NEC PlasmaSync 42VP4
REVIEW DATE: 12.09.03
The NEC PlasmaSync 42VP4 is a competitively priced 42-inch display with a fairly complete feature set, but it's designed for commercial installations. As a result, we found some significant holes for home entertainment, such as the lack of PIP and an antenna connection.
It has a wide-VGA resolution of 853 by 480 pixels, which is one of the lowest of the group. That's sufficient to handle 480p and NTSC signals without a problem, but anything higher requires scaling down the image and losing some detail.
The industrial-style on-screen menu system is plain but provides access to useful functions, such as a long-life setting that decreases brightness to extend the display's useful life. The remote control provides access to an on-screen pointer, handy for presentations. The 42VP4 has separate picture settings for different signal inputs and two sets of component video connectors, one with RCA jacks and the other with BNC connectors. There are D-sub connectors for RGB analog input and pass-through output, as well as a digital DVI connector. But it's missing an antenna input and PIP functions.
On our tests, the panel showed good dark-gray response, fast switching between HD modes, and, despite the scaling, almost no pixel jitter with a 1080i signal. And it was one of only three units to pass a 3:2 pull-down test (converting 24-frame-per-second movies to 30-fps NTSC video).
The image quality was good, but color tracking was poor, and some of the colors appeared somewhat off at the factory-default settings. (Yellow looked slightly muddy.) The black level was a bit high, so detail in shadows did not look sufficiently dark, and the display had more noise on the black-level test than the other products reviewed here did. Nor was it as good at edge detection or handling scrolling text. Our jury was pleased with quality from DVDs, however.
The entertainment limitations are not serious, as most entertainment systems have other components that can provide equivalent functions; for example, a VCR can decode a cable signal and pass the data along to the TV. The picture quality is good, but some other displays are better.
