For a long time, flat-panel TVs were linked with the future in the popular imagination. And when they finally became a reality, they were still out of reach for most people, costing ten grand or more. But these days it's a different world. For less than $3,000, you can bring home a 42-inch plasma HDTV. And for a bit more cash — say, five or six grand — you can get a swanky model with extras like a digital tuner that'll also deliver high-def cable channels.
To get a better view of the plasma-HDTV landscape, we selected four 42-inch models at a range of prices. We started with V, Inc.'s Vizio P42HDe ($2,499), a budget HDTV monitor — meaning you have to add a tuner — that's sold exclusively through Costco and Sam's Club outlets nationwide. Stepping up in price a bit, we chose HP's PL4245N ($4,000), which the company touts as the perfect monitor for its Media Center PCs, although it also works fine as a standalone TV.
Moving into fat-wallet territory, we rounded out our test group with Pioneer's PDP-4350HD ($5,500) and Panasonic's TH-42XVS30U ($6,500), both packed with high-tech features and the latest in digital A/V connections. Keep reading for the details on each set, and click to see PDFs for a comparison table of features as well as lab results below.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
Take a left turn down Aisle 18 of your local Costco, past the pyramid of paper-towel 12-packs, and you'll encounter a wild sight — a $2,499 plasma HDTV. The Vizio P42HDe comes from V, Inc, a small company that's also responsible for the DVI-equipped Bravo D2 DVD player, another video bargain that has earned respectful nods from the reviewing staff at Sound & Vision (see “DVD Distinctions” from the September 2004 issue). The Vizio's status as a plasma price-buster is undeniable. But does it hold up its end of the bargain with DVD movies and HDTV?
|
There's nothing fancy about the Vizio's looks. It has a slim, black frame and comes with detachable matching speakers. The TV's streamlined table stand provides sturdy support without adding much apparent bulk. A video-input box protruding from the back gives the set slightly greater depth than the Pioneer or Panasonic TVs reviewed here — a point to consider if you want to hang the Vizio on the wall using its optional $249 mount.
The remote control is similarly basic, with no backlighting. Watching TV in a dark room, I found it difficult to select among its many small buttons without my pocket flashlight. On a positive note, the keypad's six direct-input buttons allowed me to switch easily between video sources.
The Vizio's minimal picture adjustments made setup easy by default. Colors looked pretty unnatural with the Normal color temperature selected, so I needed to make tweaks in the User setting to get the image up to par (click to see “in the lab” PDF). Watching DVDs using the set's S-video input revealed no 2:3 pulldown — a form of processing that reconciles the different frame rates of video and film to produce smooth pictures with movies on TV or DVD. For this reason, I recommend using either a progressive-scan DVD player or one that offers high-def upconversion via a DVI or HDMI output, like the company's own Bravo D2.
PICTURE QUALITY Watching Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow with a Bravo D2 hooked up to the Vizio, I saw deep, dark blacks and plenty of detail. The film's “vintage” colors also looked reasonably rich and clean. But in a dark scene where Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) meets the scientist Dr. Jennings at a movie theater, I also noted false contours — an effect that shows up as flat bands instead of a fine gradation from dark to light tones. The problem was also visible in a few bright scenes, like one where Sky Captain (Jude Law) zooms his airplane through a patch of fluffy clouds.
The same strengths and weaknesses that I observed with DVDs were also evident with HDTV. Faces looked coarse and grainy in Deadwood on HBO-HD, and the walls of a doctor's dark office had a patchy texture in a scene where a woman gets medical treatment. I was more impressed with the look of a Kansas vs. Oklahoma college basketball game on ESPN-HD. The picture was bright, with good contrast, and the Kansas players' blue uniforms were vivid. I could see fine details like scuff marks on the court and the textures of the coaches' suits as they bellowed from the sidelines.
The Vizio is one of the least expensive plasma HDTVs you can buy. Unfortunately, in this case that means some compromises in picture quality. On the other hand, sports programs like the game I watched on ESPN-HD looked clear as a bell, so depending on what you watch, this TV could still be a bargain.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
First came the Media Center PC, which computer makers positioned as an all-in-one bridge between a home office and a home theater system. Now those same companies are also selling TVs. HP recently joined Gateway and Dell in offering a line of flat-panel sets. The PL4245N is its lone HDTV-ready plasma model, one that's priced to move and to capture some of the traditional TV makers' market share.
|
Like the Vizio, the HP has a stripped-down feature set and is low on frills — but it sure looks nice, with a glossy black frame and a silver table stand that doesn't take up too much space. Unlike the Vizio's stand, though, the HP's seems kind of flimsy and forward leaning. After setting it up on my table, I was worried that the TV might fall over (it didn't). If you prefer to hang it on your wall, HP's mount will run you $400, although the TV's thicker-than-usual 5 1/4-inch depth may make you reconsider.
The HP's remote control is essentially the same as the Vizio's. Aside from a few key assignments, the only real differences are that the HP's buttons are black instead of gray and you have to repeatedly press the DVI/VGA key to toggle between those inputs. Unlike other TVs, the HP doesn't make switching sources an instantaneous process — a graphic overlay pops up in the bottom right corner to tell you the TV is “searching for a signal.” Bizarre.
The HP doesn't have many picture adjustments beyond the basic options you'd find on any TV, so first-time setup didn't take much work. I was surprised that only a brightness control is provided for the DVI input — with no other controls, I had to make most picture tweaks using the DVD player's adjustments. Testing out the set's burn-in-prevention mode, I was also surprised to see the picture making dramatic shifts every few seconds. It was actually jumping around the screen! Normally, the process is more subtle.
Standard TV images (through the analog video inputs) had fairly severe edge enhancement, or a faint “halo” on transitions from dark to light. The effect was visible even with the sharpness control set to minimum but disappeared when I switched to the DVI input. With the Warm color temperature selected, I still needed to make some more advanced adjustments (click to see “in the lab” PDF).
PICTURE QUALITY Watching Sky Captain with the Bravo player's DVI output hooked up to the HP, I found picture quality a mixed bag. The near-monochrome images — inspired by old movie serials — looked crisp, and the shadows reached down to a deep shade of black. But the same false contouring that I saw on the Vizio was also visible on the HP. Shadows falling on Polly's face in the movie-theater scene were divided into a coarse ramp of flat bands, and the walls and curtains in the background also looked patchy.
False contours weren't as much of a problem when I watched HDTV programs, although they did show up fairly regularly. Watching CSI , I was impressed by a scene where Grissom, his supervisor, and a young lab tech walk together through the lab's winding hallways. The HP conveyed the subtle details in their dark clothing as they passed in and out of shadows. And in a scene from ESPN's drama Tilt where a detective questions a suspect in an aquarium, the colorful exotic fish looked vibrant, and the rocks and coral were realistically detailed. There was still some edge enhancement when I used a component-video connection to the TV, although it wasn't as noticeable with high-def.
At $4,000, HP's PL4245N is a step up in price from the Vizio but is still one of the more affordable high-def plasmas. But then again, its hit-or-miss video performance and limited setup options actually make it less of a bargain than the Vizio. HP has hinted that a price drop is imminent for the PL4245N. When that happens, this 42-inch plasma HDTV may be worth a second look.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
Although Pioneer is widely known for A/V receivers and DVD players, its main focus over the past few years has been plasma TVs. It does an impressive job with them, too, which is why Pioneer plasmas often cost more than competing brands. But at $5,500, the new PDP-4350HD is reasonably priced — at least for a Pioneer. And look at all the stuff you get: a digital cable-ready HDTV tuner with CableCARD, multiple HDMI and FireWire (i.Link) connections, and oodles of fancy video processing modes for both standard- and high-def pictures. You also get a pair of slim speakers.
|
The Pioneer's sleek design heightens its already considerable appeal. A glossy black frame surrounds the 43-inch screen — an inch bigger than the other TVs here — and the whole thing rests on top of a sturdy metal stand (Pioneer also offers a couple of different optional wall mounts for $500 and $250). The flexible stand not only has the ability to swivel left or right, but it can be pivoted forward or backward during installation. All audio and video connections are made to an external media receiver (back only shown below) that links to the TV via a 10-foot cable.
The PDP-4350HD's remote control is another design high point. It has a fully backlit keypad, and the buttons dotting its surface are organized by function into easily located blocks. There are seven direct-input keys for fast A/V source switching plus four favorite-channel buttons. Pressing one of the latter calls up a menu listing ten cable or broadcast TV channels that you store in memory.
Fine-tuning the Pioneer's picture didn't require much effort, although it took me a while to figure out that turning on the cryptically named DRE adjustment was important to getting the best possible high-def performance. After I selected the Warm color temperature and made the standard picture tweaks, the set's color rendition was pretty much perfect. I also found that the DNR and MPEG NR (noise-reduction) controls helped smooth out grainy-looking programs — both analog and digital — without reducing detail.
The Channel Setup menu provides a number of helpful options for pulling in and organizing local digital TV broadcasts, including an onscreen signal-strength meter. But the digital tuner's reception was relatively weak compared with the one in the Panasonic, prompting me to experiment with a number of different indoor-antenna placements. Unlike the other TVs in this test, the Pioneer gives you a stretch mode for watching HDTV, which can be used to fill the screen when 4:3 programs are shown on high-def channels.
PICTURE QUALITY The Pioneer's clean, natural color rendition was evident on every DVD that I watched. Even the “colorized” images of Sky Captain (the movie was originally shot in black-and-white and then tinted via computer in postproduction) looked appealing. Watching a scene in a cavernous hangar, I could make out fine details in the spindly frame of a Zeppelin under construction, and subtle gradations of light and shadow came through clearly. Most important, I saw virtually no trace of the false-contour effects that bothered me with the Vizio and HP sets.
Tuning in INHD on digital cable, I was happy to see the stoner classic Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke . But even more surprising was how good the high-def transfer of this movie looked. The suntanned skin of the cannabis-loving comedians looked natural, and I could easily see the differences between Cheech's bright red wool cap and suspenders and Chong's paler red bandana. And I saw loads of fine detail in the furry pastel-covered material lining the car's interior. It looked so plush that I resolved to do up my own ride in the same style the very next day.
Pioneer's PDP-4350HD isn't the price king of this group, but its high style, great features, and excellent out-of-the-box performance make it the best overall value. As Pioneer's newest plasma TV proves, choosing something you're good at and sticking with it makes a lot of sense.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
The TH-42XVS30U 42-inch plasma HDTV is the entry-level model in Panasonic's Onyx series, a line that also includes 50- and 65-inch sets. In this case, the “entry-level” price is $6,500, a big chunk of change even for a flat-panel TV. On the plus side, Panasonic cuts no corners with its Onyx TVs, tossing in all the up-to-the-minute technologies you could ask for: a digital cable-ready tuner with CableCARD, an SD/MMC card slot for viewing digital snapshots and video clips, and a PC Card slot that, with an optional adapter, will handle almost any other flash media you can think of, all in an external media receiver (back shown below).
|
Onyx series HDTVs are among the best-looking plasmas you can buy — an evolutionary design leap over Panasonic's previous models. The front is virtually all glass, with a half-inch thin black metal frame running along the border. A sturdy, curvilinear base gives ample support, and with the lights dimmed, the effect is of a widescreen picture floating in the air (the optional wall mount costs $600 — ouch!). All A/V connections to the TV are handled by an external media receiver that connects via a supplied cable.
The matching black remote control has a fully backlit keypad and neat button layout that's organized around a central joystick for changing channels and navigating menus. One thing I missed was direct-input buttons for switching video sources — you need to toggle inputs by pressing the TV/Video button. Fortunately, you can streamline this process by deactivating unused inputs via the setup menu.
The options are surprisingly basic, but the set looked very good right out of the box (click to see “in the lab” PDF). One key thing that I found lacking was a custom picture memory for each video input. The workaround: modify the factory presets and remember which one to use when you switch sources — for example, the Movie preset for DVD. The TV also couldn't display native 720p-format high-def programs through either its component-video or HDMI input. With ABC, ESPN-HD, and Fox all producing programs in 720p (as opposed to the more common 1080i format), a high-end TV like this should handle it — especially since 720p excels with sports and other fast-action programs.
PICTURE QUALITY Watching Sky Captain , I was impressed with the Panasonic's ability to deliver deep blacks and a decent range of shadow detail — something you don't often see on plasma TVs. For example, in a scene set in Dr. Jennings's dark laboratory, I could make out the intricate array of lab equipment in the background. The Panasonic's picture also looked smooth and clean with most sources. In the earlier scene where Dr. Jennings and Polly meet in the movie theater, the glow emanating from her face came across as a smooth gradation of dark-to-light tones. Movies looked a bit rougher when I used an S-video cable to connect my DVD player. Since the set has no 2:3 pulldown processing, diagonal edges in some scenes tended to break up into stair-stepped lines. My advice: use a good progressive-scan DVD player with this TV.
HDTV programs looked extremely good. The brightly colored garments of the Tibetan actors were stunningly rich in Seven Years in Tibet on Showtime-HD, with the red robes of the young Dalai Lama and his attendant monks looking particularly intense. But even with this outpouring of color, skin tones remained natural. In a scene where Brad Pitt and David Thewlis's characters skate on a frozen lake, their pink faces stood in stark contrast to the brownish skin of the Tibetans. High-def picture detail was also impressive, with the ornate textiles in the Dalai Lama's chamber coming through with excellent clarity.
With its TH-42XVS30U, Panasonic has given us a plasma TV to drool over. The set's sculptured looks and high-end video performance make it a top contender in the 42-inch-plasma TV race. At $6,500, the price is steep, but once you've shelled out the bucks, expect to smile every time you turn on the TV.
PDF: Features Checklist
PDF: In the Lab
Flat TVs with screens 60 inches or larger are cool, but at the end of the day models in the 42-inch range are what most folks are looking to buy. After living with this moderate-size foursome of flat TVs for a couple of weeks, here's my take on them:
If you're tight on cash and seek an all-purpose TV for watching sports, reality TV, or whatever, the Vizio P42HDe's $2,499 price makes it an attractive option. With its $4,000 price tag and only marginally better video performance, HP's PL4245N isn't as sweet a deal.
Both Pioneer's PDP-4350HD and Panasonic's TH-42XVS30U TVs combine topnotch video performance with attractive styling and features, so serious home theater enthusiasts will be hard pressed to choose between them. But with its $5,500 price tag, the Pioneer is the better bargain. Now the question is, are you ready to bring your TV-watching into the 21st century?