Panasonic Plasma tv owners...how good are they?

iwhohavenothing · Jun 7, 2009

I know there's a few panasonic owners on here....I walked by pcrichard and saw they have a 42" x1 for 588 and a 50" x1 for 734

Iwas tempted to walk in and cop...but my bday is in one mnth(and I get paid on my bday

) so any input u guys can add I'd appreciate it

allday allnight · Jun 7, 2009

The PX series is the entry level on the Panasonic plasmas. I have no experience with these, so I can't comment.

I own a PZ80 model, and it is PHENOMENAL for critical movie watching. Black levels are great (definitely not Pio Elite black, but then again, it doesn'tcost $7500), and the colors are rich and defined. For regular television viewing, it is still good, but the picture is a little dim out of the box andyou'll have to calibrate it if you want to get the best results. I calibrated mine (which you can do by following instructions from avs forums), and I amvery satisfied. Sports are a little dim as well, but again, with custom settings you should be able to find a picture mode that suits your viewing tastes.

The PZ85s are even better, and in addition to having cool things like 24p playback and increased contrast ratios, they don't have as much of a problem withdimness. The PZ85s are widely regarded as some of the best deals in high def TVs today. 90% of Pioneer Elite performance for 50% of the price.

The PZ800/850u series are the highest-end (as of last year) Panasonic plasmas. They rival the Pioneer Kuros in many respects, although Kuro/Elite is still theundisputed standard. These are pretty expensive, deliver great performance, and look good on your wall - but I doubt that your store is offering these modelsat under $800.

daprescription · Jun 7, 2009

I have a th-42pz700u from a couple years back and absolutely love it. Never had any problems with it whatsoever.

allday allnight · Jun 7, 2009

And before some idiot comes in and says it, I have NOT had a problem with burn-in, image retention, or shadows.

I did a proper break-in period for the TV and have had nothing happen to me. My brother has the same TV as I do, and I don't think he had a break-inperiod...and his is just fine too.

Neither of us play video games though, so we can't speak on that. According to everything I've read though, if you break in the TV properly andaren't spending 12+ hours in a row playing video games, you should be fine.

The Viera models also have a built-in image sweeper to help get rid of IR. Pretty nifty.