Tell me about your Panasonic TH-42PX60U........

[Highgear]

Hopfully I should see mine this weekend. My Panasonic TH-42PX50U had two stuck pixels in the center to the panel. Well, good old Panasonic warranted the defect. But while the plasma was being trucked to the service center, it tipped, breaking the glass and panel. I feel very bad for the service company but on the other hand kind of happy to get the newest from Panasonic. I know they made major changes over the 05 model. It's even 11 lbs. lighter. This can probably be due to the fact that the 6OU does not have the cable card and that the glass is 35% thinner among what ever else. One thing that is mind boggling is that they jumped from 8.58 displayable colors to 29 billion. Can we actually see 29 billion colors.....or even 1 billion? When I researched for a plasma tv last year I did a lot of looking on the web. I let my eyes do the choosing for the price range I was in. The Panasonic TH-42PX5OU was outstanding. I went to Best Buy and Circuit City to view the 6OU. I'm sure it's as great or better than the 5OU but the picture did not look very good. The factouy settings must be way off. The picture was overly vivid while looking superb to the others on graphics. Way deep blacks with well defined edges on words. Getting bact to the overly vivid picture I was talking about. When close-ups of faces came on , it looked blotchey (word?) like the shades of the face had layers to it. I'm a little concerned that it will take a very long time to play with the settings to get things right. I may have to invest in a sydertv http://www.calibration-direct.com/prodspydertv.html?gclid=CMT6_uWrq4QCFSlvFQod5DmT_g
to get things right. With my 5OU the picture was good from the factory but I did find a review www.plasmatvbuyersguide.com that had settings posted that made the picture even better. Anyone else have any input?

 

[Daz3d&Confus3d]

If your going to go Plasma wanting the best bang for the buck.....Panasonics the way to go! Besides even if it doesn't need a little adjusting are you telling us you wouldn't mess with the settings anyway when you get it?....lol..... we all do....it's half the fun!!!

Enjoy it and post some picks when you get it up and going!

 

[flossy]

I’m a proud owner of the TH-42PX60U, and yes I too went to Circuit City and Best buy to check this unit out. First I went to Circuit City and just like you I immediately notice the clay face when a close up of people appeared on to the screen, there was also a lot of graininess showing as well. This unit was on display side by side next to last years model of the 42” EDTV version, I was shocked to see that the EDTV’s PQ was much better and knew then something was wrong, I asked the sales guy for the remote to see if I could play with the settings to make things better, no luck. I headed to Best Buy right after I left Circuit City and they indeed had a remote. Immediately taking it out of Vivid mode the Clay face and the graininess disappeared and the PQ was just stunning! So basically Vivid mode = Torch mode, and I recommend taking it out of Vivid as soon as you get this unit out of the box and set up. There are three modes to choose from, Vivid, Standard and Cinema. Mine is currently set to Cinema with the contrast and brightness settings down for the duration of the break-in period (100 hrs).

This units Contrast (Picture) is much brighter than last years model which I believe causes the clay face and graininess when in vivid mode, having a brighter picture only means good things for this new panel because if this unit does indeed last up to 60,000 hrs which then should be at its half brightness according to Panasonic then our displays will then be at previous models brightness out of the box later in its panels life span.

Just another note, when in Vivid mode I believe that Sharpness is also cranked up way high which also contributes to the clay face and the graininess. With all that said, this
Panel truly displays stunning PQ with the right settings.

 

[Highgear]

The Plasma was just dropped off yesterday. Like you said, it comes out of the box in it's overcooked VIVID mode. Why would Panasonic want to display their TV in this way? I'm sure many people walk into a store and see that the Panasonic EDTV's look better to the HDTV's in many ways and walk out with one. I tried the settings they gave in this review http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com/plasmatvreviews/panasonic-th42px50u-review.html
for last years 5OU. It looks much better than factory. I'll have to play with it a little . I'll try it in the CINEMA mode an do what you did to see how that works too. I just wish it was good from the getgo.........

 

[flossy]

They have it set to vivid in stores because the lighting is so much brighter there than @ home in your living room, also it hides the glare off the glass that they don’t want you to see

 

[Highgear]

I just ordered the AVIA Guide to Home Theater DVD. Anyone have luck in using this as a set-up aid?

 

[beam3]

My first impression of the 42PX60U was the same as flossy. The colors and the black levels are fantastic bit the PQ looked worse then last years model. The picture, even on HD channels looked very grainy or pixelated. (Keep in mind this is the display model at CC) I asked the kid there and he said the TV was last in line onthe HD line amp, so that could have been a contributing factor. I didn't play around with the the picture settings but I would bet the picture was on vivid and the contrast was cranked all the way up. Nonetheless, I have no doubt this TV can achieve excellent PQ with some tweaking of the settings.