Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ800U

A lot of Plama HDTV’s are impressive when it comes to their overall performance. Black level display is especially better than, say, an LCD HDTV. When we talk about plasmas, we can say that Panasonic is one of the best manufacturer of plasma televisions in the market. Their Viera TH-50PZ800U plasma TV has all these plus a significant improvement on its color and video processing performance as compared to previous models.

However, also as with most plasmas, it could cost you quite a bit. But then again, the extra expense is all worth it.

The Panasonic TH-50PZ800U looks so much like every other HDTV set on the market. It is encased in a black rectangle frame and fronted by a big pane of glass that lends the panel a somewhat more sophisticated look than a typical set, where the frame is raised a quarter inch or so from the surface of the screen. When mounted on its stand, the TH-50PZ800U measures 49.9 inches wide by 33.4 inches tall by 15.3 inches deep and weighs 92.6 pounds. Without it, its size shrinks to 49.9 inches wide by 31.2 inches tall by 4.1 inches deep and its weight shrinks to 81.6 pounds.

The Panasonic TH-50PZ800U comes in with a bunch of connectivity options. It has three HDMI inputs found in the back and another one can be found out front. It has a VGA-style PC input with a maximum resolution of 1366 x 760. It also has two component video inputs, an AV input with composite or S-Video, an RF input for antenna or cable, as well as an optical and an analog audio output. In addition to that last HDMI input, the front panel also sports a second AV input with composite and S-Video, as well as an SD card slot for displaying digital photos on the big screen.

The Viera TH-50PZ800U’s features include a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, or 1080p, which is fast becoming a standard feature on all flat-panel HDTVs. The difference between lower resolution displays and 1080p displays are very negligible, but its good to know that its there when you need it. It also has pretty standard picture controls. Users can adjust all five picture modes and also includes a color management control, two species of noise reduction, and a black-level control.

The Panasonic TH-50PZ800U lacks  the picture-in-picture feature however.

In choosing a TV, you’ll always look at its performance. Let’s first take a look at its black level performance. The Panasonic plasma can only be described as great in this category. It produces deep, dark blacks that is comparable to other leading plasma televisions in the market. Shadow detail also looked very good that viewers can see all of the detail in dark areas. As for its color accuracy, Panasonic has improved the TH-50PZ800U to the extent that it rendered very accurate colors and skin tone hues. The deep black levels allowed even better color saturation and brightly lit scenes had plenty of punch and vibrancy, while colors stayed true regardless of brightness levels.

With lower-quality sources the TH-50PZ800U performed only at an average. The Panasonic, however, did a fine job of removing diagonal lines and its 2:3 pull-down detection kicked in effectively. Its noise reduction performed well with low-quality material too.

Sources:
http://www.i4u.com
http://usatoday.com