Panasonic's "world's smallest" 42-inch 1080p plasma now in production

Panasonic just went live with their 2007 plasma lineup in Japan. While missing the big 58-incher prepped for big-azz US living rooms, they've notably taken the "world's smallest" 42-inch 1080p plasma from prototype to full-blown production status. The TH-42PZ700 1920 x 1080 panel ships on April 27th for ¥430,000 (about $3,602) with side-mounted speakers or ¥20,000 (about $168) less if opting for the single, under-panel speaker. The Japanese models also feature new AVCHD playback direct off SD (and SDHC too, we presume) cards in support of Panny's lineup of 3CCD HD camcorders. Rounding things out are the US-bound, 50-inch 1080p TH-50PZ700 and three lesser PDPs from the PX70 series ranging in size from 37- to 50-inches.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2007 8:18AM]

Nice! Can't wait for this to come state side

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2007 3:39PM]

What do they mean by "world's smallest 42 inch 1080p"? Do they mean smallest 1080p television there is, or just smallest 1080p plasma? Because a few days ago at a best buy I was looking at a 32 inch 1080p tv from samsung...

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2007 3:43PM]

It will be interesting to see the quality of pixel-processing on this model. In Japan, the 42" size is the most popular, so from a strictly marketing point of view, it makes more sense to release it to the Japanese market only, and not in the U.S. (we'd want a larger size screen). Resolution is really only half the issue with panels under 50". At CES in January, Pioneer showed their 1024x768p panel against Sony's Japan-market-only 1080p reference LCD, and all the press from various trades and online blogs I was with couldn't stop taking about how the Pioneer had much better detail than the double-the-resolution Sony. I've seen plenty of other tests conducted by other brands which prove that at typical viewing distances, no one can tell the difference between a 720p 42" and a 1080p 42". Where the differences become clear are in how each pixel driver process the source signal.

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 10th 2007 7:44PM]

Wasn't it just earlier this year when companies were advertising that they had the LARGEST displays in the world? What happened to that?