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Panasonic TH-42PZ80B - 42" Widescreen Viera 1080P Full HD Plasma TV - With Freeview | 
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| Brand: Panasonic
Category: CE
Buy New: £735.90
New (5) Refurbished (3) from £611.00
Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 1542
Media: Electronics
Shipping Weight (lbs): 83.8
Dimensions (in): 46.9 x 31.5 x 12.8
MPN: TH-42PZ80B
Model: TH-42PZ80B
EAN: 5025232461080
ASIN: B0015M2J1U
Release Date: March 6, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 42" 1080p HD Ready Plasma Screen | | • | MEGA Contrast Ratio | | • | 1920 x 1080 Resolution | | • | 3x HDMI Sockets 2x Scart Sockets | | • | V Real PRO 3 Engine |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
High definition graphics become accessible to all with Panasonic?s TH-42PZ80B! The TH-42PZ80B brings out the best in your favourite films on its 42-inch viewing surface. It?s entirely Full HD and has a contrast rate of 30000:1, so images will turn out perfectly every time. The TH-42PZ80B also has a triple HDMI connection and two scart sockets, so you can hook up different video devices, or enjoy content stored from your memory card directly on your TV. The TH-42PZ80B is even equipped with a digital tuner, allowing you to watch Freeview channels while adding a touch of style to your home!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Panasonic TH-42PZ80B - 42" Widescreen Viera 1080P Full HD Plasma TV - With Freeview October 24, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I Bought this TV a week ago - It's Incredible
42" Plasma - Beats LCD Easily - Always easier to tell when you get it Home! - Remember - Some Major Eletrical retailers have HD Disks running permanently in Shop Display Mode
This TV Obviously wasn't hooked up to HD - to make it look better on display - as Picture Looked awful to be honest - shared through one connection with about another 20 other TV's I would imagine
BUT.....I Had done many weeks of research prior to purchase and saw this TV in many different stores - Specification beats all others hands down!!!
If you want 42" Plasma (Much better than LCD) - Worth the extra Money easily++ - This is the one to buy
Works ok with Sky & Sky+ but is not best picture by a Long way - Need Sky HD for that as Sky HD Box has an HDmi port whereas Sky & Sky+ Dont! - so you have to connect to Scart for these - NOT HDmi Cable - Only then do you notice the true difference!
PS3 Games and Blu Ray DVD Discs played through PS3 Are Amazing/Incredible with HDMI Cable!
I Dont want to knock this TV Down (I Can't!) - as all Tv's regardless of 500 LCD or 2000+ Top End Huge Plasma will suffer same problem regarding Sky Connection
I Really can't Fault this TV to be honest - Auto Setup etc - I Did Buy 3 Years Insurance (Never Done this Before) on any TV or Appliance - But a TV Repairman said to me a few months back - That these are reliable BUT....IF and When they Go wrong - He cant do anything with them - as New Technology and Electrical Diodes/resistors etc - He can't fix that!
But told me Plasma is best - Forget LCD - The 2 Top TV Manafacturers Produce Plasma - The rest Produce LCD as they are cheaper from the shelf!
Ive seen friends 40" plus LCD TV's - and thought OK - Nice - Really Nice
You Buy this and you will think - Jesus Christ - WOW!!!!!!
There really is No Comparison for Picture Quality to be honest
If anyone tells you different - then they have just spent 500 on a cheapo 42" LCD when for an Extra 250 you get something REALLY SPECIAL!
I LOVE MY PLASMA - YOU WILL TOO!
 sound to headphone and TV simultaneously October 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have received this TV today. The picture quality is great but have a problem with headphone. When you connect a headphone it does not cut the sound off automatically but sends the sound to the headphone and TV simultaneously.
There is a headphone volume buried in one of the menus. Therefore, you have to use mute or zero the volume on TV not to disturb anyone!!!
I appreciate if anybody can test this on their TV to see if it is a fault with my system or it is normal.
Thanks
Excellent TV September 12, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I did lots of research into which TV to buy before settling on the Panasonic TH42PZ80B. I have always used Sony TV's in the past but they seem to have simply lost their footing with the new technology screens. My 32" Sony Vega had been playing up for some time with excessive colour blurring (the old 29" trinitron in the bedroom however is still as good as ever after more than 15 years) so it was time for a change.
Of course it is always a gamble buying new - will it look as good in a home set-up?, for example. The answer to this was yes but it actually looks better than it did in the shops - much better in fact.
What first strikes home is the amount of extra detail that you can see on familiar material - this is probably down to the high contrast ratio (30,000:1) - blacks are very black with so many graduations in between. Colours are great and this is the first TV I've owned where I haven't had to adjust the picture to my satisfaction - it's good straight out of the box. Also, if you like watching fast moving things (action films, motor sports, etc) then you will not be dissapointed because it is capable of very fast rendering - I suppose this is where a plasma wins hands down over anything else.
Highly recommended.
Great Television but will buy from Comet September 11, 2008
80 out of 81 found this review helpful
Excellent TV, recommended buying but not Panasonic TH42PZ80B from Amazon....buy Panasonic TH42PZ82B from Comet. Why? Read on.
My first dilemma was what to buy LCD or Plasma?
I was under the impression that LCD is better technology and Plasma is on its way out. I went into the showrooms to have a look at the televisions and I realized plasma's deliver a better picture when compared to LCD's.I did a lot of research on both the technologies and realised problems with first generation plasma's like "burn in screen" or "image retention", higher energy consumption, low panel life which made people choose LCD are no longer an issue with new generation plasma's.
New generation Plasma's compete with LCD televisions in all categories and win in all the important categories like resolution,response time, colour reproduction, viewing angle, noise reduction in picture etc.
The plasma's have similar panel life to those of LCD's.
Plasma's beat LCD's by miles when it comes to delivering fast moving pictures like football or motor racing.As LCD's have higher response time the pictures appear fuzzy when they deliver fast moving images.
LCD's have a slight edge when it comes to power consumption and weight.
I had to choose between plasma's which deliver great picture and consume a little more energy or LCD's which consume less energy and deliver an OK picture. I was faced with a moral dilemma as I consider my self to be a green person and cycle to work, recycle stuff etc. In the end I decided to choose plasma over LCD as the differences are not so high and the power consumption of plasma's varies with the kind of picture on the screen. If you are watching a movie like Dark Knight which has plenty of dark scenes in it then the plasmas will consume the same or less amount of energy as LCD's.
Next was which brand?
Again more research showed that Panasonic and pioneer are the best plasma TV manufacturers, Panasonic with Viera range and Pioneer with Kuro Range. Panasonic is the largest manufacturer and invested heavily in a new plant to manufacture plasma screens. Panasonic believes plasma technology will be the choice of people who do a bit of research before buying a TV.
Panasonic PZ range has a contrast ratio of 30,000: and dynamic contrast ratio is 1,00,000:1.Pioneer's Kuro range has similar specifications.
The differences in picture quality between Panasonic's PZ range and Pioneer's Kuro range are very very few and far between.
Kuro range costs almost twice as the Panasonics PZ range.
This made me choose Panasonic PZ range.
Panasonic TH42PZ80's technical specifications (can be found in the other Amazon reviews),product reviews(not in Amazon but written by proper telly geeks like HDTV org, AV forums etc based on their testing) prompted me to choose this model.It also won quite few awards from independent reviewers.
When I walked into Curry's the picture looked great but the telly had a hideous silver bezel and looked cheap when it was switched off.It was by serendipity that I found there is another version in UK which is made exclusively for Comet called Panasonic TH42PZ82B.This version is the same as Panasonic TH42PZ80B but had a black bezel instead of the silver bezel.
I went into Comet to check out Panasonic TH42PZ82B version and there it was all black and shiny.
I got the telly even though it costs 20 quid more.
You might need an extra pair of hands if you are unable to handle heavy objects for fixing the base stand.
The setup is breeze once you have switched on the telly.
Remember to reduce the brightness and contrast to half during the first 200 hours. Also turn off the "over scan" feature which comes as factory setting to get the full picture.
Buy Panasonic TH42PZ82B from Comet but word of advice to any one who buys from Comet, DON'T buy their monster cable's and monster power surge kits.Instead buy THOR HDMI cable's from B&Q which are around 20 for 3 metres and Belkin power surge kit from Comet or other electrical stores. I *personally* believe extended warranty Electrical stores offer is like snake oil, as if some thing can wrong with electronics it will go wrong in under 6-8 months and you are covered by the manufacturer warranty for that period any way.
Hope this helps.
Variable black levels :-( September 7, 2008
11 out of 13 found this review helpful
On receiving this television, I was worried about how difficult it might be to lift it out of its box, but was delighted to see the plastic handles unclipped, and the top part of the box lifted off - a really clever bit of design. They say two people should lift it around, but the only other person with me was aged and arthritic, so I tried it by myself. With care, it was no problem, due in part to the handles moulded into the back of the screen.
I was also very impressed by the layout of the remote control - not too many buttons, and those mainly used (numeric keypad, programme up/down, and sound level up/down) were large and clear - ideal for use by the elderly with reduced manual dexterity. It was a shame, however, that the remote is very directional, and needs to be pointed quite accurately :-( It is also a shame that to turn the television on, you have to press the power button for about a second - unintuitive, and confusing for the elderly!
The control menu structure is very intuitive, and works well. One peculiarity is with aspect ratio. Seven options are available (Auto, 4:3, 14:19, 16:9, Zoom 1, Zoom 2, and Zoom 3) which largely do what you expect (except the Auto setting, which always seems to be wrong!). However, it doesn't appear to be a direct control, but the setings of an indirect look-up table. The TV seems to decide for itself what the aspect ratio is of the source material, and then stores the value you select as what it should do with sources of that shape in the future. For example, I had recorded a programme as widescreen (anamorphic) on a VHS, and played it back via one of the SCART inputs. The TV decided it was 4:3, but happily changed the display to the correct 16:9 when I told it to do so. However, later I watched ITV-3 which were showing some old 4:3 material, and it displayed that as widescreen too. During the adverts, ITV-3 switched to widescreen, and a little message came up on the display, changing between "Wide" and "16:9", either side of the adverts, but the picture remained full width all the time! Changing the display setting to 4:3, it all then worked correctly again - until I went to watch the VHS again, which became squashed. It seems to be trying to be too clever - maybe it could remember the aspect ratio you last set for each input source, but the mapping system they have used is confusing.
There is also an overscan option in the separate Setup menu, which zooms in to the picture a little. I can't imagine why that feature would be wanted, but by default it is enabled, so needs to be turned off to see all the picture (and ths minimise processing, and improve quality!).
My main complaint, however, is the black levels. I thought I had a faulty receiver at first, as it looked like a "black level clamp" failure on old televisions: low brightness scenes result in the black level drifting up to a dark grey, and only bright, contrasty scenes have a proper black level. This I find very disturbing, and a big disappointment!
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