Panasonic TH-37PX60U 37" Plasma HDTV

[miata]

They have these for a killer price at Fry's. I was hoping I could get answers to a few questions so that I can snag one of these for a bedroom. I will mostly be using this to watch DVDs and a little OTA ATSC. My wife will occasionally want to use it for watch VHS tapes via S-vidoe.

1) What is the overall impression of the image quality compared to other low priced plasmas?

2) Does the 1024 x 720-pixel resolution make it a better display for 720 native or sources scaled to 720p? Most of the other displays have 768 lines which doesn't seem like a nice multiple of common resolutions.

3) What is the best way to connect a moderately good DVD to this set? 480p (component or HDMI) or scaled to 720p or 1080i via HDMI? Should I avoid Faroudja based players with this display?

4) How well does this display do with analog sources like VHS via S-video?

Thanks for any help. I only have a couple of days to decide.

[G.Drayer]

I purchased this display for my bedroom about six months ago for the then list of [EDIT]

I have a Pioneer 5070HD in my living room. Both have an outstanding picture. The Panasonic requires more tweeking since the out of the box settings are horrid.

There is long threads here about the current plasmas just search for them.

[RandyWalters]

[QUOTE=miata]
1) What is the overall impression of the image quality compared to other low priced plasmas?[/QUOTE]The 37" PX60U (and it's Industrial counterpart) has better picture quality than any other Plasma, mostly because it's so much smaller than all the others, but it also has those excellent Panasonic genes.

2) Does the 1024 x 720-pixel resolution make it a better display for 720 native or sources scaled to 720p? Most of the other displays have 768 lines which doesn't seem like a nice multiple of common resolutions.None of this resolution crap matters on this small TV - even if the resolution is not optimal the end result is still a top notch picture on this model. Better than any 1080p LCD i've seen (and i've been looking).

3) What is the best way to connect a moderately good DVD to this set? 480p (component or HDMI) or scaled to 720p or 1080i via HDMI? Should I avoid Faroudja based players with this display?HD over HDMI looks crisper/sharper than Component on both my 42" Panny Plasma and my 26" LCD TV. My DVD Player (older Panny RP62K with Faroudja chip) only has Component but it looks great. I'm not up on the newer better players (not a big movie watcher).

4) How well does this display do with analog sources like VHS via S-video?
As long as you have a good clean signal it will display analog pretty well. VHS tapes won't look as good as they do on a good tube TV, but it will look better on this 37" Panny than any other Flat Panel TV, with the exception of maybe the 42" Panasonic ED models which display SD very well.

[miata]

Thanks for the info so far. How would this Panny 37" compare to the Sony 34" XBR970 or the Panny equivalent Plasma in terms of image quality?. Since I mostly watch DVDs, I'm thinking of getting an OPPO 971 DVD player which seems to have great price performance. I've never seen one in action, but I was awfully impressed with the quality of a Denon DVD-2910 which also has the Faroudja chip set. To be honest am a little partial to CRTs, but it would be an easier sell with the wife if I replacing a old tube with a "future proof flat panel" -- instead of just bigger, "obsolete tube technology." Has anybody done an A/B of the OPPO 971 DVD player into the Panny 37" plasma and Sony 34" XBR970 tube? I understand the MB issues with plasma but when I take a big picture view the Faroudja chipset produces an overall good picture -- and my Denon DVD-2910 demo was on a 42" plasma.