Pros: easily installed, very attractive amazing picture, SIMPLE to set up and even simpler to use
Cons: Screen sizes beyond 50" are a bit pricier than the smaller sets.
The Bottom Line: an amazing picture, an attractive piano-black case, easily floorstand-installed by 2 people, very flexible connections, SIMPLE to setup and use
mkelch's Full Review: Panasonic TH-58PZ800 58 in. HDTV-Ready TV
WHY BUY IT?
We bought this plasma to replace a 50" wall-mounted 3 year-old Panasonic plasma. We got tired of looking up at the wall and also concluded the 50 incher was too small for our quite-large family room. Panasonic has an excellent reputation for quality and we had zero problems with our existing Panny. Pioneer (no longer in the TV business, I understand) made a Kuro plasma but it was almost twice the price for a similar size. And we have compared plasma to LCD (we have a Sony Bravia LCD in the bedroom and really, there is no real comparison...plasma is our clear preference.)
DELIVERY & UNPACKING
By all means, have this set DELIVERED to your door. Don't try to pick it up at the store yourself. The box is HUGE, bulky and heavy and requires 3-4 people to get it safely into your home. It will help to have a good floor stand already-assembled and located where you will want the set to be. The set weighs just under 150 pounds so don't scrimp on the quality of the stand and check its load rating just to be sure.
Since we were not wall-mounting this time, the goal was for just my wife and I to get the box off the set and lift the set onto the stand, without getting hurt! And IT CAN BE DONE by using the packing box as a "preparation dock". Here's how: First, lift the top section of the box straight up and off, and set it aside. (If you do this step while the delivery guys are still there, ask them to take this huge "box lid" away with them and have them discard it for you.) The set is now being supported by the "base" of the box, which is about 12" high and contains styrofoam inserts that hold the set firmly in place. Remove the plastic films and wraps that protect the screen surface and black screen bezel. Locate the plastic bag containing the manuals and the steel mounting pegs for the pedestal stand and remove them from the box. Also remove the pedestal stand, and insert the steel pegs into it. Then place the pedestal stand, with pegs mounted, directly in front of the still-packed set, on the floor. NOW, use a sharp utility knife to cut away the remaining packing material that is holding the bottom of the set upright....the remaining lower box will hold the set in position while you do this! When you have enough cut away so that you will only have to lift the set 4 or 5 inches to clear the upper edge of the bottom box, you and your partner each grab one edge of the TV and lift it out of the lower box, just enough to clear the cardboard......and then place it on the pegs of the pedestal stand that you had cleverly placed directly in front of the set earlier. Be sure the pedestal pegs are securely attached to the set using the provided hardware. You can now discard the bottom part of the box and all of the styrofoam pieces. Do it now so you're not tripping over this stuff as you lift the set into final position. The final step is to the lift the assembled set up onto the low profile stand that you also cleverly placed in it's "home" position earlier. Again, both of you grab an edge and gently LIFT the entire set up onto the stand. Believe me.....it works!
If you'll be wall-mounting, forget everything above and get it done professionally. I personally think this set is too large for the wall. It looks great on the floor stand.
DOCUMENTATION
For those who simply cannot open a manual, there is a quick-reference flyer included which goes over all of the connection options using full-colour diagrams.....really very useful information that describes hookups to HD cable boxes, Satellite receivers, DVD players, standard antennas, etc. A special section titled "First time Setup" is handy.. Another section runs through a brief description of the set's menu structure. All of this info is available in more detail in the full manual which is 55 pages in English text. The instruction manual is clear but I'll bet you won't even have to use it. Just turn the set on, select HOME mode (just the one time) and then THX picture setting and you're done. And if you need some help, use that quick-reference sheet to guide you. The colour-coded cable-ends in the diagrams are really helpful!
POWER CONSUMPTION
The set chews up 734 watts at maximum load, and uses .2 watts while on standby. The actual wattage used will vary greatly, thought, with darker scenes requiring less illumination and thus less power.
THE PLASMA CONCIERGE
Yes, buying this set brings you the services of your very own Plasma Concierge! A toll-free hotline (18009734390, USA only) purports to "answer any questions you may have regarding your new TV". If you require service, the Concierge will schedule an in-home service call within 24 hours of notification. And you have access to a live chat area where you can chat-up Plasma experts online for assistance and advice. I live in Canada so the toll-free line is different - 18663300014, with a website vieraconcierge.ca. For some reason, the turnaround time for service is 48 hours in Canada. The standard warranty is one year parts and labour.
APPEARANCE
This set has the popular "piano-black" finish for both bezel and pedestal stand. Just keep a dusting cloth at the ready. It looks great though and will enhance any room.
Turning the set on for the first time, you'll be asked if it is located in a store or a home environment. If you select STORE, the brightness will be cranked up to unacceptable levels so be sure to select HOME. (You can easily change the setting later though.) The built in speakers sound quite good but a set this size deserves an outboard surround sound system, which is what we have.
There are ample connections on the back.....again, not an issue for us since we connect all HDMI sources to our AV receiver and then just run one HDMI cable to the TV.
PICTURE QUALITY
You will want to adjust the PICTURE settings for sure once you fire-up this set, because the out-of-box settings are way out-of-whack and do not show off the set's capabilities. Here are some guidelines for setting the picture quality, and please keep in mind they are "guidelines" based on personal tweaking and experimentation: Just follow these steps: 1: Click the MENU button on your remote. Then select PICTURE from the menu. In the PICTURE menu item, you can select from 5 picture modes:VIVID (horrible, never use it!), STANDARD, THX (Cinema), CUSTOM, and GAME. In the next step, we will change the settings on TWO of these modes, and we will FORGET about the others. Period. 2: IMHO, you only need to use 2 picture modes: CUSTOM for normal viewing in a partially lit room, and THX for movies in a darkened room. If you adjust these two modes, you can forget about the others. You MUST adjust these two modes since they are just too dim otherwise. So here goes: 3: In the Custom picture mode, make the following adjustments: PICTURE:80, BRIGHTNESS:50, COLOUR:33, TINT:-3, SHARPNESS: 40, COLOUR TEMP: Normal. Try these and tweak a bit if your preference varies. You will notice a BIG difference from the stock settings. Now let's adjust the settings in the THX picture mode: 4: Select the THX picture mode from the menu, and make the following adjustments: PICTURE: 99, BRIGHTNESS: 52, COLOUR: 53, TINT: -3, SHARPNESS: 55, COLOUR TEMP: Normal. 5: As a final step, make sure of the following settings in BOTH CUSTOM and THX modes: Turn OFF all of Panasonic's noise reduction options, CATS, etc., set the HD Size to 2, and set the Black Level to LIGHT. These are my preferences only so tweak away. Just remember, DO NOT use the out-of-the-box settings since they are simply too misadjusted to show off the capabilities of this set. Also note that all of these adjustments are done using the remote and the onscreen menu....this does NOT involve invoking the service menu, which is dangerous territory for the non-technical and really is not needed to get a great picture.
THE REMOTE CONTROL
The remote control is fully featured except for backlighting. We use a Harmony remote so we tucked the TV remote in the closet, never to be seen again. The remote can also operate many other brands of A/V equipment, but it is NOT a "learning" remote. You cannot teach it codes that are not already in memory. It does make use of Viera-Link technology that allows advanced operation of all of your components provided they are manufactured by Panasonic and have the Viera Link capability built-in.
FORMATTING THE SCREEN
I broke this topic out into its own section because I see many people with HDTV's who have their set's FORMAT set incorrectly and they do not know how to change it. Here's the reality....until all video signals are broadcast in true HD, the standard TV fare will include a dog's breakfast of HD signals (which should fill a 16 X 9 screen perfectly) and SD (standard definition) which when viewed properly will leave black bars on both sides of the picture. On this Panasonic set, if you wish to see the video format that is actually coming into your set, you'll need to be sure your FORMAT selection is set to FULL. When set to FULL, HD signals will fill your entire screen and look great. SD pictures will leave black bars on left and right sides, but the picture will be true to its original dimensions. Left on FULL, you will always see the true picture, automatically. No bloated faces or artificially-stretched pictures. And don't worry about the black bars burning into your set.....just be sure and watch some really HDTV during your first 100 hours so you don't ALWAYS have the black bars up there. If you are the type who always wants the screen filled with picture, the ZOOM selection will do that for you, and present a ridiculously stretched version of the original picture. My advice...leave the FORMAT setting on FULL and never, ever touch it again.
CAUTIONARY NOTE
Be aware that the size of this set will make it dominate any room it is in. It will also attract little children, who may be tempted to try to touch the screen or throw things at it. Seems to me it would not take much to crack, scratch or otherwise damage the glass screen. If kids will be in the vicinity, adult supervision is required.
Also note that Panasonic warns about displaying static (unchanging) images on the screen for the first 100 hours of use, to avoid any potential "burn-in" of the screen phosphors. I never experienced any problems with my previous plasma and do not expect any with this one.
Finally, be sure not to block the upper ventilation ports that run along the upper portion of the back of the set. There are ventilation fans in there and they need to be able to circulate the air to keep the set's innards cool. The fans are inaudible.
HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
Panny says you can expect 60,000 hours of viewing. That is over 20 years of normal viewing. My guess is that 20 years from now, TV's will be simply pasted onto your wall like wallpaper.....or they will figure a way to fire those signals directly into your cerebral cortex. Until then, though, this set will be working just fine.
CONCLUSION
We like this set. It is actually LEAD-FREE (Panny is the first company in the world to completely eliminate lead from their plasmas!) The 58 inch size is almost half the price of the 65 incher. The floor mount is superior to wall mounting in our opinion. The installation was absolutely painless with a wee bit of planning. The picture is truly wonderful. Blacks are deep and solid. The set is SIMPLE to set up and even simpler in day to day use. The piano black finish suits any room. Just be sure you can get far enough away from the screen to get good visual resolution....ie: make sure your room is big enough. A 58 inch set is a BIG picture. Lots of connections (including 4 HDMI connectors) back AND front.
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