Introduction
Tour & Design
The front of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a flat, glossy black bezel with few frills or special features. Like other Panasonic models, it's a bit boxy, and isn't going to dazzle you. However, the bezel design is vastly improved compared to previous designs. When we spoke to Panasonic representatives at CES this past January, they acknowledged that the competition had pulled ahead of them in design, and that they were stepping their game up in 2011. This sentiment shows in the Panasonic TC-L42E30's design.
The back of the TV is your standard black-painted-metal fare, with all of the ports located to the right side of the set. For information about the ports on the back of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 see our Connectivity section.
The sides of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 are somewhat slim, but still big enough to comfortably house a side input panel on the left, along with the onboard controls on the right side. For information about the ports on the sides of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 see our Connectivity section.
The stand is more than capable of supporting the weight of the LCD screen, and it's joined to the base of the casing by several screws included in the packaging. The stand does not swivel, which can be a pain when you want to access the back input ports.
The range of controls on the side Panasonic TC-L42E30 are about as generic as they come, but that is not a bad thing: it is nice to get exactly what you expect sometimes, as we've seen other TVs go with somewhat less-effective means of manual control in the past.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30's remote is identical in every way to the remote of the 2011 model year Panasonic TC-L42U30, and other lower-end 2010 model year Panasonic TV sets. The remote itself is a matte black with black rubber buttons that are large and impossible to misread. While the remote is quite basic and easy to navigate, it is has awful key travel, meaning that you have to push down far on the buttons in order to operate the remote. This slows down operation of the remote significantly.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 comes packaged with remote, batteries, stand, manual and setup instructions.
Blacks & Whites
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a poor black level of 0.28 cd/m2, while not as bad as other Panasonic screens we've seen, this reading is still weak compared to readings taken from other competitive models of LCD TV. Now seems to be a good time to introduce you to the first of many recurring oddities of the Panasonic's LCD screen with in-plane switching. Because of this feature, black levels do not stay consistent at different viewing angles, and actually drop as you move away from center horizontally. That being said, if you are not viewing the set dead-on vertically, you will notice a giant drop in contrast, as the vertical viewing angle is quite poor. While our tests indicated a 0.28 cd/m2 black level, this reading is from a device pointed directly at the exact center of the screen. Chances are good that you won't always be viewing at that exact height, so be aware that your viewing experience may differ from what our tests indicate. For more information on this problem, check out our viewing effects page. (More on how we test Black Level.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a peak brightness of 259.6 cd/m2, while not terribly impressive, will be more than enough to view in a brightly-lit room. The peak brightness does not vary much regardless of how much or how little white there is on the screen, as you will see in the white falloff section. (More on how we test Peak Brightness.)
Though this is nothing new for some of the more recent Panasonic LCD TVs, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a relatively poor but passable contrast ratio of 927:1. It is worthy of mention that the Panasonic TC-L42E30 didn't score too badly in terms of greyscale gamma, meaning that it is capable of displaying detail in shadow fairly well. (More on how we test Contrast.)
As previously mentioned, the in-plane switching causes some unique issues in terms of contrast as well, namely that viewers will note a giant drop in contrast with even tiny vertical shifts from the dead center of the screen. (More on viewing angle and IPS display issues.)
Like most LCD TVs, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has no trouble in displaying a consistent black level, as you can see from the chart below. No matter how much or how little black is on the screen at any given time, you can be sure that the black level is more or less consistent. Keep in mind however, that this test is performed by aiming our recording device directly at the center of the screen, and that at different vertical angles black levels will vary, as explained in the viewing effects section. (More on how we test Tunnel Contrast.)
While the Panasonic TC-L42E30 is great at displaying a consistent black level, it is even better in maintaining a consistent brightness. This is more or less normal for an LCD TV. (More on how we test White Falloff.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a fairly uniform screen, whether the display is all white or all black. However, there is a noticeable pattern along the bottom edge of hardly-noticeable flares on an all black screen. Chances are, the viewing angle issues will affect your viewing experience more than the very minor issues in screen uniformity. (More on how we test Uniformity.)
The greyscale gamma test gives us a complete picture of how well a TV transitions from black to white in the greyscale. While the slope of the greyscale gamma line (2.59) is not ideal (2.1 to 2.2), there are few, if any, errors in displaying specific shades of white or black, meaning that you are far less likely to experience posterization in shadow detail when watching content on a Panasonic TC-L42E30. This is not a bad overall performance in this area. (More on how we test Greyscale Gamma.)
Color Accuracy
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 recorded a very good score in color temperature, displaying only a few errors perceptible to the human eye. While it is possible that you may find some extremely minor color cooling in the deepest blacks, it is very unlikely that you will notice anything on your TV set. As you can see from the graph, as the signal dims, there isn't much of a trend over the total range of signal intensity, but the error reported is almost entirely below the perceptible error limit. (More on how we test Color Temperature.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 had very consistent and accurate performance in our RGB curve test, showing only very minor errors along the curve (jagged areas that show color values that the TV could not produce) and a very tiny peak in the blue curve all the way at the very end of our recording. While it is certainly possible that you may see some color banding in the absolute brightest blues, in all likelihood you will never notice a problem. All that aside, these curves are wonderfully smooth and uniform, which means that the Panasonic TC-L42E30 transitions beautifully between even the tiniest changes in color shades. You can even see this on the color strips below, with the absence of even the slightest color banding that appears in some of the strips of the comparison models. (More on how we test RGB Curves.)
Below are linear representations of the information we collected from each of the 255 values we measured in the red, green and blue channels. For reference, we included those of the comparison models below as well.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 did not do so well in displaying accurate colors in the rec 709 standard, which is the international standard for how colors should appear in the HD format. As you can see from the graph below, it oversaturates the reds and blues, and shifts the greens a bit as well. (More on how we test Color Gamut.)
If you are a stat hound, below are all the exact measurements we used to calculate color error.
Motion
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 shows only minor issues in motion performance, with the expected detail loss and blurriness in moving pictures, as well as some artifacting in fast-moving objects. On the whole, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 can handle motion smoothness fairly well: the automatic 3:2 pulldown setting smooths film-based content considerably, and the Motion Picture Pro 4 setting maintains detail in a moving picture well, even if it makes film-based content look very weird.
The biggest shortcoming of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 in motion score was artifacting, which was a very consistent problem in both 1080p and 1080i resolutions. No additional video processing seemed to help this problem consistently, and all of our test patterns showed normal issues with motion that are fairly usual for LCD TVs. (More on how we test Motion.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 doesn't struggle with native 24fps content like blu-ray movies much at all. Though by default it is in the "auto" position, you should be sure to change the 3:2 pulldown setting under the advanced picture settings menu is in the "on" position before you watch a movie, otherwise there are issues with jerkiness and unclean motion. If you leave the setting in the "Auto" position, it will perform better than if you leave it off, but there will be some bizarre artifacting in certain high-frequency patterns. (More on how we test 3:2 Pulldown and 24fps.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a native resolution of 1080p and can handle all standard NTSC resolutions. This particular Panasonic model handles rescaling well, and does not seem to have a problem with overscanning, so long as you set the "HD size" in the advanced picture menu to "HD 2." (More on how we test Resolution Scaling.)
480p
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 lost 2% on every side to overscan, and showed no additional resolution problems.
720p
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 did not lose any screen area to overscan in this resolution, but did have difficulty with showing false-coloration in high-frequency patterns.
1080i
In the 1080i resolution, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 not only displayed some false-coloration in high-frequency patterns, but also showed minor difficulties displaying Moiré patterns.
Viewing Effects
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a native resolution of 1080p and can support all standard NTSC resolutions.
Here is where the testing for the Panasonic TC-L42E30 ran into some odd results. Because the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a type of LCD screen that uses in-plane switching (IPS), the horizontal viewing angle is very wide for an LCD screen, but there are tradeoffs. Namely, the vertical viewing angle (how far away up and down from center you can view the TV) is quite poor, and you will notice a huge drop in contrast even 10 degrees above or below the center of the TV. This will frustrate Panasonic TC-L42E30 owners who elect to mount their screen on the wall to no end unless they are able to angle or level their screen to accommodate an extremely specific viewing height.
Normally when we perform our viewing angle tests, we see a rise in black levels and corresponding fall in brightness of our test picture, which we then use to calculate the angle at which 50% of the constrast is lost.When we performed the exact same test for this TV set, when moving our recording device to different angles from the center of the screen, black levels dropped instead of increasing like they do in other LCD TVs. Contrast ratio also improved for a short time as we moved away from a perfect 90 degree angle from the center of the screen, before dropping off. It was confusing to us, as the picture was clearly losing contrast, yet the readings said otherwise. As it turns out, the readings along the dead center of the screen horizontally were accurate, but because our eyes were at a different vertical angle to the screen than our recording device, we were seeing something completely different than the device was.
Because you, the consumer, are more interested in how the picture will look rather than how great it is under nigh-impossible viewing conditions, we felt it necessary to reflect the vertical viewing angle problem in our scoring by docking 2 points instead of the normal 1 for color error. As this type of LCD display may become more popular as it becomes cheaper to produce, we may have to account for this in the future. For the average TV buyer, this issue is one to take note of because how high you set up your display will make a big difference in how you see the television's picture.
Because the IPS of the LCD display is very specifically tailored to perform well at an exact vertical angle, it performed extremely well on our tests (the data from these tests are taken at 0 degrees from center vertically), giving us about a 140 degree horizontal viewing angle. Remarkably enough, this is quite similar to a plasma television screen, which normally performs far better than any LCD screen in terms of viewing angle. Still, the issues discussed above are things that a plasma has no trouble with, so the comparison stops at horizontal viewing angle. (More on how we test Viewing Angle.)
While not the least reflective screen we've seen, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 certainly did well in this category. Because of the specific type of substrate layer Panasonic used for its LCD screen on this model, the reflection was very detailed but not as bright as it could be. There was no additional glow or large rainbow sunburst pattern, which reduced the impact of a bright light shining on the screen, but the reflection is still fairly annoying. (More on how we test Reflectance.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a smattering of video processing features available to the user, but not many actually affect picture quality. Importantly, while most options are easily accessible, there are a few that need to be "unlocked" by different preset modes, which can be frustrating to figure out.
Calibration
[
](http://www.displaymate.com/)The Panasonic TC-L42E30 is fairly easy to calibrate, with few frustrations along the way. Using "Cinema" mode as a starting point, we calibrated the TV to provide the best picture we could coax out of the unit. As you'll note in the chart below, we did leave off several video processing features. Some settings were locked in Cinema mode.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a small handful of video mode presets, if you don't want to obsess over a screen for a long while trying to find the perfect picture.
Connectivity
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 actually has a fairly average number of ports for the 2011 model year. Where many manufacturers are starting to abandon analog input sources in favor of HDMI, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has both. Unlike the lower-end Panasonics, however, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has a composite video input on the back, as well as an RGB in and USB ports. These ports are nice to have for older media sources and game consoles (especially if you have a Wii), but the trend seems to be shifting away from having these connectivity options. Interestingly, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 allows you to connect a USB keyboard to the set to enter in login information for the internet applications. However, this is likely to be fairly useless, as the set stores your login information, making this a one-and-done type of operation.
In addition to the ports on the back of the case, is a small panel on the side of the unit with an HDMI input, SD/SDHC card slot and a USB port.
If you would like to see an overview of all the connectivity options offered by the Panasonic TC-L42E30, see the connectivity comparison table below:
Panasonic did a good job placing the input ports on the TC-L42E30 in relatively easy-to access areas and labeling each input or output port in large, legible print. The base does not swivel, which can make access to the back a chore, but overall placement of ports is pretty good.
Audio & Menus
The sound quality of the Panasonic TC-L42E30 isn't too bad, but there is only so much two 20x speakers can do. Still, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 offers manual adjustments for bass and treble, even if there's no true equalizer. The AI sound option seems to deaden or prevent large shifts in volume at the expense of overall audio quality. As far as the simulated surround sound goes, really no TV will ever come close to replacing a 5.1-channel dedicated surround sound system, but Panasonic TC-L42E30 isn't too bad in this regard. The setting certainly enhances the experience, but falls far short of what a true surround sound system could do.
For those who prefer to use an external sound system, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 offers a digital audio out port, which should be able to enable any purist to hook up their system no sweat.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30's menu is much like that of other Panasonics we've reviewed before: simple in design, few frills and not much to look at. That being said, it's easy to navigate, and all the controls are easy to find. It's important to note, however, that you can only toggle each setting with the left/right buttons on the d-pad of the remote. Pushing the OK button won't do anything when you're in the Picture menu.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30's instruction manual is complete and helpful. If you have a problem in setup, or a question about performance, chances are it's directly addressed in great detail here. Should you misplace it, you can always access the online version, which you can find online here.
Multimedia & Internet
Compared to higher-end models of Panasonic televisions, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 offers a reduced number of internet applications, available to be called up on the screen at any time by pressing the VIERA TOOLS button. Currently, the E3/E30 series Panasonic televisions only provide access to a limited range of content, but the applications included cover many of the more popular services. With no option to use the internet outside of their applications, we were left wanting more from the Panasonic TC-L42E30 when all was said and done in this area.
If you're used to browsing the internet at home on a PC that is any more complicated than an abacus, you will balk at the load times of each application on the Panasonic TC-L42E30. Not only does each page take just short of forever to load, but some of the video applications stream only very poor-quality content. Even the load animations are pretty bad, often a series of 3 heavily-artifacted .jpgs that are rotated 120 degrees every couple of seconds. If it's any consolation, the far more advanced TC-L50ST30 was just as slow in loading its Viera Cast applications.
The preloaded applications include Facebook, Netflix, CinemaNow, Amazon Video ondemand, Napster, Pandora and DLNA support.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 can play music, video or photos from either a USB drive or an SD/SDHC card. When you open the menu to view the content on a device, you will first be asked to select the type of media you want to play back. If you are viewing photos (.jpg only), you can set up a slideshow with background music stored on your USB device. Though the menu is rather ugly, and all of your items are displayed in thumbnail-format, it functions well and the video and audio controls support very commonly used formats.
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 does not support any type of other media.
Power Consumption
LCD TVs typically do not draw a large amount of power. As you can see in the chart below, the average power draw for the Panasonic TC-L42E30 is actually pretty good, with an estimated annual operating cost of $11.13, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 seems to benefit greatly from the reduced power consumption of its LED backlight. (More on how we test Power Consumption.)
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 consumes much less power per year than any of the comparison models listed below, which is great. It won't make a huge dent in your total energy bill, but it's still nice to cut costs wherever possible.
Vs. Sony Bravia KDL-46EX700
Value Comparison Summary
While the Panasonic TC-L42E30 is cheaper than the Sony KDL-46EX700, it also offers less online content and a smaller screen size.
Blacks & Whites
The Sony KDL-46EX700 outperformed the Panasonic TC-L42E30 in peak brightness, deepest black and contrast ratio, but we should point out that any brightness above 200 cd/m2 is more than sufficient for viewing in a brightly-lit room. Still, the Sony KDL-46EX700 is the superior TV set in terms of black and white performance.
Color Accuracy
Both the Sony KDL-46EX700 and the Panasonic TC-L42E30 performed well in our color temperature error tests, with the Sony taking the slight edge. In general, neither TV will show a perceptible color temperature error until signal intensity is at its lowest, meaning you will almost definitely never notice it. The Panasonic TC-L42E30 takes the edge in the RGB comparison, even though both sets are very closely matched in terms of color performance.
Motion
The Sony KDL-46EX700 is the clear winner in our motion tests, as the Panasonic TC-L42E30 displayed some troubles with smoothness and artifacting that were not present on the Sony.
Viewing Effects
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 absolutely blew the Sony KDL-46EX700 away in terms of total viewing angle, calculated at 70.31 degrees to either side of center. Keep in mind, though that the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has problems in this area that the Sony doesn't.
Connectivity
While the Sony KDL-46EX700 sports many of the same connectivity options as the Panasonic TC-L42E30, it does have a couple more analog inputs, as well as an analog audio output. However, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 does have more USB ports as well as an SD/SDHC card slot.
Vs. Sharp Aquos LC-40LE700UN
Value Comparison Summary
The Sharp LC-40LE700 has a smaller screen and higher MSRP than the Panasonic TC-L42E30, but it is likely that you can find it online for less at this point in its life-cycle. Though it doesn't offer the same picture performance as the Panasonic TC-L42E30, it does provide more connectivity options for the user with more media sources that use analog cables.
Blacks & Whites
While the Sharp LC-40LE700 has a better contrast ratio and deepest black level, it does not produce a very bright screen, meaning it may have some difficulty producing the brightness needed to view in a well-lit room. The Panasonic TC-L42E30 does not have this problem.
Color Accuracy
The Panasonic TC-L42E30 and the Sharp LC-40LE700 both do very well with displaying the correct color temperature, with errors well below the threshold of perceptibility to the human eye. Though both show some perceptible error towards the lowest signal intensity, in all likelihood you will never notice it. In terms of RGB performance, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 holds the edge in scoring, though the Sharp LC-40LE700 will not show many more errors.
Motion
The Sharp LC-40LE700 fared slightly better in our motion testing than the Panasonic TC-L42E30, but the difference between the two TV sets is not that drastic in this category.
Viewing Effects
Like the other comparison models, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 sports a much larger horizontal viewing angle than the Sharp LC-40LE700, by virtue of the newer LCD screen with in-plane switching. However, the Sharp's viewing angle is nothing to write home about in the first place.
Connectivity
The Sharp LC-40LE700 has more analog input options than the Panasonic TC-L42E30, as can be seen by the chart below. However, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has more USB ports, as well as an SD/SDHC card slot.
Vs. Samsung LN46C650
Value Comparison Summary
Sporting a bigger screen at a price that won't break the bank, the Samsung LN46C630 offers internet connectivity that the Panasonic TC-L42E30 just doesn't do a good job of matching. Though it has a higher MSRP, at this point it could probably be found online for a cheaper price.
Blacks & Whites
The Samsung LN40C630 was the clear contender in our comparison model set, as it has the deepest black and the best contrast ratio. The Panasonic TC-L42E30 doesn't even come close in any measurement here.
Color Accuracy
Panasonic TC-L42E30 did outperform the Samsung LN46C630 in terms of color temperature error, as it displayed very little perceptible error across a long range of signal intensity, while the Samsung displayed a noticeable color cooling over a wide range of signal intensities. In terms of RGB performance, the Panasonic TC-L42E30 performs a bit better, showing fewer errors in its RGB curves.
Motion
Like the Sony KDL-EX700, the Samsung LN46C630 handles motion performance much better than the Panasonic TC-L42E30.
Viewing Effects
Very similar to the average marks of the other comparison models, the Samsung LN46C630 has an normal viewing angle for an LCD screen, but is left in the dust by the Panasonic TC-L42E30's LCD screen with in-plane switching.
Connectivity
The Samsung LN46C650 has more analog input options, as well as analog audio output where the Panasonic TC-L42E30 has none. The Panasonic TC-L42E30 has an SD/SDHC card slot, which the Samsung does not have.
Conclusion
Series Comparison
TC-LxxE30 Series
Charting a course through the morass of TV series and model names is treacherous business. Depending on the manufacturer, the technology, and sometimes sheer capriciousness, there may be a sensible logic or the complete absence of it in the naming conventions. It frequently has more to do with tailoring TVs at specific price points for big name retailers (Walmart, Best Buy, etc.) than any firm taxonomy. Remove a port here or there to drop the price by twenty bucks and bam!, you've got yourself a SKU specially crafted for Target.
Panasonic is certainly not helping the cause with this E3 / E30 series. The TVs here have fundamentally different screen materials that affect performance. Specifically, we're talking about the panel and the in-plane switching (IPS) systems (read some background on IPS here and here). All the Panasonics here use a type of IPS, but there are difference here that we're still unclear about.
The TC-L32E3 is the smallest and least expensive. It has an IPS Alpha system, the latest generation of IPS that is supposed to have a better contrast ratio, and possibly viewing angle. The TC-L37E3 and TC-L42E30 also use IPS Alpha. The TC-L42E3, however, uses the "standard" IPS. The viewing angle was a huge point of contention on the TC-L42E30, as you can read earlier in the review.
The issue is further complicated by the fact that the TC-L32E3, TC-L37E3, and TC-L42E3 have a Fine Black Panel, while the most expensive TC-L42E30 has a Clear Panel. The panels are designed to reduce glare and increase contrast ratio. Panasonic claims that the Clear Panel is superior. We were impressed with the glare reduction on the TC-L42E30.
Finally, Panasonic states that the TC-L42E30 has 900 lines of moving picture resolution, while the three models in the E3 series have just 300 lines of moving picture resolution. We do not test moving picture resolution using a numeric methodology like this, but our tests procedures are not dissimilar. At this time, we haven't reviewed an E3 model, yet, so we can't know the difference. The overall motion performance of the TC-L42E30 was average (though we noticed a lot of artifacting).
Meet the tester
A seasoned writer and professional photographer, Chris reviews cameras, headphones, smartphones, laptops, and lenses. Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink.
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