | 50 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-58PZ800U | 58 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 4,096 | ||||||||||||
TH-46PZ850U | 46 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 5,120 | ||||||||||||
TH-50PZ850U | 50 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 5,120 | ||||||||||||
TH-58PZ850U | 58 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 5,120 | ||||||||||||
TH-65PZ850U | 65 inches | 30,000:1 | 4 | 4 | 5,120 |
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Customer Reviews
By A. Malin (OK)
I did a bunch of research, not just on line, and settled on this TV and I'm very happy with it. It did fail while under warranty but Panasonic sent a guy out to fix it in a hurry. Well done.
By Robert Hughes (Post Falls, Idaho, USA)
In the old days when you paid a premium for electronic up-grades, your quality increased.
(for example: a diamond stylus on a Panasonic turntable eliminated all hissing; a big Panasonic reel-to-reel tape player out-performed cassette and 8-track tape-players).
Today this is no longer the case:
HD and LCD big screen TVs are steps down in quality!
All picture formats are rotten:
The "4:3" ratio reduces the wide screen display to normal width leaving 1/4 of the sides blank.
"Zoom" cuts off the peripheries -- the tops of heads--and sport box scores.
"Full" squishes everyone fat, squatty and short.
"Just" blows everybody in all directions--everything is stretched out of proportion.
If I want a normal view I go to the bedroom and watch my old Panasonic.
Digital High Definition sound quality has taken a hit, too.
Digital sound breaks up regularly (and I've got cable). Try to listen to classical music on PBS--like "Live at Lincoln Center" and during the quiet passages the digits break and interrupt the whole piece.
I'm a loyal Panasonic buyer.
But within a year I've lost audio on 4 channels, including ABC.
This whole (forced) move to HD is a real bummer.
Maybe the next technological "improvement" will be BH ("Black Hole" TV where the consumer and all his/her money is sucked in and disintegrated.)
By Bluemoonie (Lincoln City, OR)
Fabulous, Fabulous, Fabulous. HD & SD, Great blacks no trailing. Can't wait to get one for the living room only BIGGER! HA!
By Agnes Besser (Chicago, IL)
When the item was delivered the screen was broken. I was able to purchase a similar TV elswhere brand new for less money
By John Smith
In October, I purchased a Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U Plasma Television from Amazon. One of the caveats about owning an HDTV is that it requires quite a bit of time to tweak picture settings in order to ensure that your TV is giving you the best possible picture. In the proceeding months, I've fiddled with the various settings, like color, contrast, brightness, and even used a THX calibration disc and blue filter glasses in order to calibrate my set for optimal viewing from all of my sources (FiOS, DVD, PS3/Blu-Ray, DVR, Xbox). Overall, I've been quite happy with my Panny.
However, in recent months, I've noticed a very disturbing and annoying trend occuring in my TV: phosphor trails. These are green or blue trails that are left behind a moving object in a high contrast scenario. It occurs, as I understand it, because plasma pixels cannot shift directly from black to white, or vice versa. They have a brief green or blue phase in between. An example of this might be a hockey game that has players with dark jerseys on a white ice background. This scenario is plagued by phosphor trails on my TV. The players leave streaks as they move across the rink. I love hockey, and this is a major issue for me. Another example might be a movie or TV show where a person with light skin is moving through a dark room. This scenario is even worse for me. Light objects on dark background leave horrible green trails and are physically taxing on my eyes. Video games often have high contrast scenarios like this, and this effect is present in many that I own.
Unfortunately, I don't have a video camera capable of accurately depicting this phenomenon. On the cheap point-n-shoot I have, the effect is far worse than it appears in person. Nevertheless, I'm very close to selling my TV, cutting my losses and getting a Samsung LN46A650 LCD. I know that I may just be trading one issue for another, as LCD's have problems of their own, but I've just about had it. If a representative from Panasonic or Amazon is reading this, please contact me, as I would love to remedy this somehow.
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