Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

I did alot of research on tvs before buying this panasonic and so far am very happy with it. The picture is terriffic as others have said the sound system could be better, but not a reason to not buy this product. As of now i believe I have received a great product at a great price!!!!

This TV has great color and action reproduction. I definitely prefer plasma over LCD for both of those reasons and Panasaonic does it as well as anybody in my opinion. My main concern has to do with the frame. It is wider than I would prefer which makes the outer dimension wider than it needs to be. The frame is also shiny so I get more reflection from the frame than I get from the screen, which is usually the concern about plasma TVs. Both of these are minor compared to the stellar picture quality.

We have a 42-inch Panasonic plasma TV that we bought about 7 years ago for $4,000. My how times have changed! The new TH-42PZ85U from Panasonic is currently selling for about ¼ the price we paid and is a vastly better television.

For starters, the outward appearance is elegant. It features a very slim cross-section and smooth, seductive lines. The screen has an anti-reflective filter which cuts way down on glare and, you guessed it, reflections. This, coupled with the TV's high contrast ratio of 1 million to 1, gives you a very sharp, realistic picture. On top of that, this TV can handle a 1080p signal, producing the highest quality image currently available. This is ideal for Blu-Ray viewing. Content providers such as DirecTV are promising 1080p programming "real soon now."

A little more of the specs, then I'll talk about the good stuff. On the back of the TV, there are more ports and plugs than you'll know what to do with. If you're considering this TV, then you probably have a high-definition source such as an HD cable or satellite box and maybe Blu-Ray. Most modern HD devices can use an HDMI cable, which can carry the HD video signal along with the Dolby 5.1 audio information. This TV has 3 HDMI ports which make for a very uncluttered back plane.

Okay. So we ordered one of these for my in-laws to replace a gigantic tube television they had. That one weighed 180 pounds. This one weighs 70 pounds. When it arrived, it took about 20 minutes for us to unbox it and screw in the base plate. We took our time. 10 minutes later, it was upright, plugged in, and showing us that we had made the right choice. The picture is gorgeous! With DirecTV as the source, on any of the HD channels, you really can't help but stop and stare. That effect is magnified when you watch a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. It's almost unsettling! Watching HD versions of the old Star Trek episodes, for example, shows you things Mr. Spock never wanted you to see! Make-up lines, costume glitches, etc. that were invisible in the 1960s are now stunningly obvious. But I digress.

There are plenty of settings available but we changed very few. I'm sure a videophile would be in there tweaking everything, but were very happy with the image. Skin tones, blacks, saturation, were all to our liking once we told the unit it was not in demo mode (the mode used to attract people in a store. Usually, it is oversaturated.) We've watched movies, football games, and even video sent over from the PC. It is all wonderful.

As I said at the top of this review, we've had a Panasonic 42-inch plasma TV for about 7 years, as well as a 52-inch for about 5 years, and both are still in great condition. No dead pixels, no color fading, no problems at all. That gives me hope that this new entry will fare at least as well.

let me say, this TV is great. picture, etc are all fantastic.
I will never buy anything from amazon again that requires shipping via freight. To put it mildly, the shipping was a nightmare. I was stood up on 3 occasions by CEVA. Their only accommodation was to offer for me to drive to their warehouse to pick up the tv. When they finally did "deliver" the tv, they brought it to the wrong address. I spent about 14 hours total waiting for this delivery at home, and then they delivered it to my work address. Totally unacceptable. Even worse, and very disappointing, was Amazons response. I contacted them regarding my experience and they sent me a form email back without a real apology, Certainly not what I expected. I understand mistakes happen, and most people have had good experiences so far, but its very alarming that amazons response to their shippers mistake was basically "too bad".

looked at alot of reviews, haved had panni for about a month. just change settings, awesome picture. Underworld was incredible, using stanard DVD's with inexpensive upconvert player. no motion blur. very happy with purchase, shipping was fast no problem with shipping. TV was double box. great price but price has dropped even a little more since purchase.