Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #30934 in Consumer Electronics
- Brand: Panasonic
- Model: TH-42PX80B
- Released on: 2008-02-11
Features
- HD Ready Plasma TV
- Screen size 42"
- Nicam Sound System
- Tuner Type:Analogue with Freeview
- Smartext with EPG
Editorial Reviews
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
| | 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. |
| | 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. |
 | 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. |
 | 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 |
 | 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
|
 | 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.
 | 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. |
 | 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. |
Customer Reviews
Fantastic value 42" Widescreen HD Ready TV 
After spending much time and effort researching for a 42" Widescreen HD Ready TV, I eventually settled for the Panasonic TH-42PX80B. I have not been dissapointed. The quality even on Freeview is very good with little to none motion blur as suffered by the same sized LCD screens I have viewed. If like me you are not going to use the set for gaming purposes there is little to gain going for a 1080p. Save your money and spend it updating your DVD player. When viewing DVDs the images are amazing. This TV well deserves the five stars. Don't take my word. This TV has gained three Best TV awards this year. I have to recommend Amazon too for their quick and speedy delivery.
The TV is human friendly again with clarity and rich colour depth without saturation
My last Panasonic was an LCD and the picture was nothing less than stunning, even in SD it looked like most HD LCDs so this Plasma was going to have to work hard to impress. The one thing about LCD is that no matter how good your LCD is, its just not got that soft, human, warmth that a CRT gives you. Maybe its something to do with contrast or colour depth but LCD just feels different and personally I have never been 100 percent happy with it, though some are better than others. This plasma removes that feeling totally. It is warm and human friendly, TV seems natural again. Its like welcoming back the blue smartie now its all artificial colour free, know what I mean? LOL Pictures are sharp, colour is so deep you'll cry and black is well, for all intensive purposes, black. There isnt a lot more they can do to make blacks any blacker, reds are rich and deep and blues are a delight. It weighs the same as my old 32inch LCD which is amazing and the fact that it has 3 hdmi ports is just the icing on the cake! The menus are pretty much the same as every other modern Panasonic unit and are very easy to navigate with thoughtful options such as ability to rename or skip AV ports, etc. This unit reads SD cards which is cool but not something I would use a lot. Great sound, smart case (all black surround which I always recommend as it makes it look bigger, go have a look at a silver surround and see what I mean!)
GREAT VALUE TV
I bought this TV after studying lots of reviews on a wide variety of plasma and LCD TV'S. I was curious to compare the 2 technologys and went to comet and currys to view them. I quickly realised plasma was a more natural picture than LCD and left wanting to buy this model despite the shops model not displaying a very good picture. I trusted all the positive reviews I had read and I certainly didn't regret it. The picture quality is exceptional even on Freeview and DVD's are even better. I am looking forward to buying a PS3 to play blu-ray DVD's as playing games on it with an x-box360 is vastly superior to a non HD TV. Sound was also a pleasant surprise so I don't feel the need to go out and buy a surround system. All in all if you choose this model you will not be disappointed as the contrast and sharpness are superb and it makes you wonder how buying a more expensive TV could be justified.
