The DMP-BDT300 is the first Blu-Ray 3D compatible player Digital Versus had a chance to test.  The DMP-BDT300 is a good player but has its limits. Its multimedia player only plays SD and HD DivX (as well as JPEGs and MP3s) and we found the SD upscaling a little hard. Read full review @ Digital Versus.

Yup, we’ve got more 3D from the IFA in Berlin.  But make no mistake: if this show is anything to go by, then 3D is on its way.  Being here has allowed us to understand a little bit more about how the technology is developing.

Until now, when people mentioned 3D, what came to our mind was Pixar animations or video games: in short, products for young people.  However, the demos we’ve seen here have been much more wide-ranging (sport, films, games, concerts …) and a cross-generational audience.  From 8 to 80, we saw just about everybody trying on the glasses, and above all a lot of people aged over 35.  Maybe youngsters are up-to-speed with 3D already?

Read full article @ Digital Versus

The Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U keeps it simple for those needing a good TV without all the bells and whistles. The design is pretty straight forward. It is mostly black with nothing to really gawk over. A panel below the screen opens to reveal some buttons and inputs.

While the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U might be plain in appearance, it surely isn’t plain once turned on. Resolution is a respectable 1024 x 768. Contrast ratio is set at an impressive 15,000:1. Built in digital and analog tuners provide the tools needed to receive and display all you favorite programs. A built in card reader makes it easy to show off all your latest vacation photos. 3 HDMI connections allow for easy hookup of the latest digital gear.

Experts who reviewed the Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U like the deep blacks and accurate colors. The remote control feels ergonomic and the buttons are large enough to find them in a dark room by feel alone. The 3 HDMI connections provide enough options for most people’s digital gear. Users feel the Panasonic TH-42PX80U’s picture quality and feature set are well worth the price. Panasonic has been known to make some of the best plasma TVs, and the TH-42PX80U shows us why.  Read more

Anyone who wants to get the best picture quality in a mainstream HDTV regardless of price will be looking at a plasma HDTV and nothing else. It is superior to both its main competitors in the HDTV space, DLP and LCD, both in the technology used and in picture quality. Perhaps the nicest thing about buying a plasma HDTV is that it is actually easier to buy than the other technologies, with fewer variables to consider.

A Quick Overview of Plasma HDTV Technology

An in-depth look at the technology behind plasma HDTV technology could fill a large (and boring) book. The summary of the tech goes like this: millions of tiny fluorescent lights of various colors, called cells, are sandwiched between two glass plates. Between the lights and the rear glass plate are electrodes which deliver electricity to light up the cells. Lighting certain cells to a desired brightness and in the correct order creates color and the illusion of movement. This is a gross over-simplification, of course, but is enough for our purposes.

Advantages of Plasma HDTV

The biggest advantage of a plasma HDTV over its competitors is its flatness. Plasma is absolutely the skinniest HDTV technology available, making it ideal for wall-mounting and other utilization where space is an issue. Conversely, plasma HDTV is also the largest available, aside from projectors, with mainstream models currently topping out at around 65″ while mainstream LCD HDTVs stop at around 52″. Plasma HDTVs also avoid the ghosting and tearing issues frequently found in DLP and LCD models.

Shortcomings of Plasma HDTV

Plasma HDTV units are subject to screen burn-in. What this means is that if the same static image is displayed for a long period of time, the image can become somewhat “stuck” on the screen. For 99% of home users, this will not be a problem, but if your favorite station is CNN Headline News or a similar station with a lot of static content and you leave it on all day, you will actually be better off with an LCD HDTV. Plasma’s other big disadvantage is that running it at maximum brightness will significantly reduce the lifetime of the panel. Because of this, many plasma HDTV owners leave the brightness settings well below maximum, which still gives it a brighter display than a conventional CRT television.

What to Look for When Shopping for a Plasma HDTV

Aside from size and price, there are really only two determining factors that must be taken into account when looking at plasma HDTVs: resolution and contrast ratio.

Resolution is determined by the number of cells that the plasma HDTV display physically consists of. It is different than the display capability, which is often what is listed. The resolution of the best plasma HDTVs is 1920 x 1080, and this is the number you want to aim for, because this is the only way to see 1080p content at its maximum resolution. Many plasma HDTVs have a resolution of only 1366 x 768 or lower; this means that even if a unit is listed as “capable” of displaying 1080p content, it will actually be down-sampling it to 720p to fit on its screen, which will result in a lower-quality image.

The truth about Contrast Ratio 

Contrast ratio is one of the most important numbers used in marketing HDTVs, which means that manufacturers have come up with all sorts of strange, tricky ways of “measuring” the contrast ratio in a way that proves their unit has a higher contrast ratio than their competitors. Now, higher numbers in contrast ratio always mean better, sharper pictures, but some manufacturers (especially manufacturers of LCD HDTVs) are using what is termed “dynamic” contrast ratio, showing numbers as ridiculously high as 20,000:1. “Static” or “true” contrast ratios give the truer indication of how sharp a picture will be, but the key is to compare the same contrast ratio when looking at plasma HDTVs. Compare the dynamic contrast ratio of two units against each other, or the static contrast ratio, but do not compare the dynamic contrast ratio of one unit to the static contrast ratio of another. By way of comparison, a clean print of a movie at a typical theater has a static contrast ratio of around 500:1.

After investigating the resolution and contrast ratio of the units you are looking at, everything else, such as picture-in-picture, number of inputs, built-in program guide, and of course the warranty, are the “nice-to-haves” which will let you determine exactly which plasma HDTV is the best for you.

About the Author

R James Cook is an HDTV aficionado, and contributes regularly to the Best HDTV Reviews website at http://www.besthdtvreviews.com/. Visit www.BestHDTVReviews.com for HDTV products, reviews, and information.

What we have done here is to cut the chase by reviewing what reviewers have already reviewed. I think as lay people, we do not need to know the basic technical mumbo-jumbo. We just need to know what is the best in the eyes of the reviewers. We shall try to tone down on the technical stuff and tell you in a straight lay-person’s language.

Hence, we give you a summary of the best 42″ HDTV that is recommended by prominent reviewers. After much of our own research and reviewing, we have narrowed to one 42″ HDTV:

Reasons For Buying the Panasonic TH-42PZ700U 1. Top picture clarity and quality, especially its deep black levels and realistic shadow detail along with a clean image. In short, it wins hands down for picture quality!!!. This is without going into technical picture comparisons etc…but just human visual appreciation of the picture quality;

2. Top rating by some key top reviewers (I dont think they can be so wrong);

3. 81% of Amazon.com’s customers who viewed this product bought it!;

Panasonic TH-42PZ700U

Enough said. You have to trust us to find out for you what the reviewers have summarised as their choice recommendation for a 42″ HDTV!

How/Where To Buy Panasonic TH-42PZ700U

If you find the information provided by us to be useful, please support us by buying this product through us.

To buy or to find out more, please click Panasonic TH-42PZ700U

For other audio/visual product reviews, please check out our review site at all-audio-visual.blogspot.com

For all other electronic products, please visit our online shop at allelectronics.8thmall.com

Technical Details

• 1920 x 1080 Resolution – standard full HD
• 4096 Shades of gradation
• 2 HDMI Inputs
• Built-in SD Card Memory Slot
• GalleryPlayer Capable Model Number: TH-42PZ700U
• Screen size: 42-inch class (41.6 inches diagonal)
• Aspect ratio: 16:9 (widescreen)
• HDTV compatibility: HDTV: 1080p/1080i/720p; EDTV: 480p
• Displayable colors: Maximum 68.7 billion equivalent colors for darker part
• Shades of gradation: 4096
• Pixel pitch (H x V): 0.48 x 0.48 millimeters
• Panel type: G10 progressive 1080p HD plasma display panel
• Aspect control for TV/AV modes: 4:3, zoom, full, just, H-fill for TV/AV modes, 4:3 full for PC mode
• Native resolution (number of pixels): 1920 x 1080
• Contrast ratio: Up to 5000:1
• Progressive scan: Yes
• Video noise reduction: Yes
• Digital comb filter: Motion adaptive 3D-Y/C
• Color purity optimizer (3D color management): Yes
• Sub-pixel controller: Yes
• Motion pattern noise reduction: Yes
• Studio ref. mode: No
• Pro setting: No
• Digital cinema reality: Yes
• Speakers: Passive radiator, woofer x 2 (L, R); 23-millimeter slim speaker x 2 (L, R)
• Number of speakers: 4
• Audio output: 31 W (10-percent THD); woofer: 8 ohms, 55 to 200 Hz; tweeter: 8 ohms, 200 to 17000 Hz
• Surround sound: Yes
• BBE ViVA HD3D sound: Yes
• Tuners: Integrated ATSC
• Photo viewer: Yes (SD slot)
• SD card slot: Yes
• CableCard ready: No
• HDMI input: 2
• Analog audio input (for HDMI): 2 rear
• Composite video input: 3 (2 rear, 1 front)
• S-Video input: 3 (2 rear, 1 front)
• Audio input (for video): 3 (2 rear, 1 front)
• PC input (RGB-VGA): Mini D-sub 15-pin (rear)
• Audio input (for PC): 1 (M3 stereo plug)
• Component video input [Y, PB (CB), PR (CR)]: 2 rear
• Audio input (for component video): 2 rear
• Composite video output: 1 rear
• Audio output: 1 rear
• Digital audio out: 1 (optical)
• IR out: No
• EZ Sync HDAVI control: Yes, via HDMI interface
• Video picture memory: Yes
• TV Guide On-screen program guide: No
• One tuner split screen display: No
• On-screen display languages: English, Spanish, French
• P-I-P scalable size: No
• V-Chip program lockout: Yes
• Built-in closed caption decoder: Yes
• Sleep timer: Yes
• Video input labeling: Yes
• Power supply: AC 120 V, 60 Hz
• Power consumption: 580 W, 0.2 W (standby)
• Receiving system: ATSC/QAM/NTSC
• Operating temperature: 32 to 104 degrees F
• Pedestal stand: Included
• Remote control: Included
• Dimensions with pedestal stand: 42.5 x 29.8 x 14.6 inches (W x H x D)
• Dimensions: 42.5 x 27.2 x 5.5 inches (W x H x D)’
• Weight with pedestal stand: 99.3 pounds
• Weight: 83.8 pounds
• Warranty: 1-year limited warranty

What’s in the Box

TH-42PZ700U plasma HDTV, remote control (with batteries), AC cord, pedestal, two cable clamper, antenna adapter
For more details check out this link, Product Description

About the Author

Internetbizzz is a reviewer of review sites for all kinds of products, bringing to the consumer the best of breed recommendations. For audio visual product reviews, please check out http://all-audio-visual.blogspot.com. For all electronic products, you can visit our online shop at http://allelectronics.8thmall.com

HDTV screens are available in three formats called plasma, LCD and rear projection. Each of the three has their own benefits and differs from brand to brand. While buying a HDTV screen makes sure that you set should not require repeated repairs as once the problem is repaired, it might reoccur. Brands like Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Philips, Sharp, Sanyo, Toshiba, Bang and Olufsen, JVC and Pioneer are counted as top 10 HDTV brands.

Panasonic offers HDTV screens in three formats of Plasma, LCD and rear projection. Panasonic believes to provide the latest in HDTV technology in its models like LIFI which stands for Light fidelity and is exclusively used at Panasonic. It is a kind of light source technology which helps in reducing the start up time of the rear projection screens. Another technology is Motion Picture Pro in LCD which increases the clarity in high motion scenes like action scene or sports.

Samsung is another brand which offers you many variants of HDTV screens. Samsung uses LED smart lighting technique which helps in adjusting the brightness by switching on and off the optimum combination of backlight producing contrast ratio of 500,000 to 1.

Philips has been named one the top 10 HDTV in the market because of with its high end technology offering great picture and sound. Ambilight technology of Philips which is a lightening arrangement which throws light on the walls near to the TV setting the mood and ambience.

Sony has created ripples in the HDTV market with its range of screen. The most successful and popular is Sony Bravia which stands for Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated architecture which delivers excellent audio and video.

Sharp Aquos brand has become popular because of its liquid crystal technology which makes the images sharp and near to natural. Aquos stand for aqua and quality and is integrated in the LCD televisions.

Sanyo HDTV come with integrated HDTV tuners which save you from the head ache of buying an external tuners and this makes the signal quality better in Sanyo HDTVs.

Regza from Toshiba is another favorite in the market with screen size ranging till 47 inches and embedded with Cinespeed LCD panel and Pixel pure technology for good picture and sound.

Bang and Olufsen has an excellent rage of LCD screens with varied screen size. Picture and sound quality are powerful enough to produce a theatre like ambience.

JVC and Pioneer are also available in the market at competitive prices with latest technology. So, these are the top 10 HDTV in the market which can change the way you watch television completely.
About the Author

Francisco Segura owns and operates http://www.hdtvtelevisionplus.com Hdtv Television