Customer Reviews

Panasonic TH-58PZ700U 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The Panasonic TH-58PZ700U is not only a great looking Plasma TV, but the picture on it is incredible. The remote control, besides not being backlit, is excellent in layout and functionality. It's great having the SD card slot, and although some people have complained about the sound, I've found it to be very good.

Why am I telling you NOT to buy such a wonderful television? Because it is being sold with a horrible defect. The internal power units go out. They just cease to function.

I have had my Panaonic for 5 days, and now it won't turn on. After doing some quick searching on the web, I discovered that this is an all to common issue.

Not a problem for me, because I'm taking it right back to Best Buy. But what would happen if it goes out in 13 months - one month over Panasonic's factory warranty. Well, according to Panasonic, who did admit that there is a problem, they will 'handle it on a case by case basis.' I asked why they just wouldn't warrant a bad power system for 5 years, which I believe is perfectly reasonable on a $3000+ television, and they told me that they couldn't commit to anything. Wow!!!

So to summarize. Panasonic is selling very expensive Plasma televisions with a known defect. They have several options. They could recall all the TV's and replace the power systems. They could just extend the warranties on that particular part of the set so that a mass recall wouldn't be necessary and which would probably save them money. Or, they can continue selling them, and fix the ones that fail within a year, and decide what to do about the rest later.

Because they chose option 3, I will not only be purchasing a different brand, but I will warn everyone via the web about this issue.

I tried to contact Panaonic Customer Relations to voice this concern and to find out if they are looking at it in more detail as these things continue to fail, but alas, there apparantly isn't a Customer Relations Department or they prefer to remain out of touch and unseen.

---------EDIT on 8/19/2008------------

Well, just as an update, I ended up deciding to give it another chance and exchanged it at Best Buy. Due to a few Best Buy mistakes, I didn't get my replacement for nearly 3 weeks; however, I ended up paying around $75 extra for the 5 year warranty.

This television is awesome. It's been 6 months since I received my replacement, and I'm still thrilled about it.

I'm not sure whether or not this issue has been totally resolved or if Panasonic has extended the power component's warranty, so I wouldn't recommend this television to friends. A tv this expensive and heavy shouldn't be a gamble.

I can say I absolutely love mine, and if I had to buy it over, I would. But only because I know about the issue and got the extended 5 year warranty.

If you get the 5 year warranty, it gets a 4 star rating from me. It would be 5 star if I felt the warranty wasn't a necessity.

------------ Edit on 01/31/2011 ---------------

Well, it's been nearly 3 years now. The TV hasn't had another power issue, and I'm still thrilled with it. I like it so much, I bought a 50" Panny Plasma for the bedroom. I still can't believe that Panasonic didn't have a better policy with a problem they acknowledged; however, I'm still a fan due to how great the pictures are on their sets.

I had originally bought the 50PZ700u and I loved it, but kept thinking I could go bigger so I got this one. It has a beautiful picture using a High-Def source and a very good picture using a standard def source. I'm viewing it from 13' away and have it hooked up to a regular DVD player, DirecTV HR10-250 HD Tivo and a PS3.

As I said, regular programming looks very good on this tv. I hadn't exptected much in this department, especially with a 58". I thought a 480i or 480p picture would look jaggy or blocky on a set with a 1920 x 1080 native resolution. The picture is as good as it was on my 35" Sony CRT.

But HD programming is where this unit really shines. Discovery HD, HDNET, etc all look amazing! And Motorstorm, the Gran Tourismo HD demo and POTC: DMC Blu Ray on the PS3 are mind blowing. I can't wait for DirecTV to launch that new satellite and add more HD programming!

I don't use the TV's built in tuner or the speakers (I run the audio through my Amp) so I can't comment on them. Some people who see this set in the store say it's too dim, but at home, with the settings as high as possible it's actually too bright.

My only gripe is that it only has 2 HDMI inputs. You can never have too many HDMI inputs these days. Other than that this TV is top notch, I highly recommend it.

as of right now this is by far the best tv on the market, plasma techonology beats out every other technology in the over 46 inch screen category and panasonic is the only company making a 1080p consumer model right now with a built in tuner and pedestal stand, I was one of the very first people to own this tv when it came out and it does not dissappoint, the picture quality is the best I've seen and SD programming looks very good, but this baby was born for blu-ray and when hooked up to a blu-ray player the images are ready to come out and grab you, it's like having a professional movie theatre in your house the picture is that good with blu-ray, if u want to mount this to a wall make sure you get a very good mount like maybe the sanus vmpl3, this mount can be installed with 3 studs on your wall for extra protection because this tv is heavy 140 lbs, the speakers are not that great but again this tv is for a home theatre set-up with a good a/v receiver capable of HDMI output, I'm using the sony dg1000 which works perfectly with this tv

I spent more than a year researching and looking at TVs. I read a million reviews and trolled cnet for hours and hours. This TV is the best TV out there at the $4k range. True the Pionner 1080p might be better - might - but, at this size, that's almost double the price. This TV is simply fantastic. The picture in HD is flawless and the pic in SD is good and is at least as good as tube TV (which you'll find is rather rare in cheaper plasmas). Motion is pristine. Colors are fantastic - from black to yellow, it handles them all perfectly. Handles glare well. The frame is beautiful black. Nothing but big bold picture to blow you away. Take the plunge! It's worth it.

Delivery of my Panasonic TH-58PZ700U 58" 1080p Plasma HDTV, ordered and shipped from Amazon arrived 4 days in advance of its scheduled delivery. I can add nothing to the other reviews of the excellent Panasonic HDTV - it is simply amazing for this price point. HOWEVER, Amazon's "white glove" delivery - through the carrier Eagle - was unacceptable. The single Eagle delivery person refused to set the TV on its shipped pedestal and said that Eagle would not accept liability to be incurred by that basic set up. The "best he could do" was to set the TV (precariously!) on its styrofoam shipping inserts on my table top! A family member had ordered a Panasonic HDTV from Sears at a comparable price point. 2 Sears delivery personnel set up his TV on its included pedestal (wall mount, of course would be extra). By comparison, Amazon's "white glove" delivery was unacceptable on this delivery. The Eagle delivery person said his supervisors would not allow him to help further. He also indicated that other customers had been similarly misled by merchants about what was / was not included in Eagle's home delivery. So - it's a GREAT HDTV - but such unexpected, unacceptable, and risky delivery. Be ready to prop up your large TV if Amazon ships it by Eagle transit!

I spent literally months researching TVs and finally decided to purchase the 58" Panasonic. In the stores (e.g., BB), the Panasonic is actually not very impressive, most likely due to the torch mode setting on all of the LCDs in the store. Once I received and installed the TV in my house, wow..it looks awesome! Even 480P DVD and SD channels look much better on the Panasonic than on my old Sony 53" projection TV. HD is stunning on this TV and the brightness is fine in my very bright/sunny living room (almost went with an LCD cuz of the bright room but now I'm glad I didn't!. I've had the TV for almost a month now and, so far, I'm quite pleased with the purchase. The only negative point is actually not with the TV. It's with the delivery company used by Amazon in my area. I took a Friday off from work because I needed to sign for the delivery from CEVA Freight. Waited all day and the delivery window came and went with absolutely no phone call from the company (what a waste of valuable vacation time). I actually had to pick up the phone and call them just to find out the delivery truck was being towed so they offered a 9-5 delivery window for the next day (Sat) which later was refined to 3-5pm window. The window came and went again and, that's right, no phone call. I had to call them again to find out the delivery wouldn't arrive for another 1.5 hrs. I did receive the TV that night and the one plus I give the delivery service is they were nice enough to help install the TV on the pedestal and then on my TV stand. That was a big help considering how heavy the TV is (I strongly recommend having a total of 3-persons available when you set up this TV). One last thing...I've read numerous posts concerning the poor sound on this TV. Strangely, I initially wasn't too impressed with the sound and then a changed an audio setting on my cable box (from "normal" to "narrow") and the sound now seems just fine.

This is by far the best tv we have ever owned. We looked at every major brand store starting from a to z. Nobody, I mean nobody gave us a better deal than Amazon. We took our time checking out prices and best picture.
We have a 42" Samsung in our bedroom and have always been pleased with it,
we couldn't see how you perfect, perfection until we got this Panisonic 58" the picture is beautiful and the sound is unreal it's like being in your own movie theater. WE SAVED $1500.00 by not buying from the brand name stores. No shipping fees, no delivery fees and no Uncle Sam. It was worth the wait. We almost went with the 50" but the picture on the 58" was so much better. Amazon you did it again, last year Samsung, this year Panisonic. I normally wouldn't look at anything else but Samsung. I looked at customer reviews and you guys really helped in where I was going to look. I trusted your judgement you did me right on the Samsung. I knew you would do me right on this one. I know it was a lot more, than the 50" but well worth it. Now, if I could just get my husband to quit watching it all the time. Thanks everybody, for all your imput. I never do these reviews, but I figured if it helps someone like you helped me, I owed it to you.

This TV Is simply stunning. Prepare to be slack jawed for quite some time. For those of you wanting to get film quality image reproduction out of this unit try the following settings. Give it one day after making the adjustments so your eyes can adjust to the change. The realism from these settings will produce images so lifelike that it will take your breath away.

The following figures contains the picture settings for the TH-58PZ700U after its ISF calibration. I highly suggest that you use these settings if you purchase or own this television. By configuring the television to the below settings I was able to get the color temperature to D6650K, a substantial improvement over the out-of-the-box measurement of D10000K+. Using the below settings to regulate the color temperature and white balance virtually perfects the picture of the TH-58PZ700U:

Panasonic TH-58PZ700U Optimal Picture Settings
Picture Mode Standard
Picture +22
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm
Enhanced Black Level Off

Hope this helps some of you. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm happy with the picture quality but not with the 1080p compatibility with non-Panasonic Blu-ray, HD-DVD players, etc. In addition, HDMI switchers won't work, i.e., new Bose HDMI switcher (I have a Bose AV38 built in system). I've tried the LG combo blu-ray/HD-DVD player and the Toshiba HD-A35, neither will work (losing signal, white flashes, etc.) They work fine in 1080i but not 1080p. I plug the same players into my Sharp 32" 1080p and they work fine. Panasonic doesn't have an answer (blames all the other companies) so I've had it. I have a four year service plan with Circuit City and they either fix it or get me something that will handle all 1080p DVD inputs. It's too bad because it works great with the Panasonic blu-ray (in 1080p) but I expect 1080p results regardless of what brand I buy.

The TV arrived three days after placing my order !! I live in Oklahoma. The White Glove service was good. They took the TV out of the box and made sure it worked. Then they took the packing material and left. Don't expect them to mount the TV that's not part of the White Glove service. Later when some furniture was delivered I asked the delivery men to help lift the TV onto its stand. It weighs about 150 lbs. Then after connecting all the cables I asked the Cable guy to help lift it into the alcove where it stands today. He wasn't supposed to help. Cox cable is afraid of liability issues. (Thanks Dave)The combined TV and stand weigh about 170 lbs. It's not too difficult for two men to lift but with the cables attached can be a little awkward. It helps to have a third person work with the cables. Be sure you have all your cables planned out before you put it in place or have easy access to the rear - I don't.