I've had this TV almost a week and like it more everyday.
Bought it from Best Buy for $680 with free delivery and set up.
When the delivery guys set it up, thye told me that in order to get
the picture that I saw in the showroom, that I had to switch out
my Direct TV receiver and dish to HD. Called Direct TV and had the HD
dish and receiver installed. Boy, what a difference. I can't get
over how great the picture is, and you can't beat the price. I played
BB against HHGregg, and they both fell over each other trying to get the sale.
It listed for $800 at both places, but I got it for $680. I've read about
buzzing noise complaints, but I have not had this problem. This is the 2010
version of this model. I'm a happy camper. Panasonic TC-P50C2 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV
Good TV for the price, but in SD the picture is not so good depending on the signal being used. When using Blu Ray (Panasonic BD60), images are excellent and the differences between Full HD and HD are imperceptible, as the Blu Ray does a good job in converting to 1080p. I calibrated the TV with Datacolor Spyder3TV with completely dark environment (night) the software generated the following results after more than 100 hours of use: Brightness: 60; Contrast: 82; color: 78; Tint: 1 Temperature: Warm; Sharpness 0.
Bought this TV because of the price and the reviews of the older generation model. For the most part I am very happy with this machine. My biggest concern is that several times a minute, the screen dims and brightens on its' own, which gets extremely annoying. I called up Panasonic. Their answer was basically, "We know about the problem but unfortunately there is no solution at this moment. Our engineers are working on it. Here is your case number. For now, make sure CATS is off and that you are watching the TV on "Cinema" setting and that should minimize the annoyance." They don't know when they'll have a solution nor can they inform me when one is available. If anyone else out there noticed this problem, please feel free to voice your opinion as well. I'm a little upset because if I had known this ahead of time, I would have held off on buying this TV until a solution was found.
Some reviews downgrade a product because of the high price. I have always thought one should review the product, not the price. and yet here I am UPGRADING from 3 stars to 4 based on the price. So I'm inconsistent. This set is such a value I purchased it from Amazon after about 5 minutes of soul searching; wallet searching was unnecessary.
I took no chances and ran it at low contrast for at least 100 hours.
If you calibrate for best black level, which is surprisingly good, your picture is too dim.
If you calibrate for most accurate color, toning down the over-driven colors ,the picture is anemic.
If the lighting is wrong, screen reflections are almost mirror-like.
There is banding and overscan.
And yet... 4 Stars! This is a tremendous value for the money. Do not buy if you are a fanatic about specs, or watch in an uncurtained loft or solarium.
I find that once I calibrate to the best the set can offer, and then deviate to taste, I forget all that stuff and just enjoy a 50" plasma for a price that is 1/3 the price of Panasonic's top model. Reflections? I have curtains, moved the lamps a little, and angled the set down. I also find that I can "mentally edit"the remaining reflections out during dark scenes. Color accuracy? Might bother me if I were watching 2 sets next to each other, but most people can recalibrate in their head. works for me.
When calibrating, the set can remember different settings for different pictures. Always set at "warm" I then use "Standard" for my daylight viewing, "Custom" for evening with room lights on, and "Cinema" for an almost dark room.
I calibrated using the Spears & Munsil Bluray disk as a starting point only. I was going to give you all 3 calibrations, but then I deviated so much from them to compensate for my tastes that I believe you should just wing it yourself.
I've had the set a couple of months now, and am more pleased, not less. A big 50 inch screen with OK picture quality is better than my previous 40 incher with great PQ... at least for the likes of me. Decide for yourself, of course.
I originally bought this television through Target.com (twice before finally sucking it up and hauling it home myself from a local Target store. Screen arrived smashed from both deliveries so if you can buy locally, that may just be your best option). I'm certainly not an expert on what makes one television better then another but I can say that the television looks nice, was a breeze to set up (I did require the assistance of two strong men to help me with the lifting so I could have it mounted properly to it's stand) and I think the picture quality is very nice. 50" was a whole lot more television then I had expected and people are always surprised to learn how little I spent on it. The only thing I don't like is the super glossy/reflective screen. It looks sharp but if you have any opposing windows or lights, you get nothing but reflection. I'm not one who is typically bothered by a little bit of a glare but it's really excessive - even dim lights pose a nuisance. Overall, can't beat the price - great buy.
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Well I've owned this television for close to a year now and thought I'd share how I'm feeling about it today. I still think this was an amazing buy. House guests continue to comment on my television and are blown away at how little I actually paid for it. The image quality is excellent and my one roommate showed me how I could have images displayed across the entire screen (this is why it's great living with guys) - I had no idea I had only been using a small portion of the screen. Although I'm still not 'tele tech savvy' I can say that one thing I wish this television came with were additional HDMI ports. This television only comes with 2 and I really wish it came with at least three. What 2 HDMI ports means to me is that one port is continuously in use by my cable box and the other has to be shared between myself and my roommates (I use the second port for my AppleTV and my roommates use it for their PlayStation). It's a minor inconvenience to say the least as we just need to take turns to unplug/plug in our devices, but not a deal breaker by any means. I'm still extremely happy with my purchase and would recommend this to friends and family. - Plasma - 720p - Hdtv - Panasonic 50 Inch Plasma'
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