Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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156 of 158 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this TV...best picture in store even though EDTV, June 21, 2005
I have had several TVs in the past 5 years, 2 projection Sonys, a Wega, and I can tell you this is the TV for under 2200 to end them all. I didn't want to spend over 2k on a tv because it just seems like over kill. I wanted to get an HDTV, because I had one before that was a sony projection. That was until I saw this one in the store. I talked to the guy at Bestbuy and he said that they haven't put this one out because they wanted to move some of their older models first. This TV will produce as good of a picture as any at the store. I sat and looked at all of the options, and money aside, not one TV at best buy or circuit city produced as good of a picture as this one. I have brought it home and have been watching it for a week or so. DVDs look great, XBOX with the colorstream cable looks awesome as well. I am still waiting for my HD box to arrive, so that I can hook up the HDMI cable. I couldn't be happier than with this TV. This is the first non Sony TV I have ever bought, and so far I am not disappointed.
Since my first comments have been getting a lot of feedback, I figured it would be a good idea to give a follow up to those still on the fence.
1) I received the HD box, and it looks even better. I connected with an HDMI cable which eliminates component cables and uses just one small connector, which controls all three component inputs as well as the audio to the TV (which most people use their receiver, but this is a nice option to have). Do not buy this cable from BB or CC, they WAY over charge. I bought one for $20 from some website and it works great, they charge well over $100.
2) I wall mounted the TV, directly across from a large window, and there is minimal glare. This is a window that produces a lot of light, and the picture is still fine even at high noon.
3) I went back and doubly compared the picture, and once again I believe the picture on this TV to be as good as any high end Sony out there. I am not naive, I understand lines of resolution and the down conversion of the HD signal should in theory not produce as crisp of a picture as an HD set, but from my point of view it does to the naked eye.
Answer to question:
How is this TV's picture when you play your regular DVDs and especially non HD (but digital) satellite signal. I recently baught a Sony Wega LCD projection TV that is high definition but realized channels like CNN look blurry, espcially when I play some of my DVDs etc...
This TVs pixels are pretty small, so the regular picture is good, especially on DVDs because DVDs native resolution is 480 which is the resolution for EDTVs. When you play DVDs on an HDTV it actually has to down convert it. To be honest the TV looks MUCH better with colorstream component cables or HDMI versus s-video. Same goes for DVDs, the three separate components look much better than S-video did. You may want to try that on your Vega. Also it depends on the size of the TV, the bigger the TV the blurrier the picture is going to seem, versus the HD signal. I noticed that as well on my 57" Sony projection that I had. I would say the difference is much less on this plasma. I can't really speak for other plasmas, and the comparison I made in the store were all on HD signals, so you can't compare it to normal digital channels.
I did originally have this going through standard digital cable and an S-video cable, and per Panasonic the "viera" filter this tv has helps smooth it out. But I did notice a difference switching to HDMI.
ONLY BAD THING:
No front AV inputs, it is starting to get on my nervers on occassion because I have it wall mounted, so way to reach back to plug it in.
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29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can be breathtaking, September 24, 2005
This unit will create a breathtaking display, depending on the source, and I give it 5 stars for that ability. At the moment, I'm using a non-progressive scan DVD player and movies look terrific. They are as good as or better than what I've seen in theaters. Upgrading to an HDMI enabled progressive scan player might improve the picture, but I can't imagine paying hundreds of dollars for that privilege. And I'm not sure it would do the trick anyway, because the TH-42PD50U is configured to take any signal and attempt to scale it to the optimal number of lines. Anyway, I'll wait until the HDMI capable players are at commodity prices. And, you might like to know that depending on the movie, you will not get an edge to edge picture with DVDs. You'll still get the black bands top and bottom in most cases.
That said, TV is another affair... At first I attempted to use an analog cable feed. All I got was a large picture without much clarity. I upgraded to Time Warner HD programming. That gives you maybe 15 HD channels, in my case 2 of which are HBO HD. Figure another 20 bucks a month for the HD box plus HBO. And that's not the end of it. TNT HD and Discover HD have fabulous pictures that take full advantage of the Panny's abilities. HBO HD is very good, and gives you edge to edge picture with most movies and series. Networks are another thing. If you're looking to watch Monday Night Football in HD, you may be disappointed. Maybe not in all markets, but in mine sporting events are hit and miss. Today I was watching the Ohio State game on HD. The foreground was very clear, but when showing the typical field shot, the picture turned kinda fuzzy. Conversely, watching the Browns game last Sunday, it was as clear as if I were watching the game through a window, regardless of the camera's focus. Moreover, the colors were saturated. So, it appears that some HD broadcasts are better than others, or possibly some local stations are better feeds than others. The point is, you may get a mediocre picture even though it is in HD.
Now, knowing all this, would I buy it now? You bet.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best bet for the price range -- incredibly clear HD picture for EDTV, November 3, 2005
Don't settle for the cheapest plasma you can get -- what's the point of a big screen full of low resolution and fuzzy picture? I was going to "settle" for a 30 inch LCD and decided to go for more real estate. 40 inch LCDs are way out of my price range, and I realized during comparison shopping at Best Buy and other brick and mortar stores, that I acutally PREFER plasma to LCD pictures. Something about plasma to me seems more alive and real and the colors seemed brighter. Maybe this was just in my head to justify the expense of a 42 inch plasma, but I'm happy with plasma versus LCD. It's a totally subjective preference so I suggest you comparison shop and not listen or read what the 'experts' have to say.
I was going to go for the cheapest plasma with a decent image quality I could find -- but then I started looking for the plasma s in this size range with the best overall ratings. The TH-42PD50U was at the top of the heap as far as meeting qualiy and price. The tie-breaker was that the TH-42PD50U comes with the stand and speakers -- stands and speakers alone will add a hundreds of dollars to your tv price if you have to purchase them separately. Definitely the best package for the quality.
And what quality. I was expecting a so-so picture quality, having been unimpressed with so called "HD tv's" and HD signals in DLP and flat screen CRT screens. The HD channels, using generic component cables, IS AMAZING!!!
AWESOME PICTURE!!!! I'm not easily impressed and I'm very picky, but the picture quality was sharp as cut glass, the black were black, the colors were deep and real -- truly a TV that I can be satisifed staying home and watching movies in comfort as opposed to dropping $10 for a noisy cineplex. I'm already saving money that way.
The great reviews for this tv are not hype. I was skeptical at first but very pleasantly surprised. Good amount of connections, including HDMI. Even though this is EDTV, it displays in 1080i which is the display quality of HDTV. Personally, I have no idea what makes an HDTV if not the ability to display in 1080i, which the EDTV TH-42PD50U does. The picture quality of HD channels in the TH-42PD50U BLOWS AWAY other "real" HDTV screens in the same size range. Believe the reviews and test it out for yourself.
I am SOOOO happy I bought this TV. It was a little over my budget range, but it's an investment. I am very happy with the quality of this TV and will have TV until for a long time as opposed to spending a few hundred dollars less on a TV I'm disappointed with and want to upgrade quickly.
Highly recommended.
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