Editors' note:
This review is based on evaluations conducted by our sister site CNET.com.au. Review ratings on similar products may differ due to differences in regional market trends and competing product lineups.Australia's TH-P42S10A is Asia's equivalent of the TH-P42S10 less an integrated digital TV tuner.
Design
At a recent Panasonic event, head of Corporate Communications Takumi Kajisha said that "discussions are underway in order to make Panasonic more fashionable". He was talking about the company's "brand image", but we think a good place to start would be in the firm's industrial design. Case in point: Panasonic's new S10 plasma is attractive, but it's not quite up-to-date--perhaps a little more Lady Madonna than Lady Gaga. It's a mix of piano black and a thin strip of silver, which is a progression from last year and seems better integrated.
The remote is typical Panasonic fare with large, friendly buttons, but moving the oft-used Menu button to the top and replacing it with a dedicated Viera Link button--considering that few people use HDMI to control their devices--seems like a mistake.
Features
The TH-P42S10 is a 42-inch plasma which features, as most plasmas worth their salt now do, a 1,920 x 1,080-pixel resolution or full-high definition in other words. The S10 uses a different panel from the NeoPDP featured in the V-, G- and Z1-series above it. In use, we found it to behave similarly to last year's PY800 series.
Black levels are improved on last year's PV80 models with a doubling in the native contrast ratio from 15,000:1 to 30,000:1. Other picture improvements include a greater number of "gradation" levels and a 550Hz sub-field drive engine.
Connectivity is a little hit-and-miss with three HDMI ports (two rear, one side), a single component-video input, an S-video-in, four (count 'em!) composite A/V inputs, a PC port, and an SDHC card reader. Apart from the scales being overwhelmingly in favor of SD sources, we're not big fans of the side-mounted PC input and third HDMI port: It's a little too close to the edge of the set, which means you'll be able to see cables hanging out if you plug anything into them. To be fair, the side inputs are the same on the TH-P42G11 as well.
At the launch of the new range earlier in the year, Panasonic was pushing its eco-friendly range of plasmas, with the S10 as one of the heroes. That said, the panel is quite energy-efficient for a plasma TV.
Tags: Plasma, brand image, TH-P42S10, industrial design, SD Card
