Reviews for Panasonic 42" Plasma TV

This is suitable for Home Theater Usage

I am compelled to make an argument against the 'expert' Mr. Fitz.
First off, let me qualify myself by stating that I have helped test, sell & install high end audio & video equipment for over 16 years.
Mr. Fitz's arguments although valid are not entirely factual.

Also,those who have written reviews on this set complaining of limited picture & color adjustment have not taken the time to actually read & navigate the sets adjustments menu. There is a second page of adjustments under 'Advanced Settings & Color Management' that allow for extended black level adjustments, gamma adjustments and so forth...more than the average videophile would use, or understand for that matter.

Now on to Mr. Fitz...

He states:

"The set was not designed for in-home usage in home theater applications or for regular viewing. Hence the limited connectivity of the set, BNC was designed as the commercial standard to allow for long runs of inexpensive RG6 cables terminated with BNC so they would lock in place without fear of falling out."

BNC is the commercial standard for connectivity. It is a sturdier connection. Alot of commercial installs are permanent & do not very easily allow for access to the screen, hence a superior is necessary. I don't see this as a negative, just tailoring the product for the clients it was initially designed for.
As far as the inferiority of RG6 cabling goes, what kind of cable do you think is feeding that satellite or digital cable feed into your home? You can argue all that you would like, but the fact of the matter is that your signal is still being fed through RG6 cabling. All high end interconnects do is minimize the degradation of this signal. Mr. Fitz portrays this as a negative. I really don't see this as such. Buy BNC to RCA adaptors & forget it . You will not SEE any degradation in picture quality. If you must use HDMI connects, Panasonic has made this set capable of accepting this interconnect with an expansion board.

Moving on, Mr. Fitz states:

"because in a retail environment, or on a display wall, or in a bar the need for high end interconnects is unnecessary. BNC can pass either a high-def image or standard-def. The reason the set is so vivid and bright is because it was built to attract consumers to its media content. The brightness makes up for bright ambient light environments often found in window displays for retail stores, clothing stores, etc"

He is correct...Panasonic ships it this way to their commercial clients because this is what this monitor was setup for....guess what? If you take the picture off of "Dynamic" setting, move it to 'Standard' & actually take the time to calibrate the picture (I recommend AVIA) your picture will be very balanced, crisp & detailed, just like the consumer version. The consumer model could be adjusted to look like the 42PWD8UK does out of the box as well if you so desired.

I am actually going to lay off of Mr. Fitz and just break it down for those interested.

This is a commercial display, hence the lack of speakers. Most commercial clients have no need for them...do you? Are you going to shell out the money for a plasma & rely on it's internal speakers for your sound? To me this is a positive...I don't want the factory speakers and I especially don't want to pay for them.

There is no HDTV tuner. Most commercial clients force their own feeds into the monitor & have no need for this. My guess is that 99% of you out there don't either. Since most of you have a satellite receiver or cable box for your Hi-Def, there is no need for a built in tuner...unless you want to capture OTA broadcasts....why not pony up the extra $10 a month or so and buy the HD package? Most of these boxes provide an antenna input to capture local HD if they don't provide it already.

Having sold and used the last 5 generations of the commercial and consumer versions of this set. I will tell you that the commercial versions have less returns, seem to be more solidly built (as well as being more aesthetically pleasing IMO) and with my eye seem to have a much better picture than their consumer counterparts. These were built with the intentions of them being on ALL the time & in a much harsher environment than the standard home.
IMO there is not a better value in the plasma market than the commercial series of Panasonic plasmas.

If you like the consumer counterpart you will absolutely love these versions...hope this helps.

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Excellent value

Strengths: nice picture, great design

Weakness: none

i love this plasma tv. high-quality great for watching movies at home! =) i would recommend others to buy this too! great value - great price. actually this is my first plasma tv!

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Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK 42

Strengths: Real sleek looking; Good color balance; Variety of input configurations; No warm-up time; Super quiet.

Weakness: BNC connection for video and component video inputs; Power cord to be plugged up to the set (with reapeated plug-and-unplug, this could present a minor problem).

I have the this display for about a week, and very happy with it. It looks really good hanging on the wall of my family room. It turns on instantly and there is not any noticeable noise after 3,4 hours of play.
There are connections for three types of devices simultaneously: Satellite TV signal (through either S-VHS or RCA), DVD player (through component video), and PC (through VGA). As said in the manual, female RCA to male BNC adapters are needed for the RCA connections.
The displayed skin tone is superbly realistic. In fact, there is nothing bad can be said about the picture quality of this EDTV set. Both thumbs up for Panasonic in this regard.
I purchased this set at PCConnection.com after being run around by HypeAudio.com for more money than advertised. The folks at PCConnection.com were very courteous and professional, and shipping was much faster than expected (within the week of ordering). I would buy more from them in an instance. The performance of UBS Supply Chain Solutions (PCConnection.com's shipping supplier) could be better though.
Overall, the Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK 42" Plasma Display is highly recommended, and so is PCConnection.com

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WOW Stunning picture, sound pretty good too

Strengths: Picture is better than you could imagine--just stunning on HD channels, way better than other EDTV's and better than many true HD. Expandability -- upgrade card slots Small frame size

Weakness: none so far, absolutely none.

I searched for over a year for the right monitor. There is no tuner in this, but the HD cable box has one so there is no need. Why pay for a tuner? This makes this unit smaller, cooler running, and thinner too. Has PC connection. There is no HDMI connector included, but you can get the card for a little over 100.00 and put that in later as funds permit. There is an empty slot fot it and the card slides in easily. This monitor is rated for 60,000 hours. That is 27 years at 6 hours a day approximately -- until the screen reaches 1/2 the original brightness. This is excellent. I was basically looking for the best picture and cheapest entry into the plasma screen market that was still a long-lasting quality product. This was perfect on all counts.

Now for the BIG SUPRISES. I looked at different products in the stores until I was cross-eyed, and the Panasonics did not look so different. Maybe a little better. I was not prepared for what happened when I hooked up the HD cable box and my speakers right to the stereo hookups on the monitor itself -- there are 2 speaker wire-clip type speaker connections. I was absolutely stunned -- even though I had seen the monitors in the store. The color and clarity were way beyond anything i had seen in the store. The only thing I can figure is that they messed with the settings or something to increase the pixelation and contrast too much or something? There was no comparison -- looking at the store demos actually made the monitor look MUCH worse than reality (and it still looked good there...!) The picture is indescribably beautiful -- it is hypnotizing to watch. No pixelation, clear as a movie theatre--without the dimness and washed out colors. It is miraculously good. I never knew TV could look like this -- never dreamed it.

The second SUPRISE was the sound. I had been running the sound through a stereo and a couple of good bookshelf speakers with my old-time TV. When I installed the monitor, I just put the wires straight into the speaker connection on the monitor to see what would happen. I had read that there was a mere 8watts coming out per channel. Not much. However, I found that the sound was simply amazing. Better than the old stereo setup I had before. The bass was so much better that i could feel it in the floor and thought somone was knocking at the door and muted the sound to answer it. It was not the door.... It goes louder than you will ever need for stereo TV watching. I was not even considering using the sound at all, but there are full sound controls for bass treble and clarity settings in the on-screen controls. I will put off getting the surround-sound now a year or two. It sounds so clear and amazing. I was very very suprised. There must be more watts in there... hiding or something, or else it is just really really clear and low distortion for what they do have. The bass is better than the nice Onkyo stereo I had hooked up before. What is up with that? I am still trying to figure it out...

I was left feeling like I had looked for a budget Plasma, and went home with the best for the budget price. If you were thinking about getting a plasma, and did not want to spend that much, this is for you. No stand, no tuner, no frills -- just pure quality picture and good sound too! Buy the HDMI and the surround sound later as you can afford it -- but it looks perfect as it is, sounds much like a movie theatre as it is too.

Highly recommended -- Panasonic has their **** together on this one.

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Outstanding

Strengths: Beautiful picture

Weakness: color adjustments are not simple or intuitive

This is our first good quality video display, purchased to replace an aging 25" CRT. After lots of research on the internet and several visits to local retailers, we chose this model mainly based on the strength of the reviews for last year's model 42PWD7UY. WOW, what a difference from the old CRT!

We decided to buy from VisualApex because of their outstanding reputation, not the absolute cheapest price but the transaction was very smooth. A small problem arose with our local DHL/Danzas office delaying delivery of our plasma, and after several calls over 2 days to DHL's customer service line with no results I called VisualApex to request assistance. Within 2 hours DHL called me and offered to deliver later that same day!! Obviously VisualApex has some clout with DHL.

I hired a local handyman to help me with our wall mount installation, and unless you have some experience mounting heavy objects on walls I would recommend getting professional help for this task.

Our only complaint with the 42PWD8UK has been that the colors on our plasma are too vivid. After some experimenting with the display's various settings, we have tweaked the color intensity down a bit but still not enough to satisfy my wife. This seems to still be an issue with both our HP z540 media center using the plasma's SVGA input, and our other tuner using S-video input on the plasma. Admittedly this could have a lot to do with our lack of knowledge, and I may yet purchase one of the DVDs that claim to help you optomise a video display.

Overall this is a great display, despite the limitations of our analog CATV signal. We had to call our cable company to fix a video reception issue on certain channels; on our old CRT we could not tell that we had this problem.

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TH-42PWD8UK - an intelligent choice for dish, cable...

Strengths: Outstanding color resolution, excellent setup tools with functional remote, 480i delivers stunning picture quality in HD broadcasts to an EDTV. Great with digital input, too.

Weakness: Stretched screen views of local channels over digital feed produces undesireable pixilation when not HD broadcasts.

I read every review carefully, both of the product itself and the vendors. Like many others, I purchased from Visual Apex for reliability and over-the-phone pre-sale support. They had a good price on Monster component cables, as well. EBay saved me over $100 on top-of-the-line articulating wall mount, and I bought that element separately.

Product arrived swiftly, well-packaged. Shorted on one cable, Visual Apex was easy to deal with and shipped out the balance of the order quickly. I would do business with them again. The salesman reviewed my order and current equipment with Directv (more on that below) and offered some very helpful advice.

I was a bit concerned about the lack of a tuner and had read a number of reviews that mentioned having to swap cables between digital broadcast source and DVD. With a good tuner/receiver, such as Yamaha HTR-5850, you're able to use component video from the receiver to the Panasonic display, and use a remote to switch between Directv broadcasts, DVD AND VCR. The VCR is S-video out (all others are component in to the receiver), but receivers such as this Yamaha will convert the signal to component so that NO manual switching ever has to occur. It can all be done on one trained remote control.

I upgraded my Directv receiver to an H-10 (you don't have to buy HD programming, and with some wrangling my net price was ZERO) to get component output AND seamless off-air antenna functionality. THAT IS A MUST WITH THIS PANASONIC TV, and I'm sure cable, Dish Network and other sources have similar solutions.

With the solution in place, I get stunning quality on DVD movies, true digital clarity on Directv feeds (newer shows seem better quality) and can use the remote with the H-10 to get local channel HD broadcasts of sports and prime time shows in unbelievably high quality. I invested in a $50 overkill set of HD rabbit ears from Radio Shack that even has remote control. It plugs into the off-air input of the Directv H10 and works seamlessly to provide local HD programming for free. I'm 100% satisfied.

Wondering whether to go EDTV or HDTV? I went to BestBuy to view all of their plasmas...of course they don't carry an industrial model such as this...which were much higher priced. The picture quality looked about the same on all of them. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY DISPLAY AND SELL VIRTUALLY ALL OF THEIR BIG SCREEN TVS USING A 480i OUTPUT TO THE SCREEN. That's EDTV output.

Buy this plasma, save the thousand bucks and enjoy the best in digital and HDTV programming for the lowest possible cost.

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Excellent Value for the $$$

Strengths: Fantastic picture. Attractive. Well priced.

Weakness: None

Purchased this plasma to replace an 8 year old Sony CRT. The difference in size moving from a 36" set to a 42" wide-screen is huge. DVD's and HD content are gorgeous. SDTV is excellent as well. In 4:3 mode...with bars on both sides of the image it is as good as my CRT was. The picture size like this is only about 1" smaller. The "Just" mode for stretching the image is excellent and you can harldley tell that the image is stretched...just at the edges but it is hardley noticeable.

Note that this is a not a consumer model but a commercial model so it does not come with a stand or a tuner. These items did not concern me as I was wall mounting it and I use satellite for TV and HD. The only thing that I wish was included was an HDMI input. This is an option that you have to add if you want it.

I dislike the current crop of silver plasma displays and this one has a very dark grey...almost black bezel that fits well with my room.

I am extremely happy with this display

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I am thrilled with this purchase!

Strengths: Terrific picture; great value for money; good looking unit

Weakness: Limited inputs

I am very, very pleased with this display. I am using a Dish Network satellite receiver, so there was no need to buy a model with a tuner. Surprisingly, when I looked at Best Buy and Circuit City, neither carried any 42" displays without tuners. What mattered to me most was picture quality, and this display delivers that in spades. The image is brilliant and sharp. I am using the progressive feature of the monitor with a Bose DVD/sound system and the combination is just stunning. Again, I am thrilled by the quality of the picture at this low of a price. A great, great value. If there is a negative, it's the limited inputs available on the standard unit. I am thinking of adding a game console, but that will require me to add an upgrade board. But this is really a niggling comment given the great value for money.

I purchased the display from Visual Apex and am equally happy with them. All the reviews I read about them were glowing, and I was a little skeptical that they were genuine, but my experience was fabulous. From my initial telephone conversation -- where there was no pressure to buy accessories whatsoever -- to the follow-up after the sale, their service was top notch. When I made my first call to them, I was bracing for the usual trade-up pitch, but I didn't get it. They were informed and totally professional. As I recall, they didn't have the absolute lowest price online, but they were very competitive. Given the level of customer service I've received at other online/direct vendors in the past, a small price premium to ensure a smooth transaction is well worth it. And everything about this transaction was smooth. The ordering process was easy, delivery was fast and the product was undamaged. Yesterday, I called their customer service department with a quick question and it was handled professionally and promptly.

In short, I love the display and I love the vendor and I would highly recommend both.

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TH-42PWD8UK

Strengths: ~Price ~Size ~No speakers taking up valuable entertainment center space ~Easy set up

Weakness: ~NONE

We have been looking for a television for about one year and when we moved into our newly built house with a built in entertainment center we thought no better time than now to buy one. We also purchased an articulating swing arm so that the television could be flush with the cabinet, it looks very cool. We purchased from Visual Apex and the it came very well packaged and was delivered by nice guys who opened the box in the house to inspect the contents and screen etc. They called before to set up a delivery appointment which is nice for busy people, that way your new tv doesn't sit outside and tempt people. We've got it all set up now and it looks great. We used a 6.1 Onkyo system for our surround/tv sound. There are speaker plugs in the event you want to add small speakers to the tv but in our case we didn't need them and will just run it through the surround. We are very happy we paid the extra money to purchase from Visual Apex, they were a great company and would deal with again. They also included some BNC adapters for free because they know they are hard to find and we asked nicely. They are a $20.00 value. We had some problems hooking up the tv to the DVD player because it was only playing in blue but the DVD player needed to be formatted for and now everything is running perfectly. So note to husbands that freak out...check the format on the DVD player before you make crazy calls to the retailer! Hope that this review helps, I love to read them on pricegrabber.com I compare all my major purchases here first for reviews and a better deal!

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Couldn't ask for more

Strengths: Great Picture, Great Value, Great Look, Great, Great, Great

Weakness: No stores carry it.

I have not yet had a chance to give this TV a full Sunday Viewing. I am still unpacking and setting up. I have it mounted next to my fireplace on a Cheif MFG. (PWR)Articulating swingarm. BTW I highly reccomend this mount to anyone with more than one needed viewing angle. At 1500.00 Delivered it cannot be beat IMHO. My question is why doesn't Best Buy offer Monitor only Plasmas. If you have a Plasma and no cable or Satelite, Here's your sign!

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great tv

Strengths: sleek appearance. high def picture quality.

Weakness: standard tv picture quality

Ordered this tv off of visual apex. Recieved in a timely manner. Visual Apex gives you free bnc connectors with the purchase of this tv. You need them to pop onto the end of the component and composite video cables. Picture quality on high definition programming is amazing. Don't pay extra for an hdtv when this edtv is almost as good on the hd programming. They say that edtv's are better on standard cable programming. If that is the case then definitely don't buy an hdtv because even the quality of standard tv on this edtv is a little lower than I expected.

Another note to people mounting the th-42pwd8uk on the wall... if you are using a universal mount, you will probably need to buy extra washers and lock washers to put onto the bolts that come with the mount. The chassis of this tv is different than the th-42pwd7uy... they mount differently. The UT-54 wall mount that I got on ebay needed the extra washers and lock washers before it would really grip the tv. Other than that, no problems.

If you have this tv and don't subscribe to hd programming then you are really missing out!

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Panasonic th-42pwd8uk

Strengths: Looks great, well built, beautiful picture

Weakness: None so far

First plasma I ever owned and it has a great picture. Looks like it is very well built and is easy to hook up and get going. Panasonic could have included a cheap base for the plasma but its not too hard to build your own. Has a couple of ways to mount it.

Beware that there is no HDMI connection thou you can purchase a board as an option. I have it hooked up to both my Direct TV and computer and it works great.

Purchased it from Visualapex partly because of some of the other reviews I read about this product. It arrived in about 7 days and was not hassled by the seller other than a e-mail thanking me and offering to sell some other items if I was interested.

For the price, I don't think you can go wrong.

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Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK 42

Strengths: This is the best bargain there is. Great picture out of the box. I saved $1000 by buying this EDTV over an HDTV. Panasonic KICKS BUTT.

Weakness: No tuner? Who needs one. Thats what your cable box is for.

Unless you're set on getting the highest quality highest priced plasma there is and money is no object, this TV isn't for you. But I am completely satisfied with my EDTV and I can't see any real picture difference when comparing it to a HDTV.

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Best value Plasma Display

Strengths: Beautiful picture, flexible input configurations, VGA input

Weakness: Only EDTV, No TV tuner

This is simply the best value in Plasma Displays out there. If the fact that this is EDTV doesn't bother you (it should be noted that "HDTV" plasmas are only 1024x768, which is not even high enough resolution to display full res 720p HDTV, so they really aren't HDTVs either), and you don't need a builtin TV tuner (I'm using this with Tivo) then this is an awesome display. It comes with all of the inputs that I could need an you can swap/add cards to configure the inputs however you want, which is more flexibility than any other plasma out there has. On top of that, it's a nice subdued black color, not silver like every other plasma out there is, and the picture is beautiful (I honestly think it's hard to tell the difference between this and the "HDTV" plasmas). You can't go wrong with the Panny!

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Panasonic 42PWD8UK & Visual Apex

Strengths: Panasonic: Great image, great looking. Visual Apex: Professional phone support and helpful in getting discount package (this is on their website but I didn't spot it.)

Weakness: None!

So much has been written on the 42PWD8UK image quality and I can only second this! The quality is great! The all black bezel looks perfect! I looked seriously at 42PHD8UK (another $800), Toshiba 42HP95 and Samsung HP-R4252. I think anyone of these TVs would have done a great job. I looked at these at Sears, BJ's, Circuit City and local shops, and read tons of on-line reviews. The black bezel on the 42PWD was the final sell. I wanted to buy locally being concerned about paying this much money on-line but this TV simply isn't available locally. I just couldn't get past the TH-42PD50U Bright Silver bezel so on-line was my only answer. Also, I didn't need the built-in tuner (Time Warner cable), didn't see the value of HDMI over Component Video based on my reading and I have a home theater system so I didn't need speakers. I did connect speakers (Boston CR5's) just for the fun of it and the sound is fairly good.
I bought from Visual Apex. I bought on-line but I did call them to be sure it was in stock. They called me back when it was shipped which was within hours of the on-line order. (Also, Apex sent the BNC to RCA jacks at no charge.) I'm on the East Coast and it got here in 4 days! DHL shipping was also very good. The three boxes (TV, stand, cables) arrived in absolutely perfect condition!

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Hello, COMMERCIAL GRADE PLASMA ANYONE!!!!!

Strengths: low-cost/ effective marketing tool.

Weakness: WAS NOT DESIGNED FOR HOME THEATER/CONSUMER USAGE

The fact that this set is on the top-list for flat panel displays shows how little people actually know about televisions. If you look at the weaknesses others point out - few inputs, vivid images, BNC connections, limited custom control over color/contrast - you an see why people need to educated before they go out to find the "cheapest" set they can. People choose a set like this because it has a recognized name brand and is cost effective, but what they do not look for is why this is such a great deal. The set was not designed for in-home usage in home theater applications or for regular viewing. Hence the limited connectivity of the set, BNC was desinged as the commercial standard to allow for long runs of inexpensive RG6 cables teminated with BNC so they would lock in place without fear of falling out. This is because in a retail environment, or on a display wall, or in a bar the need for high end interconnects is unecessary. BNC can pass either a high-def image or standard-def. The reason the set is so vivid and bright is because it was built to attract consumers to its media content. The brightness makes up for bright ambient light environments often found in window displays for retail stores, clothing stores, etc. This also tranlates into poor color reproduction, innacurate contrast, smudging of detail from a high-def source, and shortened life-span over a true consumer-grade set for about 20 - 45% increase in price depending upon manufacturer. This means customer x who buys this set for $1300 will be spending another 1300+ in 6-8 years because his/her set is fading below 40% original contrast level. Also, the limited conrol features for video adjustments and poor image reproduction of standard definition images stems from the fact that there is no "consumer-grade" video processing chips built into the set to decode incoming signals or correct common errors with image processing. this means that the set relies on the source to decode the image for it. hence why standard-def from a coax line or of a cable box looks terrible. The decoder in the box is only designed to pass thru the incoming signal without correcting video errors such as "stair-stepping" or pixel errors associated with frame rate conversion (less obvious on high-def because the higher rez covers it up better.) Same goes with DVD's; the scalers built into $50 to $200 dollar dvd players do not match up to the scalers or processors in the panasonic set in the THxxPX60U catgory. To achieve the same quality result, one would have to purchase a higher end dvd player from Denon or Pioneer Elite starting in the $500 dollar range and up. I have been working in high-end retail for about 6 years now and are familiar with a wide range of products, please do not think my summation of this set spurs from any hatred of it. These are facts. It simply was not designed for high-quality viewing of any source material without high dollar components connected to it. So folks, what does this all ad up to? Spend about $2499.99 and get an excellent set from Panasonic, Pioneer, etc. In the world of high-tech electronics not only do youy have to "pay to play", but you WILL get what you pay for....!!!!!!!! I rate the set at two stars for the fact that it works excellent in the environment it was designed for, but is not suitable AT ALL for personal usage.

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Great Value - Best Buy - No brainer ;)

Strengths: Great slim look, Awesome picture quality

Weakness: This is EDTV & not HDTV - if that matters to you. No stand that comes with it - again if that matters to you.

This is an excellent plasma TV. I have it for little more than 6 months and I am happy that I bought this baby!

I did research for about 8 months before I bought Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK. First thing, look @ at consumer reports or any website for reviews on Plasmas - on top 10 list more than 50% will be from Panasonic. This company knows how to dig plasmas. Second part is you need to decide about your needs - what exactly you are looking for. In my case, I wanted a plasma that's slim & slick. I ddin't want any speakers associated with the plasma for two reasons - the OEM speakers are NEVER decent quality & I didn't want huge looking thing on my wall. This plasma is basically industrial/commercial display - no speakers, no stands. And that was perfect for me as I can just hang it on the wall (I had to buy seperate wall mount).

Another thing to keep in mind - this EDTV not HDTV. To be frank, I still can't understand the hype for HDTV. I don't have HDTV cable so for me it didn't matter. The quality I think equal to or better than HDTV (compared to HDTV plasmas what I had seen in retail stores).

This TV doesn't have any stand or mount so you need to buy something on day 1 - otherwise you won't be able to put it anywhere. I bought the mount from CostCo and happy with that.

For the connections - this is little technical - if you want you can skip it. The TH-42PWD8UK features both flexible A/V and IT system configurations. Built-in video connections include S-video, BNC, and component. Accessory boards expand your possibilities to include SDI, HD-SDI, HDMI, DVI-D w/HDCP, Twisted-Pair cable, and IEEE 802.11b. Have the set do double duty as your PC monitor, too, since it supports VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, and UXGA PC signals and comes with a common PC monitor port. The Remotes System Monitoring Command feature allows users to control their TH-42PWD8UK via RS-232C interface. If you really want to get fancy, a built-in wall processor allows you to array TH-42PWD8UKs in 2x2, 3x3, or even 4x4 multi-screen video walls.

In the end, I will say this is a great plasma with awesome picture quality. If you are buying plasma, get yourself decent home theatre system too. Your A/V receiver can handle all the connections to your cable box, DVD, VCR, CD player etc. And finally, get yourself one of the fancy Logitech/harmony universal remote too. I got harmony 880 and love it. Tip - Plasma on wall, nice slick speakers with high output and 1 universal remote to manage everything will impress anyone anytime - including yourself!

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"Catastrophic failure in just 2 years"

Strengths: great picture, low price

Weakness: Reliability is pathetic

I purchased a TH42 PWD6UY after a solid 6 months of reasearch. The only aspect of my research that was incomplete was reliability ratings, simply because there were none available, plasma was a new and exciting technology. In just 2 years, virtually to the day of delivery, my screen went blank. I called a local Panasonic tech and he came and carted my baby away. He just called today with a repair estimate of between $1000 and $1500 and when I asked what went wrong with the set he replied that there had been a "catastrophic failure" of one major component, which in turn led to the failure of another. WITH GOD AS MY WITNESS THIS SET WAS NOT HEAVILY USED!!!! I do all I can to take excellent care of all of my major purchases....my dollars are hard earned. I am thorouhly disappionted in the quality of the Panasonic product. Given that the repair estimate comes very close to online prices for a new plasma display it makes more sense to purchase a new display. As much as I would like to, (the picture was great) I cannot purchase another product from Panasonic.
So I begin my research all over again. This time I imagine that there will be reliability data to consider. I plan to contribute to that information.

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ReviewGist for Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK 42 Plasma Display 16 9 852x480 4000 1 EDTV

Display is Average according to 2 Flat Panel TV experts. -- "excellent picture"-music-video-books-store.com -- "superior picture"-music-video-books-store.com -- "on this monitor and the picture was simply outstanding."-music-video-books-store.c... Read more to find expert opinions on more features like Sound, Tuning, Connectivity, etc.

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panasonic th-42pwd8 42 in. edtv-ready plasma television

Panasonic Th-42pwd8 42 In. Edtv-ready Plasma Television receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 1.11 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #216 plasma flat panel TV of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer...

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