Gateway 42-inch Plasma TV

The Cowhide Home Theater

Reviewed by Joanathan Takiff

I was intrigued to hear recently of a brand new 42 inch plasma widescreen TV selling for $3,000 — undercutting competitors’ comparable-quality models by a massive grand or two. More exciting still was actually putting my hands and eyes on this slim-line beauty for an extended test run, and discovering that it performs so well.

The set comes from Gateway, the computer hardware company that now hankers to be your everything-digital entertainment supplier. Its first plasma’s fairly remarkable price has been achieved in much the same way as Gateway cut the bottom out of the PC market in the ’80s — by going the “direct” route. That’s to say, the company negotiates prices with component makers and assembly factories, then sells the finished goods directly to consumers through its 800-number, online and in Gateway Country stores. In the process, Gateway can afford to eliminate one big markup step — the 20-40 percent that retailers tack on to make their operating nut.

The set’s “glass,” as industry-ites refer to the plasma display screen itself, is an 852×480-pixel panel from LG/Philips. Most of the assembly work for the GTW-P42M102 is performed in Taiwan, though the cable-ready TV tuner is actually wired in at a Gateway facility in the United States. This split-building strategy lets the company cut its import duty outlays (since the products enter the United States as “monitors” rather than as finished TVs) and allows Gateway to do a final quality control check of every unit during the tuner install process.

Weighing less than 70 pounds, and measuring a tad under 4 inches deep, my test model moved in easily and really dressed up the test room with its tastefully understated, brushed aluminum and black-toned appearance. (Sorry, no cow spots on the box!) Even without an operating manual (which showed up a few days later) we had the display up and running quickly, just as soon as we discovered the master power button hiding on the back.

The set comes out of the box with sturdy feet already attached and back-firing speakers built in — both features which, like the tuner, are often extras in plasma purchases. Back-of-set connections are numerous — including two high-def-ready (progressive/interlace) component sets, one S-Video, one composite video, a DVI interface (not copy-protected), RGB in and out and an apparently non-functioning RS-232 port, which the owner’s manual describes as “not used (reserved).” To ease the set’s flush-mounting against a wall (with a $200 optional bracket), the wiring connections are all made vertically — plugs pointing up, cables hanging down. But make sure there’s some breathing room around the cabinet. This fan-less (for quiet’s sake) monitor does put out some heat, especially dead center on the rear-top grated area of its enclosure.

While the Gateway’s display resolution is officially rated standard definition, the term “enhanced definition” makes better sense for this high-performance set. There’s a very good scaler on-board for reshaping 1,080i or 720p HDTV signals to the display’s native output. (And in case you need a really big PC or Mac display, the circuitry also re-scales computer sources, up to 1,280×1,024 SXGA.) CBS’s HDTV college football games showcased spectacularly on the Gateway. Even football widows who don’t care a whit about these teams could get interested, because the clarity pulls you into the picture and the action. Similarly riveting to see were well-shot network shows like CSI, and all the high-def, shot-on-video content that cycles on the PBS digital channel. When Rudy Maxa lead his tour of gourmet eating spots in Paris, this viewer could practically taste the creamy pastries.

Truth is, the Gateway plasma screen’s native 480-line progressive scanning capability really isn’t that much less than the 1,080-line interlace output of sets which are officially labeled “high definition” (equivalent to 540-line progressive). And the 852 distinguishable pixels which collectively make up each horizontal line in this plasma panel are comparable in number to many HD sets’ true (though rarely stated) detail capability.

Another strong point of this plasma screen is its exceedingly wide, 160-degree viewing angle. Even when eyeballing the picture from far off to the side of the set, or hovering above or below the screen, the image remains crisp and properly color-toned — unlike some LCD flat screens, which fade and shift tones when viewed off-axis. The Gateway’s non-reflective screen was also a plus.

For source material, I plugged in a Samsung SIR-T150 tuner to nab the bountiful over-the-air HDTV signals now available in my ‘hood from ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and newcomer WB, plus FOX’s 480p widescreen digital feed. We also made a direct cable and a DirecTV connection (the set deinterlaces these signals into 480 progressive), and checked out DVDs with a Toshiba SD-5109 progressive scan player.

Every input on the Gateway can be individually fine-tuned with a broad palette of picture settings — including a variable color temp setting with the 6,500 degrees Kelvin option preferable for low-room light viewing.

Only so much greyscale adjusting is possible, though, given the 600:1 contrast capability of this plasma panel. So in a nighttime driving scene in Men In Black II, a bit more of the car’s interior was awash in black than the cinematographer probably intended. I suspect most viewers will easily survive this shortcoming for the sake of this set’s other charms. The weakness was most noticeable, frankly, when directly comparing the Gateway to a Loewe 38-inch widescreen direct-view set, which does fabulous greyscaling. By the time you read this, Gateway has probably already made a running production line change for the set, switching to a new LG/Philips panel with 800:1 contrast, which will improve greyscale gradations.

The only picture-tweaking feature that can’t be locked on for each individual source is screen formatting. After engaging one of the three screen expansion modes to stretch a conventional 4:3 broadcast or a superwide (2:35 to 1) DVD image for full (or fuller) screen coverage, you must then tell the set “Down, boy” when switching to a 16:9 signal source. Otherwise, the image overshoots the screen. (If you can’t fix this, Gateway guys, at least move the format-switching button to the always-exposed top section of the remote. Individual source select buttons, hidden behind a sliding cover, should also be more readily available.)

While the set does split-screen tricks (PIP and POP) with two conventional analog inputs, only one cable-ready tuner is on-board. The set made an excellent presentation, with a first rate 480i cable or satellite signal, but didn’t do a good job of masking the noise in a weak cable channel — your classic “garbage in/garbage out” scenario. In fact, the noise is probably being doubled, as the image is converted in the set from 480 interlace to 480 progressive.

The small backfiring speakers work best when the set is tight against a wall, but even in this optimum condition, with BBE Sound Maximizer and SRS (pseudo surround) processing engaged, the sound is tinny. The speakers are really included just for convenience — so you can quickly flip on the set as a full-fledged TV to catch the news, or hear “you’ve got mail” when logging onto AOL. For serious viewing/listening, the set includes audio output jacks (switchable as fixed- or variable-level) and a separate subwoofer output.

No surprise (because of the big profit opportunities), customers lured in by the hot screen price are enticed to purchase extra-cost home delivery/setup, a more elaborate custom installation and, of course, extended warranties on the set. A unique insurance policy covering accidental damage actually makes sense, if you’ve got small fries around who might poke at the screen, or cause “burn-in” by leaving a video game on overnight in the pause mode.

Just weeks after this set’s debut, Gateway was already claiming “double-digit market share” — that is, better than 10 percent of sales for all plasma screens with its one and only model. And apparently, this is just the beginning of the company’s serious push into the home theater market. Bose sound systems are already available from Gateway, and a satellite TV offering with a low-cost HDTV upgrade option should be in place by the time you read this.

Later in the year, the company plans to add 42- and 50-inch true high-definition plasma screens to its product roster, which will also be very aggressively priced. Gateway is also “exploring” smaller-sized LCD TVs, said Gui Kahl, director of digital solutions. II

Gateway GTW-P42M101 Plasma TV

$2,999

Attractive styling

852×480 Native resolution

3:2 Pulldown for film scan conversion

Dual HD-ready component video inputs

SRS Sound processing

www.gateway.com