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REVIEW – HITACHI 42PD3000
INTRO
Plasma TV picture performance has been steadily improving
over the past five years but even the best of them still falls some way short
of the venerable cathode ray tube. It’s a price we’ve been prepared to pay – in
more ways than one -- for the undoubted luxury of a large flat screen but now
there’s no need to compromise with the launch of the new Hitachi H2 panels with
I2 image processing.
The H2 panel is used on the new 32PD3000 and 42PD3000 and
overcomes the two main plasma bugbears, namely low brightness and a lack of
contrast. The 42PD3000, which we’re looking at here, sets new benchmarks for a
mid-priced panel with a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and a maximum brightness of
1000 CD/M2 (candelas per square metre), both of which compare favourably with
large screen CRTs and on their own would probably earn this TV a best of breed
award but the Intelligent Image (I2) video processing chip manages
to squeeze even more out of the new panels.
OPERATION
The 42PD3000 panels is housed in a stylish sliver grey box
with a matching swivel stand and detachable speakers. All of the AV connections
are handled by a separate VCR-sized ‘MultiMedia’ box that connects to the panel
by a single cable. Incidentally this can be stood on its side on a little
stand, which could come in handy if you have space problems. The box has three
SCART sockets, configured for RGB, S-Video and composite video inputs, there
are also connections for component/progressive scan, a PC, stereo audio out,
centre channel in and an external TV aerial. In short it’s no more difficult to
wire up than a conventional TV.
Channel tuning and basic operation are also familiar
territory with an easy to use set of on-screen displays, controlled from a
conventional-looking remote ‘unified’ handset that can also drive Hitachi DVD
and VCRs.
FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE
Don’t expect a lot of gadgets or toys. The 42PD3000’s
feature list is fairly basic in comparison with a lot of recent plasma TVs, in
fact the only notable extras are four mode picture and sound settings plus
TruBass and matrix (3D) audio modes. It has Fastext teletext and a split screen
function that lets you to watch TV and the PC input or a teletext page at the
same time and the centre channel from a surround sound system can be piped
through the speakers. As previously mentioned it has a component video input (Y/CbCr/YpbPr)
that is configured for a progressive scan input for both NTSC and PAL.
Behind the scenes I2
image processing is responsible for increasing the number of picture lines to
1024, resulting in a smooth, highly detailed picture. By constantly monitoring
the differences between picture fields I2 virtually eliminates
jagged edges on moving objects and the ‘artefacts’ (blocking and background
textures) that often blight digital broadcasts and video sources but it really
comes into it’s own on DVD replay, especially when using a RGB video
connection. The extra brightness and wider contrast range yields vivid,
natural-looking colours with negligible banding on graduated shades and subtle
changes in brightness. A new coated glass filter also helps to improve
contrast, particularly in darker areas of the picture but without making the
picture look any darker.
The side mounted speakers deliver a surprisingly crisp sound
with a fair bass content. However, they’re more usefully employed in a
centre-channel role with the surround channels heard through a halfway decent
AV system, nevertheless they’re fine for general TV viewing and the various
enhancement modes create a wide, detailed and lively soundfield.
VERDICT
CRTs still have a slight edge in some areas but the
differences are now very small indeed and you would have to be sharp-eyed, and
picky to spot them at normal viewing distances, and that’s assuming that you
could get a 42-inch CRT (which you can’t…).
The 42DP3000 shifts plasma performance up a notch or two and it’s
competitively priced so if you’ve been putting off buying a plasma TV until
picture quality improves then maybe it’s time you had another look.
HITACHI 42PD3000
Price £4,500
Screen size 42-inches
Resolution 1024
x 1024 pixels
Contr. ratio 1000:1
Brightness 1000
CD/M2
Features PAL/PAL
60/SECAM/NTSC operation, VGA, progressive scan (625/50p & 525/60p), RGB,
S-Video, component, composite video inputs, detachable speakers, Fastext (100
page memory) TV/PC/Teletext split screen, 8 widescreen/picture zoom modes, 4
preset picture & sound modes, sleep timer, 2 x 10 watt rms amplification,
SRS/Trubass sound, centre channel input, unified remote control
Dimensions 1233
x 300 x 713mm (inc speakers)
Weight 40.2kg
Contact Hitachi 0345
581455, www.hitachitv.com
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Ó R. Maybury 2003,
2401
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