"I've been doing it since I was a young kid and come out grinnin', when I fight technology, technology always wins!!

(UPDATE ~ WE HAD TO RETURN THIS TO THE STORE UNDER THE WARRANTY, THE SOUND WENT OUT AND THE TV WOULDN"T EVEN COME ON HALF OF THE TIME, SO THIS TURNED OUT TO BE DISAPOINTING AT BEST)

Look MA! No Hands!!

I am not in the dark ages. I have a cell phone. I just do not have the 100 features that go along with it yet. I use it to call, talk, hang up. No texting, emailing or watching the news on my cell. Compared to some people, I am amish in comparison! I have decided to let go of my electronic equipment fear, and face it dead on, Eye of the Tiger! In a cyber world that is run more by robots than people, a child of the 70's can get scared. You would think as hip and cute as I am (smiles), I would be one of the first people to run out to a store and buy a plasma television! (Slow down, it is all going to fast!!) I have but a few irrational fears in life ~ rollercoasters, people coughing on me, clowns, drive thru car washes and remote controls!! I think they are out to get me. But here I am, boldly standing in an electronic store, with my husband who finds this place his sanctuary, and we are debating whether or not to buy the Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42 in. HDTV PLASMA Television for a whopping $1,400.00 without tax. What does it matter? I ask. They ALL look the same to me! Just pick one already!! OMG. If he asks the sales clerk one more question, I am going to scream. I hate having too many choices. "I like this one." So, with much back and forth, him tinkering with the remotes which I knew the dreaded "Remote Lesson" was waiting for me once he hooked it up, we took this bad baby home with a 10% in store rebate for opening up an instant credit card. Of course, once we got it home, I pretended to help put it together to give the illusion that I understood everything to spare myself from the monotone drill of the details. But, I actually found myself paying attention, and learning alot. The first thing we did, was open the box....

WHAT WAS INSIDE?

The television, which is a stunning, 42 inch plasma flat screen, with silver framing and thin black lining, it gorgeous. Normally it has a base with a stand, but since we were using the 10% off, we bought alot of other electronics (please watch for my reviews shortly) along with a $279.00 television wall mount so that our tv would stay smudge free (I have two boys who always seem to get finger prints on anything glass in our house, the fish tank, the kitchen table, the front door, our tv) and also that we would get the whole "Cinema" feeling from it, which we did! It reminds me of Matthew McConeghey's tv in "How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days", just awesome! This HDTV hooks up everything with one cord system. Instead of having a web of wires everywhere, it controls centrally from the tv and works with your cable box. Included in the box is the tv itself, powercord, remote control and batteries to boot, instruction manual, warranty card, and stand and the bolt to put everything together. After that, you are on your own!

~~ IT FEELS LIKE I AM THERE!! ~~

This Panasonic wonder has very crisp, life-like features! The white/black backlit causes sharp details, along with 29 billions colors with a very high pixel count. The background is vivid and sharp, good skin tones, widescreen, and a resolution of 1024 X 768. After you have the remote control set up you can play with the contrast, the colors, which are outstanding quality. It does have a 3.2 pulldown feature to control any blurring. The sound quality is remarkable. It sounds as if you are in that basketball court, being swept up by that tornado, dancing inside that club, and white water rafting down that river! It is amazing. It has built in surround sound. And 3D features.
"

    "I have been looking at Panasonic TVs for a solid year. Waiting & hoping that the price would go down on the PHD8UK or the PX50U or PX500U. They didn't.

I thought about the pros & cons of what I needed. The 50" sets resolve 720p with a resolution of 1366x768 plus they have a PC adapter if you want to connect your PC to it. Also they have PiP, but I had TVs in the past with PiP and it is more of a novelty than something I really used.

Is that worth an extra $500 to you? If so, get the 50" set.

For me, I just wanted one of the best TVs to watch digital cable & movies at a reasonable price.

I have read CNET and other sites and everyone lauds the Panasonic models. Are they perfect? No. I don't think anything in the $2,000 range is going to be PERFECTION. But this TV far exceeded my expectations.

It resolves to 1024x768, but let me tell you - it is an absolutely gorgeous picture. My jaw dropped, hit the floor and rolled around this morning while I watched an HD channel on Digital Cable. Beautiful, crisp colors, watching in 1080i (which, as you know is a higher resolution) - it was great.

I don't have surround sound speakers. Yes, I know - some of you out there pull your hair out at the thought of buying a TV like this without a surround sound speaker system, and maybe in the future I will get one. But the speaker volume and sounds are just fine for what I need. This was another reason why I bought this TV over the industrial model - I wanted speakers and I wanted a stand. Yes, you can save money getting the industrial model, but if you throw in the stand & speakers it costs nearly the same as this TV.

I bought my TV through Circuit City. Now, there are some sites on the web that may be cheaper (and have a tendancy to operate out of Brooklyn). To me, with such a pricey purchase I went with Circuit City because the price was very good & it's a name I can trust. I did buy a 3 year warranty for the same reasons - sure, I may forgo a warranty on a digital camera, but not on a plasma. Plus, they were able to deliver Sunday which was good for someone like me who works long hours during the work week. Circuit city *was* 3 hours late, but this was due to a truck failure. The delivery crew set up the TV on my behalf and were very professional.

So, lets recap. You getting a plama? Get this TV. In life you get what you pay for. You want to get a $1400 plama? Sure, it will be cheaper but it won't be as good as this TV. You want to spend $5000 on the best 42" plasma ever - hey, more power to you. For me, i'll save the other $2500 for a trip to Vegas or something.

Stop waiting. Every prime time TV show is in HD now.

Oh, last point. I have Tivo (2nd Generation), which does crimp my HDTV watching. It works with the plama, but the picture is certainly smaller & compressed. So if you are a huge Tivo buff, you may need to wait until Tivo releases a HD version (for us digital cable users who don't have the satellite Tivo). "

    "First - watching my friends LCD - he has way better black and that "3D" look then Panasonic TH42PX60U. Second - The burn-ins abound - the input screen (pops up when you turn the tv on or switch input methods) has burned in - this is a function of the TV. PS3 burn-in. Pause button burn-in - oh and btw when I pause my movies I turn the TV off immediately. I have a TV, Bose speakers and other sound system since 1995 - that is how good I take care of my stuff. This TV sucks. When I confronted panasonic (still within the MFG warranty period) they said they do not cover burn-ins - even if it is caused by the tv functionality. AVOID THIS TV.
"

    "Panasonic TH42PX60U is a great value. The picture is so good only much more expensive models can beat it. A good amount of connection options. Wife is not crazy about the silver frame, but likes the compact size for such a large screen. HD programming is top notch, and even regular satellite TV signals look really good. Color and contrast are superb"

    "I did my research using discussion threads and purchased the Panasonic TH42PX60U in Feb. 07. This TV is great! Easy to use, great picture and has lots of connections. I have already recommended the 2007 model (black colour) to a co-worker and he is also very satisfied. If you watch action movies or sports this plasma is fantastic. I did not pay extra for the 1080p upgraded version because I don't plan on purchasing a HDDVD or BlueRay player. I have a Starchoice dish and it only displays in 1080i so there was no benefit to pay $800 extra for the 1080p version.

It comes with a stand but I decided to use a wall mount. Make sure you have someone to help you lift the TV into position after you install the mount...it's heavy. I purchased a stationary wall mount but if I did it again I would purchase a wall mount that will swivel out so that the cables are easier to connect. With the stationary mount that I purchased there is only about 4" from the wall to the back of the TV which is a little tight to change cables.

I tried the digital card reader and it works very well. Not too complicated to use, just put in the card, press the "SD" function on the remote and your viewing the images in no time. I'm still learning about this feature and I have not found a "slide show" presentation format. It may not have this feature which is not a big deal, it's just a little slow to move to each image and press select it manually.

I purchased an XBox 360 and the images are fantastic. I feel like I'm playing on a movie theatre. I don't have extra speakers yet but the sound is really good on it's own.

The only other detail I did not consider is how the cables would be run when it's mounted on the wall. If you want the "floating" look it will cost you quite a bit to have professionally done. If your handy there are lots of products to install this feature yourself. Just "google" "HDMI wall plate" and a number of choices will come up."