Panasonic TX-P42G30B (TXP42G30B) 42 Inch Full HD 1080p 600Hz THX/ISF Neo Plasma Viera TV| DLNA|Freeview-HD|Intelligent Frame Creation

They also have a scanning ratio of 600Hz. Now, if you take a standard TV which scans at 50Hz, meaning there are fifty pictures per second making up your image, this TV is 600Hz. The higher that rating, the faster it scans, the faster it reacts. So if you are watching a movie or sport – anything with any fast movement in – it is going to control it without any delay or drag in the image for you.

This particular range of TVs is also full HD. They will cope with 720p, 1080i or 1080p resolution – so all the three major high resolution definitions this TV will cope with. They have also got Freeview HD tuners built into them, so you can get BBC, ITV and Channel Four in high definition, just through your standard TV aerial, as long as they are broadcasting that service in your area.

The TVs also have a THX-rated panel. Basically, if you were watching a movie on a DVD, many movies are recorded in THX. On the menu on this TV, select THX – it will give you an exact portrayal of that movie how the filmmakers wanted you to view it. Now, not every TV has that THX stamp of approval – but this G30 range does as well.

Now, before we go into the menus and have a little look more in depth into the TV, we will take a look at the sockets on the rear of the set first of all. So, at the back of the TV you have got your aerial coaxial socket here for your Freeview HD tuner. Next to that you have got Audio Out – so if you want to feel the sound out of the TV using the analogue audio out, you can do so. You have also got Audio In at the side of it which is linked up to the Component. So you have got Component, red/green/blue – some games consoles use Component; so you have got the red/green/blue port there and the audio to match at the side of it.

Up from there you have got an Ethernet port so if you want to wire this up for internet services – which we will go through in a moment – you can do so via Ethernet. You have then got one Scart on the TV, three HDMIs on the back, Optical Out – so as well as feeding the sound out via analogue audio out, you have got a digital version there which is Digital Optical Out, so you can feed an optical lead from there into an external amplifier.

You have then got, going up from there, two USB inputs – so you have got USB 1 and 2. You have then got a third one on the side of the TV which is just here – so you have got USB on there, SD card reader as well, so if you have got a digital still camera or video camera that takes an SD card, pop it in there – you can look at your snapshots or video footage via the SD card reader.

Coming down from there you have then got a fourth HDMI. You have also got a headphone socket on there as well and you have also got Composite Video In – yet again, things like Wii games consoles can use Composite – well you have got that socket on there as well.

So, the TV itself first of all is finished in this high-gloss black finish which filters out to a sort of steel-grey finish just in the centre of the screen here. you have then got a steel-grey base to it as well. The pedestal stand is on a swivel so it is a swivel mount on the TV set itself.

Let’s have a look at the menus on the TV. First of all we are looking, on the rear of the TV, at the Ethernet connection. This TV has also got three USBs on there. Now, with the USB sockets, you can use those for several applications, one of which is first of all you can buy a wireless dongle from Panasonic which you can access internet services wirelessly. You can also get external hard drives and plug them into the USB, and you can actually record through the USB as well onto an external hard drive.

In the menu system on the TV you have got the Menu button just on the remote and you have got another button just along from there which says Viera Cast. Viera Cast then puts us into the internet functions on the TV. So if we press that button it will now go onto the Viera Cast system – it is just loading up now for you – where it will give us several options onscreen: you will get things like BBC iPlayer, Facebook, Twitter – in fact I have got BBC iPlayer on there now, Facebook is just over there. You have also got Skype – you can also purchase a Skype camera from Panasonic; you can then make Skype-to-Skype phone calls to your family or friends anywhere in the world. And you just basically jog Up, Down, Right or Left on the remote control here and just highlight the service that you want. So if it is BBC iPlayer, if you just highlight that particular one here, press OK in the centre of the remote control, and it will now start to load onto BBC iPlayer’s website.

You have got more functions on here as well – apart from that page you have just seen there, there are about three other pages that you can go onto. You have got the cinema trailers and various other things on there as well. 

In fact we will just come out of that now because that is just loading up – in fact it is just saying Please Wait, it is just optimising that particular function which could take just a few seconds – in fact there we go now. So we are now on BBC iPlayer. You can then, just using the Up, Down, Right and Left keypad on there, move over to various programme content. So if you have missed a particular event or programme such as the Malaysian Grand Prix on there, you can highlight that, just press OK and you can be watching that particular programme. It is almost like having another channel on your TV set.

So if we come out of there, we just press Return on the remote control, as I said, you have got that particular page on there. If you come down to More, it will get more information on there for you – it will load onto the next page. And there we have got things like Twitter, Euronews, Cine Trailers. Then you have got More again, onto the next page. As I said, you have got a few different pages on there. we can go back and just highlight the one that you want to activate. So, as I said, you have got web facilities through the TV – YouTube and various other things on there as well.

If we come out of there now, just exit that particular menu, we will go into the general menu system on the TV, and you have got Picture, Sound, Time and Setup. First of all in the Picture menu, if we come over there, Up, Down, Left or Right on the keypad, press OK, it gives us various options onscreen. As I said, if you are watching, say, a DVD on Blu-ray or a standard DVD, some of these movies are recorded in THX; you will just come down to there – I will just go back into that – we just come down to THX, press OK and it would set basically the contrast and brightness levels exactly the way the filmmaker wanted you to view that movie – so everything is set up exactly the way that movie should be seen.

If we come out of there, and just select Normal for a moment, you can come down and adjust the contrast, brightness and colour to however you want it – you would just press OK on the remote control and then adjust accordingly using the Right or Left options on  the keypad.

If we come down from the colour setting, you have also got Panasonic’s CATS system. That is  an automated adjustment for the picture. You have got a little photocell down at the front of the TV here which is constantly measuring the ambient light of the room. If we activate that and switch that on, it will constantly measure the ambient light of the room and always keep the picture at optimum performance for you. So you have got Panasonic’s CATS system on this particular model.

As we come further down that particular scale, you have also got various Advanced Settings, so you can really tweak this picture up to exactly the way you want it. If we go into the White Balance Adjustments it gives us options to alter each primary colour – red, green and blue – for gain and for cut-off. You have also got options in that menu to adjust the gamma settings as well. It comes preset to 2.2 gamma setting but you can go into various different modes on there – you will probably see the picture changing as we go through those various different settings. As I said, you can really tweak this picture up to how you want it.

If you do mess it up and you are not sure what you have done to get it back to normal you have always got Reset to Default, so, you know, it is an easy option there just to reset the picture for you anyway to manufacturer’s specification.

In those settings you have also got things like Resolution Enhancer; if you are watching a standard def TV programme that is not in high definition – as I said, this has got an HD tuner built into it – if you switch this on, if we go into that menu you have got options for Mid or Max. What that will do is basically increase the resolution of the standard def image for you, to give you like a pseudo high definition image as well.

If we come out of that menu and go into the Sound menu, you have also got a very good sound system on this TV. The speakers are actually projecting towards you – a lot of TVs these days have the speakers where they are actually underneath the set, where the sound is being forced down, not towards you. Well, the speakers are just underneath the screen here; the sound is projected towards you. You get a nice depth of bass on this TV and really good clarity to the sound as well.

You have got adjustments in here, as standard, for bass or treble. But in the Mode menu here, we press OK and go into User Menu, as well as just bass or treble, it will give us an option to give you slightly more adjustments using a graphic equaliser. So you have got basically bass at the far end there, and as we come along you have then got all the mid-tone adjustments that you can make as well to the sound. So quite a bit more variation. As we come through to the top end here you have then go tall the treble adjustments as well. So you have go got bass, mid-range and treble adjustments just using the graphic equaliser on there.

As we come down from there you have got Surround Sound Off, so it is just standard stereo sound, or you have got options for V-Audio, where it will throw the sound out at a wider angle for you, and V-Audio Surround where it will attempt to throw the sound out and around you.

Now, depending on how you have this TV situated – whether it is on its pedestal stand or wall-mounted – you need to set up the speaker distance to wall either over 30 cm or up to 30 cm. it does make a different to the overall tone of the sound.

So, there you have the brief run-through on this particular range of TVs. As I said, the 42G30 and the 50G30 are on permanent display in both our stores, both in Bolton and Leeds. They are a stunning TV, both on picture and on sound quality.  If you go to our website, which is www.soundandvision.co.uk, not only will you see video clips on this particular TV, but there are hundreds more video clips – not just on TVs, but on amplifiers and speaker systems. If you want any more details, please give me a ring – my name is Chris – on 01204 861 861 or, as I said, pop into our stores either in Bolton or Leeds.

Thank you.