[jeffreyw]

Hi all. Just thought I'd post my review of the Panasonic TH-42PWD4UY.


For those who are still waiting for this display, be patient, it is WELL WORTH IT !!!


A little time line:


Ordered the unit last Wednesday, order status states that it is scheduled to ship on 1/7/2002. Friday afternoon, I decided to CANCEL my order by submitting a customer resolution form on Dell's website to cancel my order due to the fact that it was on backorder and won't be shipping until next year. Monday night I decided to check my order status on Dell's website to make sure that my order was indeed cancelled as I was also thinking of ordering the Nec display (sight unseen). To my surprised, my order stated it was SHIPPED, I said WHAT?!! I almost fell out of my chair as I can't believe it shipped, after hearing from the folks here who ordered this unit from the beginning of the month who still have shipdates of December/January. I thought for sure that there was a mistake somewhere... well morning came and the fedex guy showed up (it was raining), he asked to see if I could give him a hand since he said he was all by himself, I was a little shock since I was expecting this thing to be on some sort of a wooden crate, but it was just shipped in its regular box packaging. I automatically said to my self, Uh oh... this is not good, though I didn't see any dent on the box it made me worry that that only protection it had was just the styro stuff inside. The fedex guy ask if this was one of those wall tv thing and of course with a huge grin on my face, I said "YUP". Anyway, after signing for it I took a few snap shots of the box and unpacked it. First thing I checked was for any sign of dings, scratch and damage glass, glad to see that there were none that I could see. I checked for production date and was also glad that it had Oct 2001 production date in the back. The unit is currently sitting on top of a small table prop againts my old Sony 36" XBR Wega. I told you I wasn't ready for this thing, I placed an order for the desk stand yesterday. I hooked it up to my Panasonic RP56 DVD player via S-Video since this thing uses BNC for Component Input. Picture looked "great" but it was pretty much the same with my Sony XBR, so I went to Radio shack to buy some RCA to BNC converter (sheez, spent over $100 on monster component cable only to use some cheapo $1.99 converter from Radio Shack), got everything hooked up that way I wanted it and fired up Star Wars, didn't have a chance yet to calibrate via Avia but the picture was beautiful.


List of dvd movies I've watched so far:


Star Wars, Toy Story 1&2, Bugs Life, Antz, The Fifth Element (Superbit), Sleepless in Seattle, Pretty Woman, Star Ship Troopers, Crouching Tiger (Superbit).


- No dead pixel

- No lip-synch problems that I can tell

- Pretty quiet, slight hmmm, only audible when you stick you ear behind the unit (it seems like mine have the the updated chips), my stand alone Tivo and DVD player makes more noise than this thing.

- No problems so far (knocking on wood).

- This display brings out the best in DVD, unfortunately it also brings out the worst, some first gen dvd's shows crappy grainess (Pretty Woman & Sleepless).

- I enabled WOBBLING and you can notice when it shifts the picture a bit.



The only question I have is:


On the back unit, it says that this is the Broadcast Model, I thought mine was the Consumer Model?


I called LaserLand here in the Bay Area to ask to see if they carry the desk stand for this display model, to my surprise, they told me it should have come with it? I said huh!? This is the Panasonic model, not Nec or Pioneer (I'm not sure which one but one did came with feet as I remember a post here about it). The salesman insist that it should have come with one, I told him that it didn't, it says on Panasonic's website, catalog, manual that this is an optional accessory, anyway I ended up telling him thanks for checking, but I thought being one of the high end shops in Silicon Valley they would know their product well, I went to their place last week to check out the Pioneer Pro 1000.


One of the most annoying thing with my old Sony XBR Wega was scan lines, with this display, it's all smooth!!!


Just my .02,

Jeff

ps. Somehow watching broadcast TV, even on Satellite doesn't look the same anymore...

 

[plasmacrack]

Wow, you are one of the lucky ones!


The consumer model has a designation like PD3. You do in fact have the broadcast (commercial) model. The consumer models come with a table stand, which is probably the source of the confusion. No worries though, because the price difference between the consumer and commercial models is much greater than the best table stand you can buy .


I am surprised to hear that it came via FedEx! Was it FedEx Cargo or Express? (You should be able to tell via the shipping slip). If it was Express, then perhaps we have an even greater case against FedEx per the instances where our (mine!) plasmas were cracked in shipping.


Looks like you Dell guys are making out the best!

 

[Gaber]

That model number is the industrial or broadcast version. The person at Laserland was right in saying that the consumer model comes with a stand, unfortunately you have the industrial model.


Gabe

 

[clutchcargo]

Congratulations!


You must generally have some good luck going for you.


I ordered mine in late August and received it October 22.


My understanding is that there is only one model (4uy).


The consumer version ships with the stand.



Regarding cables/connectors the guy at Best Buy convinced me the RCA Component Cables would work (even though I brought the owners manual). I returned that cable and have been using the one that came in the box with Radio Shack connectors.

Radio Shack charged $3.50 per connector (you win again).

I ordered 2 cables from Better Cables.

bnc on one end and rca on the other for my DVD player.

rca x5 on one end and vga on the other for my tuner.


Enjoy your display

 

[jeffreyw]

Plasmacrack -


Yes, it was shipped via Fedex Express. Let me know if there's any other info I can help you with your case against Fedex.


When I called LaserLand, I specifically told the person I spoke to on the phone the model number, oh well, doesn't matter now since I've place an order for the stand somewhere else.



clutchcargo -

Hope that luck stays with me for awhile longer

How much did you pay for the cables? I still havent decided if I want to mount mine on the wall but if I do then I might need some pretty long cables, last time I checked Better Cables had the RCN-BNC for about $150 for a 6ft cable. When you get your cables can you do a little comparo and see if theres a huge difference between what we are using now and the new cable and post it here?


Thanks much,

Jeff

 

[clutchcargo]

Jeffrey,


I think the 2 cables (both 6 foot) were around $240 total.

After I get them (second week of November) I will post some comparison details.


Regarding black bars for non 16x9 broadcasts, should we be concerned with running this way or should we set the gray bars up (I have the orbitor on)?

 

[Brucer]

Jeffrey-


I would just like to add my congrats, again. And I want to make a point about your initial post. Mainly to help others reading this.


It sounded like you signed for the package before opening it up. If true, you are indeed lucky, as if the glass had been cracked it probably would have been easier to reject the shipment right then. I would advise everyone to check out as thoughly as possible, before signing. Even then only sign with additional disclaimer something to the effect "Subject to further inspection", maybe the lawyer forum members could help us out here. I had a claim with a freight company this past summer for hidden damage that took a while to settle (Business machinery). They only paid 1/2 the claim - but the manufacturer made it right.


If I misunderstood - then never mind.


Also, I wonder if I threatened to cancel my order if that would move me up in the cue? Prob. not. My sequence number is #120, whatever that means?


TH-42pwd4uy does not have 26 pin tuner port, also.


Enjoy Bruce

 

[iceman143]

Jeffrey,


I think you will be pleased with your Panasonic. I know I have been. I never had the loud buzz that others experienced so I guess I was lucky. I ordered the RCA to BNC cables from bettercables and I had mine made to 15'. I also purchased a table stand and have since switched to wall mount. I can see a possible need for both so I kept the table stand. The lip sync changes based upon the input but mostly with svideo and DirecTV for me. I'm using the Panasonic RP91 for DVD's and it is excellent.


I also upgraded my power cord and bought a longer one from BPT. I don't know if that had any impact on the buzz or not but I needed the longer cord.


Try Gladiator for good pictures too. The Fifth Element (super bit) is good to show detail differences. There is a scene in The Replacements where the coach is riding in a golf cart inside the stadium and it looks so much in 3d that you could believe you were there.


When there was a delay in your posting after having received the unit, I knew you watched more than you had originally planned but the picture draws you in.

 

[eelton]

Quote:

Regarding black bars for non 16x9 broadcasts, should we be concerned with running this way or should we set the gray bars up (I have the orbitor on)?

Definitely change to grey bars. The orbiter can help prevent burn-in, but it won't make much difference where the black bars are.

 

[jlegault]

Just unpacked and hooked up my Panny


1 hour observations:


-woah, it is light!

-black levels are good, but very little detail

-brightness is awesome

-Blues are weak, almost grey. (even on cool temp)

-Reds are on the orangish/brown side (even on warm temp)

-there is definitely false contouring (watching 5th Element) I am hoping a better DVD player will help fix that (I am feeding a SVHS signal).

-My Xantech IR setup is all screwed up now. I have to turn the TV off to do anything. I need to call xantech for some advice. Maybe a FL-proof IR receiver will help.

-my TIVO looks like ass even on best quality, but that's to be expected.


Do I need to do a calibration on this thing or something?


I hate to sound negative, but I expected a lot more given everyone's praise on a 5K monitor.


I hope the NEC coming in a couple days is better.


Anyone have any recomendations on how to compare?

 

[KeithR]

Weird, as I still have yet to see false contouring on my Panny (vs. all the other plasmas I saw that it was easily found)....and I think the colors are dead on (i did have to adjust a bit via Avia however). I would calibrate it, and then check back with us. Watch Gladiator during some of the fight scenes, as there is great color--


What lighting are you watching in btw?

 

[jlegault]

I was watching it in daylight,


but I just noticed that moving the Gamma setting from 2.2 to 2.5 helps the color a little.


Also, it Buzzes. It's about as loud as Fluorescent light power supply. It's loudest when the unit is in dynamic mode. On the back of the unit there is a sticker overtop of a grey square that says it was built in October 2001. I guess the October units still have the problem –or- I have one that is re-stickered to October by electrograph and is bad. I noticed that the unit was slightly dirty and the packaging was not sealed. Maybe this is a return.


Jeffreyw – was yours packed in an open plastic bag?

 

[jlegault]

I noticed the contouring issue in the "fog" taxi scene in the Fifth element. BUT, this may just be MPEG aritfacts on my DVD player - an older sony 650D. I need to upgrade to the Pansonic RP56.

 

[jeffreyw]

jlegault-


Mine also came in an unsealed plastic bag, I noticed a little bit of dust but I'm sure this was from shipping.


I'm almost 99% sure that your "problems" are from your DVD and cable connection, mine is hooked up to an RP56 with component cables and I don't see those problems that you mentioned. Also if you have not done it yet, calibrating would be good (via AVIA) although mine really didn't need that much adjustment.


Also you mentioned that you have your DVD player hooked up via S-Video, previous post suggested that the unit is optimized for Composite connection, you need to do some tweaks to get it to switch over to S-Video, I requested and received an e-mail from another member of this forum (Bob S.) regarding how to do this, if you don't have the instructions let me know and I can forward it to you, you need to have the Avia disc to perform the calibration though.


Brucer-


Good point... I guess excitement overcame my better judgement that I didn't inspect what's inside the box before signing for it. Thank goodness that there was no damage or I might have fainted after lifting this thing out of the box by myself


Hope this helps.


Jeff



Quote:

Originally posted by jlegault I noticed the contouring issue in the "fog" taxi scene in the Fifth element. BUT, this may just be MPEG aritfacts on my DVD player - an older sony 650D. I need to upgrade to the Pansonic RP56.

 

[jlegault]

Thanks for the advice - I am going to borrow a friend's avia disk tomorrow.


I can't find the calibration procedure in the archives, I' appreciate it greatly if you would forward that email on to me.

 

[jeffreyw]

jlegault-


I sent you a PM. Send me the address where to forward the tweak to.


-Jeff

Quote:

Originally posted by jlegault Thanks for the advice - I am going to borrow a friend's avia disk tomorrow. I can't find the calibration procedure in the archives, I' appreciate it greatly if you would forward that email on to me.

 

[sejngordon]

jeffreyw,


I would really appreciate it if you could send me the calibration notes as well. I have had my plasma about 1 month and have yet to calibrate it.


Thanks

 

[rogo]

So I'm sitting there watching my new 42" Panasonic and I'm more than a little vexed by the buzzing.


But, then I have this epiphany:


Here I am watching off of Tivo as usual, with DirecTV's hideous picture quality (combo box mostly, so there is no difference between Tivo and live DirecTV). And suddenly I realize, "I have never seen a NTSC picture this good in my whole life."


I mean, it's still got artifacts and it's too soft. I still haven't calibrated the display properly (half-hearted attempted with Avia earlier). And I have this, dare I say, film-like image on my television.


The deinterlacer is incredible. I had just seen my brother's DRC-based Sony 61" set and it was totally unwatchable. The artifacts on the Sony were horrific and the softness beyond bearable. On my Panasonic -- yes, the comparison is apples to bananas -- the picture was just beautiful. I'm sure the 3:2 pulldown was helping a lot as film-based stuff was clearly better looking than video material.


Now, understand, I haven't watched a DVD or any HD and I am totally blown away. Plasma is not flawless, to be sure, but it is almost certainly the future of television. The notion that some other technology can take over soon seems silly. These are 4th generation displays now and by the time anything else of similar size is even available, plasmas will be 5th or 6th generation and 25-50% cheaper than they are now.


Wow!


Mark

 

[Greg099]

Dell shipping is a mystery to me, too. I ordered my Panny 42" back in September, got a ship date of early Oct, then got moved to late Oct, then moved into "sometime in November, can't really say."


So I bought a Pioneer 503cmx, got a great deal (around $8k) from someone who said he could ship it that day. That was all it took for me, so I cancelled my Dell order on Oct. 27th. Guess what showed up on November 1st? You got it, my brand new Panny 42". As tempted as I was to stick it in the bedroom (since the pio is already set up in the theater), I rejected it and will be getting a credit back.


So I guess your assumption that cancelling your order gets you bumped to the front of the line may be correct!


Greg