Panasonic TH42PE50 Reviews

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Good Points: Great styling, great picture and cracking price.

Bad Points: Audio weak, remote is a little cheap looking, no front inputs.

General comments: I have been looking for a while for a Plasma screen. The only problem was that I didn't want one of those glass stands that you seem to have to buy. All the screens seemed to be either styles like they should be showing Arrivals at Manchester Airport or were as pricey as they where stylish.

Then I spotted an offer on the web. 42" screen, Stand and DVD-recorder for less than £2,000 the lot. Even more surprising was that this was no "no-name" system from a tacky web-site, but actually from Comet. Spent a couple of days looking to beat the price but couldn't.

Just a few things to bear in mind here regarding Comet. While the price is good, you do have to work for it. I have very few good words about their customer service. It took me two days just to order it, it was delivered the day after it was supposed to be and when it did turn up the screen was cracked. I then had to fight to get a replacement the next day. On the other hand, both sets of delivery guys were spot on and very helpful.

Anyway, back to the set. This is the new model from Panasonic and is the latest in the Viera range. The styling is the first thing that you notice as the stand is custom designed for this unit. It does actually look like it belongs in a home.

When you first switch the unit on you get a bit of a shock. Freeview (via the built in DVB tuner) looks terrible. The increased screen size shows up every mpeg artefact. However this is a filter in the setting to ease these out, but it is set to off as default. Change this and though it softens the image a little it looks so much better.

Put in a DVD though and the story is completely different. The 42PE50 has component video inputs, so as long as your player can send it out the image clarity is amazing. Dark images give a good contract range and can introduce bold, bright colours with no bleed. Testing with Star Wars Episode II, the image more than lived up to the Panasonic brand.

Audio though is a bit weak. Alright for watching the soaps and the kids programs, but won't blow you away. However, if you're buying a screen this size you'll be investing in a separate audio solution.

Not as many connections as some in the range, allowing 3 SCART ( 2 are RGB enabled) and 1 component input. But at the price you can't grumble. I went to a few of our local stores (Currys, Dixons etc) and they could not come anywhere near the price for just the screen and stand. Infact most of them were a good £200 - £400 more, including the Comet store itself who were either unable or unwilling to price match their own web site. Throw in the DVD recorder and you are looking at a damn good saving.

If you are trying to be first in the crowd, then wait a little longer until the HTV version comes out. However if you wand high quality images with what you have around you, you wont get a better deal.