Panasonic TH42PX70 Review

[Colin]

Tony

You should consider the Samsung over the Panny, mainly because of you projected PC and gaming Use. Other benefits include slightly better blacks (quality and depth) over the Panny with the right setttings, brightness, and none of the green trail, buzzing and colour banding of the plasma.

You lose a little on colour accuracy and some detail in the darkest pictures with this choice, but the amazing contrast ratio of the Samsung gives it an 3D effect. I'm not kidding, just fire up some HD or Blu Ray and you'll see.

My one other concern is the connectivity of gaming consoles to the Samsung, and so can I suggest that you find out a little more about it.

Ha...chances are that you will hate our calibration settings (optimised for HD) in the beginning but if you are willing to retrain you eyes, as we did, then it becomes clear why we are doing all this in the first place.
Most of the above benefits are achieved with simple calibration, otherwise, the Samsung looks pretty normal compared to a lot of other panels on dynamic setting.

[Slidey]

Has the PX700 been released yet? bought a new bed at the weekend and the guy in the shop was a proper AV nut who reckoned they had, but i've not seen them anywhere yet...

got a bit of cash burning a hole in my pocket and it seems to me as though they're the way to go (been looking at either 37 or 42 plasma, or the 37 samsung lcds)

[Tony]

Colin,

Alright, thanks for your explanation. I'm sure I will fancy any screen settings you throw at me

So http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Samsung-LE40M86BD/ is the choice for me? Remember, I only gave those two as examples. If there's another TV out there that would be better for me, please do not hesitate to suggest it!

[Tony]

Another thing, am I right in saying there's no difference between the M86 and the M87?

[SirTiger]

Yeah, I think they said in the review that it was just a silver chrome finish that was the difference 

[Vincent]

SirTiger's right... the panel's the same, only difference is cosmetic.

[Tony]

Alright, M87 has been ordered Can't wait!!!

[h0stile]

First of all, grats for the reviews. This website is probably the only one I found (in english at least) with good, unbiased plasma and lcd reviews. Since I'm also a reviewer (but in a different domain) I know how hard it is to resist the temptations of being subjective when you're fascinated with a certain product or when you're simply disappointed while others are praising it. Knowing how to overcome such feelings and express yourself in the right way is what makes a good reviewer and for this you have my appreciation.

Now, the other reason I'm writing this is that I'm having a hard time deciding over the 32LX70 lcd and the 37PV70P plasma and I can only order them online since they're not on display in major hardware retailers around here (I'm not in the UK so we have the PV70 plasmas instead of the PX ones but I guess the panel is similar, except there is no DVB tuner). I know that plasmas should be better with SD material and I usually watch cable tv for news in the morning and discovery science/history/travel during weekends. I also plan to hook it to my PC and PS3 (no X360 yet as I'm waiting for the elite version). From the PC I'll probably watch divx movies and HD content (in mkv format). The PS3 is used mainly for gaming during weekends and for the occasional DVDs (I'm still waiting for my free Casino Royal blu-ray disc). I innitially thought about getting the plasma, but the green flashes from that youtube movie made me doubt since some reported similar problems with the Resistance game. I'm also a little afraid about plasma flicker as the distance when gaming is far shorter than the one when watching cable tv (4-5ft vs 8-10ft). On the other hand I don't worry that much about image retention (since I know how to take good care of my hardware), but I worry about energy consumption. The lcd is rated 134W, while the plasma 261W. With a powerful PC, 2 widescreen lcds connected to it (I need them for work) and a 355W PS3 (plus 24/7 air conditiong during summer), the thought about getting a 261W plasma is not comforting at all. I'd also like to know if the green flashes from that movie tend to disappear in time, after the run in period has passed. If that's the case, I'll probably go with plasma over the lcd and take it gently for the first couple of hundred hours.

[muddled]

Thanks for the forthright review.

I'm in the process of buying the Toshiba HDE1, mainly for upscaling. I do notice a lot of artifacts and 'over-processing' on digital screens, and haven't got one yet, but would like to. From the conversations around, I'd like to consider a plasma like the TH42PX70.

What would you recommend as an ideal 42" (or thereabouts) plasma to match the HDE1's capabilities ?

Regards,
Colin

[Colin]

  Good luck Tony...just be gentle when it arrives...no fast and furious gaming

@muddled...both Pioneer 427XD and Panasonic PX70 are plasma leaders in the 42 inch category and should be very good. Both have their pros and cons, only you can decide which is more relevant in your case.

@hostile. Thank you.

You are right on many points. I would have recommended the plasma in a heartbeat over the LCD, until you mentioned gaming. Most plasmas flicker on high intensity signals, worse if youre sitting nearer since the lateral vision is exquisitely sensitive to temporal problems.

The green flash is a problem with all plasmas. The problem is easily replicated with any bright object moving over a dark background. There are some patents working on reducing the problem but at some cost to picture quality. Our resident commercial Panny is still showing the green flashes and we have had it for 3 months.

Power consumption for plasma is related to its average picture level, which is low for general viewing. I dont think its 261 W but it will still be higher than the LCD.

As for gaming...
Plasma

1)   Better motion
2)   Worry about image retention on early days
3)   Not 1:1 mapping
4)   Plasma flicker on bright signals
5)   PWM artifact
6)   Screen door effect
7)   Phosphor lag causing green trail

LCD

1)   Motion blurring
2)   Input lag
3)   1:1 mapping
4)   No flicker

I'm afraid I can't make this any clearer. Plasma lovers (who value SD, Movies and football above everything) tolerate the above problems or play little or no games at all.

Good luck

[h0stile]

thanks for the input. I think there are just two things I should worry about from the lists you've posted: flicker for plasmas and input lag for lcds. In my country, the model available is 42PV70P and those who bought it said it had a setting for 50 and 100Hz. they also said that there was no trace of flickering when setting it to 100Hz but they were talking about cable tv. the couple of guys I've asked had no consoles to test it in a gaming environment. my question is what's happenning over HDMI. with 720p and 1080p signals being either 50 or 60Hz, what's the plasma going to do? stick with the standard 50 or 60Hz or stick with the setting of 100Hz if I set it like this? at least with this setting I might not get such a terrible flicker. in lcd's case, there is nothing I can do if there is any trace of input lag (though I seriously doubt that with the LX70 for example). again, the LX70 can do 100Hz. is this sticking if the lcd is fed a 720p or 1080p signal over HDMI or not?

PS you should probably think about including some gaming tests in your reviews. those interested in plasmas could find it useful to know if their pannel is any good for gaming and those interested in gaming and lcds could get an honest opinion about the setup they're planning to purchase. with the PS3 launch and the Xbox 360 Elite around the corner, the timing for such tests is just right.

[Colin]

A lot of people don't complain of input lag from LCDs anymore and certainly from my short experience, I didn't experience any from playing the PS3 on a Sony LCD. You should switch off all processing to reduce input lag. Maybe it's game critical? like FPS and things like that...

Theoretically 100Hz plasmas should not flicker but the subdrive modes in plasmas are all different. To be absolutely sure you need to get a white 75% percent signal to check it. I don't see any flicker from 42 plasmas at 8 feet, with normal material. For PAL im sure all they do is double the frames, but I am less certain with 60 Hz material, probably a simple integral pulldown is likely. Isn't it surprising that plasma owners you mention dont have any consoles?

LX70 yes 100hz on all inputs.

ahh...we are not currently funded that we can expand into games, although you'd think that with the TVs we have seen we are probably in the best position to do so.

[h0stile]

yeah, I've read that you buy the units you review and IMHO that takes lots of guts (and cash), but it's a very good way to test the commercially available sets, not some sample you'd get from the manufacturer.

concerning my decision, I've read a bit through the 37PX70 and 42PX70 owners threads from avforums and it seems that apart from slight green flashes in Gears of War and Resistance (which you have to look for if you really want to see them as they say) there's no problem with gaming on a plasma. Fact is that I want a bigger than 32" screen and good 40" lcds are out of my price range. Panasonic only manufactures lcds up to 32", while the Samsung 40M86BD is the same price as the 50PV70P in my country (2400eur), so it's not an option as it's out of my price range, which is around 1400-1500eur. Other lcds like Sharp, Philips and Toshibas have insane prices here, so I'll have to stay away from them.

then there's another thing. I've always wanted a plasma and never owned one. If I get the lcd, no matter how gorgeous the image is, I'll still be a bit disappointed. I think that getting the plasma now and eventually upgrading next year to a full HD one should be the right choice.

there's one more thing I'm interested to know. do plasma tend to show softer images? how do they handle aliasing? the fact is that X360 games have all 4X anti-aliasing since it's an internal Q&A requirement for all them on this platform. on the other hand, not all PS3 games have anti-aliasing enabled. a good example is the screenshot attached. my question is (since I have a PS3), which display should handle the jaggies better, the plasma or the lcd?

[StanleyNTL]

Pixellation over motion on main SKY channels:
On the new PX70, I have seen large objects e.g. people (snooker players- BBC2) pixellate as they move, this is with a std SKY box or SKY+. Same problem occurred with my parents Hitachi 42pd7500. Both feeds were SCART RGB.

Ch4 feed (Deal or No Deal), however was fine when output over HDMI (SKY HD) to PX70 model.

I've also seen with Freeview, on the 42" models, motion look jerky on some feeds. This problem seemed reduced on 37" PX70.

What's going on in these cases? Is the Panny slipping up on SD DVB processing?

I've heard mention of 100Hz on European models - is there an advantage here with respect to the above problems?

[Colin]

Blocking artifacts are usually from the source.