brucec32's Full Review: Panasonic TH-50PX80U 50 in. HDTV TV
I don't know a lot about electronics but my brother is an audio/videophile and when my choice came down to this and another brand he said go Panasonic in a plasma. I'm glad I did. For about $1,100 delivered to my door from amazon.com I am very happy with the value as well as the product quality.
From what I understand, most shows are not 1080p anyway and I find the 720p display still very impressive. For the $400 extra to upgrade, I figured I could apply that towards a 1080p tv in a few years when maybe the better resolution mattered more. I also quickly discovered that going bigger than about 50" would nearly double the cost and at some point it isn't worth it. I am happy sitting about 15-20' away in my living room. Our previous 32" LCD unit is a joke in comparison.
Picture quality is better than our 2 year old Westinghouse LCD or a cheap 26" lcd I got as a promotion on amazon last year. Colors are vivid and I'm very satisfied. There are preset settings for sports, movies, gaming, etc, but I find all but the "vivid" setting to be too dim for my tastes. You can fine tune it manually to whatever you wish, however.
The speakers are not great, but better than many tv speakers. I have it hooked up to my stereo but for news, documentaries, and sitcoms I just use the TV speakers.
The TV has 3 HDMI hookups, which is great for the future but now I use just one. I has a variety of other hookups and I doubt you'll find it wanting. You can even hook up your pc to it. I tried it briefly and it was pretty amazing when gaming.
Being a flat panel tv, I expected it to be lighter than old tvs, but was surprised that this was lighter than some plasmas. I can easily pick it up and move it alone, which is a big thing for me, as we have more than one good spot for a tv and lots of steps.
I found the remote intuitive and easy to use, but I only use it to switch mode from satellite to dvd and back.
The only assembly was the base, which is solid and easy to do. I prefer it to sit on a small stand, as wall mounting is expensive and limits future options if you change your mind where you want it. Wall mounts look cool, but I'd apply that expense to a real projection big screen setup most likely.
I'm not a high end user. I just want to watch games and HD shows and movies without noticeably poor quality. I'm very pleased with this unit, though a true perfectionist could probably give you some cons to go with the pros of this unit.
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