The Panasonic 42 PX75U is a medium priced for this size range (around $1,500), and, when one considers that all plasma displays were priced in the many thousands of dollars just a few years back, it constitutes a solid value.

Video performance, while good, doesn't quite live up to Panasonic's pricier plasma sets. Furthermore, off-axis viewing--the singular strength of this family of displays--is somewhat degraded in this model. That's not a tremendous deficiency given that serious viewing is simply not done off-axis, but it is another setback worth noting.

Contrast was poorer when up against comparably priced sets, though still much better than for any LCD display we've seen to date. Blacks were not especially deep in comparison to those seen on really stellar performers in the plasma category. In general, the 42PX75U is somewhat reminiscent of the plasma displays of the nineties: bright, true, colors and consistent image quality across the screen, but a somewhat soft quality of the picture. The image certainly isn't fuzzy or lacking in detail, but it is lacking the granularity one associates with the best of the current art. This isn't a full 1080p screen but a resolution of 720p, though the performance is exceeded by a number of 720p sets we've seen.

In its favor, the 42 PX75U is utterly lacking in artifacts and not at all prone to interference. There's no video noise or graininess whatever the source material.
The TH 42PX75U comes with a HDAVI control that allows the user to activate an entire home entertainment system with a single button command (if the other components in the system have similar HDAVI interfaces). It also has a built-in SD card slot, the memory standard for many digital cameras, PDAs, and other electronic peripherals.

As is the case, unfortunately, with most flat panel displays, as opposed to the few remaining projection televisions, the 42 PX75U has an unimpressive audio system with just two speakers and a claimed 20 watts of amplifier at a 10% distortion rating. The system is incapable of reproducing the slam bang Dolby sound tracks found on most late release DVDs and on an increasing number of high definition broadcasts. There's no real bass, and high frequency reproduction lacks sparkle--adequate for broadcast programming, perhaps, but marginal for movies.


Pros: absence of artifacts, reasonable price, and HDAVI connectivity.
Cons: video performance, which while good, is bested several other sets of comparable price.