Panasonic NeoPDP Plasma TV Review

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Large-size TVs have traditionally been the area where Plasma TVs have competed best against LCD TVs. The Panasonic NeoPDP Plasma TV range is designed to take on LCD TVs in several key areas:

Reduced power consumption
Slimmer TV units
Good screen fast-motion handling

So how has Panasonic done with their NeoPDP range?

Panasonic-NeoPDP-PlasmaTV

They’ve done pretty well. The PDP range has slimmer lighter screens and the range topping Z1 is just 8.8mm thick.

They have also achieved a significant reduction in power consumption and the running costs are now comparable with LCD TV’s. You also have the interesting choice of either reducing power consumption or increasing screen brightness - useful for adjusting the TV for sunny days or late nights.

The European Imaging & Sound Association (EISA) has given Panasonic’s TX-P42V10 its best Plasma award for 2009-2010 which confirms that the performance of Panasonic’s high end plasmas is producing tangible improvements in overall screen performance.

Panasonic TX-P42V10 Review

The V10 is the second highest model in the current NeoPDP rang eabove the G10 and G15 and gets: ‘THX Mode’, ‘Picture in Picture’, an upgraded ‘Natural Vision Filter’, ‘24p Smooth Film’, ‘Digital Cinema Colour’ and ‘Deep Colour’.

Panasonic-TX-P42V10-PlasmaTV

Feature summary:

Screen: 42in 16:9
Tuner: Digital
Sound System: Nicam
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Contrast Ratio (dynamic): 2,000,000:1
V-real 4 Picture Processing
100Hz refresh rate
600Hz sub-field drive
Sockets: 4 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input, SD card reader.

The model above the V10 is the range topping, ultra slim (1in) Z1. This can transmit a full 1080p HD signal from its tuner box and also supports the Viera Cast feature wirelessly.

(Viera Cast provides internet access directly through the TV and pushing the Viera Cast button on the TX-P42V10’s remote takes you straight to Panasonic’s online content portal. Here you can choose from content such YouTube videos, the Picasa photo sharing web site, stock quote information, weather reports etc. The content is limited but growing.)

The TX-P42V10 delivers deep, rich blacks with absolutely no trace of ‘greyness’ and an impressive level of graduated detail across darker scenes. This adds realism and dynamism to scenes and with the added benefit of NeoPDP technology these darker scenes are brighter than just about any other plasma TV (except for the Pioneer Kuro).

The TX-P42V10 has advanced colour enhancingtechnology and facial tones are never anything less than wholly realistic and overall this screen is still well above the standard level of performance in terms of colour reproduction.

Motion handling on the TX-P42V10 is improved and again up with the class leaders (although not perfect). The improvement is most noticeable on faster motion sequences and although the TX-P42V10 still suffers from a small amount of juddering with fast camera pans, it’s is one of the best performers in this respect.

The TX-P42V10 delivers an above avarage Standard Definition (SD) performance and as expected, the 1920 x 1080 Full HD panel produces some of the best High Definition (HD) pictures we have seen todate where every nuance of detail is clearly rendered in vibrant colours.

The stylish, slim profile has been achieved at the expense of acoustic performance and the P42V10 has only average audio performance (although this problem exists with most slim, flat panel TVs).

Summary

The TX-P42V10 Plasma TV marks an admirable achievement by Panasonic and is one of the best 42in TV’s money can buy.

Footnote:

LCD TV screen sizes and shipments are continuing to march ever upward and in July 2009 large screen LCD year-on-year revenues reached US$5.9 billion, up 11% sequentially and 6% on year, also marking the first time since July 2008 that there has been positive annual growth.

Based on the number of units shipped the leading companies were:

LG Display (LGD) was the leader with 24.7% market share,
Samsung with 23.4%
AU Optronics (AUO) with 16.8%.

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Panasonic NeoPDP Plasma TV Review