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The good news is that you can customize the TH-42PHD7UY's connectivity with optional inputs, such as DVI and HDMI, that plug right into card slots on the rear of the panel. As the panel ships from the factory, two of the slots are occupied by the A/V inputs listed above, and one is open. Check out the list of available input upgrades, along with pricing, available here.
Panasonic's 2005 industrial models are available in 37-inch EDTV (TH-37PWD7UY), 42-inch EDTV (TH-42PWD7UY), 50-inch (TH-50PHD7UY), and 65-inch (TH-65PHD7UY) versions.
We found three key things that account for the Panasonic's impressive picture quality. They are, in descending order of importance: contrast ratio, color saturation, and accurate color reproduction. The superior black-level performance of the Panasonic industrial models helps increase their actual contrast ratio (range from black to white), which gives them more detail near black in dark scenes and increases the color saturation as well.The TH-42PHD7UY's color decoding is exceptional, which also accounts for its incredible color saturation without any red push. This means you get a lot of color, but at the same time, skin tones look natural, and the grass or dirt on football or baseball fields looks as it should, rather than neonlike or overly red or green. Of course, all of these benefits were even more apparent after the set had been properly calibrated.
The TH-42PHD7UY actually comes from the factory less overdriven than most, with relatively tame contrast, but still benefits greatly from calibration. After calibration, our reference DVDs, such as Seabiscuit and the recent release of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back looked fabulous. Chapter 12 of Seabiscuit had great color saturation and excellent detail. The deep space shots in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back showed off the TH-42PHD7UY's superior black-level performance with good detail and deep blacks rather than the muddy blacks with dancing pixels or false-contouring artifacts commonly found in other plasma panels.
HDTV on this panel also looked superb. Even though the resolution is only 1,024x768, the color saturation, detail in dark scenes, and the overall crispness of the picture from our DirecTV HD satellite feed were impressive. In fact, the reality is that resolution isn't as important as the other elements of the picture we mentioned earlier.
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 7,425/8,700K | Poor |
| After color temp (20/80) | 6,550/6,600K | Good |
| Before grayscale variation | +/-1811K | Poor |
| After grayscale variation | +/-175K | Average |
| Overscan | 3% | Good |
| Color decoder error: red | 0% | Good |
| Color decoder error: green | 0% | Good |
| DC restoration | All patterns stable | Good |
| 2:3 pull-down, 24fps | Y | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | Y | Good |
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