New Panasonic Plasma

Fongolio

I picked up today (with help from my son John) a new Panasonic TH50PZ80 50" Plasma TV. The price was just too good. $1659.00 Canadian which is about $1324.00 American dollars right now. 1080P 50" for that price unreal. All the reviews say this is a great set. I'm going from a Hitachi 1080i 42" Plasma that was still very good but we wanted more screen real estate and 1080P to make full use of Blu ray. Initial impressions are it's really big compared to the old one. The last episode of last season's Dexter was playing on my HD Satellite system and the detail was truly spectactular and that's at only 720P. I'll give a full review in a week or two.

CaligulaPolk

Fongolio wrote: »

I picked up today (with help from my son John) a new Panasonic TH50PZ80 50" Plasma TV. The price was just too good. $1659.00 Canadian which is about $1324.00 American dollars right now. 1080P 50" for that price unreal. All the reviews say this is a great set. I'm going from a Hitachi 1080i 42" Plasma that was still very good but we wanted more screen real estate and 1080P to make full use of Blu ray. Initial impressions are it's really big compared to the old one. The last episode of last season's Dexter was playing on my HD Satellite system and the detail was truly spectactular and that's at only 720P. I'll give a full review in a week or two.

congrats, love panny tv!!

leroyjr1

Congrats on the new Plasma

wingnut4772

Congrats. That's a nice set.

Systems

Congrats, thats a great set at a great price.I still love my baby 37" Panny plasma that I paid $1350:eek: for 2 years ago.

Joe08867

The Panny Plasma's are awesome. I have the 42" version of that p[lasma and love it love it love it.

Congrats,

Fongolio

Update...

After two days the Panny proved to be too grainy and motion blur was a serious issue which was weird because this set is supposed to be very good at very little motion blur. I was watching a hockey game in high def last night and that was the kicker. I was getting a headache from the blur. Also I put on Spiderman 3 in Blu Ray and the graininess was unbearable. I tried tweaking every thing possible. I turned off any extra processing but it was still crappy. I swapped HDMI cables with no effect. Finally I came to the conclusion that the set was either defective or not what I liked. The one truly amazing thing about it was the black levels. Total black ink. Very sweet.

So I decided to return it and exchange for a Samsung PN50A530 also a 50" 1080P. What really appealed to me about the Samsung was the ability to tweak right down to the white gains and low levels. I'm a tweaker. i was already into the Panny's service menu trying to find solutions. The control in the Samsung is incredible. Anyway, brought it home set it up and bingo!! a dramatic improvement in both grain and motion. As most Plasma's come out the box with "hot" settings I spent the night tweaking it to where I initially like it. I rented the blu ray version of Body of Lies and was blown away with amazing colour and detail and sharpness. Motion was beautiful and graininess non-existent. Then I put Spidey back in and that movie was dramatically better. Much less grain more accurate color and practically zero motion blur. I've ordered the Digital Video Essentials blu ray disk for properly setting up Plasma and LCD displays. Speaking of which the Samsung even has a feature for shutting off the Red and Green drives so that the screen is only blue which is very useful for setting up contrast and picture settings. Normally you need to view the screen through a blue filter to do this. It is a top quality set with stunning picture and a tweakers dream. The only slight negative is the blacks aren't quite as inky as the Panasonic but if I'd never seen the Panasonic I would never know the difference. They are still far blacker than the best LCD's I've ever seen. The best part is the Samsung was $100.00 less expensive. I'll give another review in a few weeks but I just can't see me taking this one back. As for the Panny I wonder if maybe the video processor was defective because those sets get rave reviews online. The one on display seemed much better but it may just be my eyes prefer the Samsung.

Sherardp

Congrats on the Samsung, I also suggest you get an EyeOne, and read



http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

Very helpful information. Even if you only do a greyscale calibration you'll notice improvement.

digitalvideo

You should have went with one of the Pioneer plasma's, top tv's on the market, I got the Pioneer Elite Kuro Pro-111fd 50" and it's amazing, best black levels on the market, if something happens with your Samsung, check out the Pioneers.

cnh

Kuros are great! But motion blur on a new PLASMA? Is that even possible? Sure that set wasn't just a 'lemon'. Never heard of anyone else having motion blur on a Panny plasma?
Nonetheless Samsung also makes a good set, my brother-in-law has a 42" that looks great!

cnh

Toolfan66

Sherardp wrote: »

Congrats on the Samsung, I also suggest you get an EyeOne, and read



http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457

Very helpful information. Even if you only do a greyscale calibration you'll notice improvement.

Thanks for posting this link.:cool:

Fongolio

digitalvideo wrote: »

You should have went with one of the Pioneer plasma's, top tv's on the market, I got the Pioneer Elite Kuro Pro-111fd 50" and it's amazing, best black levels on the market, if something happens with your Samsung, check out the Pioneers.

If I had another $1500 or so dollars to spend on the Pio Elite that for sure would have been the first choice however one thing of concern is that Pioneer is dropping plasma's and the whole Elite line of electronics.

danger boy

Fongolio wrote: »

If I had another $1500 or so dollars to spend on the Pio Elite that for sure would have been the first choice however one thing of concern is that Pioneer is dropping plasma's and the whole Elite line of electronics.

Is Pioneer dropping the elite line of receivers too? If so, that will be a sad day in audio history.

Erik Tracy

Congrats on getting the set you like.

I've personally found that broadcast HD PQ to be hit and miss and not so much a function of the plasma.

I've noticed and have gotten corroboration via AVS threads following certain sporting broadcasts that motion blur, macroblocking, soft shots, are largely do to delivery content from the event producers in the trailer to the content provider (whether that be OTA, cable, or satellite).

Whenever I doubt my system with my Panny Plasma, I pop in a fast action Blu-ray and rest assured that the any question of PQ is due to something 'upstream' cuz I have gorgeous PQ.

Enjoy the 1080p goodness!

is3finallymd

I also own a panasonic plasma and like it more than my sony lcd... Everybody talks up LCD but I really like the picture on my panasonic vs my lcd both they are 720p btw..

wmarant

Picked up the Panasonic 42" 720p for my living room during the 3-day sale at Sears 6/19.....just awesome...they had it marked down to $599 and my dad's 10% discount got it out the door for $565 roughly....very very happy with it so far!

Hillbilly61

cnh wrote: »

Kuros are great! But motion blur on a new PLASMA? Is that even possible? Sure that set wasn't just a 'lemon'. Never heard of anyone else having motion blur on a Panny plasma?
Nonetheless Samsung also makes a good set, my brother-in-law has a 42" that looks great!

cnh

I was reviewing this thread with interest and this outcome was a big suprise. I'm with CNH here. Plasma is pretty immune to blur, but if you have a crappy processor, then possible I guess, as ultimately blur comes from the inability of the processor to keep up with the data that has to be posted onto the screen.

I'm sure you will enjoy the Sammy. Like everyone else has said here, upstream content is a major factor too. Sports and the broadcasting networks seem to be a big issue in this. I think it is because the broadcasters keep their own equipment dedicated a major venue and some of the stuff they keep on hand there is simply older (720P ready, but not ready for 1080P).

I-SIG

I've determined, like Erik Tracy, that the upstream components (the HD camera, production truck, CATV receiver, whatever...) make a big difference. I've watched movies on CATV that I have on DVD with lots of bright flashes and explosions. On CATV they seem to pixelate or something....on the Oppo, smooth as glass. Actions shots with sports can be hit or miss on live broadcasts, but something like Goal: The Dream Begins are great on DVD.

Wes

Fongolio

At about 3 months in now and I'm totally happy with the Samsung. Someone corrected me about what I thought was motion blure was in fact judder. And that is the responsibility of the video processor. Still some now and then but not nearly as dramatic as on the Panasonic. The Samsung is breath taking on Blu Ray.

AudioGenics

I think I have just been diagnosed with "Plasma Envy"

congrats on the new Toy !

danz1906

Congrats-Enjoy!