Panasonic TH42PZ70 Review

[Vincent]

Please discuss our Panasonic TH42PZ70 review in this thread.

[TIrthankar]

Hi Vincent,

This sight is one of the most useful I have come across, thanks for your efforts.

When are you planning to finish the review? Eagerly awaiting for the full review of the TH42PZ70.
Also, any insight into the screen-burn issue surrounding Plasma's would be helpful.

Thanks,
Tirthankar

[Geforce]

Hiya Vincent,
Does anyone why the cheaper PZ70 has a higher contrast ratio than the PZ700, yet they are both 1920 x 1080 panels?   

[Vowani]

Vincent,

Could you tell us where on the web we can find more info on the "FPD Benchmark Software For Professional" disk you used?

And where can we buy it?

Thanks!

[funder]

Hiya Vincent,
Does anyone why the cheaper PZ70 has a higher contrast ratio than the PZ700, yet they are both 1920 x 1080 panels?   

There is no 1-1 correspondence between contrast ratio and panel resolution. So the PZ70 can easily have higher contrast ratio, even tho they have the same number of pixels.

However, if you're asking why it is cheaper then - the answer is that PZ700 have much better audio and connectivity options.

[StanleyNTL]

Hi Vincent,

Re:deinterlacing, does the PX70, or PZ700 have film deinterlacing of any kind?
 I only have a std Panasonic SAT receiver and Panasonic S75 DVD player.

Is standard def soft compared to HD ready Panny screens (What a dealer told me.)?
What limitations compared to Trinitron CRT (50hz Super Trinitron I have) are there still?

What sets this screen apart from PX70 or PZ700 Panny models in picture performance terms?

Thanks,

Darren

[allsop4now]

You write that the viewing angle is 150 degrees, but some reports that there are reflections between the double glass' when looking off-angle about 30 degrees from the centre. This effect was most easily seen when subtitles was displayed.

Did you see any reflections, and at what angles?

[sogden]

In the review it mentions that the set shows no ' film mode deinterlacing'
What does this mean in laymans term and what effect would it have on the performance
It also suggests sending a progressive scan signal to the set to eliminate this
I'll be hooking it up to a PS3 for blu-ray playback, can this do it

[Geforce]

.....It also suggests sending a progressive scan signal to the set to eliminate this
I'll be hooking it up to a PS3 for blu-ray playback, can this do it

Yes, the PS3 can be set to send out a progressive signal to the TV.e.g. 576p, 720p, 1080p.

[oldgit]

   Thanks for the excellent reivews from this site, I am sitting in waiting for my th42pz70ped and ST850web-k to be delivered today!
   cant wait, I am now glad I brought this model after the review, I am also buying the Toshiba ep-30 hdvd so if i understand
   correctly the EP-30 will be providing the 1080P signal, but how do I connect the set up to my surround sound to get the best quality
   audio, will I only get 5.1 via optical, slightly confused. Any help appreciated.

[Geforce]

   .......will I only get 5.1 via optical, slightly confused. Any help appreciated.

As far as I know, you only get 5.1 audio channels through either optical or coaxial. 
If you just use the red and white coloured audio output sockets you only get stereo.

[oldgit]

  Thanks GEFORCE i have just been and brought an optical cable, I have my PZ on cinema mode and have dropped the contrast and brightness down a tad for 200 hrs burn in is this about right? also i am zooming the picture every half an hour or so to fill the whole screen because of the black bands on 16.9 is this overkill or wise. thanks for the help.

[sicofante]

I'm almost decided to go for this TV. I have just one issue:

Is it possible to have black (instead of grey) bars on both sides of a 4:3 non-scaled picture? Grey is too distracting.

Would this produce image retention? How long would it take for this TV to recover from that?

Would it produce unrecoverable phosphor burn?

Thanks for any help.

[TIrthankar]

Hi Vincent,

I agree with your conclusion about compromise when choosing between so many models.
However, I am a bit concerned about the lack of film mode deinterlacing of this model. As per your recommendation, if I was watching DVD from a 1080p upscaling player, am I right in thnking that that it should solve the problem? How about films from SD channels and Sky HD channels? Would they still be affected by the lack of film mode deinterlacing?

[radius]

Hi,
I'm wondering some stuff about this screen,
here in france there's the th42pz70e but panasonic says it's a 5000:1 contrast (here's the doc http://www.panasonic.fr/servlet/PB/menu/1262284_l3/index.html), plus I've seen the screen in store and there's like a colored noise on the panel when you are close to it (I think it's produced by the anti reflection stuff of the screen), you can easily spot it when the picture is white and it changes depending on the angle you look at it, it's a bit strange compared to a normal screen ... (the z700 as the same thing)
So as this has not been mentioned and because of the contrast too, can someone say if the th42pz70e is the same model tested here or something ^^ ?
Thanks