Panasonic TH-42PE7U?

I can't find anything on it either. Is it the same as the px75u in the Circuit BF ad?

It must be a mis-print (not uncommon for BB), and it could even be an intentional mis-print to keep their competitors from price-matching. BB lies to their customers enough as it is, and got busted for that fake in-store website with higher prices than the ones on the real website that customers saw at home etc so it wouldn't surprise me if they did this on purpose.

I've been looking for details on the same TV. Here's the ad of the TV, I'm trying to match it up with one on panasonic's website. I hope rubbing out the price makes the picture legal for here.

I was thinking that last year Panasonic made some weird lower end models for the big chain stores with numbers like TH-42PX6U that didn't correspond with any of the numbers sold at CC and BB etc. These were missing a few features of the regular model. And last year Pioneer gave BB their own model numbers (ending in a 1 instead of a 0) to get around the price-match policies so maybe Panasonic did the same thing with this PE7U. The Costco and Sams Club numbers have a PE in them as well.

I was looking into getting the 77U and then notcied this one. From the BB online description it says it has the Anti glare screen.

What do people mean when they're saying these tweaked or custom models for the large stores are "lesser models"?

The TH-42PE7U is on bestbuy.com today (coming soon). Compared to the TH-42PX75U:

no media card slot
no digital convergence (TH-42PZ77U and TH-42PZ700U have)
4 audio outputs? vs. 1
8 watts/channel vs 10
no video output (useful for recording OTA HDTV?)
1 year limited warranty (w/o 2 years: glass panel)

Thanks..
If I'm just going to use the new TV just to watch Tv and that's it will any of these lesser features matter? No speaker or audio system will be used with it. I won't need to view pictures on it. Just put it on the wall and hook it up through my cable box.

I saw the warranty difference, but besides that will this serve my purposes just as good as the 77U would?

They just mean its missing a couple features vs. the other models. Usually nothing major - just enough to set it apart from the higher models such that they can still justify the pricing structure.


Yes. The picture quality should be identical to the PX77U assuming this really does have the anti-glare screen. If it does not, then the picture will be similar to the PX75U. You don't even lose any inputs vs. those other two displays; still two each of HDMI, component, composite and s-video. The lack of video output is almost completely irrelevant since you'll be using a cable box, and can record straight from there if you really wish to record live TV. The only real compromise is the slightly lower powered 8 watt speakers. But I doubt that they will be any less capable in the average TV setting than the 10 watt speakers on the PX77U.

The price on this display looks great. I can't recall seeing a tier 1 42" HD display this cheap before.

Simply judging by the pictures of the TH-42PE7U versus the TH-42PX75U on BestBuy's website, it looks like the PX75U comes with a swivel stand and the PE7U does not.

The PX75U doesn't come with a swivel stand - it's a fixed pedestal.

It looks like this PE75U might have a matte bezel like the Costco models do. This TV wasn't on BB's site yesterday, and they didn't have it in the El Segundo store when i was there yesterday so i couldn't see one in person.

Sorry, I didn't know that. Regardless, the stands do look different but if they're both fixed it doesn't matter much.

Hi. I work at Best Buy in home theater. I just noticed we had the TH-42PE7u yesterday and because it was so cheap(for such a good brand/TV) and my family needed a new living room tv, we bought one (discount was very, very little). I found out later that it's one of our TVs specifically for black friday. Every year we get a few models that we get in, sell on black friday, and never see again. This was one of those.
As far as the quality of the TV: it looks awesome. It's very basic, very core. But it has all the same picture settings, 2 HDMI inputs, etc. The sound is really good, and yeah it's a fixed stand. If you wanna wait in the ridiculous lines to get a tier 1 tv for really cheap, this is definitely one to consider.

By the way, I know you may not take what I say for 100% accurate since this is my first post. But I saw this and just registered to tell everyone. Oh and Best Buy is not near as conniving as you all think. Nobody in my store was even aware of the in-store website deal.

This has an anti-reflective screen. It's not super flat but it is noticeably less glaring than the other plasma's that sit by it. I have seen it at Costco for a couple of weeks now and am close to pulling the trigger.

720p
Contrast: 10,000
Brightness: 500
HDMI: 2
Tuner built in
Flat bezel all around
Speakers at the bottom
Double feet, fixed stand

SO is this going to only be availible to pick up in store or can I go online and get it, also how are you guys finding it on the website i cant seem to pull it up



Bill

The big thing to find out is if the Power Supply is the same as the other Panny's. From what I was told though, the Panny's at Costco do have the same power supplies as the other Panny plasmas.

As for price, I don't know what the big deal is because Fry's had the Panny 75 delivered for $899.99 & last week BrandsMart USA in FL & GA had the
Panny 75 & Sammy 54 for $898.88 & this week they have the LG for $698.88
& I'm sure there will be even better deals on closeout when this model year ends.

links ????^^^^^^




Thanks

Bill

Links? frys.com brandsmatusa.com bestbuy.com & Google "Balck Friday Prices" & etc.

I called our local store this afternoon and they said that they had 17 in stock. It was listed as a normal "in-store only" item. When I got to the store, they said it was for the Black Friday sale, first-come, first-serve.

I took them to the website and showed them it was a normal sale item. They gave me the TV for the $899.99. As I was checking out, one of the sales minions was on the phone with BB corporate, probably trying to get the product's sales status changed on the website. My wife, however, called corporate BB, and they confirmed it was a normal sale item. I think the local store management either was confused or had it wrong all along. Go figure.

Bottom line, unless 3AM line-up outside the store on Friday is your cup of tea, you might swing by today before they change their minds

Did you have to go through much of a fight to get this done at BB today? Was the TV displayed or did you have to go to a manager?

Thanks, Mike

I went to the Best Buy website to checkout the Panasonic 42PE7U and they changed the website now it says in store only starting on Friday, Nov. 23rd.
They got smart!!!!

Dam I was going to grab it tomorrow if that was the case too, lol, looks like I might have to wait in line.

I almost got a ticket driving to get this tv. They must have changed it before I got there. Oh well, makes for a good story.

Hey Roflwow,
What do you mean by "very basic, very core"? Can you tell me how it's different from the 42PX75U other than the glass warranty being different and the stand? How does the anti-glare screen look, is it as good as the 42PX77U?

thinking about whether i should get this or not. was looking at TH-42PZ77(1080P) and now this model. gonna use it for xbox 360 and movies. watching from about 5ft-8ft. do you guys recommend this over the 1080p model or not? thanks.

If you recall the TH-42PX60U (The silver/gray ones), it's almost identical to that except black. In fact, I'm pretty sure they just took the 60 series, made them black, made a few modifications, such as the anti-glare screen, and made this tv. I would say the anti-glare screen is about as good as the PZ77u's, although I haven't been able to compare side-to-side.
By very basic, I mean there's nothing extremely special about it. No SD card slot, no extra speakers like on the PZ700u's, and just the basic adjustment settings. Although it does have the EZ Sync.
We just bought a second one for our gaming/theater room.
Our store's Panasonic rep, who's very knowledgeable, has said he recommends the PZ77's for intense gaming, since they have an "anti-image retention" feature integrated, and I haven't talked to him about this one being used for it. But I would think if you take care of it and break it in properly, like any other plasma, you wouldn't have any issues with it.

Another option is Circuit City's 42" Sharp AQUA TV LC-42D43U for 799.99 . What does everyone think of that?

I'm wondering the same thing. Any answers to this?

It is a black Friday TV, if somebody at "corporate" said other wise, they slipped up. I wouldn't anticipate any being around after Friday either, HT will sell through the warehouse and that should be that.

I am going to try this I currently own a 42PZ77. I am going to buy this TH42PE7U from Costco. I will put the tv's side by side and compare them individually. I am not convinced that 1080p for a 42 plasma is any better than 1080i for HD TV programming, Xbox 360 gaming, or up converted DVD watching. The only possible exception might be for HD DVD's, but then again I'm not convinced that will be so significantly better to warrant any increase in cost.

I will report my results in a couple of days.

Note: I am not a videophile techodweeb number cruncher min/maxer. My testing will consist of sitting in front of the tv's watching stuff (which is probably a close approximation of what most people who have tv's do).