Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY Owners

I know there are a couple of you guys on this board that own this plasma. I was looking at the differences between this model and the HD one (mainly the price) and wondering if the HD upgrade would be worth the price. I also noticed that this model has a higher contract ratio (4000:1 vs 3000:1) than the HD model. I guess I don't really know what that means. Does that not have as much to do with the picture quality as the resolution?

I had read somewhere (of course I can't find the link now) that on other the HD sources the ED version had a better PQ.

I thought it was somewhere on this site, but I'll be darned if I can find it now. They were comparing those very two models I believe.

I have this plasma and love it. The PWD6UY also has 4000:1. I'm not an expert on the issue of higher contrast, I'll let other educate you. One thing that it does lead to is blacker blacks (rather than dark grey). In order to convince yourself of this, you need to go view plasma side by side from different vendors.

I chose NOT to go w/ HD, mainly for cost but also because currently, my viewing is SD DirecTivo. W/ the HD version, you basically have more pixels. That helps, but only w/ hi res content like HD. W/ SD, it just makes the compression artifacts of SD, largely due to DirecTV having to compressing more channels onto existing sat signals, much more apparent. The ED version "softens" this and makes the picture seem better. I would agree w/ this as well.

Does that mean that HD doesn't look as good on an EDTV? No, HD DirecTV looks FANTASTIC. Shows like CSI, Sopranos, Academy Awards, Enterprise, Jay Leno, have looked awesome even though it's an EDTV and has a lower pixel count than a true HDTV. Now if I compare HDTV on my PWD6UY vs the HD6UY, I'd probably notice the difference. But honestly, how much HD content is there right now? Most of us have to hunt for the content. Believe me, it's not that big of a trade off and I can use that $1500 savings for my HD DirecTivo.

Does it affect DVD watching? I haven't done a head to head, but I would say not that much. DVDs are only 480p, so only if you had a 720p or 1080p resolution DVD disc AND DVD player could you even tell.

Probably one of the biggest factors of the plasma is viewing distance. It's just like importance of speaker placement. My distance is about 10' to 12' so the lower pixel count doesn't come into play. If I sat closer, maybe an HDTV would be better. I sometimes watch from my dining room at ~18' and it still looks good.

There are a TON of 6UY users/owners on AVS. You can troll for info there. I know people have different opinions of that board, but for me, it did a world of good. I definitely learned a lot, including where to buy at a good price. BTW, I got it at Dell but you don't want to do that...long story. Also, bear in mind that Plasmatvbuyingguide.com is vendor sponsored, so take the info w/ a grain of salt.

I have this unit and am extremely pleased with it. I don't have cable TV, so no HD signals. I mostly watch DVDs, which aren't HD. That was a big factor in buying the ED version.

I also went into stores and looked at the Panasonic consumer plasma units. Up close, the HD version is definitely more detailed (with an HD signal) than the ED version, but if you back off 10 feet there is little difference. I also read that DVDs look better on an ED unit, because there is no up-conversion of the signal to HD resolution.

Go to pricegrabber.com and enter Panasonic TH-42PWD6UY to get price comparisons. I bought from Visual Apex, which is not the absolute cheapest price, but they have great reviews from buyers, including a few whose plasma units were damaged in shipping and they got new ones promptly and with no additional charges. Visual Apex gave me great service when I ordered (answered my questions, no pressure to buy extra stuff), they included the necessary adapters to use RCA component video cable, it shipped when they said it would, and they also gave great service afterwards, responding promptly by both email and phone call when I emailed them some questions about how to avoid screen burnin or image retention. Peace of mind was well worth the extra money over buying from the cheapest New York sellers. I bought a wall mount bracket from them, and it was a lower price than many other sellers, so consider the total cost of the plasma and whatever other accessories you want to buy.