What We Think
TH-42PX50U	50PF9830	P55XHA40US
With tweaking, it can deliver clean pictures with strong contrast and vibrant, natural color. Great for the videophile on a budget.	A reasonably priced 50-incher with a great look and numerous cool features, but overall picture performance comes up short.	Pricey on a dollars-per-inch basis, but its impressive picture, video processing, and picture adjustments all score high.

Plasma HDTV screens go up to a breathtaking 71 inches, but most sets sold now are entry-level 42-inch models. With an average cost of $3,000 and falling, it’s no wonder they’re so popular. Even plasmas with 50-inch or larger screens, which used to be exorbitantly expensive, are hitting earthbound prices. You can now find 50-inch plasmas for less than $5,000, and even some 60-inch models are under $7k. As prices keep dropping, more people are starting to think big when shopping for a plasma TV. But what happens when you step up in size — is the bigger image always worth the higher price?

To get an idea, we rounded up an interesting trio of plasma sets with screens ranging from 42 to 55 inches, spread out across a wide range of prices: Panasonic’s 42-inch TH-42PX50U ($2,700), Philips’s 50-inch 50PF9830A ($4,499), and Fujitsu’s 55-inch P55XHA40US ($9,999). Aside from screen size, the key difference between these sets is resolution — the Panasonic uses 1,024 x 768 pixels to create images, while the Philips and Fujitsu each provide a more generous 1,366 x 768 pixels. Beyond this, you’ll see that each company has packed its TV with dramatically different features to capture your imagination — and dollars. Did they succeed? Let’s look and see.

key features	Panasonic TH-42PX50U	Philips 50PF9830A	Fujitsu P55XHA40US
Screen Size	42 inches	50 inches	55 inches
native Resolution	1,024 x 768 pixels	1,366 x 768 pixels	1,366 x 768 pixels
Inputs (besides composite/S-video)	HDMI, component video, CableCARD	HDMI, component video, CableCARD, Ethernet, flash-media card, and USB	HDMI, DVI, VGA, component video, RS-232
Other	built-in HDTV tuner; built-in speakers	built-in HDTV tuner; Ambilight 2 backlighting	Color Focus fine color adjustment; Ambient Sensor daylight contrast control

Panasonic TH-42PX50U

Entry-level plasma intrigue

The Short Form

PANASONIC.COM / 800-211-7262 / $2,700 ($3,000 LIST) / 41.875 x 27.5 x 3.875 IN / 76 LBS

Plus

•Crisp HDTV and DVD picture. •Clean video processing of standard TV programs. •Wide array of picture adjustments.

Minus

•Expensive. •Limited shadow detail with some programs. •No built-in HDTV tuner or speakers.

test bench

Fujitsu’s P55XHA40US displayed 720p-format HDTV programs at full resolution and delivered the most accurate color with its –3000K color-temperature preset selected. A slight green imbalance was easily corrected using its Color Focus feature. Full lab results

Panasonic has been at the plasma game longer than most companies, and its experience is proven out by a long string of solid-performing HDTVs. Its newest 42-inch model, the TH-42PX50U, is part of the company’s budget-minded Viera line. While lacking the slick, sculptured looks of the company’s high-end Onyx sets, it’s still cool enough with its black-bordered screen and silvery bottom-mounted speakers. There’s no handy front or side-panel A/V input for connecting a camcorder or game console, but that’s a feature most people can live without.

Yet Panasonic didn’t cut out all the extras when designing the TH-42PX50U — it comes with a built-in HDTV tuner and a CableCARD slot for directly tuning digital cable channels, premium stations and all, without an external box. The set also includes a table stand that’s reasonably sturdy given its plastic construction. The remote control’s big buttons and fully backlit keypad make it a breeze to operate in a dark room. You switch inputs by hitting the TV/Video button and scrolling through an onscreen list of sources (unused connections can be turned off in the setup menu). Pressing the Aspect button lets you toggle through the four display modes. You can watch HDTV only in the Full (16:9) mode.

SETUP The Panasonic’s excellent off-air tuner easily grabbed all of the digital stations in my area. I spent only about 30 seconds or so playing with antenna placement using the set’s signal-strength meter, and zzzing! Digital channels from NBC to Fox to PBS were all coming in clear.

I was slightly less stoked about some aspects of the picture adjustments. You can’t store unique picture settings for each input. Instead, you need to modify the three picture presets and apply them as you switch sources — a task that’s made automatic by the TV’s ability to “remember” the preset you previously selected for each input. On a positive note, the picture menu includes useful adjustments like variable black level, a switchable 3-D comb filter for composite-video inputs, and a Color Matrix setting that lets you optimize the color decoding for standard- or high-definition signals. Of the three color-temperature presets, Warm delivered the most accurate color, but I needed to make a few service-mode tweaks to remove a greenish tint.

PICTURE QUALITY Tweaks executed, I pulled out Constantine on DVD to check out the Panasonic’s picture. In a scene where the supernatural detective (Keanu Reeves) joins Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) at her apartment, both actors’ skin tones looked natural, and there was plenty of shadow detail visible in their dark clothing. The charcoal-hued fur of a gray cat in Constantine’s arms also stood out against the inky tones of his black coat. And the brighter colors, like the cats’ green eyes and the orange and red of a painting in the background, looked vivid yet balanced.

I used an episode of ABC’s Lost, which is broadcast in 720p format, to get a sense of how each TV handled HDTV programs. With the Panasonic, I was struck by the remarkable range of blues visible in the background sky as Sawyer approached a vending truck. The Panasonic managed to display strong, eye-popping contrast in this scene without sacrificing any subtlety in its color reproduction. In a close-up shot of Sawyer’s distressed face (he’s been sent to kill the truck owner), fine details like the lines around his eyes looked a little fuzzy compared with the other two sets. Even so, the Panasonic’s high-def picture was generally crisp and solid.

BOTTOM LINE With its clean, natural-looking picture, reliable built-in HDTV tuner, and, most important, affordable price (for a plasma TV, that is), Pana­sonic’s TH-42PX50U is a great option for plasma on a limited budget. If a 42-inch screen is big enough for you, this is a set that I can easily recommend.

Philips 50PF9830A

A stylish set up

The Short Form

PHILIPSUSA.COM / 800-531-0039 / $4,499 ($5,299 LIST) / 55.75 x 30.75 x 4.125 IN / 132 LBS

Plus

•Crisp-looking HDTV pictures. •Sleek, attractive design. •Swiveling TV stand.

Minus

•Single custom picture preset for all inputs. •Mediocre shadow detail. •Dark scenes look patchy.

test bench

The Philips 50PF9830A displayed 720p-format HDTV programs at full resolution. Choosing its Warm color-temperature preset resulted in reasonably natural-looking images, but red push from the set’s color decoder forced me to reduce the color level in the picture menu. Full lab results

When watching movies and HDTV, bigger screens are better, and at $4,499 — a sweet deal for a 50-inch plasma TV — the 50-inch Philips 50PF9830A makes it tempting to step up in size. But if the lure of extra inches isn’t enough, this set’s ultra-stylish looks are bound to grab you. The glossy black-bordered screen is flanked by silver speakers, and the TV comes with a swiveling glass stand. Aside from a big Philips logo, the front panel is super clean — control buttons, inputs, and a set of flash-media slots and USB ports are stowed away on the sides.

The Philips has a built-in HDTV tuner and an up-to-date suite of video connections, including two HDMI inputs. But its most notable extra is Ambilight 2 backlighting. This feature, unique to Philips TVs, throws colored light against the wall behind the TV that shifts in hue and intensity to match the changing image onscreen (it can also be set to beam a steady white backlight).

The set’s slim remote control feels substantial and has a clean layout. Along with providing cool features like one-touch access to digital snaps on a flash-memory card, it lets you cycle through video sources and select from seven display modes. But you can watch HDTV programs only in the 16:9 Widescreen mode or in Automatic, which zooms in on 4:3 pictures to fill the screen.

SETUP & USE When I plugged in my antenna to test the tuner, the TV grabbed all of the digital channels in my area, but its reception of both PBS-HD and CBS-HD were intermittent unless I realigned the antenna. After testing the more far-out Ambilight effects, I preferred to configure it as a simple warm, white backlight at a constant brightness.

Another feature that Philips touts is Pixel Plus 2 HD processing. I’d recommend Pixel Plus to clear up murky-looking analog channels on cable TV, but it made high-quality sources like DVD look grainy and over-enhanced, so I used the Standard mode. Like most TVs, the Philips offers a number of picture presets. Unfortunately, you can modify the settings for only one of them, and your changes apply globally to all of the inputs — a big handicap.

PICTURE QUALITY The Constantine DVD was perfect for gauging the Philips TV’s video performance. In the opening sequence, where a scavenger discovers a knife with supernatural powers, the Philips displayed punchy contrast and a natural range of colors that captured the subtle tones of the sunbaked reddish-brown desert landscape. Brightly colored objects, like the guy’s red jacket, looked less intense than on the other sets but were still reasonably vivid. In a shot where the scavenger reaches down into a hole, the dark opening showed off the set’s ability to achieve deep, dark blacks. But the shadows crossing his face had limited detail, which made the picture look flat overall.

On ABC’s Lost, the Philips did a great job drawing out fine detail in the high-def picture. In close-up shots of would-be assailant Sawyer confronting the vendor at his truck, I could clearly see the moisture welling up at the corner of his eyes as he started to lose his resolve. The colors were clean, and the tone of Sawyer’s face looked entirely natural. Darker scenes took their toll on the TV’s picture, however. In a subsequent bar scene, shadowy segments of the picture had a patchy, solarized quality, with light gray “islands” swirling against the slightly darker background.

BOTTOM LINE Crisp HDTV pictures, stylish looks, and a bunch of cool features like Ambilight 2 backlighting and a swiveling stand make the Philips 50PF9830A an appealing option for your flat-TV needs. The set’s overall image quality falls a solid notch below the other two models tested here, however, and the lone Personal picture preset for all of its video inputs was disappointing. But you can’t argue with the price, which is among the cheapest I’ve seen for a 50-inch plasma set.

Fujitsu P55XHA40US

Bigger can indeed be better

The Short Form

PLASMAVISION.COM / 888-888-3424 / $9,999 (LIST) / 54.25 x 31.75 x 5 IN / 121 LBS

Plus

•Crisp HDTV and DVD picture. •Clean video processing of standard TV programs. •Wide array of picture adjustments.

Minus

•Expensive. •Limited shadow detail with some programs. •No built-in HDTV tuner or speakers.

test bench

Fujitsu’s P55XHA40US displayed 720p-format HDTV programs at full resolution and delivered the most accurate color with its –3000K color-temperature preset selected. A slight green imbalance was easily corrected using its Color Focus feature. Full lab results

My last experience with a Fujitsu plasma goes back to the year 2000 — early days for HDTV. I was so pumped up back then over how good high-def looked on that set’s 42-inch screen that its ten grand price seemed unimportant. Today, of course, we all expect lots more for our money when it comes to plasma. At $9,999 (sometimes less with Fujitsu rebates), the 55-inch P55XHA40US is definitely on the pricey side — especially for a spartan monitor that requires you to add a separate tuner, satellite receiver, or cable box to get pictures. But, once again, there’s plenty going on under the hood to make you look past the tag.

There’s nothing exceptional about the Fujitsu’s style, which leans toward the industrial. The big screen has a silver-toned frame with a bunch of control buttons located on the right side. Optional accessories include a table stand ($499), wall mount ($599), and speakers ($199), which attach to the sides. Fujitsu’s remote control lacks a backlit keypad but has a set of direct input buttons for quickly and easily switching sources. Other buttons let you cycle through the set’s nine custom picture memories and various display settings, which include Normal (4:3), Wide (16:9), one stretch, and two zoom modes. Of these, only Wide 16:9 is available for HDTV programs.

SETUP & USE You first start to notice something special about the Fujitsu as soon as you begin clicking through its onscreen menus. A Precision Setting mode offers a huge number of options for tweaking the picture, including variable black level, user-adjustable color temperature, multiple progressive-scan mode settings, and a Color Focus menu, all of which go well beyond the options found on other TVs. For videogeeks, this stuff is heaven and worth paying a good premium.

Using these controls, I was able to tweak the picture to my satisfaction and then some without entering service menus. The set’s nine picture memories let me store settings for each input, but I needed to call them up as I switched sources — a more roundabout method than having a custom memory associated with a specific video connection and a bit of a pain. Out of the box, the set’s –3000K color-temperature setting gave the most accurate and natural-looking color, but making additional tweaks via the User color-temperature option let me dial it in even better.

PICTURE QUALITY The Fujitsu’s video processing proved to be amazingly clean, with progressive-scan upconversion that’s probably superior to 99% of the DVD players out there. With my player’s standard (480i) output connected, a scene from the Constantine DVD where Angela first sees the corpse of her dead sister (played by the same actress, Rachel Weisz) looked crisp, with Angela’s pale yet flushed skin tone in stark contrast to the whitish flesh of her expired twin. The TV’s natural color rendition also caused more vivid hues, like the red of a nearby fire extinguisher, to pop from the screen. Blacks looked deep — a good thing with a dark movie like Constantine. But while shadow detail was pretty good overall, there were some scenes where details like folds and creases in Angela and Constantine’s dark clothing seemed obscured. I also felt the picture could use a tad more contrast in general, although it looked sufficiently bright in my dark home theater.

Tuning once again to ABC’s Lost to check the set’s HDTV performance, I found that compared with the other two TVs here, the Fujitsu’s 55-inch screen seemed to reveal even more layers of detail in Sawyer’s unsteady face as he approached the vending truck. Fine creases around his eyes were apparent, as were the individual strands of his eyebrows. In a flashback scene in the Jungle where he comes across Jack, the branches, vines, and grass all retained their distinct texture rather than blending into a formless mass. I was also impressed by how rich and real the green foliage surrounding them looked.

BOTTOM LINE Fujitsu’s 55-inch offers a small but noticeable step up in size over a 50-inch model. In this case those few inches come at a steep price, and you don’t get extras like a built-in HDTV tuner or even a complimentary TV stand. But what you do get is exceptional video processing — something that really makes a difference with standard programs — and an usually high level of tweakability that lets you hone in a truly satisfying picture. If you’ve got ten grand to spend and want a bigger and, in many ways, better than average picture, this plasma TV is worth checking out.

	PANASONIC TH-42PX50U	PHILIPS 50PF9830A	FUJITSU P55XHA40US
Color temperature	Standard/Warm setting before/after calibration	Personal/Warm setting before/after calibration	–3000K setting before/after calibration
Low window (30 IRE)	6,155 K/ 6,589 K	5,818 K/ 6,478 K	7,174 K/ 6,765 K
High window (80 IRE)	6,380 K/ 6,592 K	5,941 K/ 6,557 K	6,691 K/ 6,523 K
Brightness (after calibration)	35.3 ftL	35.3 ftL	36.8 ftL

Each TV measured relatively close to the 6,500-K NTSC grayscale standard with one of its color-temperature presets selected — Warm on the Panasonic and Philips, –3000K on the Fujitsu. But the Panasonic also displayed a strong greenish bias that was visible with both movies and TV. All three sets needed service-level calibration to get their measurements closer to spec. (Calibration needs to be performed by a qualified technician, so discuss it with your dealer before purchase, or call the Imaging Science Foundation at 561-997-9073.) After calibration, grayscale tracking on the Panasonic was excellent, measuring ±75 K. The Fujitsu’s performance was better than average at ±250 K, while the Philips’s performance was around average at ±500 K.

As usual, color-decoder error varied between the TVs. The Panasonic’s measured error on both its HDMI and component-video inputs was minimal at –5% for red and green. At +10%, the Philips tended to push red, forcing me to back off on color saturation in the regular user menu to compensate. The Fujitsu showed almost no error in the red channel, and its –10% green depression could be corrected using the Color Focus adjustment.

Picture overscan, which defines the loss of picture information behind the edges of the frame, averaged around 3% for the digital and component-video inputs on all three sets. The Fujitsu’s picture size and position controls will let you knock that back to zero if desired. The Fujitsu and Philips both have enough pixels on their screens to display 720p-format HDTV programs at maximum resolution. On the Panasonic, however, the panel’s lower pixel count means that 720p programs looked slightly soft compared with the other sets. Both the Philips and Fujitsu emitted a faint buzzing noise during normal viewing, although I noticed it only when the audio was muted.