Panasonic Viera TX-P42G10B review

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Verdict:

Fantastic image quality and the benefit of Freesat make this a great choice if you're after a 42in HD TV.

Review Date: 21 Sep 2009

Price when reviewed: £790

Buy it now for: £800

Supplier: http://www.ajelectronics.co.uk

Our Rating 5 stars out of 5

User Rating

ExpertReviews Award

Panasonic's 42in Viera TX-P42G10B is great value for a full HD plasma TV. There are plenty of cheaper plasma TVs out there, but they usually have just a 1,024x768 resolution. Compared with most LCD-based HD TVs, plasma screens have much better contrast, which means blacks are truly black and not just dark grey.

The Viera's design is a little plain, but it's what you see when you switch it on that counts, and here it doesn't disappoint. For a start, it has a built-in Freesat tuner, which means you can enjoy free HD programming from the BBC and ITV. There isn't a huge amount of content, but it includes the best of the BBC's programming.

Whether you're watching Freesat, Freeview or a Blu-ray movie, image quality is excellent. Contrast is stunning - we saw deep blacks and bright whites when viewing our test video. Thanks to the 600Hz refresh rate and Intelligent Frame Creation, which generates intermediate frames between those in the source video, motion is also smooth.

Colours are natural, with flesh tones, grass, trees, flowers and skies looking immensely realistic. Viewing angles are extremely wide, with no loss of colour saturation even at 170°. There's a choice of normal, vivid and game modes, but you can also tweak the individual quality settings to your liking. We noticed no input lag in game mode, so the TX-P42G10B is a fine choice for plugging in a games console.

There's a wide brightness range, so the image is easy to see in the brightest conditions, but you can also lower it at night, reducing power consumption by around half at the minimum setting.

If there's one criticism, it's that the Viera doesn't upscale Freeview broadcasts very well. This is due to a lack of aggressive processing, which makes HD video look great, but standard definition material (such as the BBC News ticker) looks soft.

Most people will be happy with three HDMI ports, although most HD TVs now have four. It's handy that one of these is on the side of the TV along with an SD card slot. Plug in a memory card and you can view a slideshow, listen to MP3s or watch AVCHD videos. We also like the EPG, which shows seven channels at once and makes navigating between days easy.

There's an Ethernet port, but this TV doesn't support Panasonic's Viera Cast web portal. Instead, it's for Freesat services, which will soon include the BBC's iPlayer.

The TX-P42G10B is a superb choice. With excellent image quality, great sound and built-in Freesat and Freeview tuners, plus the promise of the BBC iPlayer, it wins a Best Buy award.

Author: Jim Martin

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User Reviews

Independent customer reviews from Reevoo.com

Viera TX-P42G10B scored:
9.2 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 175 reviews:

14 Apr 2009 Steve, Llantwit Major

Good Points

Stunning picture quality with very natural colour. HD is fabulous, its like looking out of your window so pure is the picture. Remote control is easy to use with good clear markings on the buttons. Good looking TV although I would have preferred silver surrounds as this blends into the room easier.

Bad Points

There are no bad points but a touch more "presence" in the sound and could we have a choice of colour i.e. Black or Silver.

14 May 2009 Tim, Manchester

Good Points

Excellent image quality of this set. The advertised "infinite blacks" may not be realistically possible but I've not seen many other televisions come this close. Plug in a blu-ray player and this television comes to life and produces outstanding image that pops vibrant and luscious colour. Excellent motion that leaves LCD/LED TV's in the starting blocks. Brilliant user friendly remote with large buttons. Standard definition images are handled very well producing a better viewing experience than many other large sized TV's handicapped by poor image sources. Freesat and Freeview tuners are both quick and provide a decent image quality. Freesat HD channels allow the tv to stretch it's legs producing a very strong image quality.

Bad Points

This TV is not cheap with many other 42" 1080p models available for less however none that meet the spec of the G10. 3rd HDMI input is on the side which may annoy some. Higher energy consumption than LCD's

See more Viera TX-P42G10B reviews on Reevoo.com

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