Customer Reviews
Good TV -Bad Delivery 
2008-04-29
The TV so far is performing as I expected. The delivery service , however, left much to be desired. It was delivered by one man who told me I would have to assemble the stand and setup the TV. When I objected, he asked me to help him and did I have a screwdriver, he had no tools! He did not screw the TV to the stand properly, stripping the screw as it hung up on another. It is now be impossible to remove the stand. He knew little or nothing about setting up the TV for HD. I had to call the cable company to get it functioning properly. After this bad start however, the TV has been good.
Great Picture and Sound! 2008-04-28
I admit, I'm very picky about what I buy, but I have to say, I am more than pleased with this television! I shopped around for an affordable 1080p HDTV but I didn't want to give up quality and I found both in this unit. The picture is very clear, the sound is great, and it is very easy to set up and use. I find no problems with the screen reflection, unlike my other big screen TV. I have zero regrets about choosing this one (I wish I could say the same thing about my first wife)!
Beautiful Picture 2008-04-26
I bought this TV for several reasons:
1) LCD was about the same price for this size (50 inch)
2) Plasma TVs have a blacker black (which this one does)
3) I did not need a fancy speaker system since I am connecting it to a surround sound system.
4) Panasonic has the top rated Plasma televisions for quality in comsumer reports.
I love the TV. It's huge! The digital picture quality when I watch Nova on PBS is absolutely stunning.
I only have two small complaints:
1) The TV will not tell me what resolution the current channel is that I am watching. Something like a "Info" button on the remote would be nice.
2) In order to turn the TV speakers off (in lieu of external speakers) you have to go several menus deep. There should be a single "Speakers On/Off" button on the remote.
Other than that, this TV is great. I especially like the straps that secure the TV base down to my wooden corner stand that it is setting on. The TV is a bit heavy and this prevents it from accidentally falling on my kids.
Excellent picture and Excellent Price 2008-04-16
This unit has an amazing picture. My previous TV was a Mitsubishi Diamond Model HD unit and the Panasonic's picture in HD and particularly SD is much better. Also, there's very little motion artifact compared to the Rear Projection Unit. I'm running this through a home theater system, so the sound is fine. I wouldn't rate the built in speakers as being very good but if you're running the sound through you're own amp, it won't make any difference. If I was to buy it again, I would try to order directly from Amazon or the partnered vendor rather than using Amazon as the middleman. There were some communication problems - but eventually it all worked out. Overall, this is a remarkable TV considering that it's true 1080p at less than $1800. I would definitely recommend it.
Excellent TV; more than satisfied 2008-04-11
It would be hard to be unhappy with this unit. The colors are excellent and the image is stunning. The only comment I can make is of the industry as a whole. I researched this TV on Consumer Report. I used the March 2008 issue. Buy the time I went to by the unit, the model in the review had been replace with a newer better one. Within 30 days of my purchase, my TV had been replaced with a NEWER, BETTER ONE.
delighted 
2008-06-12
I jumped to get mine during a one day sale for a rediculously lower price than here.
No dead pixels. Very bright picture. Video reproduction on this plasma is SO much better than most LCDs I've seen.
Using the HDMI ports from a BluRay player and a HD-DVD player I fine tuned mine to the following settings:
Picture Mode: Standard
Picture: -6
Bright: +15
Color: -6
Tint: -3
Sharp: +5
Color Temp: Normal
Color Management: Off
All Filters: Off
Those settings are for when 1080 is filling up the whole picture; but I have to lower the Picture and raise the Brightness for 4:3 or video with black bars at the top & bottom.
Blacks are better on Standard-Def tube monitors; but black on Plasma's are
much much better than the LCD's I've seen. I've attempted to help a few friends set up their LCD's for best black, but resolution deteriorates on most LCD's when blacks look good. On the other hand the Picture and Brightness tuning on this plasma behaves very similar to a Tube monitor. Blacks are still a bit too milky for my taste, but I guess I'll have to raise the room lighting to trick out my eyes. I like this plasma for the price I paid for it.
After a lot of research... 2008-05-21
I was going to get an LCD.
They were the new thing. Plasma had burn-in, dead pixels, etc.
After doing a bit of digging, it turns out that most of the Plasma problems were 1st and 2nd generation issues. And according to Consumer Reports (plug!), this was one of the best. This was reinforced by talking to friends who had bought LCD and Plasma displays.
The display has deep, rich colors, very good viewing angles, and detail in the blacks that an LCD can't touch. All in all, if you're going to spend nearly $2,000 for a TV, this is hard to beat.
Great tv, but ... 2008-05-12
A little disappointed a newer model came out at the same price a couple weeks after I bought it, but I guess this is the way things go in the electronics world. I love the picture when I have HD signal. SD channels are blah...they looked better on my old tube tv. I was a little surprised by the heat the plasma puts off, but I guess its normal for plasmas. The remote that comes with the tv is great. Had to push one button and it syncs all my other players to it (dvd, cable box, vcr, etc).
Wow! My Wife and I Are So Happy 2008-05-05
I lobbied long and hard for a new flat-panel TV and this was the choice in the end. This set balances value, performance, and asthetics. This television has the most beautiful picture I've ever seen first hand in a home. It got the full one hundred hours brea-in and then I used settings found at tweaktv.com. Trust me, broadcast HD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD look absolutely stunning and I could not be happier. Amazon's white gloves delivery was as expected and I could not be happier with the overall experience. If you are willing to do the online and on-foot research, Amazon is the best place to buy a television.
Faulty Product 
2008-05-01
Within a month of purchase screen would get very light after about 10 minutes of the TV being on. After about 5 more minutes the unit would power off entirely and the power LED would just blink seven times. Would have to unplug the TV from the wall to get it to power back on. After doing some google searching for power issues this appears to be an issue with many Panasonic TV's (didn't see this while researching the product pre-purchase). The Panasonic help line was friendly and helpful and tech was out within 4 business days to repair so I give them some credit for that. Tech has to replace one of the system boards to fix. Talking to the repair guy he confirmed this to be a common issue he has seen with Panasonic brand plasmas (appears to not just be this particular model). Luckily mine was under warranty. Beware this product.
