Customer Reviews

Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Samsung 50 inch DLP finally gave up the ghost, and don't get me started on how many times the repairman had to come out and put parts in the darn thing, and how long it sat waiting on those parts, and oh yes the bulbs that would just go out for no reason. But I digress, on to the Panasonic. I got a deal at $695.00 from another dealer and what a breeze to set up with my home theater system and harmony remote. I did not even look at the owners manual until I was watching tv. I did not know how sharp and clear my dish network HD channels were until I got this TV, it is so user friendly. I did go from a 50 inch to a 46 but the quality of the picture more than makes up for the loss in size. At the time I bought the DLP in 2004 a Plasma this size cost around $5000 and the quality was no where near this good. Again I say this is a great TV.

I just bought this TV from another retailer. Great TV and a great price (less than $800!!). I really prefer the plasma picture over LCD. Truer blacks and no fast motion rendering problems due to the 600Hz speed. Even if you don't need the true black image, you can't find a 46" LCD running at 240Hz (currently the top LCD speed) for the same price point. I am very impressed with the TV and wish I could find the same bargain on a 55 - 60" model for my family room!

This is my second Panasonic plasma screen. My first Panasonic, now about two years old, is a great 42 inch set and has a great picture. I used it for my satellite tv, computer and running blu-rays from my PS3. I thought I couldn't got wrong with Panasonic after the success of the first, but I am disappointed with the 46 inch U1. It was an incredible price at another retailer ($788 and I've heard of some getting it for $698) and I noted the 5 star reviews here, but after having it a few weeks, wish I had spent more on something else. The picture controls have very limited effect, and frankly the image is very dark. Some movies and TV shows..especially those shot at night have such a dark image that you can't see any detail. This TV is very energy efficient as compared to their other models, and uses half the energy that my 42 inch did, and maybe that is where the image sacrifice is. That said, it is 46 inches, and Panasonic has one of the best durability track records out there. So, good bang for the buck perhaps, but I would buy another TV if I had it to do over again.

Pretty much, this TV rocks.

They have some at a local store and I'm bewildered people walk by them at their price point and buy a more expensive, inferior TV set.

It looks good with any source. SD, HD, it does great. Of course things are not going to look as good with SD content, but you've got a 46" screen where you wouldn't be able to see the gritty details as well as on an old 27" SDTV set - it's technology, not magic.

Do yourself a favor and get your TV calibrated. We picked up a copy of Elf on DVD and used its picture calibration setup, the picture went from great to even greater. It was impressive. I didn't think it could had got any better.

Video games, this thing is like an arcade monitor on steroids. They don't have monitors as good as this thing in arcades.

Even playing super fast games everything looks buttery smooth. Even old 16bit video games look good on this monitor.

Over the air HDTV looks great, especially a local 1080i channel (PBS HD). It looks like a computer screen using DVI input instead of a TV screen, that's how good it looks.

My complaint? I DO have a complaint. The TV signal meter will not stay up longer than 2 minutes, and when I'm outside adjusting an antenna looking through the window in the cold and it vanishes, that sucks.

But that's about it. Family has a 2 year old Vizio plasma that has noticable ghosting, otherwise called burn in (but fades, so, ghosting).

This television has not even had a hint of ghosting even from the word go. I'm completely comfortable playing video games with it, for hours. Not a single problem.

Plasma? Panasonic? Win.

Let me echo D Robertson. I had a similar experience. I had a previous version of the Panasonic plasma in 42 inch 720P. I love it and it is a great set. I much prefer the plasma over the LCD. After two years, I decided to move it to the rec room and upgrade to a 46 inch 1080 in the living room. I got the TCP-46UI at Wal Mart for the great price of $698. After one day, I took it back. The picture is just plain dim. No way as good as my old one. I read this is so it could get the energy star rating and I figure maybe not get banned in CA. They dimmed the output to cut the power consumption. No matter how I messed with the settings to make it brighter, it would screw something else up. Although I could see the resolution was better than my old 720 set, I could not live with the dim output. It reminded me of an old tv set in which the color was about to go out. I would imagine the other TCP models with the energy star rating are also dimmer.

If you had never had a previous Panasomic plasma or got your first ever HD set, I can see how you would think this is great. But side to side to the older models, this one is a loser.

Follow on. I checked the Panasonic official web site and this model has 200 watts less power than the other 46inch models, no wonder the dim output. I spent 200 more(funny, 1 dollar per watt)and got the TCP-46S1 from Amazon and the picture is great, no dim screen output. I am as happy as I was with the old set. Don't buy the U model. Buy the S and Go to this web site for a professional calibration setting for a super picture:
[...]

I bought the 46U1 to be my very first big screen HDTV. I didn't want to spend too much money but I didn't want a cheap TV either. I found the 46U1 for sale at Walmart for $698 and grabbed one.

From the first moment I turned it on I was blown away! Beautiful picture, vibrant colors, and a feature very important to me. Deep blacks.

Approximately one month after enjoying my new HDTV every day something changed. I first noticed the change when watching a movie with a nighttime scene. It showed a man walking on a street at night under a streetlight. I had seen this particular scene a few weeks earlier while browsing the channels. What changed was that the black level on my U1, or the deepest black a TV can produce, was now dark gray and not black at all. I didn't pay much attention until a friend mentioned the same thing to me a few days later while watching a movie. I popped in The Dark Knight blu-ray and low and behold my blacks were gray. The change was not subtle in the least and was very obvious to not only an AV enthusiast like myself but to everyone. I searched and found the thread over at [...] and the original poster mentioned his G10 suffered from the same black level increase. Since I found the thread, many G10 and even some V10 owners have come forward claiming their sets are faulty. Unfortunately for those of us who bought these televisions with our hard earned money Panasonic is denying the issue exists at all. They state that the increase is normal over the course of the plasma life. While true the change happens normally over the life of the TV the changes some of us are seeing are happening over the course of 1-3 months. Far sooner than normal for sure.

Enough about that though, on to the rest on the 46U1! Image quality, despite having grayish blacks, looks very good. Nice rich, and decently accurate colors. SD material looks fine but HD content looks exceptional, especially blu-rays played through my PS3. The integrated speakers are actually quite good and have a bit oomph as well. Menu options are very limited as you would expect on a lower priced model but there are enough settings to adjust the picture and sound to your liking. The set looks great sitting on my AV cabinet. A nice deep black bezel, although a bit thick for my liking, still manages to look sleek. A small silver strip accents the set toward the bottom. The stand is very sturdy but it does not swivel. One thing to watch out for are scratches. Make sure you clean the frame and screen with microfiber cloths and not cotton or paper products as the surfaces can be easily scratched if you are not careful!

Overall I am very happy with my purchase with just the one caveat. A good entry level plasma that could have been great if not for a fault in the design of the TV and every other 2009 Panasonic plasma. Everything from the cheapest to the most expensive '09 Panasonic plasma is affected. Will the new 2010 models still have the issue? Only time will tell but I would avoid buying one and instead look at Samsung or LG instead.

This TV is so sweet. I have looked for over a year for the perfect TV. Either they were to much, to blurry, not dark enough, not big enough, or you never herd of the brand. AND NOW I got my Panasonic 46" TC-P46U1 for $788. It runs at 600Hz are you kidding the motion scene are crystal clear. YOU DO HAVE TO HAVE AN HD SIGNAL FOR IT TO BE CLEAR! To many people get angry when they hook up their regular TV signal at 420P and want it to be clear? So if you have an HD receiver from a dish company or a blue ray player, your good to go with this TV. Owe yeah YOU HAVE TO USE AN HDMI CABLE!

I did plenty of research before I finally decided on this TV, and I was not dissapointed. Not only did I find it about $200-$300 cheaper on Amazon.com, but it was shipped to me rather quickly with no problem. For the TV itself, the HD quality is top-notch. The 600hz plasma screen is the best you can get for picture quality. It was easy to set up in about 15 minutes. The only negative thing I have to say is that the 'glare' minimizer feature as advertised doesn't really make that big of a difference, that I can tell. But I would highly recommend this TV for it's size, price, and quality it's a fantastic deal.

The arrival (just a few days after ordering it online) was exciting! Delivery men carried the big box into the house, opened it, took the big set (46 inch screen) out and plugged it in to check if it worked. It DID! They left, and I got busy reading the big manual that described the installation and hook-up. My wife and I could lift the big set, and I followed the diagrams in the book, attaching our other Panasonic gear, the disc player and tape players, and home theatre speakers. We turned it on, and it worked! We've never seen such a terrific picture, sound and picture control! We have MANY classic tapes and discs, collected over the years, and we watch opera, and classical music presentations often. The Panasonic Viera 46 inch set is a marvelous addition to our home!

We've had this TV about a month, connected to digital cable and a blue ray player- AWESOME! Let me say this is my first HDTV, but comparing to my friends set-ups, this blows them away! Picture quality is excellent (as says everyone that sees it), very easy to set up and use- I would recommend this set to anyone.