Best Plasma TV - Home AV - CNET Asia Readers' Choice Awards 2007/08

And the winners for Home AV are:

Panasonic Viera TH-50PY700H

The good: Smooth film-like visuals; accurate and natural colors; bassy audio; triple HDMI and SDHC card reader; digital optical audio out; effective anti-reflection coating; excellent value for money.

The bad: Pictures can be a bit soft at times; bulky; fixed pedestal stand; lackluster surround sound.

The bottom line: Pound for pound, you simply can't go wrong with the highly affordable yet competent Panasonic Viera TH-50PY700H.

» Read full review of the Panasonic Viera TH-50PY700H

Pioneer PDP-LX508G

The good: Class-leading blacks and color saturation; fluid motion reproduction; bassy and articulated loudspeakers; full 1080p24/50/60 video support; three HDMIs, onboard JPEG playback; extensive tweaking options; dedicated input buttons for remote.

The bad: Fixed tabletop stand; extremely pricey; less-than-optimized PC display resolution.

The bottom line: The Pioneer Kuro PDP-LX508G is the undisputable class leader in black level and color vibrancy. However, these attributes aren't twice as good as its peers to warrant the highly inflated pricing.

» Read full review of the Pioneer PDP-LX508G

Samsung PS-42Q91H

First take

While three-HDMI flat-panel TVs appeared as early as mid-2006, most of these have ended up in mature markets such as the US and Europe. It wasn't until the entry of the Sharp G7 and Pioneer PDP-5000EX that we had a chance to ease the digital interface crunch. Having said that, both sport a single DVI and dual HDMI, a less than elegant configuration that requires an adapter compared to the real deal. If you have a truckload of HDMI boxes, perhaps the Samsung Q9 is exactly what you have been waiting for. ...

» Read more on the Samsung PS-42Q91H