Vizio VP42 HDTV

Plasma televisions continue to offer the best value among the larger flat-panel displays, and the Vizio VP42 HDTV is an attractively priced 42-inch plasma TV that delivers a well-contrasted picture and, for the most part, accurate color representation. This HDTV misses no features, hits the style note nicely, and most importantly, comes through with a picture that’s good enough to satisfy most viewers, especially for the price.

Vizio maintains a fairly consistent two-tone look across its product line, and the VP42HDTV is one of the more handsome examples. The black around the screen is glossy, and the silver of the speaker section below lacks the strange-looking crease found on some of the company’s LCDs. The VP42 HDTV weighs nearly 90 pounds. Including its factory-attached base stand, the VP42 measures a full 44.3 by 29.8 by 11.4 inches.

Style is certainly subjective, but the Vizio VP42 offers a modern appearance that features a glossy black bezel and fixed bottom-mounted stereo speakers (2 x 10 watts) concealed behind a silver colored mesh grille.

The VP42 features two HDMI ports, two sets of component video inputs, a VGA input for PC use, and a single RF input that can be used for cable or antenna reception. I had no trouble using any of the A/V connections with a variety of standard and premium cables.

At this size, the VP42 sports a 1,024-by-768 pixel resolution. The maximum HD input resolution with this TV is 1080i. Vizio recommends that PCs connected via VGA use the relatively common 1,360-by-768 widescreen resolution.

All things considered, the Vizio VP42HDTV offers perfectly good picture quality for most viewers. Compared to competing plasmas, its black-level performance isn’t top of the class, especially in terms of shadow detail, but its solid color, clean image, and commendable standard-def and PC performance definitely do the job, especially at this price.

With this Vizio HDTV, you get normal color temperatures similar to those used in broadcast and cinema. Furthermore, the VP42 is good at preserving dark detail while maintaining realistic skin tones. Video-noise reduction is also effective without significantly softening image detail. It also handled fine gradients without noticeable banding or other image artifacts.

The Vizio VP42 HDTV is a solid value for a quality high-definition plasma TV. Although similarly sized LCD panels can offer up to twice the native resolution, plasma displays such as the VP42 generally perform better when displaying video containing fast motion. The VP42 also delivered excellent image contrast and color quality, and it did so at wider viewing angles than all but the most expensive LCD HDTVs can manage.

Sources:
http://www.consumersearch.com
http://www.hdtvlounge.net
http://www.pcworld.com