Panasonic TH-42PX60U: Best Value 42″ Plasma
If you are considering buying a new HDTV, then I would seriously consider the Panasonic TH-42PX60U. The 42″ set is priced to kill at Tweeter currently (who would have guessed?). It is $1299 after you add it to your cart. Also, the salesman at my local Tweeter said he would give me the online price. On Black Friday at Best Buy, the TV will be on sale for only $999.99 as part of their 7-hour specials from 5am-12pm.
After a relatively short life of 8 years or so, my parent’s Panasonic tube TV bit the dust last week, and I was called in to find a replacement. We actually ended up with the 37″ Panasonic TH-37PX60U due to room and furniture restrictions. But, the 42″ model was seriously considered, since it was actually $200 cheaper than the 37″!
The 60U line of Panasonic HDTVs was released in September 2006. It consists of the affordable 37″ and 42″ plasma models, and (much) more expensive 50″ and 56″ models. There is also a 42″ EDTV in the line, but do not even consider that since it is not HD. The 600U Panasonic line features their higher end models, which have more features including CableCard and better sound. CableCard would be nice, but CableCard does not allow you to buy movies or pay-per-view programming on demand. And, if you are using external speakers (as you should be with these nice HDTVs), then the sound doesn’t matter at all.
The TH-42PX60U comes packed with features such as two HDMI inputs (for your upscaling DVD player, Playstation 3, HD-DVD player, Blu-ray player, receiver, or PVR/cable box), digital audio output (for your surround sound speaker system), stereo audio and composite video out (for a low-end PVR/cable box or stereo speaker system), plenty of component inputs (for your XBOX 360 or DVD player), plenty of composite video inputs (if you still have a VCR), and a QAM tuner (to receive unscrambled HDTV). With QAM in the Boston area, one will receive 7 free channels in HD over the standard cable line: ABC, NBC, TV-38, CBS, FOX, WGBH HD, and CW.
The TH-42PX60U also features RCA jacks (composite video and stereo audio) on the front and an SD card input for viewing photos straight from your digital camera on your HDTV.
CNET gave the TH-42PX60U a “Very Good” rating of 7.5/10 and Consumer Reports also rated it highly. This HDTV is a bargain.
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