1080p HDTV Blog

Panasonic TH-50PZ850U 50-inch Viera 1080p Plasma HDTV

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Big TV
Got this a couple days ago and have been loving it. The internet connection isn’t the best only YouTube and some picture site was hoping for NetFlix to be on it but it’s not. Oh well still big and looks nice.

5 Stars Amazing TV
This is my first HDTV. It is a huge upgrade over my 15 year old 27″ Philips TV. So saying the picture is amazing really isn’t saying much; I think I would say the same thing about almost any high end HDTV I bought. The TV looks awesome even when shut off. I do have it in a room with lots of windows, but I see no problems with glare. When the TV is off during the day, I can see reflections on the screen. Once I turn the TV on, however, I can only see those reflections if I really stare hard beyond the actual picture. When I just focus on watching the picture on the TV, I don’t see any reflections.

I also considered a Sony XBR LCD TV, but the pictures on LCDs always look “cartoonish” to me. They just don’t pop out like they do on a Plasma. Panasonic and Pioneer always get excellent reviews from CNet and Consumer Reports so I knew those were the brands I would look at. The price to value upgrade for the Pioneer just wasn’t there for me so I went with the Panasonic. I debated between the 800U and the 850U. Ultimately I went with the 850U mainly because of the internet connection. I only paid a couple of hundred dollars more for the 850U. I know the internet content on the TV is limited now, but I’m sure this content will really open up in the future. Plus it is nice to get firmware updates over the internet. It’s the same reason why I plan on getting the Yamaha RXV-3900 instead of the 1900 when I buy a new receiver.

All in all this is a great TV and I love it.

5 Stars For the Price…No Match!
We spent quite a bit of time doing our research on the 50-inch Plasmas. I looked at almost every brand (Pioneer, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Sony, etc) The performance and quality of the Pioneer Elites was hard to deny…but the price dictated our decision. Many reviewers (Cnet, independents, etc.) all had a hard time justifying the money as well and recommended this unit. We had a TH-50PZ800U that we lost due to a lightning strike. And when I went out to replace that unit, the 800U and 850U were the same price on Amazon. So it was a no-brainer….

The image quality is the same as the 800U, however the sound is so much better (we do not have any surround system, so this was a plus). The upgraded remote is a plus as well (lighted and runs our DirecTV DVR flawlessly). We currently have HD DirecTV DVR, Sony BD-S550 Blu-Ray, and a Nintendo Wii system hooked up to this TV. No doubt the Blu-Ray player really makes this unit dance and shine! And, the added Viera-cast features are nice also.

There is only one feature of this TV that annoys me and that is when it senses a signal come in on an HDMI port, the TV selects that port as the active input (ie: turn on the Blu-Ray player and it switches to that input). But, given the performance of this TV…we can live with it!

4 Stars Good TV
I am very pleased with the quality of the picture on this television. I did some research and it indicated that Panasonic offered the best quality 50″ television so I opted for this model and it is working great. My only disappointment is that the price dropped immediately after I purchased the unit so if I had waited closer to Christmas I could have purchased the unit at a lower price.

5 Stars Impressive picture & easy setup
I spent a bunch of time researching, reading reviews, visiting local electronic stores to compare picture quality for myself. Bottom line, getting this Panasonic Plasma through Amazon has been a smooth experience. The picture quality is great. To my eye, only the Pioneer Kuro was “slightly” better but at twice the price, not worth it in terms of value. I also purchased a Panasonic BD55 Blu-ray player at the same time. The link feature which allows the same manufacturer device to be automatically recognized and operated by the same remote works great. I find the remote from the Blu Ray a better option to control both. I do have this in a room with alot of natural light. Depending upon where you are sitting, you will have some reflection from background light. I do not find it a significant issue because I had the same issue with the prior TV. This plasma’s color and picture brightness blows the previous TV away and therefore the background reflections are actually less noticeable. I must have picked this TV up at the “right time” because the price went up $30 a few days after I bought it and has not come back down. yes, I know this model has been updated but I did not want to wait until May or June to get the latest and greatest.

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