Review/Pics - 50" Panny Plasma

[RoadRunner6]

Great Jack, let us know your impressions. Right now I moved my settings up a tad and I'm watching in cinema, picture 70, brightness 50, color 40, tint -2 and color 35, color temp warm. Looks pretty nice from my computer, 15'.

Wooch, I just can't seem to tolerate standard, cinema seems more natural.

[RoadRunner6]

Received $100 Price Adjustment Credit Today.

Was in Costco today with my receipt and noticed the price on my 50" Panny 1080p plasma had gone down to $1299 from my purchase price of $1399. They said I could get only one price adjustment in the first 30 days. I think with another person I would have got it beyond 30 days if needed as I had been told by two other people at Costco. Anyway, I'm happy at the $1299 price for such a great TV.

The 46" 1080p was still at $949, but the 42' 768p was down to $629 and the 42" 1080p was at $799 (I think).

RR6

[pixelthis]

[/B][QUOTE=RoadRunner6]Received $100 Price Adjustment Credit Today.

Was in Costco today with my receipt and noticed the price on my 50" Panny 1080p plasma had gone down to $1299 from my purchase price of $1399. They said I could get only one price adjustment in the first 30 days. I think with another person I would have got it beyond 30 days if needed as I had been told by two other people at Costco. Anyway, I'm happy at the $1299 price for such a great TV.

The 46" 1080p was still at $949, but the 42' 768p was down to $629 and the 42" 1080p was at $799 (I think).

RR6

FIRE SALE

[nightflier]

RR, Went to cost to check on prices too - maybe I should swap my TV for the larger one. But it looks like the $950 is about as low as it will go, though. Apparently Costco is only making a few dollars on these. Nonetheless, I'll keep checking. If you see any movement on that price, let us know.

[RoadRunner6]

The question is: is the extra 4" worth $350 to you? For me it is since we sometimes view as far as 15' to the computer desk and 25-30' in the kitchen. You will definitely have 90 days to return and get the 50" or 30 days to get a price adjustment credit if they drop the price farther. (also if you talk to the right person they might give you the price credit up to 90 days).

I go there usually twice a wwek or so and I'll let you know if i see any drops. They usually set their prices as a markup to cost (I think it is about 12%) and don't know if that applies to electronics. I think you will see this price drop in the next 30-90 days.

RR6

[Woochifer]

The question is: is the extra 4" worth $350 to you? For me it is since we sometimes view as far as 15' to the computer desk and 25-30' in the kitchen. You will definitely have 90 days to return and get the 50" or 30 days to get a price adjustment credit if they drop the price farther. (also if you talk to the right person they might give you the price credit up to 90 days).

I go there usually twice a wwek or so and I'll let you know if i see any drops. They usually set their prices as a markup to cost (I think it is about 12%) and don't know if that applies to electronics. I think you will see this price drop in the next 30-90 days.

RR6

Some rumor mill grist I heard from a friend who works at Magnolia is that Costco's looking into dropping electronics from its product lineup. Apparently, they make very little on electronics, and they don't like the direction that the industry is headed.

Although electronics generates huge revenue on each purchase, at its roots Costco is still a wholesale warehouse and more than half of their sales come from business-to-business and for-resale transactions. Unlike business customers who buy resale items and business supplies, consumer electronics tends to attract high maintenance customers, and Costco doesn't do itself any favors with their generous return policy. So, I can see why they would consider getting out of the electronics market, but I don't think it will happen.

[pixelthis]

Some rumor mill grist I heard from a friend who works at Magnolia is that Costco's looking into dropping electronics from its product lineup. Apparently, they make very little on electronics, and they don't like the direction that the industry is headed.

Although electronics generates huge revenue on each purchase, at its roots Costco is still a wholesale warehouse and more than half of their sales come from business-to-business and for-resale transactions. Unlike business customers who buy resale items and business supplies, consumer electronics tends to attract high maintenance customers, and Costco doesn't do itself any favors with their generous return policy. So, I can see why they would consider getting out of the electronics market, but I don't think it will happen.

IT WOULD BE A MISTAKE.
And further discrimination against guys, by dropping what they want.
With no electronics guys will ask their girls to shop at a place with electronics.
And be truthfull, how long has it been since you went to a store with no "toys" to play with?
IF A GUY GOES TO LOOK AT THE TOYS IN THE ELECTRONICS DEPT HE MIGHT DROP BY THE CLOTHING AREA, or look at shoes, etc.
But if theres no electronics in the place he wont even go in.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Great Jack, let us know your impressions. Right now I moved my settings up a tad and I'm watching in cinema, picture 70, brightness 50, color 40, tint -2 and color 35, color temp warm. Looks pretty nice from my computer, 15'.

Wooch, I just can't seem to tolerate standard, cinema seems more natural.

The Panny arrived on Tuesday around 5:00pm. Had time to mount the wall bracket and change out the cables. It's amazing how many cables got replaced by the HDMI ones. Had picked up a Panasonic Blu Ray player on Sat. with some of the money I got from the sale of my old RPTV. So I got that in place on my rack and hooked into my receiver. It was getting late so I put off mounting the TV until Wed.

Wed. after dinner, I go and grab my next store neighbor and we get the TV up on the wall. After some minor changes to my receiver configuration, we fired it up. Looked great right out of the box, which is something I can't say about my old Sony RPTV. Put in your settings to start with, at least until Its broken in a little. Now I have to get some Blu Ray discs to see what they look like. Thanks RR6.

[Woochifer]

Looks like the Panasonic coupon special is over ... Costco's website now has the 50" 1080p Panny listed at $1,449. The 42" and 46" 1080p models aren't even listed anymore.

But, it looks like the Samsung plasmas are back at Costco. The 1080p 50" model is listed at $1,600. Not sure what retail model this is similar to, but I saw that Fry's Electronics' latest circular has a 50" Samsung 1080p plasma for $1,400.

[Woochifer]

Quick update - the 46" 1080p Panny is back at $949.

Also, Costco just added a new coupon special on the 58" 1080p Panny TH-58PZ800U for $2,500. This price is a full $1,200 lower than Best Buy's current price (strange, but BB is also selling the top of the line TH-58PZ850U for $200 less than the PZ800 version) and $200 lower than Amazon. The PZ800 plasma models come with the THX mode, true 1080p24 playback, and feature a single pane design.

[nightflier]

Whooch, what do you mean by "true 1080p24 playback" on the 800/850? What's the diff with the Costco models?

P.S. I calibrated the Panasonic screen last night, plugged up my Outlaw (still doing the component-video connection for now) and watched LORT-FOTR last night. At 480p, with the softer (read: fuzzy) image, it still looked pretty good, even when zoomed in 4x, it still looks watchable. I'm guessing the TV is doing all the upconversion and handling the frame rate, but I'm very impressed.

Can't wait to get HDMI going, though.

[Woochifer]

Whooch, what do you mean by "true 1080p24 playback" on the 800/850? What's the diff with the Costco models?

P.S. I calibrated the Panasonic screen last night, plugged up my Outlaw (still doing the component-video connection for now) and watched LORT-FOTR last night. At 480p, with the softer (read: fuzzy) image, it still looked pretty good, even when zoomed in 4x, it still looks watchable. I'm guessing the TV is doing all the upconversion and handling the frame rate, but I'm very impressed.

Can't wait to get HDMI going, though.

The entry level models handle 1080p24 material via 2:3 pulldown, while the higher lever models sync with the 1080p24 signal at its native resolution. The 2:3 pulldown process makes the TV more subject to visible telecine judder when viewing film-based material (which is typically filmed at 24 frames/sec), whereas TVs capable of processing a 1080p24 signal natively is supposed to make the image smoother with film sources. This article explains what some of this means.

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/1015

[nightflier]

Well Wooch, since you own a Costco model which handles the 1080p/24 signal via 2:3 pulldown, does this bother you? Is it a deal-breaker?

I presume, this is of no matter to me until I get the BR player, right?

[Woochifer]

Well Wooch, since you own a Costco model which handles the 1080p/24 signal via 2:3 pulldown, does this bother you? Is it a deal-breaker?

I presume, this is of no matter to me until I get the BR player, right?

I don't see it as a dealbreaker, especially in this price range. Obviously, I would have preferred native 1080p24 playback capability, but I got tired of finding new excuses not to pull the trigger on a HDTV, especially since all my previous conditions had been met (i.e., most of my preferred channels in HD, plasmas with 1080p at affordable price points, 120 Hz LCD sets at affordable price points, Blu-ray becoming commonplace with new releases, etc.). The judder is most noticeable during a credits scroll, but that's not much different than how film projection can look in a movie theater. And I don't know how that compares to native 1080p24 playback, since I've yet to bring a test BD with me for A/B comparisons.

You're right, none of this matters until you get Blu-ray (which is the only source out there with an option for 1080p24 playback) and even there, it only matters with those sources that were filmed using the normal film camera speed of 24 frames/sec (or any other multiple of 24).

[Woochifer]

Nightflier -

Your comments on how the TV handles upconversion concurs with what I observed when I disabled the deinterlacing and upscaling with SD sources on my Directv receiver, and let the TV handle those tasks. The motion artifacts I had been getting with SD sources via the Directv receiver disappeared with the Panny doing the deinterlacing and scaling. More details below.

HT 2.0 Upgrade Begins: 50" 1080p Panny has landed

[nightflier]

By the way, I plugged the Panasonic's digital-out into my pre/pro, and it certainly looks to be just 2-channel stereo. So I guess I'll be watching 24 in some kind of matrixed surround formal this year, probably DPL-IIx, or something similar. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of not paying the Comcast/DirectTV/Cox racketeers; the rest of us freedom-loving OTA mavericks will just have to forgo true surround sound. And there's another reason not to watch broadcast TV anymore....

[RoadRunner6]

Was at our local Costco today and the price on the Panny TH-C50FD18 (50" 1080p) is down to $1199. Great price.

[nightflier]

Was at our local Costco today and the price on the Panny TH-C50FD18 (50" 1080p) is down to $1199. Great price.

I think I have a few days left on my 90-day price/return guarantee.

[Screefer]

Great info RR6. I'm new to Audio review forums and have been reading various threads for a few days. Being a proud Panny Plasma owner I have read your informative review with great interest and will try some of your suggestions for adjusting my picture.

[pixelthis]

Great info RR6. I'm new to Audio review forums and have been reading various threads for a few days. Being a proud Panny Plasma owner I have read your informative review with great interest and will try some of your suggestions for adjusting my picture.

From your equipment list you are obviously not just here to ask a question or two.
WELLCOME.

[Woochifer]

I think I have a few days left on my 90-day price/return guarantee.

Haven't seen them in store or online. I would guess that they sold out of them, just like the 50" models will. Probably won't see them back at Costco until the rebadged versions of the new models begin shipping, and that usually doesn't happen until the other retail versions have been in stores for a couple of months or so.

[Woochifer]

Great info RR6. I'm new to Audio review forums and have been reading various threads for a few days. Being a proud Panny Plasma owner I have read your informative review with great interest and will try some of your suggestions for adjusting my picture.

Welcome. RR6's advice on the picture settings is spot on. The Panny plasmas are very nice TVs, and I have very few complaints about mine. The only recent TVs I've seen that have a clear step up in picture quality are the Pioneers.

If you have one of last year's models, I've read that the Standard mode on those Pannys are closer to the reference spec than this year's Standard mode. But, in either case, the Cinema mode is closest to optimal picture quality. Once you have it in the Cinema mode, then you just need to tweak with the settings, preferably with a calibration disc like Digital Video Essentials.