Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ80U Plasma TV

The Panasonic 50pz80u is a full 1080P HD entertainment center and I could not be anymore pleased with this purchase.

When in the market for a new television, I did my primary research on Crutchfield, Cnet, and Amazon. This model consistently stood out from the Samsungs and Sonys in the less than $5,000 price range.

In addition to an impressive contrast ratio, it boasts three hdmi inputs, two component inputs, two S-cable inputs and if that wasn’t enough a slot for an SD card for picture viewing on the big screen.

So far, I have not noticed any types of issues in regards to the audio. And with the surround sound system (review for that coming soon) it doesn’t even matter.

One thing that does seem to irritate me slightly is that when watching a non-HD show in its regular 4:3 format, there are gray bars framing the picture. Previous models had black bars framing the picture which made it easier to tune out.

After moving to the city, I felt a bit lonely in our place while I was cooking and asked my husband to buy me a TV to watch the news....little did I know he would trump me little request and order some gigantic 50" TV that I worried would not fit into our little studio apartment. However, as time went on and I got over the initial cost assessment, I now enjoy snuggling with my hubby infront of our in home theater. I love when his friends come over and get oober excited about playing video games on the big screen and have come to accept this was a good investment despite my initial shock.

My husband is not attempting to hook it up properly with Blue-Ray, but if you're trying to get an idea of that movie theater image I'm talking about, just go visit Best Buy and you'll see how truly clear this bad boy can get!

I upgraded to the 50PZ80U from whatever the model was 3 years ago.

Besides the extra HDMI ports and cleaner contrasts I dont see that much else of a difference. The way the speakers are built into the set also make for some pretty poor audio compared to the older model, but if youre hooking up a surround sound system it doesnt matter.

But still, it is a very impressive TV and sometimes... i'll reach out and touch the screen because whatever i'm watching looks real. And then i yell at my wife and blame her for getting finger prints on the screen. Life is GOOOOOOD!

We bought this TV to replace an enormous old school big screen that was in our living room. Like all flat panels, it is great that you can hang it on the wall, gets a pretty good picture, and was reasonably easy to set up.

Not being extremely TV saavy myself, my husband did all the research on the TV's and decided that this one had all the features he wanted for the best price. We bought ours at Best Buy for a good deal, good financing, and they through in all sorts of extra stuff which made it seem super. I chose to review this instead of him to give a less Tech, more realistic review.

The TV does have a good picture, and it is great if you are watching HD programing or DVD's. I am disappointed in what regular TV, or VHS movies look like on this TV. We had a TV installer come out after putting the TV in to see if maybe we did something wrong that was messing with the picture, and he confirmed our installation was correct, bummer.

Our is opposing a window, and that makes it impossible to watch with the curtains open. That is not specific to this TV, I'm sure, but something I did not consider when purchasing this style of TV.

Also, in less than a year, the speakers have developed an intermitant hum. Panasonic has assured me that this is not something that is a defect and they will not help me. Double bummer.

It still is an impressive piece hanging on the wall, moderately priced and decent picture. However, if you are super picky about what you are watching, I am sure there are better TVs out there.