Panasonic TX-P42G15B

The basics

The Panasonic TX-P42G15 is a 42-inch “NeoPDP” plasma television with a full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, built-in Freesat tuner, four HDMI inputs and networking capabilities allowing you to access digital videos, music and photos from any DLNA compliant device, as well as Viera Cast Internet services.

The good

The TX-P42G15 doesn’t skimp on the features. Despite its affordable price tag, this plasma TV offers a wealth of bells and whistles including a Freesat tuner and DLNA networking talents. The former means you can get a full broadcast service which is like a better version of Freeview: you get much the same channel line-up, plus BBC HD and ITV HD, and as with Freeview there’s no monthly fee to shell out (you just need a satellite dish to rig it up to).
The latter lets you stream media files over your home network, and the networking skills also mean you can access a host of web apps via Panasonic’s Viera Cast service. It’s no slouch in the picture stakes either, delivering deep, bottomless blacks but never at the expense of a bright image – in fact, it’s almost as bright and punchy as an LCD TV picture, which is unusual for a plasma TV.
There’s also a 600Hz processing mode to enhance the fluidity of motion, and it works well.

The bad

There’s not much to dislike about the TX-P42G15, although you do have to put in a bit of work in the menu screens to get the picture looking at its best – as is often the case with TVs, the factory settings veer a little towards the ker-azy in order to show off just how dynamic and punchy the telly can be.

The bottom line

For the price it’s hard to think of a better performing plasma TV, or one packed with so many features. If Freesat, media playback and Internet connectivity are all things you look for in a TV, the Panasonic TX-P42G15 hits all these marks perfectly.