This TV is very crisp and beautiful, October 26, 2008
I got this TV b/c cnet seemed to rave about it. I had a TH-50PX600U and that was a nice TV and I'm a big panasonic fan, but this TV I can definitely notice an improvement in quality from my cable HD channels, even though both are from the same 720p signal. In addition, watching Blu-Ray from this is beautiful (I'm using a PS3). I'm really happy...read full review
I got this TV b/c cnet seemed to rave about it. I had a TH-50PX600U and that was a nice TV and I'm a big panasonic fan, but this TV I can definitely notice an improvement in quality from my cable HD channels, even though both are from the same 720p signal. In addition, watching Blu-Ray from this is beautiful (I'm using a PS3). I'm really happy with the purchase. One recommendation for anyone owning this TV is to use custom settings and not use the settings that are default.
The rest of the review is copy/pasted from "daarrid" over at avsforum.com
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1056962
However lets remember that the THX mode can be adjusted!!!! Panasonic's default settings for THX are just wrong. The CNET reviewer, using a completely dark room, adjusted the THX settings considerably upward from their default settings. Just for the sake of example - CNET increased the picture setting from 50 to 100 for their review.
I'd suggest that anyone owning this set start with CNET's THX settings:
CNET's THX settings (completely dark room):
Picture: 100
Brightness: 55
Color: 56
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Warm
Cats: Off
Color Man.: Off
MPEG NR: Off
HD Size: Size 2
Black Level: Light
Or try My THX Settings (for a dimly lite room):
THX MODE:
Picture: 95
Brightness: 62
Color: 50
Tint: -8
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Normal
Cats: Off
Color Man.: On
MPEG NR: Off
HD Size: Size 2
Black Level: Light
While I use my Custom settings occassionally - tweaking the THX settings are much more important for everyday use. I use THX 90% of the time. The Custom Mode I created, I generally use ONLY for broadcasts made for TV. Remember THX is a movie standard and does not technically apply to TV shows (although some of these TV shows may also look better in THX).
Here are my custom mode settings again (already posted). Use these settings for TV shows and/or movies shown in a bright room:
CUSTOM MODE:
Picture: 85
Brightness: 50
Color: 34
Tint: -7
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Normal
Cats: Off
Color Man.: On
MPEG NR: Off
HD Size: Size 2
Black Level: Light minimize
Don't assume anything, ask if you're not sure!!!, September 16, 2008
Two months ago I bought a 52" LCD TV (not Panasonic) for my family room, so my grand kids could watch TV and play Xbox & Playstation 3 games. The TV was bought directly from Amazon and the shipping was free. When it got to my house over three weeks later, two men deliverd the TV and put it in my family room. They took it out of the box and set...read full review
Two months ago I bought a 52" LCD TV (not Panasonic) for my family room, so my grand kids could watch TV and play Xbox & Playstation 3 games. The TV was bought directly from Amazon and the shipping was free. When it got to my house over three weeks later, two men deliverd the TV and put it in my family room. They took it out of the box and set it up and pluged it in to make sure everything worked. (It did) They said the white glove service was on all TV's from Amazon. On 08/29/2008 I went to Amazon's web sight and bought my TH-58PZ800U ($2961.99) for my living room and the shipping was free too. My 58" Panasonic TV was actually bought from a partner company through Amazon, called Buy Now Inc., which still honored the free shipping. When the TV was delivered 09/11/2008 (in very good condition), it was only delivered by one man and it was a side walk delivery only. He saw I was disabled and was nice enough to bring it in through my front door and left it in my living room. I unpacked it and set it up two days later. The TV (140 lbs) comes with a stand and it's very easy to set up but you will need at least two healthy people and three is even better. I called Amazon and asked why the difference in my type of delivery? They said, All TV items bought directly from Amazon get the white glove type delivery treatment and from partner companies in most cases it will be a side walk delivery only. Both times the trucking company called a day or two ahead, to set up the delivery I strongly recommed you ask what type of delivery you're getting. I hope this helps?
Now about the TH-58PZ800U Panasonic Plasma TV which I researched for over a month before I bought it. I read all the personal and profesional reviews I could find. I was very lucky to have a major National Electronics store in my area that had a large selection of most of the major brands that made Plasma TV's. I want to be very honest in this review. Three or four other brands of Plasma TV's have come a long way and they looked great. I tried to compare apples to apples by comparing only Plasma TV's because that's what I wanted for my living room. It was very hard to see a major difference in picture and color in alot of todays Plasma TV's on display. I narrowed it down to two or three Plasma TV's in the 58" to 60" range. What made the decision for me was: My 58" Panasonic had a very good picture, colors were excellent, the non glare screen, all the HDMI (4) and other inputs, Panasonics Reputation, Quality and Repair history. I already own a 42" Panasonic Plasma TV that is 5 years old and it still has a great picture. Last but not least, the sound from the TV speakers is great if you don't have a home sound system, which I do, so I checked it out and then I hooked it up to my ow home sound system. The remote control is easy to use and the menu, doing the TV set up, is very easy and quick to do. Right now I have no negatives because I've only had the TV for 5 days and used it for 3 days. I hope this review has helped in some ways. minimize
Stunning!, September 13, 2008
When I first saw this unit on Amazon, it was $3499. After talking to my wife, I placed an order the next day and was surprised to find the price to be $2999. Two days after my order, the price went to $3699 and was no longer being shipped from Vann's. Mine was shipped from Vann's and arrived in perfect condition 4 days later.
read full review
When I first saw this unit on Amazon, it was $3499. After talking to my wife, I placed an order the next day and was surprised to find the price to be $2999. Two days after my order, the price went to $3699 and was no longer being shipped from Vann's. Mine was shipped from Vann's and arrived in perfect condition 4 days later.
Anyway, the TV is wonderful. I can't imagine getting a better picture from a TV. The colors are significantly richer and deeper than our other TV, a Samsung 42" LCD that's in our bedroom. The display and degree of color on the LCD, although vibrant, sometimes appear to be sightly unnatural and there doesn't seem to be a way (that I have found) to adjust it out.
The Panasonic color is very natural and there are several user friendly adjustments that make it easy to enhance picture clarity, hue and color.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the set-up was straight forward and actually simple. There are on screen prompts that take the user through the process to completion. The remote is uncluttered and easy to use with larger than usual buttons. Aesthetically, the set and the stand are very attractive.
I highly recommend plasma over LCD and the 2008 Panasonic Viera series over the competition we explored. (Vizio, Samsung, Sharp and 2007 Panasonic). minimize
Panasonic Viera TH-58PZ800U is AMAZING!!!, September 17, 2008
I recently purchased the panasonic th58pz800u from amazon for $3019, which I feel is very reasonable (The price has indeed fluctuated between $2899 and $3799 on amazon during the time I was shopping for it). Once ordered, the television was delivered in 3 business days (I'm in CA). Although the amazon website said it would be delivered "white...read full review
I recently purchased the panasonic th58pz800u from amazon for $3019, which I feel is very reasonable (The price has indeed fluctuated between $2899 and $3799 on amazon during the time I was shopping for it). Once ordered, the television was delivered in 3 business days (I'm in CA). Although the amazon website said it would be delivered "white glove", the delivery persons did not have that information. However, when we let them know that's what we were expecting, they willingly obliged by unpacking the t.v., placing it on it's stand, turned it on and left with all the packing materials. Pretty nice! Before purchasing this t.v. which I waited for a while before it was even available, I was considering the Pioneer pdp6020fd, which in my mind is the only other comparable plasma set, image quality and features wise. I opted for a plasma because I felt that it had the superior picture (contrast, colors, sharpness) over all the nicer lcd screens available (120hz sony xbr, samsung, toshiba) particularly when viewing lots of full-range motion (sports and movies), the panasonic and pioneer plasmas handled the edging the most smoothly. I found the Panasonic set to be very close in image quality with the pioneer but for $1000-$1500 less. I didn't care for the samsung sets because they generated so much heat. The panasonic and pioneer sets both don't noticeably change the temperature of a room.
I setup my panasonic with all my sources being piped through my Denon avr2808ci, which upconverts all sources through it's hdmi out. I have a hd cable box (connected via hdmi), a dvd player (connected via component) and a sony ps3 (connected via hdmi) hooked-up through the denon. The 1080i from the hd cable box looks amazing! The 1080p from the ps3 bluray is flawless and the 480p upconverted from dvd looks surprisingly great as well. In each case, the colors are vibrant and the blacks are so black that the blacks in an image are consistent with the black of the screen when it is turned-off. All in all, I am extremely pleased with my purchase of the panasonic and find it to be the finest television I have owned (The t.v. I replaced was a hd-capable 57" sony xbr rear projection whose blacks were actually dark gray...I bought this t.v. for $1500 more than the panasonic set 7 years ago).
In my particular setup, I had to make sure that all my hdmi cables were hdmi v1.3 cables otherwise the denon throughput no signal to the television. Monoprice.com had excellent hdmi v1.3 cables for about $13 each. I was able to get a great bdi stand for it from dynamichomedecor.com which I also found to be an excellent resource.
I highly recommend the purchase from amazon.com primarily because of the included "white glove" delivery, just make sure at the time of purchase that it is stated. I know that vanns.com and other reputable places may have slightly lower prices, but for me the "white glove" delivery really made the whole process much easier and sweeter. minimize
Comparison shopped, waited & finally bought this on a lark..., June 3, 2009
This is my first HD flat screen. For months I compared LCD vs Plasma, comparison shopped brands and size. After deciding on the new Panasonic 50" line I took my wife to Best Buy to see the unit I settled on. She made a beeline for the big screen room and for about an hour we sat down and looked at all they had to offer. We settled on this unit -...read full review
This is my first HD flat screen. For months I compared LCD vs Plasma, comparison shopped brands and size. After deciding on the new Panasonic 50" line I took my wife to Best Buy to see the unit I settled on. She made a beeline for the big screen room and for about an hour we sat down and looked at all they had to offer. We settled on this unit - but it was twice the price I had planned to spend. "Buy the big one," she said - so while in the store and using my Blackberry I found this unit on Amazon for several hundred dollars cheaper. I bought it on the spot on Amazon.
Delivery went smoothly - very smoothly. When the unit arrived I helped the guy carry it in and open it up. As he assembled it I went over it carefully, and he insisted on hooking up cable to it to get a picture. After doing that we both inspected it inch by inch. Well, he didn't really but I sure as heck did. The TV arrived flawless.
Since purchasing it I have used it for HDtv, PS3 and a PC (q6600 quad core, 4gb RAM, Sapphire 4870 running eval copy of Windows 7) - all through HDMI. The picture is gorgeous on all three inputs. All HD shows are fabulous - even a gameshow like Wheel of Fortune is enjoyable to watch with the full color and clarity of HD on this TV. The PS3 is stunning; even my Wife who hates video games has stood watching our son and I tearing up the desert in Motorstorm or storming the universe as Ratchet and Clank. She's even expressed an interest in giving them a second chance.
I don't understand the problem some LCD fanboys have with Plasma. There is no ghosting at all - unlike LCD - critical since my son and I are both avid FPS gamers. I don't have every light in the room on while watching TV, so glare isn't a problem that turning a light off doesn't fix. The colors are vivid without being cartoonish, and the motion is as smooth as CRT (well, almost as smooth as CRT if you read the lab tests). As for burn in I haven't seen anything. I tend to flip between channels and input sources during a typical day, so I don't think I'm prone to it.
Spending this kind of money on a television is really tough in this economy. However Panasonic knows plasma, and Amazon knows how to get the unit to you without a scratch.
"Buy the big one." The wife was right. I have no regrets buying this unit from Amazon, and neither will you. minimize
