Panasonic TH-42PX77U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Review


I did a lot of research into TVs, reading reviews and consumer reports.
I am very happy with my decision. I have owned this TV for 1.5 years now,
and it continues to work great.

I love the standard and HD picture on this TV from my standard cable
programming. The DVD quality is also very good. The TV appears to have
a sophisticated algorithm for effectively upconverting standard TV and DVD
signals to make them look HD.

I do suggest spending the extra money on the anti-glare screen if you keep
the TV near a window or coffee table lamps. I find I never have to worry
about closing the window shades or anything.

Here are some surprise features with this :
I get basic, basic cable. However, the tuner on this Panasonic TV picks
up a wide range of TV channels that I don’t think I am paying for.
For instance, it picks up both NBC and NBC-HD and several other NBC
channels. I receive 780p HD broadcasts for most of the major networks
even though I am not paying for a HD option.

Even better, the TV picks up pay-per-view channels that apparently people
in my neighborhood are watching. On a Saturday night, there may be as many
as 5 movies playing on a bunch of channels obscurely located from 87-1 to
87-15 (exact numbers probably depend on where you are located).

Now some caveats : I bought an up-converting DVD player/recorder, and
it has poor picture quality on this TV, although many other reviewers found
it worked great for them. I think the reason is because this TV is already
essentially upconverting standard tv signals with its own algorithm. So
be careful hooking up DVD recorders as tuners to this TV. If you do, and
you find the picture stinks, see my other reviews where I describe how you
can maintain your Panasonic picture quality and still use a DVD recorder.

One concern I had was that plasma TVs have a reputation for not lasting
as long as LCDs, but I was satisfied from reviews that this issue has
been solved in the last few years, and since the picture for plasmas is
probably better than LCDs, which tend to have a tinsel-ly computer monitor
look to the picture, I thought it was time to plasma. It is true that
there is some temporary burn-in with plasmas, for instance, when a DVD
ends, and it shows the disk main menu for a long period of time, you can
see a ghost-like image of the disk main menu when you change the channel.
This goes away quickly though, and it hasn’t bothered me so far.

Panasonic TH-42PX77U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Feature

  • 1024 x 768 Native Resolution
  • Integrated ATSC Tuner
  • Up to 10,000:1 Contrast Ratio
  • 2 HDMI Inputs
  • EZ Sync™ HDAVI Control lets you operate all of your home theater components

Panasonic TH-42PX77U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Overview

The TH-42PX77U is a Plasma HDTV with Anti-Glare Coating, EZ Sync HDAVI Control, Built-in GalleryPlayer -Capable SD Card Memory Slot and Side-Firing Speakers.EZ Sync 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. Use the GalleryPlayer software to purchase and download the images you like, and then play them on your Panasonic HDTV right from your PC.Share your JPEG photos taken with a digital camera on your Panasonic plasma using the built-in SD card slot. Simply insert the SD card, which is about the size of a postage stamp, into the SD slot on the TV and enjoy a photo slideshow with Photo Viewer.

Panasonic TH-42PX77U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Specifications

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*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 17, 2009 12:30:15