Customer Reviews
AMAZING - I AM SO GLAD I SPENT THE EXTRA ON A PANNY! 
2006-02-09
Let me start this review by stating that I purchased/own the TH-50PM50U NOT the TH-50PX50U for sale here. The only real difference between my 50" and this one on Amazon is that it DOES not have the internal tuner, and oh yeah, it costs about $700 less. ;)
At first I was concerned that it would lack features.... but in fact, it lacks NOTHING if you have a digital cable box/sat box. That is all you need to watch. I purchased it at Costco for $3200, and will never regret it!
Understand that MY 50" does not have a cable catv connection in the back, so it needs to be component/hdmi input.... which I don't mind as I doubt I will not have an HDTV box to go along with my tv. Plus this version does not seem to have the "aspect" lockout problem that seems to plague this version!
Anyway...I originally owned the samsung 5067 dlp....... totally disappointed with it...from horrible viewing angle, noise, and FINGERPRINTS INSIDE THE SCREEN!!!!!!! I returned it right away, bought the plasma, and could not be happier!
Don't hesistate on this great TV! But if you want to save money, and dont need the integrated tuner, buy it at costco!!!
Amazing TV, Great Shipping 2006-01-31
This TV is totally amazing! Hi-Def programming looks like you are really there. I didn't change any settings on the TV and the quality is excellent. The TV automatically detects which type of signal (hi-def or standard) and switches input when you change channels. This is a nice feature. I've seen other Plasma TV's that didn't do that and you had to manually switch it to 1080i when you flipped to a hi-def channel. Even my wife can channel surf without any problems.
Standard channels look entirely adequate using the 4:3 justified setting. Only the edges are stretched while the center of the picture is correctly portioned. This can sometimes give you a fish-eye lens effect when the camera is panning around quickly, but it's never a problem with normal viewing.
A note about DVDs: DVD quality is not Hi-Definition so don't expect them to look that good. I have a DVD player which up converts the signal to 1080i and that produces a very clean sharp image but it does not compare to a hi-def image. One more thing, most DVD movies have an aspect ratio of 2.35 to 1 and the TV is 16 to 9. This means that a widescreen DVD movie is not going to completely fill the screen unless you stretch it or zoom in. It's too bad the movie studios don't start shooting movies in hi-def, maybe it'll happen soon.
The unit is very stable on its stand and I think it would take a serious effort to tip it over. I have a 3 year old in the house so these things concern me. My son would need to get behind the TV and push to knock it down, and "that ain't happenin', baby".
I looked long and hard for this TV, or the industrial model Panasonic offers, since Christmas. I needed it for the Super Bowl (Go Seahawks!) and I found Amazon had 1 in stock. I ordered it on January 17th and it was shipped on January 18th. Amazon provided an estimated delivery date of January 25-27. They also provided a tracking number, but the name of the shipping company was not provided and the tracking number was therefore, of no use. I was really worried that the TV wouldn't make it in time for the Super Bowl (Go Seahawks!) on February 5th. When January 27th came around and the TV had not arrived I called Amazon's customer support. They were able to tell me the name of the shipping company: Enroute. I was then able to find tracking info on Enroute's website and discovered that the TV had been delivered to a local company called Firebird Moving and Storage. The phone number I had on file with Amazon was years out of date and so the local storage company wasn't able to contact me. I called them and they delivered the TV one business day after the 27th. The delivery guys unboxed the TV, mounted it on its stand and put it in place in the entertainment center. They plugged it in and it worked. They even took the box away with them. This was all done while I was at work and my wife didn't have to do anything but sign the delivery notice. Excellent!
Fabulous TV - Horrific Support 2006-01-24
This TV is excellent rendering gorgeous, magnificent reception. And the support personnel, once you are connected, are very helpful and knowledgeable.
The problem is the worst support system of any company or industry I have ever encountered. I have never been on hold for less than an hour and more often two hours or more. Luckily I have a speakerphone and was able to do other things. Even when the recording said the wait would be less than half an hour, it was over one hour.
This is true for this TV and their DVD recorders.
If their business is this good that they have such a high volume of callers they desperately need to hire more support techs.
It is the TV that gets the 5 stars. Their support system earns minus 10.
For Dean Mimmack, Plasma Stretched Image Problem Fix: 2006-01-24
Dean Mimmack wrote that he couldn't get the Panasonic plasma to properly display widescreen movies without distortion (stretching, fat-face etc).
The Panasonic does indeed properly display widescreen movies (of course it does!). Unfortunately it's clear Dean had a set-up problem that he wasn't able to diagnose. The problem he describes leads me to believe the problem was with the set-up of his DVD player.
A DVD player must be "told" what type - that is what shape/size - display you are using. Because the world is filled with standard 4:3 televisions (the "squarish" screens that have been the standard up until now), and with the advent of 16:9 displays (that's the rectangular dimensions of the new wide-screen dispalys), every DVD player has an output option for either a 4:3 TV or 16:9 widescreen TV.
Many DVD players are defaulted to the 4:3 mode (because most people own a 4:3 TV). That tells the DVD player to send the appropriately formatted signal for a 4:3 without distortion. But if you send that signal to a widescreen display, that's where these troubles occur. In the 4:3 mode, the DVD player creates a 4:3 image (squarish) in the middle of the plasma, with black bars on the sides (wich the DVD player considers unused space, since it is viewing the widescreen display merely as a squarish 4:3 display).
This, I gurantee, is what was happening with Dean Mimmack's set-up. My guess is that this was the Panasonic plasma was the first wide-screen display he was using with that DVD player. So the DVD player had been properly outputting a 4:3 image to his former 4:3 TV, but was still set to the 4:3 default when he hooked up his new Widescreen TV. Hence the distortion.
Now, as I said the DVD player sending a 4:3 image to the widescreen display will send it to the middle portion of the display, with black bars on the side. Many people don't with this mismatch between their DVD player and Widescreen set never even see these black bars. Why? Because many widescreen displays have an automatic default action to fill the screen with whatever signal they encounter. So the plasma detects a 4:3 image and automatically goes into one of it's "zoom" or "stretch" modes to make it fill the TV screen. So you don't see the black bars, but what you get is the cropped off or stretched-looking images. (A funny thing is so many people get used to this so fast they no longer see their TV image as stretched. It's amazing how many friend's homes I've come into watch DVDs, and they've had this problem for a year and never even noticed it).
The solution: Go into your DVD player's "set-up" mode and you will find an option for setting your screen type: 4:3 or 16:9.
If you are using a widescreen display, choose the 16:9 option.
Viola. Fixed.
I feel sorry that Dean didn't have someone to help him out, or that he didn't seek better help. Too bad. I hope he still has the plasma and eventually figured things out.
Rich H.
Great price, great product, great service 2006-01-19
My TV was delivered yesterday - less than a week after I ordered it. I will not repeat what the other reviews say about the product - except that it is great and took me less than 5 minutes to hook up (power and cable and done!).
I will comment on the shipper though. Mine was delivered by Moving Soultions, part of North American Van Lines. The dispatcher was great - she gave me a four hour window, but did tell me that I was the last delivery of the day, so they would be on the far end of the time window. They actually arrived later than the window, but it had been snowing all day. They called me twice with time updates during the delay. The delivery guys were great - they unboxed everything and went through the stand assembly instructions carefully before putting it together. They got it all assembled and secured, gave me some hints and put it just where I wanted it. I could not have been more happy with the service.
Plasma - Awesome price and product 2006-10-02
I am very pleased with this TV! Quick setup, great quality, and good price. I got it from curcuit city - on sale at store, reduced online price, 10% coupon, and pick up from delaware - no sales tax.
Any tips on how to optimize viewing with comcast digital cable box? How do i connect to box using HDMI cable slot?
Near Perfect 2006-09-21
Purchased from Crutchfield in Jan 06 and received b/4 Super Bowl. Set up was a snap, connectivity was easy. Word of warning: prior to getting any HDTV, do some research on cabling-more on that later.
Non HD channels look better and 480i channels look really good and full HDTV channels are breath-taking. Watching football or baseball is like really being at the game. Every little feature can be seen, amazing.
The TV has been rock solid-no issues. The TV is light for a 50" but its still heavy, and if your lifting it up on a pedestal or high stand, its a two man job-but well worth it.
The remote is OK, not great
The speakers are tinny sounding and don't have great stereo seperation but that to be expected. One weird thing, the speakers buzz when on a HD channel-bizarre. Doesn't matter though, the sound is going through 600 watts of Onkyo receiver nirvana.
Be careful cleaning the plasma glass-it smudges easily and is hard to clean right.
Cables: if your going to spend 4 large on a TV at least put some decent $$ into decent cables.
Your going to need an HDMI cable. Don't overspend here-its a digital signal-not analog. So get something sturdy and less-pricy. I use Belkin Pure AV (great)
Component cable (RED, BLUE, GREEN). All DVD players have this connetion and I the TV has 2 inputs for component (I blv). Get something sturdy, well-built and don't overpay for name **cough**Monster**cough** I like Belkin, Philips, and RCA brand
S-Video (2 connections) Many VCR's, satellite boxes, and all DVD players have this. This is where you need to spend the money. This is an analog signal and cheap S-video cables can ghost and make a good signal look terrible. Philips makes a good, cheap cable. But the best are made by Better Cables and Beldin
Composite (2 I blv) These are worthless to the people who care about video fidelity. If you HAVE to use composite, get a high end compoent cable and take one of the wires off and use it.
Coaxial (1 input) this the signal coming in from the satellite, cable or antenna. For heaven's sake use R6 cable, for that short run. If this is how I got my HD signal (no VCR's or boxes) I'd max out and buy one from Beldin or Monster. I'd probably buy a much more expensive run from the wall connection to wherever its going.
In a nutshell, the Panny is well worth the money. Its going to be reliable and the company will back it up. If you can afford the 60"-go for it.
This is old: the next-gen set is same price and better 
2006-04-22
The Panasonic TH-50PX60U is out, and is selling for the exact same price as this, and is better in every way.
Best set in its class period. 2006-02-25
I purchased the TH-50PX50U in mid feb. after several months of intensive research. Even though I was already a big fan of Panasonic video products, I checked the specs on comparable models from Samsung, Hitachi, LG, Pioneer and others. At this time, I have had the set for eight days and I'm totally satisfied. The performance of the set hooked up to digital satellite is fantastic, I can hardly wait to get HD programs. A few reviewers have complained about the speakers but I found them to be quite adequate. Even so, its rediculous to buy a plasma set like this without a decent home theatre system. My system includes the following: Panasonic DMR-EH50 dvd hard drive recorder, Sony DVP-CX995V dvd/cd changer (400 disc capacity), Aiwa surround sound receiver with an Aiwa 150W powered sub-woofer. I replaced the primary front speakers with a pair of Bose 301 speakers. Watching dvd's on this set is truely remarkable. I watched "black Hawk Down" on this set via the Sony changer with progressive scan and was completely blown away, literally. This film won oscar's for sound and editing (should have won for cinematography, but I digress) and is an ideal "test disc" for your entire home theatre system. I had originally decided on the 42" set from Panasonic model 42PX50U but after rearranging some furniture in my viewing room, I discovered I had just enough space to fit the 50" set. Trust me on this one: If you're considering the 42" model but have enough space in your viewing room, (and your budget) go for the larger set, you will be glad you did. The price difference is about one thousand dollars from several merchants that I compaired. Bottom line: buy this set kick back and enjoy it. You will never want to go to the neighborhood multiplex again.
Awesome TV - I'm now a plasma convert 2006-02-23
I guess I'm considered the ideal source for info on the high end TV's. I own three of the top models from Consumers and Cnet. I have the Sony XBR960 Tube HDTV which is supposedly the best but it's a 34" Tube tv, I just moved and bought the Panasonic TH-42PX42U and now I just got the TH-50PX50U. These things are in extremely short supply. We loved our Panasonic 42" so much I ended up having to pay retail on the 50" (3999) just to get it. I'm pretty sure Panasonic is either coming out with a new model soon or they're just oversold. My TV says it was made in Jan 2006 on the back and it's mid Feb right now so maybe they're just not keeping up.
Like I said, I own the Sony XBR960 which is Cnet's best TV. The one thing I don't think people realize is that on that TV the HD is absolutely perfect, awe inspiring type stuff. Problem is, it's a freaking 34" screen. It's kind of like concentrated TV, of course it's going to look good. Problem with that is the Sony's regular TV looks terrible, pretty much makes you leave it on those weird INHD stations all day.
On to the Panasonic 50". The best thing about plasmas are the bright screen and the fact that all grades of TV look really really good. That's the big difference I notice. My wife is amazed by it. It's hard to describe what I mean by "bright", maybe powerful is a better word for the picture. HD looks better than standard, but what's great is all tv looks really great.
I actually have both my 42" and 50" Panasonics on table tops and don't wall mount them, I like them that much that I was willing to pay more just to get plasma. (I also know I move a lot and you can do a lot more with a plasma in the future. I'd hate to get stuck with a monster LCD projection and nowhere to put it).
Hope this helps. Hope you can find one. I bought both these TV's blind, just going off Cnet and Consumer reports and other folks recommendations. They're awesome.
