Hitachi 42PD9700 Review

42in Plasma

Picture
Sound
Features
Usability
Value

Great HD performance and above average SD quality combined with excellent value

HD Ready:

yes

Resolution:

1024 x 1080

Rating:

88%

Reviewed: 07 June 2007

Design

The Hitachi 42PD9700 is very pleasing on the eye with the black frame and stand perfectly offset by slim silver speakers either side. While there are those of you who prefer the all black minimalist design of some of its rivals, we feel the design of the 42PD9700 will stand the test of time and look like a modern addition to your living room even in a few years time.

Features

Although its not what we have come to know as Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) the resolution of the 42PD9700 is unusual at 1,024 x 1,080. It will be interesting to see if the 1,080 horizontal lines will make a difference to picture quality with sources such as Sky TV (1080i).

Screen: 42in 16:9

Tuner: Digital

Sound System: Nicam

Resolution: 1024 x 1080

Contrast Ratio: 3,000:1

Brightness: 1400cd/m2

Other Features: Picture Master HD Processing, Comb Filter, black enhancement, Film mode, Auto colour picture options..

Sockets: 2 HDMI, 3 Scarts (2
RGB), component video input,
composite video input, S-video
input,PC D-Sub input, CI slot, composite video output, SD card slot, subwoofer line out.

Hitachi's Alternating Lighting of Surfaces (AliS) technology explains why this panel is not the strange shape you would imagine it to be. ALiS extends the surface area of the phosphor inside the display, and lights the gaps between the pixels to effectively deliver the 1080 lines of horizontal resolution.

Connectivity on the 42PD9700 is quite impressive with 2 HDMI inputs, 3 Scarts, component, composite and S-video inputs. In addition there is an SD card slot for amongst other things, the display of your digital still photos.

Hitachi's proprietary picture processing technology, 'Picture Master' has evolved into 'Picture Master HD' on the 42PD9700 which indicates that the system has been tweaked for high Definition (HD) sources. Picture Master HD has been designed to reduce video 'noise', improve colour saturations, detailing and the tone of colour.

The 42PD9700 also sports a built in digital Freeview tuner which gives you the convenience of being able to directly set up to eight timer events for timeshift recording.

Just to make friends and neighbours go a little green around the gills, the 42PD9700 has an electronic swivelling stand operated by the remote control.

Performance

We are convinced that the 1080 lines of resolution on the 42PD9700 contribute to a more accomplished picture performance. High Definition in particular is superb, with a sharpness and level of detail that will have you believing you are viewing content on a much more expensive display.

The reason we think the screen's resolution makes such a difference is that with a switch to a 720p source there is a slight degradation in performance. Images become a little softer, and a small, but noticeable amount of video noise creeps into the picture.

The plaudits don't end there however with the 42PD9700 delivering vibrant colours with a subtlety which gives impressive realism to skin tones and other tricky colour intensive scenes.

Moving on to Standard Definition (SD) sources there is the inevitable drop in picture performance, which introduces a softness to the pictures with a pronounced increase in video noise. It is testament to the picture processing wizardry on the 42PD9700 that these problems are present as nothing more than minor annoyances. The above average SD performance with Sky TV hints at not only at the superior quality of their 1080i signals but that the 42PD9700 is spared the rescaling of that source to fit its 1080 horizontal lines.

Coming as a pleasant surprise is the acoustic ability of the Hitachi 42PD9700. Although many will see this screen as the basis of a home cinema system, the standard speakers will throw up a dilemma in that you could live with them (just) as part of that system.

Conclusion

The Hitachi 42PD9700 is a great high definition performance and with above average standard definition quality this panel is a real contender - great value makes it even more attractive.