Panasonic TC-P42X1 Plasma HDTV Review - Motion

Motion Summary
• Some issues with blurring. • Subject to artifacting, especially when an image is moving. • Average 3:2 pulldown and 24fps performance.
	Color Accuracy	Page 6 of 16	Viewing Effects

Motion Smoothness (7.38)

The Panasonic TC-P42X1 had some blurring issues. When pictures moved around, they'd start to look cartoonish and features would become muddled. Moving blocks of colors were followed around by "shadows," and horizontal lines that panned vertically (or vertical lines that panned horizontally) would run together slightly. These issues aren't particularly pronounced at the native resolution, but they do worsten with 1080i playback.
 

Motion Artifacting (5.5)

Artifacts refer to anything you see on the screen that's not supposed to be there. This can include shuddering effects, or areas that blink or wobble when they're not supposed to. The TC-P42X1 had some issues with artifacting, namely that moving images got noisy. High-contrast edges would appear to shudder slightly. Fine patterns, like a herringbone suit, sometimes featured bands of color that weren't supposed to be there.

3:2 Pulldown & 24fps (7.5)

Film runs at 24fps. Since your TV refreshes at 60fps, it needs to input frames to "fill out" the video. When this is done poorly, it can make the video look unnatural. The TC-P42X1 does this well for the most part, although the TV again doesn't do well with fine patterns. We saw blotches appear when they shouldn't have and, again, movement tended to translate into some noise.