Panasonic TH-42PX25U/P 42

Panasonic TH-42PX25U/P

TH-42PX25U/P 42 Review, by Sean Captain June 7, 2005

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• Reviewed by: decosails

  Strengths: Good looking, quiet, cool running, many features

  Weaknesses: poor customer service

  Overall: have had the set for one year, in that time there have been 6 service calls to fix the problem with dead pixels and bright pixels. after the set is on for 3-4 hours the bad pixels will start to show up, at times there will be 30 to 40 of them. the set has had 3 circuit boards plus the plasma screen replaced all to no avail, the problem has gotten worse and panasonic will not replace the set.it is impossible to speak to anyone at panasonic that can make the decision to replace the set, all you can do is speak to a clerk who will take the information down.

• Reviewed by: kenirok

  Strengths: Picture viewable at any angle, Pleanty of inputs and outputs on both back and front, Easy Setup and the little extras.

  Weaknesses: HIMI input is in a hard to reach place. Could use better cable management.

  Overall: I have a HDTV in my living room that is not a plasma and this beats its hands down in the HD catagory. Picture quality is great and local HD channels come in better than the SAT HD channels. Easy to use and set up. Had it wall mounted and even the technicians whom wall mount 20 to 30 TV?s a month commented on the ease of mounting it. This is one of the Best HDTV I?ve seen and even my friends who have HD plasmas in their homes can?t believe how much better and cheaper it is compared to theirs.

• Reviewed by: sroth002

  Strengths: Cable card slot, colors, sound, HDTV picture

  Weaknesses: analog and digital television performance

  Overall: I initially made the mistake of not purchasing a plasma tv from one of the top plasma brands (sony, pioneer, panasonic) in order to save a few bucks. Big mistake! Just as a side note and warning to those uneducated, the off brand plasmas have a good HD picture, but terrible sound quality and analog/digital/dvds are grainy, even with the best connections and strongest cable signals. It simply is not worth saving a couple of bucks. You will be disappointed with the overall performance. After returning the Viewsonic plasma I initially purchased, I spent several months researching plasmas and lcds so I feel somewhat qualified to make recommendations. I finally decided on the panasonic television for a number of reasons, one being that consumer reports rated this model #1 for value and performance. The picture quality is very nice, especially the HD programming. I am using the cable card which is nice because I have been able to eliminate wire clutter. DVDs look pretty good and analong/digital programing is average, better than many plasmas, but certainly not crt quality (which is expected to some extent). Some streak artifact is noticeable with certain channels and at times you may notice "pixilation" artifact. The overall colors are vivid (dark blacks as well) and the sharpness is good, better than the sony models, but possibly not quite as good as the pioneer. The sound is excellent. If your using this tv in a small apartment like myself you almost dont need a surround sound system. Easy to use remote control, nothing fancy though. Overall, this quality of this tv is nice and it offers some nice options (pip, cable card, etc...). If you are willing to spend an extra grand I would look at the pioneer plasma. If you dont have any budget restraints I would consider the sharp lcd 45'. Regardless, the panasonic is a nice plasma tv for the consumer who wants a quality item from a top brand with a reasonable price tag and an eye-catching shell. I was able to purchase this tv for under $3500 online.

• Reviewed by: sblaber

  Strengths: bright colors and brillant whites

  Weaknesses: Can't get HDTV to play without serrations and pixel problems

  Overall: Even thought TV was said to 200 lbs it was not. was worried due to farm house spiral stair case. All fit OK. We have 5 remotes to operate but the on screen menus are self explainatory. The internal video switch is great but now need more TV Guardians due to the internal switch (TV has many inputs all internally controlled. This is a monster sized TV and Monday night football is AWSOME in HDTV.

• Reviewed by: deagleson

  Strengths: Easy set up - box was well made for shipping and un-packing, and installation was easy using component video/audio (cables not included, though). Great picture, and color adjustments were simple.

  Weaknesses: Integrated sound system passable, but not great. Also has a fairly noticable background "hum" from powering the plasma display.

  Overall: The Panasonic was extremely easy to get up and running; the toughest part was getting the right stuff from my cable company. Would highly recommend using a home theater stereo for the sound...audio capability of the on-board speakers just isn't that good. HD channels look amazing, and regular TV is also pretty good.