Panasonic Viera TH 50PZ85U 50 1080p Plasma HDTV

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

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Panasonic Viera TH 50PZ85U 50 1080p Plasma HDTV

50" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars It rocks brother - but not as a computer monitor (my bad)
Well, I have been a CRT guy for a long time. I always thought that I would not really care to have HD over normal TV. I mean, yeah, the picture would be better but once engrossed in a show, well, would I really care if it is HD? And the answer is - as I expected - not really. However, that is just me.

As far as this TV goes, its fantastic! Great picture, great features - comes with a VGA type plug so you can run your computer into it easily if you don't want to go HDMI for some reason. Sound is okay - not anything noteworthy. But really, it is an excellent TV.

Also - there is no noticeable glare that people are always concerned about. I have windows behind me so when the TV is off, I can clearly see them. When on - I don't notice them at all so don't worry about the glare.

The bad: Note that the bad is about all Plasma - not this TV. First - I bought this to be a computer monitor more than a TV (I am using it right now as a matter of fact - from my couch - very nice). I did not do my research though - very bad. Plasmas are known to have pixel memory. Although better than it was in past years, when you are on the internet for hours at a time - some parts of your screen never change - X in top right corner, window frame all around. For that reason, I wish I had gotten an LCD and would recommend the same to people looking to use this thing as a humungo sized monitor. I am guessing that I will screw it up being a software guy. Also - it is a power hog of course - also par for Plasmas. I don't have to run the furnace in my house anymore jk

That said, as a TV, this thing is great - but I always expect that from Panasonic.

5 Stars Very pleased.
We are very happy with our new TV. The image is awesome and size appropriate for us. It arrived promptly and we can't be happier!

5 Stars Awesome TV!!!
First of all, Holy Crap!! The picture on this tv is phenominal. I did a crazy amount of shopping and studying before I finally made my decision on this tv, and I'm glad I did. Plasma is way better than lcd and they happen to be less expensive. I am also impressed that this tv happens to be Energy Star qualified. Couldn't be happier.

5 Stars Unbeatable Value
First things first. Open the box and make sure the screen isn't cracked before you let the shipper leave and before you sign anything (shine a flashlight on it and any cracks will show up immediately). I learned that the hard way the first time I purchased this set (from another vendor). Also, I believe Amazon requires the shipper to unpack the TV, plug it in and verify that it is working before they leave although in my case the guy wanted to leave without doing this and I went ahead and let him.

There's not much to say about the set itself except that it looks fantastic. I'm watching movies and playing games in a completely dark room and the black level is excellent. You should do at least a basic calibration of the brightness and picture (contrast) settings using a calibration disk for optimal quality (there is a free one you can find on the AVSforum, or you can buy one).

As with all Plasmas, you have to watch out for image retention, but I haven't found that to be an issue at all. The instructions offer extremely conservative advice on breaking in the screen to avoid image retention (100 hours of full-screen viewing content with no black bars, sports or stock tickers or video games with fixed elements of any kinds, then another 900 hours of limited viewing of such content). Personally, I ran a break in program for 75 hours, started using the set for video games and movies (with black bars) and I just run the break-in program all night after any bad content. I'm now up to 200+ hours now and haven't seen a speck of image retention or burn in.

Highly recommended.

5 Stars PANNY PLASMA BEST BANG FOR THE BUCK
Went to BB to originally buy a 1080P 50 in Samsung Plasma or a 1080P 120Hz LG. Talked to the BB rep and they told me, "I would rather get a Panasonic 720P than a Samsung 1080Por LG 120HZ!" WHAT I THOUGHT!! Then she explained to me that the Panasonic has a 480Hz subfield drive, whereas the LCD's I was looking at were only 120Hz. She explained to me Plasmas have come along way and there's no issues with BURN INS and GHOSTS like the first gen Plasmas. Panny has an automatic orbiter and anti-image rention options set up to combat these issues!!!She showed me a calibrated Panasonic 720P and it BLEW the Samsung and LG AWAY!! But I was not set on buying 720P. I wanted the 1080P.

Left BB and came straight to Amazon.com (Amazon was almost 500 cheaper than BB, plus you pay no tax!!), however when I bought my TV they we didn't offer free shipping. I ended up buying [...] in August (best price I found on the internet)(EASY TRANSACTION, plus free shipping, no tax). NOw I see the Tv's alittle under 1500, but Football season was coming up and I wanted to see the new season in HD!!!

I still haven't gotten my plasma calibrated, waiting for a buddy from BB to do it for free (its been 2 months and I'm still waiting!! haha what a friend). TWO drawback ARE 1) I'm realizing I wish it had 4 HDMI inputs and 2 the sound is LACKING (I guess cause its only 20W's), i've decided to buy myself the Panasominc 960 HTIB for Christmas!!!

I have no issue with HEAT!!! I have no issue with GLARE!!! I have no issue with Ghosting or burning!!!

BUY IT especially since it has the 480Hz subfield drive and you can't beat the price at under [...]!!! It came out 8 months ago retailing for nearly a grand more!!!

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Samsung LN46A950 46 1080p LCD HDTV with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlighting

Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

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Samsung LN46A950 46 1080p LCD HDTV with 120Hz refresh rate and LED backlighting

46" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * Touch of Color high-gloss finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * Ultra Clear LCD panel (1920 x 1080 pixels) *

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great LCD TV
This TV replaces a rear-projection 55 inch Mitsubishi. That TV was bleeding edge at the time, but now its firewire, separate HD input, and lack of 1080p have already made it near obsolete. This new TV operates with its features all streamlined. All channels are on the same input (if you didn't have an older HDTV then this won't mean much).

The picture -- well what's there to say. It looks great. If you're super super nit-picky then you may notice some blooming in dark scenes with white lettering or high contrast. But the deep black level makes up for it. And at this point in time, LEDs are not as small as a pixel - will they ever be? The screen is quite shiny, which causes some reflections during the day.

I don't notice the off-center difference that much as my viewing area is fairly narrow. And by default it comes with auto motion turned on which I personally detest. It makes film look like video. I turned it off for all inputs. I DO like the cinema look and I believe it comes pretty darn close to the settings you'd achieve using a calibration tool like Avia. I have not done this yet, so this is just a guess, but it looks good for a preset!

I hooked up the ethernet cable and the instant weather and news is nice, but the picture slideshow coming from my desktop (this needs software that runs a 'server') doesn't display my 12 megapixel images large enough. They look like tiny thumbnails. The TV is supposed to be capable of much larger images. What gives?

However, those are little annoyances at features. The picture quality is amazing with HDTV and with a bluray player viewing 1080p material. The input selection is huge and works great with my older non-upscaling dvd player and my older 5.1 receiver.

great tv.

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Panasonic Viera TH 46PZ85U 46 Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 3:09 am

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Panasonic Viera TH 46PZ85U 46 Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

46" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) *

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars I would give it 4 1/2 if I could.....
For the price, this TV is all most perfect! After MONTHS of researching I bought this puppy last weekend and the picture is just amazing. I have friends that have spent $2,500+ on HDTV's last year and this one blows them away.

Don't let people tell you this is a great "entry level" or "mid-level" T.V., because I have seen Pioneer's elite brand and I can tell you that most people will not be able to tell the difference.

Sure if you are a videophile (or work for cnet) you will be able to tell the SLIGHT difference in picture quality and response (oh! Look for that millisecond in the corner of Star Wars, you can actually see the rendering of the ship, wow! That is worth the extra $2k!).

To me, spending double (or sometimes even triple) for a picture quality that I *might* be able to tell the difference on *some* movies seems to be a waste to me...I rather spend it on my audio system where I can tell a REAL difference.

So why only 4 1/2 stars out of 5? Read on:

Pros: Price is awesome (bought mine at ABT for $1199 and got a free Bluray player). Picture is just awesome, it blows away "mid-range" Sony, Samsung, Sharp HDTV's. Unless you are planning on paying 3k+ for an HDTV, you will be wasting your money to buy something more expensive.

Cons: Here is where I take half a star off, sound. The sound is not terrible and it doesn't ruin the T.V. however, it just isn't up to par with other sets I have listened to. I am not sure how to describe it but it sounds "thin" if that makes any sense. Some people might not like the fact that it only has 3 HDMI ports but that seems plenty for my setup.

So you should buy this TV if:

-You do not mind that it only has 3 HDMI ports

-You will be hooking it up to an AV receiver or external speakers of some sort

-If you do not plan to hook it up to an external sound source, you do not mind that the speakers are lacking (they don't have that "full sound" to them).

-Looking for the "best bang for your buck"

Again, I do not see the reason to spend any more money UNLESS you need a bigger screen or need the 800 Panasonic series because you need 4 HDMI ports or need to connect your TV to the internet to get the latest weather and stock reports.

Just my 2c

5 Stars Very good HDTV
Pro:

I settled on this HDTV after much research.

If you want an HDTV that can be used as a monitor, this is a good one because there is a setting for overscan. Overscan is the amount of picture your digital TV will cut off. Then it resizes the image, then displays it. If you have a true 1080p source, you want to eliminate overscan so you are displaying every pixel of input (for actual 1080p Blu-Ray or computer input). The problem is that this setting is buried in the menus, and is not easily accessed. An improvement would be to put this as a button on the remote.

You DON'T want this setting activated when watching normal TV because there is garbage at the top and bottom of most TV signals. Having this setting on displays the garbage!

Another reason I picked this HDTV was for sports viewing. I'm a sports junkie, and watching 720p input from ESPN or ABC looks great. The TV scales this input very well. I can even zoom in and the 720p signal zoomed looks good.

A word on blur: There is no blur on a plasma. LCD screens can make a tiny amount of blur. Great. But when I watch the sports shows I normally watch, the broadcast has a slight amount of blur from camera motion and perhaps poor image processing.

The only thing you might want to consider if you're considering this TV is getting the next models up, which are the Panasonic TH-46PZ800 or TH-46PZ800 models. Both will display 24Hz, which is what Blu-Ray movies come in. This is only needed with Blu-Ray - HDTV is in 60Hz. The 24Hz display mode will result in smoother Blu-Ray viewing. If you don't get this, the Blu-Ray player must be set to 60Hz output, and the change from 24Hz to 60Hz can be a bit choppy, and result in "judder" during some panning scenes. Ask a Circuit City or Best Buy employee to show you, and you'll see. Or don't, and you'll probably never ever notice.

Also, the sides of the TV are a little larger than I think they need to be. There is a good 2.5" border of "frame" around the picture; I'd prefer 1" or less. Go check it out at a big box store, and see for yourself - this is simply a question of taste.

Other models I considered: Sony's 120 Hz LCD 46 inch, Samsung's LCD TVs, Toshiba's 120 Hz 46 inch LCD. All had slight blurs, so I went with plasma.

If you're worried about plasma screen burn in, do some research. This TV will shift the picture up and down to avoid that effect, and will also turn OFF if the picture is from the same channel for too long. From what I've read, that almost totally eliminates burn-in issues.

5 Stars Excellent tv
I had spent many months searching for a tv for my great room. After doing a significant amount of research I decided to go with the 46" Viera TH-46PZ85U. I'm impressed by the overall quality of this product as I have been a fan of Panasonic tv's for a while but the picture on this is amazing. I have mounted it on the wall paired with a polk audio 5.1 home theater setup and I feel as though I'm at the theater. Very deep blacks and watching the NFL on Fios TV is like being at the game. i would recommend this tv to anyone.

5 Stars Plasma vs LCD
I've owned the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U 46" 1080P PLASMA HDTV for a little over a month now and it is awesome.The picture is even better than I expected and is worlds away from the old 32" Sony WEGA CRT television I had been watching for years. You really don't appreciate what you had been missing before the plasma flat screen.Broadcasts in 480i almost make you shy away from watching once you get spoiled by high def. We have only been to see one movie since buying the TV. I'd rather just rent movies at home since I added the Bose 321 system (which is not a must).The TV speaker quality is very good-much better than most, but now it's like a miny theatre at home.

Everything on the TV is very user friendly and I have no problems whatsoever with glare, burn-in, or heat that some people claim is associated with a plasma. You can't go wrong with this HDTV. I researched a lot and spend several trips comparing TV picture quality and features.I was leaning toward it or the Samsung LCD. I've seen the picture quality of my freinds Samsung 550 LCD and it's good too, but for the money ....I'll take my plasma.Panasonic claims 100,000 hours before the plasma screen begins to loose half brightness where all the others are rated at 60,000hrs.Amazons white glove service and Panasonic's Viera plasma get an A rating from me. I am very happy with my purchase and will gladly do it again in the future.Overall...very pleased.

4 Stars Excellent TV
I did a lot of research for both LCD and plasma. At the end I had two strong candidates, the Sony Bravia and the Panasonic Viera. After a side by side comparison at a local store I decided to go with the Viera. I purchased the unit a month ago and I'm very happy with my choice of the TV and purchasing from Amazon. Delivery company delivered on the date and time promised. Performance so far has been flawless. Colors are rich, warm and the image quality is awesome. Watching NBA games in high definition takes TV watching to a new level with this plasma TV. Just turn your lights off at nightime and watch your favorite sport and you'll see what I mean. Highly recommended.

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Toshiba 32AV502U 32 Inch 720p LCD HDTV

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

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Toshiba 32AV502U 32 Inch 720p LCD HDTV

32" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * high-gloss black finish * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) * built-in QAM cable TV tuner receives unscrambled programs without a set-top box (cable service required) * CineSpeed 8-bit LCD panel (1366 x 768 pixels) *