2nd Hand Panasonic Plasma TV

[alexp2000]

Hi all,

Got the opportunity to test and possibly buy a second hand Panansonic TX-P42X60B Plasma this weekend. Price is good and I've been looking for something like this mainly for SD content, Cable TV and 720p video files.

Just wondering if there's anything in particular I should look out for? (Having never owned a Plasma!)

I'm going to take a USB stick with various things on it along with some test pattern JPG's (100% white, 100% black, 5% grey)

I'm interested to know what 1080i content will look like downscaled on 720p TV. I've also read the screen can be quite reflective so I'll keep an eye on that.

Any other suggestions?

[spoRv]

There is an hidden menu that tells how many hours it worked. I bought one few years ago for 120€, and it had (at the time) around 9,000 hours, not bad for a plasma that can "live" up to 100,000!

Apart that, keep with you various one-color png and jpg files (so to cover any chance) of different colors (black, white, green, blue, red, magenta, yellow, cyan) to spot eventual dead pixels and halos.

A question: is that 720p or 1080p?

[alexp2000]

Thanks Andrea - I’ll have a look online for how to get into the service menu. It’s a 720p TV

[spoRv]

Well, 720p should be enough for laserdisc and other SD material.

Think that once I found in an ad a Pioneer 40" 4:3 plasma display for next to nothing, and I DID NOT buy it!

[alexp2000]

Yeah I’m looking forward to checking it out. As long at 1080i/p content looks ok downscaled I think I’ll get for it.

A 4:3 plasma would be wonderful! There’s still a very nice 4:3 Panasonic CRT in a cupboard in my parents house but I haven’t tried it in years..

[alexp2000]

So, went to see it this morning - either I'm very unlucky with Plasmas or they're not all they're hyped up to be!

That's two I've seen now, the first was a really old one (2007/08 maybe?) but this one was a 2013 model (one of the last). The supposedly great blacks looked very 'milky' even with the brightness setting turned down a bit. It was the same with the older model when I viewed that a while ago.

Am I just expecting too much or are these panels perhaps 'faded'? Compared to an OLED or even a decent VA LCD the blacks were very poor. Everything else seemed ok, no tints or burn in.

[spoRv]

Well, only latest Panasonic and Pioneer have great black - still not deep as OLED or FALD LED, though. I can vouch on that having 2010 Panasonic and warched often a Kuro.