People fall into two groups when presented with a large plasma TV. The vast majority regards plasma TVs as absolutely essential. The small minority, to which I used to belong, considers plasma TV essentially passable, but because its picture usually leaves a lot to be desired, does not regard plasma as an option. After spending time with Zenith’s P60W26 60-inch plasma display, I think I get it. With products this appealing, whining about motion artifacts and slightly-less-than-perfect black levels is like complaining about how well a 7 Series BMW performs on the drag strip.

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The P60W26's wafer-thin chassis makes hanging the set on a wall easy ... if the wall is strong enough. (Click image to enlarge)

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As plasma displays go, Zenith has built a solid one. Compared with a good direct-view CRT (cathode ray tube) TV, any plasma TV will display some picture flaws. But it will display some strengths, as well, especially when it comes to geometry—how straight a straight line appears on the screen, how circular a circle looks, and so on. A plasma TV cannot (yet) produce blacks as deep as those you would get with a CRT TV, but its brightness and color are more uniform from one end of the screen to the other. Is any of that really the point, though? Of course not. The point is that the P60W26 measures less than four inches thick, is self-contained (minus the optional speakers), and acts like a regular TV, which is something that cannot be said of all plasma displays.

In fact, the P60W26 acts a lot like the HDTV-capable rear-projection TVs you can buy at the local audio/video chain. It is a full, 1,280-by-720-pixel monitor, and it offers both high-bandwidth component inputs and RGB inputs, as well as the usual assortment of composite and S-video inputs (but you will need a separate TV tuner to watch off-air TV). There are the usual RCA-type stereo analog audio inputs, plus spring clips to attach a pair of optional speakers. There is also an RS-232 port, which makes it easy to control the P60W26 with a high-end LCD touchscreen remote. A built-in Faroudja/Sage processing chip converts non-high-definition video to the high-resolution video that a big plasma display demands.

While thin, this TV is not light, weighing nearly 200 pounds. Fortunately, Zenith included large screw holes on the back, which offer a couple of sturdy options for mounting (including an optional wall-mounting kit and an optional stand,the latter of which we requested). Four bolts attach the stand to the TV, making the combination fairly easy to set up. However, the stand leaves no simple option for placement of a center speaker; there is no room for one on the stand itself.

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Zenith supplies a rather basic, non-backlit remote with this TV. (Click image to enlarge)

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Of course, the P60W26 comes with a fairly intuitive remote control, but it is not backlit, which is a bit like designing a luxury car without power windows. The interface is simple and fairly easy to navigate, and offers a great deal of room to customize certain functions, such as color temperature. Instead of the usual cool, medium and warm color temperature settings, you—or, preferably, your installer—can adjust the red, blue and green saturation on a scale of one to five. Whether it is a good idea for you to toy with your TV’s colorimetry is another story, but you do have the option of fiddling with it, even though it takes a trained eye to get an accurate picture without a color analyzer.

I spent time looking at test patterns before I viewed normal video on the P60W26 and noticed that some shades of gray seemed redder than others. Some adjustment improved the situation, but I was not able to get the set to display gray in a consistent manner at every brightness level.

In normal video watching, none of that was an issue. As with other plasma TVs, I did note some blocking—unnatural square blocks appearing in certain areas of the picture—when action was very fast as it is during explosions, but less than I have seen on other displays. Blacks looked pretty good down to about 10 IRE (a few shades lighter than absolute black) before giving up the ghost, which is above average performance for a plasma display.

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Although it does not include a digital video input, the P60W26 can handle virtually any analog video signal. (Click image to enlarge)

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Another helpful feature of the display is the Faroudja/Sage video processing. All plasma TVs have a built-in scaler, because all incoming video must be converted to the exact native resolution of the plasma displayy. But few plasma TVs incorporate video processing this good. The Zenith did a pretty good job in avoiding aliasing (jagged edges on round objects onscreen), and motion artifacts were kept to a minimum. DVDs from a regular, interlaced-scan DVD player looked fairly sharp, clear and filmlike. But it is impossible to see this display’s full potential until you watch HDTV on it. While watching HDTV feeds from CBS and other sources, I was astonished by the clarity and depth, which was far better than I have seen from rear-projection CRT HDTVs. That is a tribute to the displayy’s 1,280-by-720-pixel resolution, which is better than you can get from most CRT-type rear-projection TVs. While I think the Faroudja/Sage chip does an adequate job, you may want to consider a high-quality outboard video scaler if you plan to build a serious theater around this display.

That may seem like a bit of a negative statement, but in truth, it is not. There are not many plasma screens that I would consider building a true home theater around, but because of the P60W26’s relatively high performance and slim profile, it makes sense for people who want to avoid the bulk of a rear-projection TV or the complexity of a front projector. Just as importantly, it is as easy to operate as a regular TV, yet it integrates easily with a control system, and can displayy computer graphics and video games, too.

Whether it finds its way into a game room, a study or a smaller home theater system, the P60W26 makes a welcome alternative to the same-old, same-old plethora of rear-projection displays. It is a plasma TV that deserves to be taken seriously.

DESCRIPTION
HDTV-ready, 60-inch plasma monitor with optional speakers, mount and stand.

DISPLAY CAPABILITIES
Native 16:9 screen displayys multiple aspect ratios, including anamorphic, expanded 4:3 letterbox and conventional 4:3. Accepts 720-line progressive and 1,080-line interlaced HDTV, 480-line progressive and interlaced video, and RGB computer video.

CONNECTIONS
High-bandwidth component and RGB video input, composite and S-video input, stereo analog audio input and output, and left and right speaker outputs.

DIMENSIONS/RESOLUTION
DIMENSIONS: 34.8 x 57.3 x 3.9 inches (hwd) RESOLUTION: 1,280 x 720 pixels

PRICE/CONTACT
PRICE: $15,000
CONTACT: 847-391-7000
www.zenith.com