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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57672 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: TH-42PZ85B
• Released on: 2008-03-16

Manufacturer's Description
With its 2008 Panasonic Viera Plasmas, Panasonic brings an astonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ration to the table. advanced pixel resolution and image-processing technology with the plasma TV's natural ability to beautifully reproduce fast moving images, so every detail is rendered with amazing clarity, and all the action is delivered with a high degree of fluidity.

What is a Plasma TV? A plasma TV is a thin, high-resolution flat panel screen that uses a matrix of tiny cells that are charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture. Plasma displays are bright, have a wide colour range, produce deep, true blacks, have a wide viewing angle, and are light enough to be wall-mounted or placed on a stand. Plasmas come in a range of sizes.

What's New This Year?

• Super Contrast--native contrast ratios on the PZ85, PZ800 series are 30,000:1, double last year's 15,000:1. Dynamic contrast ratios are up to 1,000,000:1.
• new anti-reflective filter; lead-free "Tough Under Force" panel is resistant to impacts and scratches
• Built-in SD card slot with Photo Viewer/Gallery Player software
• x.v. colour and Deep colour (HDMI 1.3 features)
• 24p native reproduction
• Game Mode auto-adjusts image quality suitable to games and includes anti-image retention
• Viera Link is now compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems
• At least 2 HDMI inputs on all models (4 on PZ800 series)
• THX Certification on PZ800 and PZ850 series

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Amazing colour reproduction The incredible black reproduction of a Panasonic High-Definition Plasma TV results in impressive contrast and beautiful, natural colours. So you'll get warm, accurate skin tones, gorgeous greens, breathtaking blues and vivid reds. For colour that's as rich and bold as life itself, look to a Panasonic Plasma TV.

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Consistent brightness from any angle A Panasonic Plasma combines anti-glare and anti-reflection technology with the natural light-emitting properties of plasma, to give you a super-wide viewing range with a crisp, beautiful image from almost any angle.

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Smooth, graceful motion When you're watching sports or movies with fast-motion graphics, you want a TV that can keep up with the action. With over 900 lines of moving picture, self-illuminating plasma displays eliminate afterimages in fast-action scenes. So whether you're watching a sporting event or an action-packed movie, you'll always get the most impressive viewing experience possible.

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1,000,000:1 Contrast The Panasonic's Real Black system (a pre-discharge suppression system) and improved panel production processes combine to reproduce outstanding blacks with superb contrast. Each image is richly expressive, from bright scense, like scorching desert landscapes, to dark cave scenes. Compare the image produced by conventional HDTV on the left to the Real Black image produced on the right

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More colours Viera HDTVs support the xvYCC colour profile (Extended YCC colourimetry for Video Applications), or "x.v. colour" for short. Standard RGB colour space allows the display of a portion of the colours that are viewable to the human eye. The next generation "xvYCC" colour space actually offers  an available range of colours that exceeds what human eyes can recognize. Next-generation "xvYCC" colour space supports 1.8 times as many colours as existing HDTV signals Lets HDTVs display colours more accurately Enables displays with more natural and vivid colours

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Deep colour Where x.v. colour expands the available range of colours your HDTV can display, Deep colour increases the number of colours your HDTV can display within that range, for smoother transitions from colour to colour. Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colours to billions of colours Eliminates on-screen colour banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colours Enables increased contrast ratio Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white.

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Connectivity

Viera flat panel HDTVs interact with an array of high-definition devices and services, making it easy for consumers to access and enjoy content as never before. As of 2008, Viera Link is compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems.

	Videos and stills recorded on SD cards can easily be viewed via the SD slots on Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc players and Viera HDTVs.
	Viera Link means easy connectivity via HDMI cables. Finally, consumers can easily operate their Blu-Ray Disc players, DVD recorders and home theater systems with a single remote control device.
	Equipped with an RGB input terminal, VIERA can connect with your PC and serve as a large-screen monitor.

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Long Life Panasonic plasma panels are rated to last 100,000 hours, which is about 30 years of regular or 11 years of non-stop usage before the brightness of the display is halved.

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Get Full HD with Blu-Ray Disc Players A Panasonic 1080p plasma television is able to render 1920x1080 pixels, but standard DVDs have a resolution of just 720x480. Blu-ray discs output true 1080p High-Definition resolution and have a storage capacity ten times greater than standard DVDs, so no pixel gos to waste.

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Customer Reviews

I finally made a choice of a replacement TV
After much agonizing I eventually opted for the Panasonic TH-42PZ85B. I had almost bought a Sony in their 3500 range but backed away when I saw the Freeview quality. My choice was driven by the fact that I use mainly Freeview at present and I must say the results from the Panasonic are better than I hoped for.
The set is well packed but will require two people to fix to separate stand. Be aware that the only cable supplied is the power cable. Remote control is well laid out with large buttons. The electronic guide is easy to navigate and has some welcome features such as allowing to focus on the days program list for a single channel.
I have connected via HDMI cable to a DVD player that can upscale and DVD replay is stunning. Watching sport is a joy because of the clarity even at high motion. I use the set on the normal setting with a slight tweek to brightness. Not even a hint of burn to date.
Only negative is the standby power consumption. So worth switching off when not in use.
I am looking forward to getting FreeSat and getting the very best from the set.

Ever so pleased with this TV


Going on the back of lots of good magazine reviews, I went ahead with this TV. Bought from John Lewis in the end; although it's a little cheaper here they give a free 5 year warranty. Pricing changes all the time though so do check. And once you buy a new TV, stop checking. It's depressing how much cheaper they are the following month!

Here's why I chose this make & model:

- Panasonic consistently gets good reviews for plasma screens, and this one scores very highly.
- This screen is very bright, fine for my dual-aspect lounge.
- It is full high definition - 1080p 24p etc.
- It has lots of inputs. I have a Freeview recorder, two games consoles, and DVD player. There are still some spare.


Here's what I discovered after plugging it in:

- The picture is awesome - even with normal definition broadcasts. Motion is smooth and colours rich. It's not grainy even up close either. Try that with an LCD.
- The on board digital tuner is spot on.
- The remote control is well laid out and has nice big buttons.
- The sound is... well, it's ok. See below.
- High definition gaming is awesome!
- Smart metal and glass TV stands are very cheap at eBuyer.


Sound. Here's where my old 36" CRT TV scored highly. It had a big enough case (over a metre deep!) to hide large speakers and a subwoofer within. Physics dictates that plasma and LCD screens simply can't. I knew this but even so the sound is not great. So I have bought an Onkyo A/V amplifier Onkyo TX-SR606 AV Receiver (Black) and hooked it up with decent speakers. I think this, or getting a home cinema system is a must.

However overall I really cannot recommend this TV highly enough. So impressed. It's a solid five star product.

Great picture, poor sound
I purchased the TH42PZ85B about a week ago, this review is based on my initial impressions.

First of all I am very impressed with the picture quality, both standard and high definition look good. The range of colour is also excellent. The set has built-in freeview, this is the first time I have watched freeview and I am also very impressed with the picture quality.

The remote control is well designed and the menu systems are fairly well laid out. The built-in freeview receiver means that you can look at the programme guide with the touch of a button. One issue that I have with the TV guide is that there is a large advert in the TV guide on the left of the screen. I am not sure whether this is related to panasonic sets only or if that is a characteristic of all freeview sets.

The reason that I have given this set only 3 out of 5 is the sound performance. When connected to a Sky High Definition box, I can watch both HD and SD channels. As mentioned the picture on HD channels is excellent, however, there are serious lip sync issues which are very irritating. Note this is only an issue on the HD channels. A search of the internet of lip sync issues for panasonic sets confirms this is an ongoing issue, so buyer beware!