Topic: Panasonic TH42PZ85B Review

[Vincent]

Please discuss our Panasonic TH42PZ85B review in this forum thread.

Warmest regards
Vincent

[dvdmonster]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for another great review.

I am missing a measurement of power usage.
Maybe you could add how much power reviewed TV's draw with a bright and a dark reference static image? and the same in Powersafe mode.
With about 450 watt usage in basic operation mode, this could be taken into account by some buyers when shopping for a new TV.

Thanks again.

[SteveHulk]

Thanks for the review Vincent!  Its great to finally have a proper review of this model.

I've been looking at this and also the (Full HD) TH-42PZ70B you reviewed in November - both look like great models, but you can get the PZ70B quite a bit cheaper now...  Do you think it's worth paying the extra for the PZ85B?  Or in terms of actual picture quality are they about the same?

I'll mainly be using it for movies and sport (and the odd Blu Ray).

Cheers - and keep up the good work!

[humps]

First, thanks for another review! And I like the new look of the website as well! Keep up the good work!

I echo dvdmonster, these large 1080p plasma simply use too much energy! Great TV for the price but I can't bring myself to using that much energy! I remembered from the Panny US website, the PZ85 is 475W typical? That's also why I eventaully bought the Pio 4280 which is 300W and I use power save mode 1 with brightness -4.

Another note though, the sliver decoration on the PZ85 is really not to my taste (after seeing it in the shop), much prefer the older PX70. I think that made it look ugly on the stand or wall mounted.

[Geforce]

Hiya Vincent,

Thank you for another professional review and I really like the new Home Page. 
The TH42PZ85B seems like a very good hdtv but how does it compare to say the 50" Pioneer PDP508XD?

One of the reasons I'm asking this is because where I live the 508XD has been reduced to AU$2650 (1250 quid).  It seems like Pioneer over here are clearing them but I see they are still pricey in the U.K.

The other reason is that while I was reading the 42PZ85B review I was comparing it's  "Benchmark Test Results" table with that of the 508XD and  it seems to a noobie like me that the 508XD is still a better panel, especially if you take into account our seating distance of 3.5 metres which you could say negates the benefit of a 1920 x 1080 panel.

Also, I have been told by a couple of 508XD owners that it's speakers are better than most of the other panels out there.  I'm not sure how good the 42PZ85 speakers would be in comparison.

With what I have said above, would you go for the Pio 508XD over the Pana 42PZ85 ?

cheers.   

p.s.
In Australia,  the Pio 508Xd comes with a choice of a table top or wall mounted stand and a 5 year warranty by Pioneer included in the price above and delivery to your door and installation by Pioneer employees.

[parrastaka]

5 year warranty, installation, and only 2,650 AUD??

If we had that price and services offer in Spain (that would be around less than 1,800 EUR) I would no doubt go for the Pioneer.

Do they ship overseas? 

[halpha]

Hallo Vincent,

thanks for this excellent review.

You mention the phosphor trails to which I am actually quite sensitive: I have indeed seen a 46pz85 in a shop and the trails were quite disturbing, even if slightly mitigated by lowering the contrast. So, relying on your experience, how would you rank this tv set in this respect (severity of the phosphor trails) compared to the 42" benchmark (shall we consider a Kuro 428xd as such?)?

thanks again

cheers

[Vincent]

I am missing a measurement of power usage.
Maybe you could add how much power reviewed TV's draw with a bright and a dark reference static image? and the same in Powersafe mode.
With about 450 watt usage in basic operation mode, this could be taken into account by some buyers when shopping for a new TV.

Currently I do not have any plans to measure power consumption, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

I've been looking at this and also the (Full HD) TH-42PZ70B you reviewed in November - both look like great models, but you can get the PZ70B quite a bit cheaper now...  Do you think it's worth paying the extra for the PZ85B?  Or in terms of actual picture quality are they about the same?

Compared to the PZ70, the PZ85 offers correct 1080p/24 handling and no black level fluctuation, though it's up to you to ponder whether these advantages are important enough for you to pay extra...

The TH42PZ85B seems like a very good hdtv but how does it compare to say the 50" Pioneer PDP508XD?

One of the reasons I'm asking this is because where I live the 508XD has been reduced to AU$2650 (1250 quid).  It seems like Pioneer over here are clearing them but I see they are still pricey in the U.K.

The other reason is that while I was reading the 42PZ85B review I was comparing it's  "Benchmark Test Results" table with that of the 508XD and  it seems to a noobie like me that the 508XD is still a better panel, especially if you take into account our seating distance of 3.5 metres which you could say negates the benefit of a 1920 x 1080 panel.

Also, I have been told by a couple of 508XD owners that it's speakers are better than most of the other panels out there.  I'm not sure how good the 42PZ85 speakers would be in comparison.

With what I have said above, would you go for the Pio 508XD over the Pana 42PZ85 ?

Pioneer Kuros offer marginally better blacks and significantly superior video processing (particularly scaling and film deinterlacing) over the PZ85. If price and screen resolution are of no concern, then it's a no brainer.

You mention the phosphor trails to which I am actually quite sensitive: I have indeed seen a 46pz85 in a shop and the trails were quite disturbing, even if slightly mitigated by lowering the contrast. So, relying on your experience, how would you rank this tv set in this respect (severity of the phosphor trails) compared to the 42" benchmark (shall we consider a Kuro 428xd as such?)?

When I ran a torture test designed specifically to bring out the phosphor trails, the Pioneer Kuros exhibited slightly less compared to the Panasonic plasmas, though if you're one of those who are particularly sensitive to it then it's very likely you'll see them on all plasmas.

Warmest regards
Vincent

[Geforce]

Thank you Vincent for the reply.   

Now I have to try to find a store with stock as the 508XD panels have been flying out the door at that price.  Some stores don't have any left and can't get anymore.

5 year warranty, installation, and only 2,650 AUD??

Do they ship overseas? 

Lol....the shipping cost would be a killer and I doubt they would make a house call to Spain if you needed warranty repair.   

[park1ranger]

Am torn whether to buy the 42px80 or the42pz85 would like to know if the picture quality when watching SD on sky+ will be poorer on the full HD z85 as vincents review seems to suggest ,will be sitting 8-10 feet away. Dont mind paying the extra premium for full hd set as no doubt will get sky HD somtime but meantime most tv viewing will be in SD, any help appreciated.

[dvdmonster]

Currently I do not have any plans to measure power consumption, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

A power-meter is about £10 and would improve the allready high quality of you reviews. What is there to think about?

[sicofante]

Currently I do not have any plans to measure power consumption, but I'll keep it in mind for the future.

A power-meter is about £10 and would improve the allready high quality of you reviews. What is there to think about?

+1

[halpha]

When I ran a torture test designed specifically to bring out the phosphor trails, the Pioneer Kuros exhibited slightly less compared to the Panasonic plasmas, though if you're one of those who are particularly sensitive to it then it's very likely you'll see them on all plasmas.

thanks Vincent for your reply.

Indeed, I know I am more sensitive than the average user, but I have not many choices other than sticking on plasma technology, LCD is still for me a notch below.

I have gone a bit deeper in getting to know this tv set and finally found a cooperative shop that let me test it the way I wanted and, especially, compare it with a 428xd. I used Sin City as my test bench to trigger phosphor trails. I have to say that the kuro was "fully calibrated" (words from the shop owner, offering similar calibration on my future model for 200 Euro) whereas the Pana setting were copied from experienced users online.

My personal result: I can easily live with Kuro's trails, hardly with pz85's...

BUT (there's always a but...), I have to say that with the same room illumination and trying to keep the brightness and the contrast of the PZ as low as possible (which seemed to help with the trails), the details of the scene in darkness were much clearer on the PZ than on the kuro...so, I remembered the results on the 4280 and the non-perfeclty flat gamma tracking   

hence, to cut it short  , my new question: since the review of the PZ85 does not explicitly report the gamma tracking, but only RGB, how would you compare it to the 4280? is there the dip between 0 and 20% signal as for the kuro, or, as my observation seemed to suggest, details in dark scenes may be a notch more evident in the PZ especially in daylight?

thanks again

[Xoxol]

Hello all.

I'm proud member of 42pz85. First thing I want to say is that the tv with PS3 is excellent! PLayed Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank. The only thing that a bit bothered me, is that the first 200 hours you have to put all settings lower then 50 %. On Dynamic mode i put all setting below 50 and for example in Uncharted, then in darker places i could see a thing. After i tried to watch some Trailers in 1080p and put it to Cinema mode everything was beautiful (didn't touched the settings from fabric). After trying to set all things (colour, brightness, sharpness etc)  higher it was more realistic and astonishing. I was looking for best settings for each mode but couldn't find any yet. SO Vincent if you have any great calibrations ideas I'm happy to test them. And one more thing about the sound. You have three options and you can really hear the difference. ANd it isn't sounds bad at all. Offcourse if you compare it with a home cinema set it will be bad. But for average people it's pretty good!

P.S Sorry for my bad english.

[flinstone]

Hi Vincent,
Thanks for the review. It helped me to decide to buy this one.
You say that you think the de-interlacing process is not as good as it should be (pull-down)
Do you know a unit that does the de-interlacing and pull-down job from a RGB (scart) signal to a progressive signal the way it se-pose to be done (not to expansive and realtime/lip-sync)?? Will this improve SD material dramatically? I use a SD digital tv receiver that outputs RGB over scart.
Thanks in advance.