Rated 
Panasonic Plasma 42PZ80/85U (42 inch) Excellent Performance and Value
1080P capability, very good picture performance, good deep blacks, negligible digital artifacts, good sound quality, nice selection of menu adjustments, remote button size large (see below)
Menu adjustments should be displayed longer on screen before going back to the main list format to make adjusting the picture easier (annoying but useable), no PIP capablity but (see below)
Posted 1 year ago - Strengths (continued): and easy to use and finally low price. - Weaknesses (continued): understandable at this price, takes a second or two to change channels but shorter than others, not much wrong with this TV! - This is our first flat screen full HDTV. We have had analog Sony XBR (27 and 32 inch) CRT TVs. When I compared the picture performance of this plasma (after break-in and calibration to our older CRTs I was pleasantly surprised at the significant performance improvement while using only a 480i and 480p DVD players. I used 3 test dics to calibrate and evaluate 1) Video Essentials 2) Avia Guide to Home Theater 3) HQV Benchmark DVD (from www.hqv.com) - The blacks of the plasma were almost as black as our calibrated CRTs but much better than our other LCD computer monitors. The smoothness and detail of the test disk (480i) material and movies (480i) was excellent. The color accuracy was significantly better than our CRTs (little or no red push - exaggeration). The geometry and convergence distortions (something that always bugged me on our CRTs) were completely eliminated. The calibrated picture brightness was more than adequate even for a normally light room with daylight coming from behind the plasma. The anti-reflective coating on the plasma significantly reduced reflections, but does not completely remove them - far better than a CRT, possibly eliminates 50-75% of reflections (an LCD screen does better in this one area). For some reason 480i DVD playback was better than 480p playback with my players, possibly because the 480p player is a rather inexpensive Magnavox DVD/VCR combo (> $100 at Target). This was noticeable in the "jaggies test" (disk #3). I did not evaluate 1080i/p DVD playback because I do not have a DVD player with that capability, yet. However, over the cable 720p and 1080i performance was excellent. - Overall, picture performance "A". This TV delivers an excellent value. I believe this "plasma" has better inherent performance than "LCD" and "CRT" (with the exception of black level - very close) TVs. No regrets and much satisfaction! Definitely check it out for yourself!
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