Brief Comparison Of Popular 42 Inches Plasma Televisions
October 4, 2008
Walking past a TV store, one’s attention will certainly be captured by the Plasma TVs on display in the window. What a great treat to the eye that would be, to see the TVs, standing elegantly, basking in the admiration of the on-lookers. With the big giants of the plasma market, like LG, Samsung, Pioneer, Philips, Panasonic and Toshiba, constantly striving to bring out the best plasma models, laden with the latest technologies, consumers will always find themselves in great dilemma while making a choice.
A brief comparison of 6 most popular plasma TVs is made below, hoping to help consumers in their decision making process. Our contenders are - Pioneer PDP-428XD plasma TV, Samsung PS42A457 plasma TV, Panasonic TH-42PX80B plasma TV, Philips 42HF7444T plasma TV, LG 42PG3000 plasma TV and Toshiba 42WP46P plasma TV.
| Physical Features Attribute/Name | Pioneer PDP-428XD | Samsung PS42A457 | Panasonic TH-42PX80B | Philips 42HF7444T | LG 42PG3000 | Toshiba 42WP46P |
| Screen diagonal measure (inches) | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| Dimensions W x H x D (mm) | 1040×679x115 | 1055×667x 96.2 | 1020×727x327 | 1240×680x104 | 1040×674x84 | 1273×710x137 |
| Image Aspect Ratio | 16:9 | 16:9 | 16:9 | Not provided | 16:9 | 16:9 |
| Weight (kg) | 30 | 26.8 | 28 | 42 | 25.5 | 25 |
| Display
Attribute/Name |
Pioneer PDP-428XD | Samsung PS42A457 | Panasonic TH-42PX80B | Philips 42HF7444T | LG 42PG3000 | Toshiba 42WP46P |
| Resolution (pixels) | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 852 x 480 |
| Screen brightness (cd/?) | Not provided | 1500 | Not provided | 1200 | 1500 | 1000 |
| Image contrast ratio | 16,000:1 | 30,000:1 | 15,000:1 | 10,000:1 | 20,000:1 | 3000:1 |
| Display Formats | 720p | 720p | 720p | 720p | 720p | 480p |
| Connections
Attribute/Name |
Pioneer PDP-428XD | Samsung PS42A457 | Panasonic TH-42PX80B | Philips 42HF7444T | LG 42PG3000 | Toshiba 42WP46P |
| HDMI | 3 (ver 1.3) | 3 (ver 1.2) | 3 | 2 | 3 (ver 1.3) inputs. 1 Port PC Mode - SIMPLINK 1/2 Port | Nil |
| SCART | 3 RGB | 2 | 2 RGB | Nil | 2 (1-Full and 1–Half) | 3 (2-RGB and 1–S-Video) |
| VGA/PC | 1 | 1 D-Sub PC input | 1 | 1 | 1 RGB input and 1 audio | 1 |
| Headphone | Nil | 1 | Nil | 1 | Nil | 1 |
| Composite | 1 | 1 audio + video | 1 | 2 (1–audio + video, 1– video) | Nil | 1 |
| S-Video | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Component | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| RF | Nil | 1 | Nil | Nil | 1 | 1 |
| Audio output | Nil | 1 optical | Nil | Nil | 1 optical | 1 audio line-out |
| Others | 1 USB port, 1 CI slot, RCS audio output | 1 RJ-45 input, 1 RJ-12 input, 1 SmartCard Xpress | 1 RS-232C, CI Slot, USB 2.0 port | 1 Subwoofer output, 2 audio line-in |
Audio
| Pioneer PDP-428XD | Samsung PS42A457 | Panasonic TH-42PX80B | Philips 42HF7444T | LG 42PG3000 | Toshiba 42WP46P |
| 2 stereo SRS; SRS Focus; TruBass with sub woofer | 2 Down-firing SRS TruSurround XT speakers | 2 stereo speakers | 2 Virtual Dolby Surround stereo speakers | 2 SRS TruSurround XT/Clear Voice Speakers, with Dolby Digital Decoder Invisible speakers | 2 integrated NICAM stereo speakers with BBE High Fidelity Sound and Bass Boost |
Colour (Appearance)
| Pioneer PDP-428XD | Samsung PS42A457 | Panasonic TH-42PX80B | Philips 42HF7444T | LG 42PG3000 | Toshiba 42WP46P |
| Black, simple yet stylish | Black with a silver tinge at the bottom | Piano black | Silver frost, Black deco | Black glossy | Black and silver titan |
What’s special about these plasma TVs?
Pioneer PDP-428XD Kuro plasma TV - “Kuro” means “black” in Japanese, and this TV, true to its name, gives rich black levels. Pioneer has implemented the “true matrix imaging with deep waffle rib structure” technology, which plays an important role in producing bright and crisp images, while reducing any blur. The i-CLEAR drive, employed in the plasma TV, enables reproduction of the most subtle colour differences. The in-built Intelligent Brightness Control, automatically adjusts the screen brightness in accordance with room lighting and on-screen lighting. The TV features a Movie Mode as well, that does a good job in displaying lifelike movie images. Also noteworthy, is the menu system of the TV, which is well designed and easy to use. The Kuro Link HDMI CEC feature enables controlling the AV devices connected to the TV with a single remote control. The HD plasma TV also includes Colour Temperature Control, Picture-in-Picture, TeleText, integrated Freeview and Analogue Tuners, a user-friendly Electronic Program Guide and noise and flicker reduction routines.
Samsung PS42A457 plasma TV – This plasma TV incorporates the DNIe+ technology, which enables portray clear pictures with fine details. The Colour and Motion optimizers employed in the TV, produce images that look true to life. Also doing a great job are the Contrast and Detail Enhancers, which create great colour depths. The Filterbright technology implemented in the plasma TV, removes unwanted reflections by absorbing external light that approaches the screen and transmitting its internal light, thus achieving rich contrast levels. There are 3 modes offered, for cinema, sport and games respectively, to make picture quality suitable to the viewing content. Clear, fluid motion pictures are achieved with the 100Hz picture processing technique, that has been employed in the plasma TV. The HDMI CEC functionality called Anynet+ by Samsung, allows easy control of the AV devices connected to the TV, with a single remote control. A wide viewing angle of 175° is presented by the screen. The HD plasma TV also includes a 3D comb filter, digital noise reduction techniques, a clock, sleep timer and anti burn-in technology, all performing their jobs with great fidelity.
Panasonic TH-42PX80B plasma TV – This plasma TV employs techniques like Real Black Drive system, 24p Playback and x.v. Colour standard to achieve great picture quality with brilliant colours. The Real Black Drive system enhances contrast, 24p Playback allows film-like reproduction of pictures and the x.v Colour provides a large palette of colours. A rare feature that this TV provides, is the power on/off button, which could turn out to be a good power saving option. Another rare feature is the SD card slot, for displaying pictures from your digital camera. Like the plasma TVs discussed above, this one too supports HDMI CEC functionality, thus avoiding confusion while handling multiple AV gadgets. The HD plasma TV promises great black levels and very low noise levels. If you are a games freak, then this TV would surely impress you with its judder-free graphics quality. This plasma TV comes with integrated Freeview Tuner and Colour Temperature Control as well.
Philips 42HF7444T plasma TV – Philips too, is no way behind in the race. Philips 42HF7444T plasma TV also incorporates a basket full of features for delivering great picture quality and performance. The Pixel Plus feature focuses on enhancing analogue broadcast signals. Cinema like images are produced by the Digital Crystal Clear technology. Other features like Smart Picture Control, Luminance Transient Improvement, Colour Transient Improvement, Contrast Enhancer and Video Noise reduction techniques contribute to displaying clear images, with good black levels and natural looking colours. This HD plasma TV supports both PAL (2:2 pulldown compensation) as well as NTSC (3:2 pulldown compensation) encoding systems. A 3D comb filter is employed for filtering out the brightness and colour details in the incoming video signals.
LG 42PG3000 plasma TV – Here is a tough contender in the plasma arena. Throwing a glance at the lengthy features list of this plasma TV, we have the 100Hz processing technique, Dual XD Engine, Vivid filter, Colour Temperature Control, TeleText, Clock, Sleep Timer, built-in digital Freeview tuner, 3:2 as well as 2:2 pull down compensations, 3D Noise Reduction techniques and modes like Picture mode, AV mode and Expert mode. Phew!!! The 16 bit panel of the TV enables displaying pictures with large gradation of colours. The HDMI CEC functionality - Simplink, makes way for ease of control of AV devices connected to the TV. An eight day Electronic Program Guide, which is user friendly and well laid out, is also available. The HD plasma TV is also equipped with an integrated Freeview tuner and a 3D comb filter.
Toshiba 42WP46P plasma TV – Toshiba has kept things simple, yet efficient here. This EDTV comes equipped with a digital comb filter, Colour Temperature Control, Video noise reduction methods, Colour Detail Enhancer and built-in digital and analogue tuners. There is a simple to use on-screen menu with options to control various picture quality attributes. Picture-in-Picture, Auto Power off and Teletext are some of the other features that come along with this HD plasma TV. The black levels of the TV are accurate and deep and the picture performance is also good. While Toshiba 42WP46P would prove to be light on your pockets, it definitely does not compromise on performance and quality.
The plasma world will always have tough competitions, with the big brands always striving to reach the top. Pioneer PDP-428XD plasma TV, Samsung PS42A457 plasma TV, Panasonic TH-42PX80B plasma TV, Philips 42HF7444T plasma TV, LG 42PG3000 plasma TV and Toshiba 42WP46P plasma TV are some of the strong players, which are here to stay, perhaps for a long time.
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