Customer Reviews

Panasonic TC-P50U2 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just picked up my second Panasonic plasma and couldn't be happier. This TV has great picture and just enough bells and whistles for my needs: 3 HDMI inputs and an SD card reader for viewing photos. This TV does not have anti-reflective glare (not needed in a dark home theater room), USB ports (who cares), LAN connection (I already have streaming Netflix through Roku and Wii), 3D capable (I personally don't want that, you may), or a fourth HDMI input (don't need it, you may). The picture is identical to any other model in the series, just significantly less expensive because it omits the aforementioned features. So just decide what inputs you need and pay for the model that provides just that and nothing extra. I have had my 42 inch for three years and it is perfect and I expect the same quality and reliability out of this one too!!!

This unit is an excellent value for the money. The one flaw is the speaker positioning. The speakers are located on the bottom and point down towards the floor. This is problematic because if you place this in a entertainment center or cabinet it creates an echo or muffles the sound. Probably much better mounted on the wall. However, overall the picture is great and for under $800 you can't beat it.

I bought this TV last weekend from Bestbuy on the thanksgiving sale for only 700 dollar. Couple of things that i didn't like about this tv is the motion judder and the reflection, nothing much can be done about the reflection unless make the room a bit dark in the day time and if you are looking at the picture then you kinda just forget about the reflection. Motion judder can be minimized a bit by turning the video NR and motion nr. I noticed that after the break in period there is much less motion judder now. I also bought two other tv's for comparison both philips, one 120hz led and the other was 240hz lcd. both of these tvs did not come to par to the picture quality of Plasma. The PNM of plasma is a joke. In order to make the motion smooth you will see bricks around the images. Anyway bottom line I like my tv a lot. I still cannot find a 50' 1080p tv for the price i paid. The picture comes out very natural, where LCD's and LED's have to process the picture which makes it very fake looking. Plasma shows the images as natural as they are. I would highly recommend the higher moder of this tv, the S2 which has the anti reflective/glare screen. i would buy the tv in a heart beat if my wife would let me.

That was my thoughts when I went shopping for this. When I was television shopping, I was expecting to get a 35"-45" television, then I saw this one at an affordable price, and I was sold.

I am wonderfully pleased with tv. Like many others, I got it at the amazing black Friday price. I've had it for the past 3 days, and haven't had a single issue. I'm going to address some of the complaints I've been reading on here.

First the sound. Some people have been mentioning the sound isn't that great. The sound is fine, maybe even above average. For the casual listener, it's going to sound great, and for the picky listener, you're probably gonna have it hooked up to a different set of home theater speakers anyway.

Then there's the glare. I personally haven't noticed any, and I have it set up in a bright room. I don't have it set up where I can see a light source in the reflection of the screen from where I sit, so that may be an issue otherwise. But with sun shining in the room, I do not see my reflection or glare.

As for the lack of features, it's a 50" 1080p plasma. It's a huge screen with a great resolution for a low price, and asking for more would just be greedy. Internet capability would be nice, but if I really wanted it, I'd pay the extra $400 or so for the newer model.

Picture's great. Sound's great. Buy this tv.

I really dislike negative reviews that tell you what features the TV doesn't have. It doesn't make sense to negatively rate something that wasn't on the TV in the first place? Yes, compared to other TVs, this definitely does have fewer connectors, but I knew that before I bought it, and if it was an issue, I would have bought something else.

So with what this tv does have, it does really well. When I look at TV's, I'm less concerned about 1080p performance, but rather how does it look with 480i? That's because most of us have an existing DVD collection and there's a huge disparity on how well a tv can display it. I've looked at a LOT of other tvs, both plasma LCDs that played 480i in a poor manner, with a lot of stuttering movement, grain, or even blur.

I didn't know what to expect from this plasma set. I was worried at first, because in the store demo, the screen's not as bright as LCD, and that can be a major distraction. At home though, this tv is plenty bright, and the performance I get out of 480i was fantastic. And things only got better from there, with some really eye popping quality with the higher end content.

So overall, I'm very happy with my purchase, because it plays ALL my content well, not just the HD-specific stuff. And that's an important consideration if you value your existing investment.

I bought this tv on the Thanksgiving day because of the one day deal from best buy for [...]. The reason why i opted for the Plasma is that I heard and read that there is almost no motion blur and flickering. I watched several action scenes through my Blu ray and I can clearly see motion flicker. Overall the Picture is brilliant if there isn't a whole lot of motion going on. 1080P is nice. That "Game Mode" doesn't do anything. The biggest problem which I completely forgot about before buying is that the screen is pretty reflective and if you have a room where you have some light, you can easily see yourself or things around you in the glass. This is more apparent in a scene where only a part of the image has light. Like an actor standing in a cave with torch, his surrounding will be dark which is where you will see yourself sitting on the sofa with your white socks on. This is not a problem in the night time when the lights are off.
The good thing is that it is very very cheap. Honestly, I would change the TV, if I can find a 1080p 120hz lcd or led, but i can't find one with a good name. I have heard that Vizio's smooth motion is pretty sweet but they are very prone to die. I have also heard the problem of shutting down and flickering light problem with this plasma but i have heard that this is about Grounding the TV. (where the TV's electronics circuitry board and the power supply is not properly grounded).
So I have no idea if I am going to keep the TV or not, It would be a compromise, because I don't want to spend anymore than [...] bucks and I don't wanna go down anymore than 47 inches on the size and nothing less than 120HZ.

As plasma sets have come down in price I have been looking at the 50 inch Viera and similar models of Samsung. I own two other Panasonics, and a Sony. The overall quality of the Panasonic TC-P50U2 for the price, and my own satisfaction with the others I own factored into my decision. The plastic around the screen is shiny black, and I can see how others would prefer a matte finish. The screen has some reflection, but neither of these really bothers me...the set performs beautifully. I have it on standard settings, but did play around with the picture settings some. The sound is OK, but not as bad as some reviews mentioned. Our room is about 20 x 14 and the set does fine.

From the order to the set-up, no dissappointments. Used standard ground, but the set still arrived within three days of ordering.

2 of the last 4 issues of Consumer Reports have reviewed LCD & Plasma televisions. The Panasonic TCP50U2 has not only been a value buy on there, but also their coveted recommended buy. Picture quality is amazing for the price. Sound could be a little better, but in no way bad. Fantastic TV for the price.

I bought this as a secondary TV in the house. I also have a 50" Samsung plasma that is three years old and a Projector in my media room for serious movie/football watching.

I was not looking for the absolute best picture/features etc. I wanted something at least 50", 1080P (old Samsung is only 720P), brand name, and cheap. I have a friend who has had two Vizio's die within 18 months of purchase, and to me that's basically a generic Walmart brand anyways.

This fit the bill once Amazon price-matched Best Buy's price over Turkey day weekend.

Pros- cheap, big, beautiful picture. Looks way better than the Samsung, deeper colors (if that were even possible) and blacker blacks. No motion artifact that I can appreciate, and the main reason for my purchase, it will display 1080P content from my Onkyo reciever that I use to drive my home theater. The 720 Samsung would not. I have noticed it can be a bit finicky with a 1080/24P signal even though it's listed as compatible. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. Plugs on the back are all the way over to the left side, which makes them accessable when wall mounted, a big plus if you ever need to get back there. the samsung had them right in the middle, which required removing the TV from the wall to make any changes.

Cons- Any Plasma is, by nature, a glossy display, and this seems extra glossy. My Samsung has some anti-glare coating which I took for granted. I'm using this in a dark, basement room with no windows so no problem. All plasmas have potential for image retention, esp with games, although I had no problems with the old Samsung with plenty of hours spent on the Wii.

For me it fits the bill as a cheap, brand name, secondary TV. If this were my primary, big splurge, screen, I would probably not go with plasma to begin with. Although I do feel the colors, pop, and blacks are still better on a plasma than any other display, and this holds true to that.

Having bought a Panasonic TC-P46C2 46-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV and very pleased with it, I had no problem choosing this TV. It has a full 1080p panel. Compared with the "C2", the "U2" has 3 HDMI inputs versus 2 and it delivers a slightly sharper picture with slightly better rendition of subtle colors. Also, viewers can sit as close as 4' from the screen and not notice pixelation (with the C2 viewers need to be seated at least 7' away from the screen). In all other respects, this TV is pretty much like the C2 and you can check my review of the TC-P46C2 for details.

A couple of things that may concern certain buyers, the fact that this plasma has no anti-reflective filter and that it has "only" 900 lines of moving picture resolution, are really non issues. If you set this TV up in a room where you control the lighting (i.e., no bright lights or windows in the reflection path) then the anti-reflective filter is not important. Now, concerning the 900 lines of motion picture resolution, I did some reading up in Panasonic's website (see the link in the "comments" in this review). In a nutshell, a HDTV test pattern be scrolled across the TV screen with a camera following it. The Panasonic plasma is able to maintain more than 900 lines of resolution while the 60Hz LCD panel drops to approximately 350 lines. In other words, this 600Hz plasma is far better than 60Hz or 120Hz LED/LCD TVs in terms of moving picture resolution.

Finally, having calibrated the colors on my C2 using the service menu offsets for the S2 by "D-Nice" of AVSForum, I found to my surprise that the U2, like the C2, can use the same "D-Nice" offset values as the TC-P50S2. Once calibrated, the colors and skin tones are simply awesome. (Be VERY careful to note down the initial settings before making any service menu changes). I will provide the necessary links in the comments section of this review.