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.
LG 60PC45 Full HD Plasma TV
September 28, 2008
LG 60PC45 Plasma TV is built with silver and piano black finish that looks gorgeous and attractive in its own way. It comes with digital TV tuner and features Freeview facility. This is HD-Ready TV meaning that it can display high resolution pictures. It comes with digital tuner to tune in to various Freeview digital channels. This TV comes with built-in stand that can be placed on the table. The colour of the table is black.
Display
The screen comes with size of 60 inches. The aspect ratio of LG 60PC45 Plasma Television is 16:9. The resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels produce clearer and brighter pictures. The contrast ratio comes to 10000:1. This is the ratio of darkest black and brightest white. Larger the ratio, clearer and brighter will be the images. The brightness of 1200cd/m2 produces excellent pictures. This model TV supports 24p signal.
Sound
Two speakers produce Surround MAX sound effect with a total output power of 20W. It comes with built-in 3D surround sound. It features auto volume adjustment too.
Connections
Connections such as Component Inputs, Composite Inputs, Digital Audio out, HDCP, HDMI Input, S-Video Input, Scart Connections and VGA (HD-15) Inputs.
Some Important Features
Some important features of LG 60PC45 HD Ready Plasma TV are Video noise reduction, parental control, Auto Power Off, 2:2 pull down compensation, 3:2 pull down compensation, on-screen menu, DCDi (Directional Correlational Deinterlacing), channel labelling, XD Engine technology and progressive scan. Back light life comes to about 60000 hours. It comes with remote control that is of infra red type. Another important feature of this model plasma TV is Teletext that comes with a memory of 1000 pages.
Sockets
Various sockets are 2 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component Video, Composite Video and PC input.
Power
Internal power supply requires voltage of AC 120/230 V and a frequency of 50/60 Hz. While in use it consumes power of 630W and in standby or sleep mode it consumes power of 1W.
Dimensions and Warranty
This model plasma TV measures 97cm (H) x 161cm (W) x 9.8cm (D). It comes with one year warranty.
LG 42PX5D Widescreen Plasma TV With HD Ready
September 23, 2008
Every model that is launched in to the market by LG is no doubt of a standard quality. The latest model introduced by this company is LG 42PX5D Plasma TV. This model will definitely outshine the existing ones with the advanced features packed in it. It comes with built-in Digital TV tuner and Freeview. With this facility you can tune in to different digital TV channels. The plasma screen measures 42 inches diagonally.
Digital TV
LG 42PX5D Plasma Television is a HD Ready TV that can accept and display high definition pictures that have signals of 720p and 1080i. This is also HDTV compatible meaning that it can receive HD signal and display it. The aspect ratio of this model is 16:9. You can comfortably watch programmes even from an angle of 160 degrees.
Picture
The brightness of this model plasma TV is 1000 cd/m2 and the colour depth is 107.0 million. The contrast ratio comes to 5000:1, which is the ratio of the brightest white and the darkest black. LG 42PX5D HD Ready Plasma TV features Picture-in-Picture and progressive scan. The resolution of 1024×768 produces brighter and sharper pictures. Higher the resolution, clearer will be the pictures.
Sound
Two speakers that come with this model produce stereo sound effect with the out power of 15W each. It is also designed with auto volume adjustment. Sub woofer is also included also along with the speakers. Various audio controls are balance, sound mode, treble and bass.
Power
While in use, LG 42PX5D High Definition Plasma TV consumes power of 450W. The power is internal and it requires voltage of AC 120/230 V and a frequency of 50/60 Hz.
Features
Other important features included are auto power off, XD Engine technology, 3:2 pull down compensation and parental channel lock. This TV features Teletext on Freeview, which is a broadcast service of news related to sports, weather, entertainment, financial services etc.
Dimensions and Other Features
LG 42PX5D Plasma TV measures 65.3cm (H) x 125.2cm (W) x 9.9cm (D). It comes with one year warranty. Wide viewing angle along with high pixel resolution provide a vibrant pictures with soothing colour effects.
LG 42PC55 Widescreen Plasma Television
September 20, 2008
LG 42PC55 Plasma TV comes with a screen size of 42”. The contrast ratio of this model plasma TV is 15000:1 and the screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels. Higher the number of pixels brighter will be the images. Vibrant images are produced depending upon the contrast ratio and screen resolution. The brightness of 1500 cd/m2 enables the user to watch his favourite programmes comfortably in a bright room.
LG 42PC55 HD Ready Plasma TV comes with analogue and digital tuner. Various video interfaces that come with this model are composite, Component, SCART, HDMI and S-Video. The display format of this model is 720p and the image aspect ratio is 16:9. It features progressive scanning thereby scanning each line to produce brighter pictures. Some important features of this model plasma TV are Video noise reduction, XD Engine technology, parental control and DCDi. The DVB-T digital TV tuner allows you to access Freeview channels.
LG 42PC55 Plasma TV is a HD-Ready TV with teletext feature that can hold a memory of 1000 pages. SECAM and PAL are the different analogue TV tuners. The two built-in speakers produce stereo sound effect with auto volume adjustment and total output power of 20W. It comes with built-in stand so that it can be placed on the tabletop. The power supply is internal and it consumes power of 310W while in use. The remote control is of infrared type. The dimension of LG 42PC55 High Definition Plasma TV is 105cm (W) x 31cm (D) x 76.6cm (H) and weighs about 28Kg.
LG 42PC1D Plasma Television
September 19, 2008
If you are looking for a quality image High-Definition plasma television which comes reasonably priced with all those advanced peripherals, then the LG 42PC1D HD Ready Plasma Television could be an ideal option.
The outstanding design details of this HD-Ready plasma TV are its freshly developed Clear Filter and the XD Engine picture-processing technology. The Clear Filter that is a thin veneer of plastic that effectively replaces the glass panel, eliminates almost all on-screen reflections. Due to the usage of the plastic panel the overall weight also becomes relatively less, compared to other plasma TVs.
The XD Engine picture-processing technology includes deinterlacing, scaling and colour optimisation, in order to increase overall image quality.
There are two HDMI Interfaces which make it easy to hook up more than one external HDMI kit. Three Scart Interfaces, a couple of which, RGB capable are also available in this device. This Sky high-definition compatible plasma TV also includes a component video input, a VGA connection that helps in hooking it up to your computer, two composite connections, an S-Video input, DVB-T reception, integrated Freeview tuner, YUV interface and HDCP. The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) which is very user-friendly makes it very easy to navigate and tweak the several picture adjustment options. Both digital and analogue terrestrial tuners can be tuned separately and swiftly. These operations can be performed with the infrared remote control which comes with the television.
The LG 42PC1D comes in a colour combination of bold black and magestic silver. It weighs about 25 kilograms and has dimensions of 1129 (W) x 749 (H) x102 (D)mm. The screen brightness is 1200 cd/m2 , HD formats supported are 720p, 1080i and the contrast ratio is 10000:1. The resolution of the screen is 1,024×768 pixels with an image aspect ratio of 16:9. The TV comes equipped with 2 speakers with total output power of 30W. It also has SRS TXT audio surround effects. A colour-temperature-control is available which could be set to make viewing pleasant. There is also a picture-in-picture (PiP) option which enables you, while watching a particular channel, to view other channels at the same time in an inset box on the screen.
This fair priced plasma TV even outperforms some of its costlier rivals. The image quality is simply superb when fed with high definition video input, with every detail and colour standing out magnificently. Fast motions are clear and noise levels are low. The fine black levels enable you to see the darkest images clearly too. Standard-definition pictures are also impressive. In a nutshell, the LG 42PC1D is a simple, cost effective, fine looking and good performing Freeview Plasma Television.
