Zenith P60W38 - Holy Googly Moogly! It's A Behemoth! (Won't Kill Your Wallet Either!)

Author's Rating:

Pros: Price, Performance, Size

Cons: Need tuner to watch television

The Bottom Line: 
The Zenith P60W38 is a bang for the buck huge screen plasma.

Author's Review
Nothing is more impressive to people than a very large TV! However, plasma televisions seem to be the best eye candy since they are flat and have an absolutely stunning picture. While many of them are around 42", I wanted to find the largest ones on the market. The largest plasmas are around 60", but they aren't cheap. The Zenith P60W38 is one of the cheapest around coming in at around $10,000 versus the $20,000 you'd pay for a Marantz, or mid-$10,000 for LG or NEC. Well, using the "lower end" behemoth was some fun, here's what I found when using it with a Samsung SIR-T165 tuner.

-Price-
*The Zenith P60W38 is a very large plasma television, moving away from the smaller 42" that you commonly see. Even with the 60" screen size, it still retains a fairly decent price. I've seen the prices of competitors. Marantz's 60" plasmas are around $20,000 while NEC and LG might cost a few thousand dollars more. I do know that many of the products that Zenith offers are pretty good quality. It might not be Sony or Marantz, but they sure build a pretty damn good TV. It might not be quite as hot as a Marantz, but when you're saving thousands of dollars, you are an overall happier consumer. I'm not very familiar with the plasma television market to date like some other people are, but I do know that many of the 60"+ plasmas that you find from other brands are considerably more money. This TV has all the "wow" factor that you'd want, and also the sharp picture quality. The Zenith P60W38 offers excellent picture quality with a huge screen size for considerably less money than you'd expect.

-Video Quality-
*The Zenith P60W38 needs to be used with a tuner so that you can receive television programming. The Zenith P60W38 has a superb picture quality. It uses a 16:9 widescreen ratio which is great for viewing DVDs. The resolution is 1280 x 720p. There is also filtration which gives a clearer and better image. With plasmas, you can expect to have the best possible picture. The Zenith P60W38 accepts NTSC, HD, VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA input signals which will allow you excellent versatility when it comes to viewing different types of pictures. When it comes to viewing HDTV programming with a tuner and DVD video through component video, the picture quality is very life-like. It's much clearer than anything you'd ever get with a CRT display television. Also, another great thing is that you can use a VGA input so that you can run a computer or laptop through the television and receive excellent picture quality in a very large size. The Zenith P60W38 is powered by a Faroudja processor which allows viewing of different resolution formats, including progressive scan. If you didn't understand what any of that meant, it means that you will receive excellent picture quality with this television. It allows the usage or digital and analog video devices such as DVD players, VCR, computer, and tuners to bring you the clearest and most realistic picture possible. If you want plasma quality picture, then the Zenith P60W38 has it at a pretty low price.

+DVD FUN+
*When it comes down to DVD quality via progressive scan, the quality is awesome. It's not nearly as cool as watching HDTV, but it's still much better than the quality you'd receive on a CRT display. You can use DVD through either S-Video or component video, but component video is by far the best choice since that allows for the best picture quality. When combined with a good quality progressive scan DVD player, brace yourself for excellent picture quality! By far the best you can get from a DVD.

+HDTV Fun+
*Even though there isn't much programming that uses HD signals, when you find it, your breath will be taken away. HD programming will give you a very life-like picture. Just like in plasma television commercials, you'll feel that you're really there. The drawback to the Zenith P60W38 is that it's a monitor-only, so you'll have to provide the HD tuner.

-Ease of Use & Features-
*The Zenith P60W38 has multilingual menus which allow you to control the functions of the television. It features an on-screen equalizer, audio controls, picture-in-picture, zoom, and it obviously comes out with a remote control. If you know how to use televisions, it's not all that difficult to be using this. The Zenith P60W38 has enhancing features which improve the picture quality such as filtration that you'd also find from other manufacturers to improve picture quality. The Zenith P60W38 also has a glass damper which helps protect the screen. If you have little kids or pets running around the house, this proves to be helpful.

-Looks & Styling-
*The Zenith P60W38 is a very good looking TV. Well, since it's a plasma television, it already looks pretty damn good! One cool thing that you can do with it is mount it on a wall. This will simply amaze people who look at it. Also, the screen is big since it's 60", and that's definitely a plus :)

-The Verdict-
*The Zenith P60W38 is a sensational value for the money. It needs a tuner in order to watch television since it's a monitor-only, but a tuner won't break the bank or won't bring the Zenith P60W38 near the other competition. Even though manufacturers such as Marantz, LG, NEC, or anyone else who has more expensive 60"+ plasma TVs which might edge out the Zenith P60W38 in picture quality by a bit, the price gap between them is quite substantial. For the price, the Zenith P60W38 gives you everything you'd need, a pretty big screen with great picture quality! If you're looking for a large plasma TV without completely destroying your wallet like you would with something like Marantz, the Zenith P60W38 is a good choice.