42in Plasma TV Picture Sound Features Usability Value All round performance that is hard to beat for the price. 89% 1024 x 768 pixels HD Ready

Reviewed: 29 March 2007

Design

The Panasonic TH42PX70 like its predecessor comes either on a pedestal, with wall-mounting brackets, or on a Panasonic cabinet. Depending on where you shop, the cabinet version will cost another £200 or so and the wall mounted version around £50 more than the pedestal version. The panel itself is stylish Panasonic minimalist glossy black finish which will add a touch of class to any living space. For real impact and presence go for the Panasonic cabinet which is perfectly matched to the panel.

Features

2 HDMI and 2 Scarts along with a PC/vga input and component input form a standard rather than a dazzling connectivity set. There are no multimedia, s-video or usb connections, but there is an integrated Freeview tuner.

	Details Screen size & shape: 42in 16:9 Tuner: Digital Sound system: Stereo Resolution: 1024 x 768 HD Ready: Yes Contrast Ratio: 10,000:1 Brightness: 450cd/m2 OTHER FEATURES: V-real picture processing, Integrated Freeview. SOCKETS: 2 HDMI, 2 Scart, component video, PC input.

 

The TH42PX70 is Panasonic's 10th generation plasma and as such has a completely new panel, the G10.

The TH42PX70 forms part of the base range of new plasmas from Panasonic and as such does not have the full HD 1080p capability that higher spec models, which are due out later in the year, come equipped with.

Improvements in the performance of this latest plasma offering from Panasonic will be due in the main to the introduction of this new panel. There are no major advances to the V-Real Picture Processing Engine although it has been tweaked in a number of ways, and now sports a 16-bit processor.

Another feature of the TH42PX70, Viera Link, uses high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) connections to automatically switch between different devices, put them in standby and take control of them with full menu access using a single remote.