The Basics

The Panasonic TH-46 PZ 80 E has a 16:9 widescreen-format plasma screen. The screen diagonal is 46" (117 cm), and the native resolution is 1920 x 1080 pixels. The display processes source material at 24, 50 or 60 Hz frame rates, and depending on the "100 Hz" setting in the "Setup" menu, these can optionally be played back at 48/50/60 Hz or 96/100/120 Hz.Neither static nor dynamic ambient lighting (à la "Ambilight") is provided.

TV Tuner:
The analog tuner on our test model was able to receive cable TV images (and where still available, analog terrestrial signals) in all European PAL and SECAM varieties, while the digital tuner received terrestrially broadcast TV pictures in standard resolution (MPEG 2). The TV accepts all worldwide video standards.

Audio and Picture Presets:
The video processing attempts to improve the picture with a large-area noise reduction. Color management is offered on the Panasonic, as is an extended color space for the relevant inputs.

The TH-46 PZ 80 E also provides four picture presets (user adjustable), and two audio presets. With the somewhat-unexplained "Surround Mode", the TV tries to give a more spatial sound impression. The headphone volume can be adjusted separately.

Teletext Usage:
The Teletext decoder supports the modern 2.5 version (HiText). Whenever a channel supports this, the TV displays the text pages with more colors and more detailed graphics. As is typical of 16:9 format TVs, the Panasonic shows Teletext next to a reduced-size TV picture.

In this aspect, the PZ 80 E has significantly more to offer than the Sony KDL-46 W 4000, for example. The memory for text data is ample and allows brisk navigation after a short time. It can even display multi-page Teletext information, and the user can switch between pages using the left and right cursor buttons. The user has to make do without a picture-in-picture function.