Sylvania 6842PE 42-Inch Flat Panel Plasma TV
Just fine for a no-name brand
It was showing a demo DVD in progressive scan mode and some basic analog cable signals. I bought it because it was in my price range and it had what appeared to be the best picture among the other cheapy plasmas on display and it did not have the visible integrated speakers. I wanted a very clean and simple look and did not want the extra bulk of integrated speakers.  I do wish they had added some wire guides or something as it is difficult to hide the cables coming down from the back.  The remote also appears rather weak and flimsy, it was probably meant to be replaced by a Universal remote. <br /> <br />It took me a few days of tuning before I finally got the picture to my liking. I tested with some anamorphic DVDs and initially the image was sub par, decent contrast between darks and lights, but blacks appeared to be washed out with no detail and quite a bit of contour banding.  The lights were still very nice.  This was using 480i and S-Video from a standard DVD player.  I then switched to a component cables and turned on progressive scan <br /> <br />Image quality improved, with bright colors details standing out vividly. I tested with Moulan Rouge and Hero (the Jet-Li original DVD Chinese release) both have some spectacular complex scenes...   Both looked very good but I still thought the darker shades still  lacked a lot of detail.  On a hunch I bought some really expensive true 75ohm components cables... and bingo, suddenly darks came alive.  I tested with Matrix and Heat, both containing a lot of dark scenes... though the blacks are still not up to the quality of Panasonic's Real Black Drive system.  It was very acceptable to me. <br /> <br />Contrast ratio is stated at 1000:1, Compared to Panasonic's claimed 4000:1 it is noticeably dimmer. If I had a little more money I would have bought the Panasonic EDTV  equivalent.  But the Sylvania branded Funai Plasma is still a decent plasma definitely better than the AKAI, Daewoo, Gateway models I looked at.  If you have the extra $500-$1000 dollars go with the Panasonic, JVC or Mitsubishi EDTV, but if your budget constrained, this plasma, with the proper set up, will provide decently. <br /> <br />I can't comment on it's performance with HDTV signals, but HDTV looks good on almost everything.