Tagged Products - 50in+16:9

Panasonic 50" 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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Samsung 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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for an inch or two more will make a difference unless you have a very large room and want to bump up to 60 or 65". The kids should be adequately wowed by their video games on this one. I also like the set of video connectors on the side of the TV which allow you connect cameras and other devices without having to get to the back of the set.

My TV arrived fully assembled in the box. No struggling to get the base on. Amazon offered free white glove delivery and the gentleman placed the TV on my stand without so much as leaving a finger print on the frame or screen. Since the TV is quite heavy this was good to have. He also told me about adding a "line filter" to remove sine waves from the AC as he said some clients encountered small squiggly lines on their screen that caused this. Luckily the power center I bought already had digital filters on all the lines.

I've had the set for two months and use it with a new Sony s350 Blu-ray player. The only problem I've had so far is not wanting to leave home!! Great product.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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don't, believe me when i say there are worthy alternatives for a much smaller price tag.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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every little detail about products I'm interested in. I'm a guy that will go into a store and ask employees a bunch of questions that I already know the answer to, just to see if they really know the product and are worth my time and money. I'm a guy that knows the difference between lossy and lossless. I'm a guy that will wait and wait for a new product so I have the newest thing on the block even though it's killing me. I'm a guy that will buy the best piece of gear that I know about and can afford. I'm a guy that will never buy Bose speakers. I'm a guy that will trade in a component XBOX360 to get one with HDMI, then feel stupid because it's only HDMI 1.2 instead 1.3. I'm a guy that researches whether the Farajouda chip or the Reon chip is better or if the Realta is really all that. I'm a guy that will buy 5 different HDMI cables and 3 different indoor antennae to see if the .99 Monoprice is as good as the Monster cable and then return whatever didn't make the cut. I'm a guy that will sit for hours and hours until I'm zombie at 3 am trying to figure out which of my AV components deinterlaces the best. I'm a guy that spent the cash on a Denon 4308CI AVR instead of the 3808CI because I wanted the wireless feature, but never use it because it would force me to run my wireless network at 802.11b/g instead of 802.11n. I'm a guy that believes in my heart that I can see a difference between 1080i and 1080p!

Are YOU the same as ME? If so, then this next line will help should help you choose a Television:

I'm a guy that bought a Pioneer Kuro. And it's awesome.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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have high standards. They could have done much better, but I guess it wasn't their focus.
2. No way to disable inputs. This TV has a huge number of inputs (which is great) but there's no way to tell it "hey, there's nothing on inputs 1,2, and 6". That means that when you cycle through them you have to go via all the ones you're not using as well as the ones you are. I have a Sony LCD where you can disable certain inputs in the settings; works much better.

All in all, though: very happy indeed with this thing.

Panasonic 50" 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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the box settings are not opimal, check the avsforum for specifics. Once the settings are changed, this set will look better than most twice the price.
2. Sound - Yes, the sound is good. Good as any tube tv, just don't use the bass boost as some distortion can occur. We use the tv speakers for everyday use and a surround system for movies.
3. Reflections - Hardly any that we notice. We upgraded from a tube tv, so this is infinately better. Our room is dark, so that was not an issue.
4. Motion - Zero blur! All (yes even 120Hz) LCDs suffer from this to some extent. This set does not - excellent for sports.
5. Viewing angle - almost 180 degrees - without loss of color (yet another deficit of LCD tvs).
6. Size - Perfect for my seating of 7-13 feet.
7. Asthetics - Nice looking addition to the family room.
8. Gaming - XBOX360 is 100 times better than the tube - blows it away!

Cons:
1. Because of this set, I find myself spending too much time watching shows I would never have watched before - thanks Panasonic...

I am having a hard time finding anything wrong with this set. You cannot find a better set for this price. Those who give this set less than 5 stars have not adjusted their sets properly or are not rating the set, but vendor problems (IMHO).I'm willing to say that this is better than 95% of the sets out there. Calibrated correctly, this set just rocks!

Panasonic 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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thing I wish the TV did was on the picture slideshow it allowed you to play music (mp3 files) during the display like some photo frames. Oh well, my pictures look excellent. Finally, my blu-ray movies and my HD-DVD movies are spectacular on this TV. Look around, but you will come back to see that this TV is a best value hands down.

Samsung 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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of color is awesome!
Finally, no TV is ever perfect. The only negative I can think of about this TV is that it puts out a lot of heat. Just be aware that if you live somewhere hot and you're going to put it in a smaller room, you will definitely feel the difference.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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of color is awesome!

Finally, no TV is ever perfect. The only negative I can think of about this TV is that it puts out a lot of heat. Just be aware that if you live somewhere hot and you're going to put it in a smaller room, you will definitely feel the difference.

Samsung 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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screen, I'd consider a larger one, to give letterbox movies their full advantage.

Samsung 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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screen, I'd consider a larger one, to give letterbox movies their full advantage.

Samsung 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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screen, I'd consider a larger one, to give letterbox movies their full advantage.

Panasonic 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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screen, I'd consider a larger one, to give letterbox movies their full advantage.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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I hadn't even noticed in the details at the movie theater. The ease of setting up this tv was incredible. It essentially worked from the moment I hooked up and looked great. I haven't had time to made adjustments but really haven't felt that I needed to. If your looking for the best at a good price this is it.

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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to determine through the naked eye of most viewers. But I can say that Reds appear a little heavy to me. Greens look fairly accurate to me, but again according to CNET they were off a bit too. We are not talking about anything that is a deal breaker here by any stretch. Ask someone with an untrained eye and they'd probably wonder what the heck you're talking about. Anyway these are about the only negatives about this TV that I can find, if you consider them "negatives." Assuming you have it calibrated, then there are NO negatives to this TV.

Positives are many. Outstanding picture quality, and probably the best SD picture you can find or have ever found from an HDTV. Far better than what I've seen on any LCD thats for sure. DVDs scaled to fit this picture look almost HD. HDTV content is outstanding. You cannot find better black levels. The Panasonics have really improved their sets, but still the Pioneers are better, you can see the difference even if it is subtle.

Another thing to note, when I first got this TV, for the first week or so, I was worried that the picture was just a little dark. Plasma is definitely darker than LCD, and I thought hey, you can't have the best blacks and brightness all in one TV right? True, sort of. What you need to do after a break-in period (I have no idea whether break-in is even necesary on plasmas anymore, but some do) is set the TV to Movie Mode, then calibrate from there. Movie mode produces a brighter picture. I think most people are so accustomed to a super-bright set (read: LCDs) that produce very inaccurate pictures and tones that Movie mode might look dull to them at first. Your eyes will adjust, trust me. And you will slowly realize that once calibrated, the Pioneer produces a picture that is about as close to a movie theater screen as you can get.

Once in movie mode, use the following settings:
Contrast: 38
Brightness: -1
Color: -5
Tint: 0
Sharpness: -15

Pure Cinema

Film Mode: Advance
Text Optimization: Off

Power Save Mode: Off

Orbiter: Mode 1 (All screen size modes except Dot-by-Dot)
Mode 2 (Dot-by-Dot screen size mode ONLY)

Feel free to tweak from there as you feel necessary. But that is the so-called reference setting; I assume what a technician would set to produce the most accurate picture.

Once you're set in this, again, give it some time for your eyes to adjust to it, and you will see a truly outstanding real to life image. Film content is about as close to a move screen as you will get in my opinion.

Other cool features are 1)An optical output for audio 2.)Home networking feature to display Videos and Pictures from your PC right on your plasma. This works very well and is pretty intuitive. 3.) Great sound right out of the factory speaker. 4.)A very nice stand that is already attached.

I was recently in a Best Buy and looked at the new Panasonics, which are very good, side by side with the Pioneers. But I still think the Pioneer produces a better picture overall. I haven't seen a calibrated Panny, so not a perfectly fair assessment.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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to determine through the naked eye of most viewers. But I can say that Reds appear a little heavy to me. Greens look fairly accurate to me, but again according to CNET they were off a bit too. We are not talking about anything that is a deal breaker here by any stretch. Ask someone with an untrained eye and they'd probably wonder what the heck you're talking about. Anyway these are about the only negatives about this TV that I can find, if you consider them "negatives." Assuming you have it calibrated, then there are NO negatives to this TV.



Positives are many. Outstanding picture quality, and probably the best SD picture you can find or have ever found from an HDTV. Far better than what I've seen on any LCD thats for sure. DVDs scaled to fit this picture look almost HD. HDTV content is outstanding. You cannot find better black levels. The Panasonics have really improved their sets, but still the Pioneers are better, you can see the difference even if it is subtle.



Another thing to note, when I first got this TV, for the first week or so, I was worried that the picture was just a little dark. Plasma is definitely darker than LCD, and I thought hey, you can't have the best blacks and brightness all in one TV right? True, sort of. What you need to do after a break-in period (I have no idea whether break-in is even necesary on plasmas anymore, but some do) is set the TV to Movie Mode, then calibrate from there. Movie mode produces a brighter picture. I think most people are so accustomed to a super-bright set (read: LCDs) that produce very inaccurate pictures and tones that Movie mode might look dull to them at first. Your eyes will adjust, trust me. And you will slowly realize that once calibrated, the Pioneer produces a picture that is about as close to a movie theater screen as you can get.



Once in movie mode, use the following settings:

Contrast: 38

Brightness: -1

Color: -5

Tint: 0

Sharpness: -15



Pure Cinema



Film Mode: Advance

Text Optimization: Off



Power Save Mode: Off



Orbiter: Mode 1 (All screen size modes except Dot-by-Dot)

Mode 2 (Dot-by-Dot screen size mode ONLY)



Feel free to tweak from there as you feel necessary. But that is the so-called reference setting; I assume what a technician would set to produce the most accurate picture.



Once you're set in this, again, give it some time for your eyes to adjust to it, and you will see a truly outstanding real to life image. Film content is about as close to a move screen as you will get in my opinion.



Other cool features are 1)An optical output for audio 2.)Home networking feature to display Videos and Pictures from your PC right on your plasma. This works very well and is pretty intuitive. 3.) Great sound right out of the factory speaker. 4.)A very nice stand that is already attached.



I was recently in a Best Buy and looked at the new Panasonics, which are very good, side by side with the Pioneers. But I still think the Pioneer produces a better picture overall. I haven't seen a calibrated Panny, so not a perfectly fair assessment.



Hope this helps, good luck!

Panasonic 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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it. Order this product with confidence in it, and in Amazon !

Pioneer KURO 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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The colors (popped) and the deep contrast made for a spectacular viewing of this movie. Ben Stiller's black shirt was really pitch black and the views of the ocean looked so realistic I was beside myself. I switched between other HD satellite stations and was very pleased with the results.

Next, I hooked up the PDP-5020 to my trusty Panasonic blu-ray BDMP-30 to check out some of my blu-ray movies. Since I was so impressed with the Satellite HD broadcasts, you can now imagine my excitement as I turned my attention to Blu-ray. I wanted to test out a few of the worst looking blu-rays I had: Tomb Raider (read the Amazon reviews), Stargate (the dark scenes), Black Hawk Down ( alot of film grain ), and Big Fish ( alot of film grain).

Believe it or not, the Tomb Raider Blu ray looked fantastic on this plasma. There was hardly any film grain visible on this plasma set at all, as I only sit 8 feet away. I could not believe how good it looked - a solid 8 out of 10 for the blu-ray. The dark scenes in the movie Stargate were also excellent and it was easy to make out small details that were not present before (on my 56 DLP) - again hardly any film grain. My final tests were done on the Black Hawk Down BD, Big Fish BD and the dark, night scene on Rambo BD (2008).....
Would you believe me if I told you that all 3 discs looked fantastic? Black Hawk and Big Fish showed no signs of film grain and the night scene in Rambo was so visible I could not believe my eyes. This is a true testament of how great Pioneer plasma screens are. I now have a hard time believing any negative blu ray reviews from the pros since most of them are not using Pioneer plasmas for their reviews.

Xbox 360 and PS3 games all looked great on this screen. The deep colors and the deep black really make the games a pleasure to look at.

In case you are wondering, I didn't do any type of calibration to this set. I truly believe that no adjustments need to be made to it. It looks that great out of the box. Again, the deep black contrast is the major selling point. The color of grass looks the way it does in your back yard, not the fluorescent green you see on other plasma tv's.

Should you buy a Pioneer plasma set? Absolutely!!! I can guarantee that you will be 100% satisfied with its performance and aesthetic appearance.
Don't be fooled by all the other competitor's displays at the brick and mortar stores.....this plasma set is well worth every penny you spend on it. You will thank me for it!

**UPDATE 7/23/08** I contacted Pioneer Electronics today to ask about a future calibration and was informed that these non-Elite models are already calibrated by Pioneer techs prior to shipment from their facilities. So, there is no need to spend an additional $300+ on calibration services.

Panasonic 50" 720p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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The colors (popped) and the deep contrast made for a spectacular viewing of this movie. Ben Stiller's black shirt was really pitch black and the views of the ocean looked so realistic I was beside myself. I switched between other HD satellite stations and was very pleased with the results.



Next, I hooked up the PDP-5020 to my trusty Panasonic blu-ray BDMP-30 to check out some of my blu-ray movies. Since I was so impressed with the Satellite HD broadcasts, you can now imagine my excitement as I turned my attention to Blu-ray. I wanted to test out a few of the worst looking blu-rays I had: Tomb Raider (read the Amazon reviews), Stargate (the dark scenes), Black Hawk Down ( alot of film grain ), and Big Fish ( alot of film grain).



Believe it or not, the Tomb Raider Blu ray looked fantastic on this plasma. There was hardly any film grain visible on this plasma set at all, as I only sit 8 feet away. I could not believe how good it looked - a solid 8 out of 10 for the blu-ray. The dark scenes in the movie Stargate were also excellent and it was easy to make out small details that were not present before (on my 56 DLP) - again hardly any film grain. My final tests were done on the Black Hawk Down BD, Big Fish BD and the dark, night scene on Rambo BD (2008).....

Would you believe me if I told you that all 3 discs looked fantastic? Black Hawk and Big Fish showed no signs of film grain and the night scene in Rambo was so visible I could not believe my eyes. This is a true testament of how great Pioneer plasma screens are. I now have a hard time believing any negative blu ray reviews from the pros since most of them are not using Pioneer plasmas for their reviews.



Xbox 360 and PS3 games all looked great on this screen. The deep colors and the deep black really make the games a pleasure to look at.



In case you are wondering, I didn't do any type of calibration to this set. I truly believe that no adjustments need to be made to it. It looks that great out of the box. Again, the deep black contrast is the major selling point. The color of grass looks the way it does in your back yard, not the fluorescent green you see on other plasma tv's.



Should you buy a Pioneer plasma set? Absolutely!!! I can guarantee that you will be 100% satisfied with its performance and aesthetic appearance.

Don't be fooled by all the other competitor's displays at the brick and mortar stores.....this plasma set is well worth every penny you spend on it. You will thank me for it!



**UPDATE 7/23/08** I contacted Pioneer Electronics today to ask about a future calibration and was informed that these non-Elite models are already calibrated by Pioneer techs prior to shipment from their facilities. So, there is no need to spend an additional $300+ on calibration services.

Panasonic 50" 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV

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I also ordered a Sanus VMPL50B tilt bracket (also from Amazon) to mount the display over my fireplace.
I placed the ordered on a Thursday and the product was delivered the following Thursday. Not bad!

The display was delivered by a shipping company called CEVA Logistics. Two persons carried the large box to the second floor of my condo where my living room is and unpacked the television so that I could make sure that it was in good condition, which was the case.


Installation:

I didn't use the stand provided with the television. Instead, I mounted the display on the wall over my fireplace using a Sanus bracket.
Initially, I was going to use the Sanus VMPL50B but, because of the position of the studs behind the wall, I decided to exchange it for a longer, adjustable one. I picked a Sanus VMPL3B which is basically the same, with the difference that the plate is 10 inches longer, when fully extended.
This way, I was able to mount the bracket using 4 studs instead of just 2 studs if I had gone with the VMPL50B. It gives me a peace of mind and I know that I am not going to find my plasma television broken into pieces anytime soon.
The installation was fairly easy and took about one hour total. My wife helped me carrying the display and securing it on the wall bracket since it is pretty heavy (approximately 80lbs).
The display sits only 2.5 inches from the wall but it was actually hard to tilt because of the HDMI connectors in the back. The problem is that the panel in the back where all the connectors go is not recessed enough. I just wish there was an extra 1/2 inch of space.
What I did is that I purchased a couple of HDMI "right-angle" adapters (from an excellent Internet store called MonoPrice). This way, the HDMI cables run along the back of the plasma set and it is way easier to tilt the display.


Operation and Picture Quality:

I am truly impressed by the TH-50PZ85U. Not only it performs well but it looks great on the wall.
The only connectors I have are HMDI. I have one HDMI cable running from my digital cable box (Time Warner - Scientific Atlanta) to the TV and one HDMI cable coming from my SONY DVP-NS3100ES DVD player (up-converting DVD player, not Blu-Ray).
HD channels are simply outstanding, even in Standard mode. It is such a pleasure for the eyes to watch anything. I surprised myself at watching a full hour of an animal documentary on Discovery HD, even though I have never been a fan of animal TV show.
The level of details is amazing.
Standard cable looks very good too but obviously not as good as HD. My only concern is that currently I only have 22 HD channels (and 3 or 4 of those don't even have regular programming). Time Warner can't beat satellite in my area but I am not ready to switch yet. There are some reports that new HD channels will be added soon so I just need to be patient.


The remote control is easy to use and it can also operate other devices such as a cable box, a DVD player and more. With my configuration, this is pretty much the only remote I use now.

I like the fact that there are some extra video inputs (including HDMI) located on the side of the display. I use them to plug my video camera.
Several settings for the sound can be adjusted as well (balance, treble, bass and some other effects I am not really familiar with yet). Overall, the sound is excellent but when watching a DVD movie, I use my home theater system (I have a 5.1 speaker system with a SONY STR-DA3100ES receiver).
The great thing about HDMI is that it only takes one cable for both video and audio signals. I can always use the TV speakers while playing a DVD or watching a cable program. When I switch to the receiver, all I have to do is mute the sound from the TV.


Note on "break-in" period:

I know there are many forums talking about the 100-hour "break-in" period. There is no mention of it anywhere in the user's manual. So I went on the Panasonic website and I found some info. Basically, for the first 100 hours of operation, it is advised to watch television in Full Mode or Zoom Mode only (to avoid black bars on the side) and to avoid prolonged period of time of static image or channel logo.
Since I had read many threads dealing with playing a "Break-in" DVD, I called Panasonic Technical Support direclty. The person told me that it was not necessary as long as the above rules were followed for the first 100 hours of usage and that it wouldn't make any difference in the end.
SO I watched different shows in Full format mode as well as DVDs. Whenever I would watch a channel with a logo on the bottom-right corner for over 30 minutes, I would use the "Anti-Static Retention" feature for a few minutes (accessible with the remote in the Main Menu). What it does is that it displays a scrolling white bar over a black background.


Bottom Line:

The TH-50PZ85U is an incredible set for the price. I have been reading reviews and comparing with other existings sets (including LCD sets) for the past 6 months almost and I think that, for this size, this is the best option in terms of price and quality.
Panasonic is a reputable manufacturer and no one can go wrong with this display.