Panasonic’s Viera range is now firmly established as a front-running flat-screen brand. The manufacturer’s early missteps, such as the use of low-resolution screens and a lack of digital video connections, have now been consigned to the dustbin marked ‘past mistakes’, as this new model shows. It’s fully prepared for the rapidly approaching high-definition revolution, sporting two HDMI inputs and boasting a 1,024×768-pixel resolution on its 42-inch plasma panel. But Panasonic hasn’t forgotten about the present either — there’s a built-in digital tuner providing access to Freeview.

Panasonic has managed to shave a few centimetres off the frame either side of the screen, and also, in a trick worthy of creepy magic man David Copperfield, made the speakers disappear. Don’t worry, they’re there, it’s just that you can’t see them.

The screen’s frame flows smoothly into the stand, making for a product that certainly looks the part. It might be too much for some, in fact: the stand is huge, and it makes for an imposing spectacle that will dominate most living rooms. The upside of this is there’s plenty of space on its glass shelves for DVD players, satellite receivers and the like — and of course if you don’t like the stand you can always opt for the pedestal version instead. The cabinet stand also has plenty of cable management to help keep the clutter from leads and cables out of sight, which is handy if you’re after that clean, no-mess look.

As is made evident by the Cinderella Man HD-DVD, the quality of high-definition content on the TH-42PX60U is unparalleled. When the conventional Cinderella Man DVD is played in Progressive-Scan 480p, the championship fight scene is still very clear, but obviously not to the extent of the HD-DVD. It is important to note that the TH-42PX60U does not display the visual artifacts easily noticeable on lower-tier plasma displays with a conventional input source.

The ATSC tuner pulls in digital broadcasts from all around town. When we watched the Evening News in high-definition, the image was very clear, and the news anchors’ faces had accurate flesh tones. When they cut to reporters out in the field, the detail of their surroundings was excellent. When we changed the channel to view the same program in regular definition, the picture was somewhat fuzzy. The image degradation is probably caused by the lower bandwidth emitted by local stations for their analog channels.