Customer Reviews
Best Plasma for the Money 
2008-04-25
The black levels onthis TV are phenomenal, it has pleanty of inputs/outputs for anything that you might need to do. If you need more you should by a receiver with HDMI switching capabilities. I ordered this TV through Amazon, on April 19, 2008 as it turns out they stock this one. I was shocked when Wednesday the 23rd the shipping company called me to tell em they have my TV ready for delivery. I received it and wall mounted it yesterday. I am about 5 hours into the recommended break-in period for a Plasma. I will be getting it Calibrated once I hit 100-150 hours. I will add more information later if there is anything I can add. I have never been more satisfied with a product or an online service. I highly recommend Buying it through Amazon. 3 Days and it was on the wall!
One of the best deals on one of the best TV's 2008-04-25
I had to write.. one guy said that the TV had stuck pixels, you can't have a stuck pixel on a plasma TV, that's an LCD thing.
Also, I have no problem with refelection. I bought this as a replacement for an LCD Projection Sony Wega 50" 720p, and while yes, you can see reflections when the TV is off, It has NEVER bothered me or been noticable with the TV on. And glare(not reflection) bothered me on the LCD display I had in the exact same location.
Oh, and I'm very picky!
My only complaint with this TV is the lack of 'fine tuning' that can be done by the user from the menu for calibrationf. I understand you can still get into the sevice menu to do this. But to me, this isn't a big deal for the price. The details are increadable, the black levels are fantastic.
Best deal available, especially at the price offered on this site!
Panasonic has a winner 2008-04-24
I received my 50 PZ85U yesterday . Purchased it on late 3 days ago and it was with me at 12pm yesterday. i loved the shipping speed. The set was handled perfectly by CEVA and i dont have any green areas or dead pixels so far. I used some standard settings floating around in avsforum and i loved it. I dont want to break in with the dvd so i was watching on demand content which was free. I have run it about 10 hours now.
Cliffhanger looked a little bit dull as compared to my previous Sharp Aquos D64U. It may have something to do with the brightness level being low. But otherwise the picture was just brilliant. I loved the black levels and now i understand what everyone was talking about. cliffhanger has some scenes which i have never observed before, but because of the black level , it improved the overall experience.
I also watched 16 blocks (HD) and ICE AGE 2. I have seen the older generation of plasmas in the stores and somehow their whites were not as white as this set. Their whites where more blue but this set had nice whites.
I loved the music channel in HD but i cant watch that just yet because it has huge logo. I briefly connected my Wii and i must say it looked a lot crisper on the Sharp Aquos but i have not played around with the settings. I am confident that i will be able to fix that after break in. I am still using composite video. I had a sharp for close to 2 months. i am very happy with my decision of returning that and jumping over to plasma. In a home setting i dont think the brights of the lcd make much of a difference.
With respect to reflection, i did see some reflection but with picture on i didnt see it once in 10 hours. I had a huge window 2 feet away from the tv at a 90 degree angle. At some level, if you pay enough attention you might see some of the background detail in the set but it was nothing close to what i saw at BB. Compared to my sharp i believe the sharp was obviously better but i dont think the sharp will compare to this set when it comes to picture. I think panasonic did a good job with the coating. Coming from the sharp thread where people believe that non uniform back lighting is inherent to technology and that you have to live with it .. etc etc.. i felt relieved after i popped in my tv blink dvd and observed absolutely uniform grayscale images.
So far i am loving this set. I think i stand by my decision to return the Sharp and also very satisfied that i didnt go for the Sammy 71 series. I watched the playoffs on hd for a few minutes and it looked good. No smearing of the ball and what not.
Panasonic TH-50PZ85U User Review 
2008-04-22
I have owned this display for over 30 days, and decided to provide some feedback. Aesthetically, this is a very nice looking set on the stand. It is fairly simple, and the solid black bezel, stand and speaker look good.
The anti-reflective filter is fairly effective at attenuating in room lighting, and the contrast ratio helps with daytime viewing. For those concerned about reflections, this set is leagues better than a CRT. It may not handle external light like an LCD, but other than rooms with extreme lighting issues, the 85U should be fine.
HD picture quality is pretty much amazing. Blu-ray's played from a PS3 look exceptional, as well as OTA HD. Blacks are very good with detailed shadows. This set does oversaturate Red and Green somewhat, but after adjustments, it is rarely bothersome. One negative though, is the limited adjustments for calibrating the picture. It would have been nice if Panasonic had included more controls, and this is the main reason I rated it 4 instead of 5 star. If you purchase this set, I recommend using the Cinema Mode as it is the most accurate and natural looking. Standard Def sources looks alright, but nothing special.
Gaming has been great on this set as there is no motion blur and image retention has not been an issue. I have played Call of Duty 4 for several hours at a time, and any IR washes away withing seconds or minutes. This set does show phosphor trailing as most plasma's do, but after the first 100+ hours, it is either less prevalent, or I do not notice it as much.
Overall, great set, that could have used better user controls and produced less saturated colors, but for the price I feel it is a good display.
new plasma 2008-04-21
Excellent picture on this. Panasonic has done a fine job. My only beef is the stand. It's not made as well as others. It still works, but my previous tv had a stand made of steel with a glass base. This one is a plastic material. Not as nice, but the picture is incredible. Highly recommended. When I get the chance, I'm going to wall mount it, so the included stand won't matter.
Panasonic has a winner 2008-04-24
50" widescreen HDTV (16:9 aspect ratio) * built-in digital (ATSC) and analog (NTSC) tuners for over-the-air TV broadcasts (antenna required) *
Panasonic TH-50PZ85U User Review 2008-04-22
I have owned this display for over 30 days, and decided to provide some feedback. Aesthetically, this is a very nice looking set on the stand. It is fairly simple, and the solid black bezel, stand and speaker look good.
The anti-reflective filter is fairly effective at attenuating in room lighting, and the contrast ratio helps with daytime viewing. For those concerned about reflections, this set is leagues better than a CRT. It may not handle external light like an LCD, but other than rooms with extreme lighting issues, the 85U should be fine.
HD picture quality is pretty much amazing. Blu-ray's played from a PS3 look exceptional, as well as OTA HD. Blacks are very good with detailed shadows. This set does oversaturate Red and Green somewhat, but after adjustments, it is rarely bothersome. One negative though, is the limited adjustments for calibrating the picture. It would have been nice if Panasonic had included more controls, and this is the main reason I rated it 4 instead of 5 star. If you purchase this set, I recommend using the Cinema Mode as it is the most accurate and natural looking. Standard Def sources looks alright, but nothing special.
Gaming has been great on this set as there is no motion blur and image retention has not been an issue. I have played Call of Duty 4 for several hours at a time, and any IR washes away withing seconds or minutes. This set does show phosphor trailing as most plasma's do, but after the first 100+ hours, it is either less prevalent, or I do not notice it as much.
Overall, great set, that could have used better user controls and produced less saturated colors, but for the price I feel it is a good display.
new plasma 2008-04-21
Excellent picture on this. Panasonic has done a fine job. My only beef is the stand. It's not made as well as others. It still works, but my previous tv had a stand made of steel with a glass base. This one is a plastic material. Not as nice, but the picture is incredible. Highly recommended. When I get the chance, I'm going to wall mount it, so the included stand won't matter.
Fantastic TV 2008-04-18
I bought this set for my parents through Amazon. They are extremely pleased in all respects. Everything from the white glove service through amazon to the picture quality has been exceptional. The price vs. quality ratio is probably impossible to beat, so I would suggest not hesitating. If you look at some of the early reviews they are a bit alarmist. No set is perfect, but this one is as good as it gets for $2,000 or less.
In terms of Amazon itself, they have been great. Even made a prompt refund when the price dropped.
You WILL NOT be unhappy with this TV 2008-04-18
First off, I don't know why there have been a few negative reviews. The picture is stunning. It really is beautiful, and that is comparing it to the latest LCDs and other plasmas TV's, honestly, it hangs with the best of them and even surpasses most if not all of them when you consider the price and the many features,(panasonic is claiming 100000 hours out of these babies!!!!!and a 100000 dynamic contrast with 30000 native!!!!! PC input, SD imput 3 HDMI output and the list goes on). I was so close to going with the Samsung LCD 120mhz, I'm so glad I waited since Panasonic addressed every flaw that plasma tv's had (eg. glare, life span, burn in)and capitalized on what plus's they had going for them (eg. price, no motion blur, viewing from every angle, deep blacks, and cheaper $$$).
Secondly, I guess I'm the odd man out because I think the new anti reflection screen is awesome. I don't have alot of light coming in but there is light and I have had the lights on while watching it. Hell, I even shined a flashlight into the screen only to have a very soft dim reflection shine back at me, no different than shining the same flashlight it into my computer's LCD screen. However, the benzel is very shiney and you do see reflections in that.
Overall, this was my first time to purchase something like this through Amazon and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I was a little nervous, but just like other reviewer's have said, the delivery team took my TV in my house, then help me unpackage it, helped me assemble the stand and we turned the set on to make sure everything worked ok before they left.
I very very pleased with this purchase.
