Norcent PT-425 42" Plasma Flat-Panel HDTV-Ready TV

[Archived in 41-Inches and Over, Flat-Panel TVs, HDTV Plasma TVs, Norcent, Plasma TVs, Products, TV + Video]

Manufacturer: Norcent
Price at amazon.com: List price $3,799.99

Product Description:

Why divide your focus between so-called "home" and "computer" entertainment? Norcent's 42-inch PT425 plasma display is optimized for both home theater and computer use. The set's stunning WVGA (852 x 480) resolution will make your eyes water with pleasure, and its built-in digital visual interface (DVI) greatly simplifies direct digital video connectivity to a computer (so long as the PC is equipped with a DVI video display adapter). With a plasma screen you get vivid colors like you've never seen before, extremely wide viewing angles (greater than 160 degrees, vertical/horizontal--wider, even, than LCD screens), and easy placement due to a plasma monitor's slim size--the PT425 is a mere 2.5 inches deep, perfect for desk or wall mounting. Brightness tends to be extremely uniform across plasma screens, which are also impervious to picture distortion and negative color balances that afflict CRT monitors when placed in close proximity to lighting or sound systems. Now you'll be able to view not only computer desktop and Internet pages, but full-resolution HDTV (everything from VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UVGA, UXGA, and DTV--480i, 480p, 1080i, 720p) all from one monitor. The PT425 performs 3:2 pulldown detection, a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. Digital video mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. With picture-in-picture, you can also watch two programs simultaneously (with four selectable window positions), and Norcent color-rendering technology is designed to provide the most realistic color rendering available in both NTSC (U.S.) and PAL (European) video formats. Other features include selectable aspect ratios (with zoom in/out) and a high (600:1) contrast ratio.
From Office Depot 1000:1 Contrast Ratio, Color Rendering Technology

Description from Manufacturer:Why divide your focus between so-called "home" and "computer" entertainment? Norcent's 42-inch PT425 plasma display is optimized for both home theater and computer use. The set's stunning WVGA (852 x 480) resolution will make your eyes water with pleasure, and its built-in digital visual interface (DVI) greatly simplifies direct digital video connectivity to a computer (so long as the PC is equipped with a DVI video display adapter).

With a plasma screen you get vivid colors like you've never seen before, extremely wide viewing angles (greater than 160 degrees, vertical/horizontal--wider, even, than LCD screens), and easy placement due to a plasma monitor's slim size--the PT425 is a mere 2.5 inches deep, perfect for desk or wall mounting. Brightness tends to be extremely uniform across plasma screens, which are also impervious to picture distortion and negative color balances that afflict CRT monitors when placed in close proximity to lighting or sound systems.

Now you'll be able to view not only computer desktop and Internet pages, but full-resolution HDTV (everything from VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UVGA, UXGA, and DTV--480i, 480p, 1080i, 720p) all from one monitor. The PT425 performs 3:2 pulldown detection, a handy feature for watching progressive-scan movie programs in their native 24-frame format. Digital video mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; 3:2 pulldown digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture.

With picture-in-picture, you can also watch two programs simultaneously (with four selectable window positions), and Norcent color-rendering technology is designed to provide the most realistic color rendering available in both NTSC (U.S.) and PAL (European) video formats. Other features include selectable aspect ratios (with zoom in/out) and a high (600:1) contrast ratio.Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Very Please, Especially for price Rating:
I'm not an expert so I'll just say it how it is. This TV was 1600$ off for a Boxing Day sale and cost me 2999$ CAD. When I got home with it and plugged it in, it had a hard time recognizing the component hookup. But I believe it to by my “monster cable” cables. The picture as some other said was a bit dark but I have brightness and contrast set to about 90% and it's perfect. One thing to keep in mind I found that when I plugged in the s-video cable for some reason it would make the screen darker...not sure why myself. I have it on component and then plug in S-Video...goes darker. Anywho I don’t use S-Video because I feel its garbage:) What I also love about the TV is the remote. The setup is nice and the lighting on it is great! It's a VERY bright red and you can easily see what buttons are what when watching your movies in the dark. What don’t I like about the TV? I think the quality could be a bit better but when I was looking at them in the store I ranked it higher than the Sony one sitting beside it. The colors are very nice but slightly more pixilated than some of the other brands. The hookups in the back are nice and well labeled. Also the stand it comes with and the look of the plasma screen itself are very nice. I feel that if you slapped a Sony label on this and jacked up the price 2000+ people would still buy it. (Maybe not the experts, but the avg Joe would just dive for the name) To summaries it all off, I saved myself an easy few 1000 dollars by buying the Norcent, and very happy about it. If you want plasma and want really good quality TV viewing, this is the one that let you do that without taking out a second mortgage:) Plasma screen = Cosmetically nice and visually VERY good as well Connectors = nicely placed connectors Options/remote = Got all your esencial options but not as many if you pay 3000$ more. Remote very nice in the hand well placed button and wonderful bright red light that light up all buttons. 4 stars just because the picture could be more solid and could have more options. But if you want to rank it based on its cost it gets a definite 5/5 if not more. I paid 2300 USD for it and when you sit back and relax...it's picture perfect.

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Comment: Norcent rocks! Rating:
Along with the Norcent Home Theater, it's an awsome addition to our game room.

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Comment: Disappointed! Rating:
The price obviously was fairly convincing, however, upon receipt, the display surface looked as though it were a very used product. It lead us to be believe that maybe we had received a refurbished unit. Additionally, the picture was distorted over half of the viewing area to the point where once you try to adust it, it equally distorts the other half of the picture. I also expected a much brighter picture with Plasma as I've seen with other units I've seen in stores, however, even with it brightness maxed out, it was only 50% as bright as those on display in stores. Tech support was of very little help to us to solve any of the problems we exprienced. However, the begged and pleaded with us not to return it as it that's all they've been dealing with-obviously a trend with this company. There was just too many serious issues with this product to accept and it has since been returned. We purchased a 30inch LCD-TV which draws a lot less power and has a much brighter picture.

Posted at July 11, 2003 09:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)