WOW

A little background to the purchase.........

I know this will sound sad but, on Christmas Day afternoon, I went on-line and bought a television. I had not really planned to do this but Hubby and I had been thinking about up grading our old television for quite a while. Actually, Hubby was keener than I. However, as we had been through a very expensive 2008, I wanted to wait until all the Christmas shopping was out the way, in order to work out just what spare case we had, before making such a large purchase.

So, Christmas morning as I was waiting for the Turkey to cook, I thought I would quickly check my emails. Unfortunately or luckily, depending how you view it, I had a special sale offer email from http://www.dixons.co.uk. I have bought from them in the past and so receive the occasional email detailing sale items. This sale, however, was for just three hours on Christmas day, between 3pm and 6pm. It offered an extra 10% on what were already sale prices. So, hubby and I decided to see if there were any bargains to be had, especially in the television department.

We bought a 42 inch, HD ready, Panasonic Plasma Television. The code of our model is actually TH-42PX80B.

* Our new 42 inch Panasonic HD ready Plasma TV.......

The sale price of this television was 499.99, English currency, which meant that the 10% discount reduced this price to 450.00. There was a special deal on a half price toughened, black and silver, glass stand which came in at 49.99 and I received a 10% discount on this also. The delivery was free and, as I purchased through a http://www.topcashback.co.uk site, I saved another 14.85. Well I received that amount of cash back. So all in all price wise it came in at a very competitive 480.13, including the stand.

The goods were delivered on Monday 29th December, which was very quick. For the price of two coffees, and a couple of chocolate biscuit's, the delivery men kindly opened the TV and set it on its small stand. Hubby and I assembled the glass stand a little later and despite a couple of problems, and more than a few expletives, we soon had the television up and running.

This television has a built in digital tuner which enables you to pick up all of the freeview channels. There are 25 Freeview channels, subject to the coverage in your area. These include BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News 24, Dave, QVC, Sky News, Sky Sports News, ITV2, CBeebies and a whole host of digital radio channels. New channels are being added all the time.

Our old television set was not HD ready, although we did have a separate freeview box which would have done the trick as far as a digital signal goes. However our new Panasonic is fully HD ready and the picture is a million times better than that of our old TV. The analogue signal is due to be turned off in 2011 / 2012 in the area where we live. If you are not sure of the timing where you live check it out on line. 

This television's casing is a matt black which does seem to attract dust but I guess that is the plasma TV also. There was a special cleaning cloth provided, as you do need to be careful when cleaning Plasma TVs. There was also of course an instruction booklet, which thankfully was not to complicated.

* A little technical information.....

The television screen size is 42 inches, measuring diagonally across the screen.

The picture quality of our TH42PX80B is 1024 pixels which is higher than the TH42PX80U. This means that the picture has better definition.

It has a flat screen which reflects less and does not curve at the edges.

There are different viewing options, such as wide screen.

It has Nicam sound quality.

The picture contrast ratio is 15000.

There are 2 Scart sockets for connection to other items, such as a DVD player.

This television can be wall mounted. However you use it though, be careful as it very heavy. It will not be safe on just any old surface.
Remember that if this equipment were to topple over it could kill a child or animal and cause an adult serious harm.

The remote control is chunky and very easy to use. It offers a viewing guide and information service.

It is possible to freeze the picture.

You can change the viewing mode to:-

Dynamic which is very bright.

Normal.

Cinema

Eco which is paler and uses less energy. This is useful as Plasma televisions can use a lot of power. I find this setting too pale though.
The power consumption when the television is on is 255 KWh/24hr.

There is a headphone socket.

There is a Automatic channel search when setting the TV up for the first time.

The set up process is very easy and quick

You can enter your address, postcode and other details on the television, when you are running the initial set up. This is simple to do via the remote control, and may help if the television is stolen. Mind you it would have to be a weightlifter who was the thief. There is much more but of course we are still getting used to all the functions.

* Overall....

We are very pleased with our purchase. The picture quality is fabulous and so is the sound. Hubby had received Iron Man, on DVD from Santa, for Christmas 2008, and this film really benefited from being watched on such equipment. The depth of the picture is realistic and the stereo perfect. This is without any addition such as a home cinema system.

Of course it remains to be seen whether this product has longevity, but I certainly hope it has. I remember our first black and white television, bought when I was a child, which had a minute screen, with a huge, brown outer casing. Now that television had longevity lasting for years but by heck haven't televisions come a long way since then. Pity we can't say the same for the programming schedules.

Thanks for reading
(C) Eiley 2009