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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53314 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: TH-50PZ80B
• Released on: 2008-05-01

Manufacturer's Description
With its 2008 Panasonic Viera Plasmas, Panasonic brings an astonishing 1,000,000:1 contrast ration to the table. advanced pixel resolution and image-processing technology with the plasma TV's natural ability to beautifully reproduce fast moving images, so every detail is rendered with amazing clarity, and all the action is delivered with a high degree of fluidity.

What is a Plasma TV? A plasma TV is a thin, high-resolution flat panel screen that uses a matrix of tiny cells that are charged by precise electrical voltages to create a picture. Plasma displays are bright, have a wide colour range, produce deep, true blacks, have a wide viewing angle, and are light enough to be wall-mounted or placed on a stand. Plasmas come in a range of sizes.

What's New This Year?

• Super Contrast--native contrast ratios on the PZ85, PZ800 series are 30,000:1, double last year's 15,000:1. Dynamic contrast ratios are up to 1,000,000:1.
• new anti-reflective filter; lead-free "Tough Under Force" panel is resistant to impacts and scratches
• Built-in SD card slot with Photo Viewer/Gallery Player software
• x.v. colour and Deep colour (HDMI 1.3 features)
• 24p native reproduction
• Game Mode auto-adjusts image quality suitable to games and includes anti-image retention
• Viera Link is now compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems
• At least 2 HDMI inputs on all models (4 on PZ800 series)
• THX Certification on PZ800 and PZ850 series

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Amazing colour reproduction The incredible black reproduction of a Panasonic High-Definition Plasma TV results in impressive contrast and beautiful, natural colours. So you'll get warm, accurate skin tones, gorgeous greens, breathtaking blues and vivid reds. For colour that's as rich and bold as life itself, look to a Panasonic Plasma TV.

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Consistent brightness from any angle A Panasonic Plasma combines anti-glare and anti-reflection technology with the natural light-emitting properties of plasma, to give you a super-wide viewing range with a crisp, beautiful image from almost any angle.

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Smooth, graceful motion When you're watching sports or movies with fast-motion graphics, you want a TV that can keep up with the action. With over 900 lines of moving picture, self-illuminating plasma displays eliminate afterimages in fast-action scenes. So whether you're watching a sporting event or an action-packed movie, you'll always get the most impressive viewing experience possible.

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1,000,000:1 Contrast The Panasonic's Real Black system (a pre-discharge suppression system) and improved panel production processes combine to reproduce outstanding blacks with superb contrast. Each image is richly expressive, from bright scense, like scorching desert landscapes, to dark cave scenes. Compare the image produced by conventional HDTV on the left to the Real Black image produced on the right

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More colours Viera HDTVs support the xvYCC colour profile (Extended YCC colourimetry for Video Applications), or "x.v. colour" for short. Standard RGB colour space allows the display of a portion of the colours that are viewable to the human eye. The next generation "xvYCC" colour space actually offers  an available range of colours that exceeds what human eyes can recognize. Next-generation "xvYCC" colour space supports 1.8 times as many colours as existing HDTV signals Lets HDTVs display colours more accurately Enables displays with more natural and vivid colours

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Deep colour Where x.v. colour expands the available range of colours your HDTV can display, Deep colour increases the number of colours your HDTV can display within that range, for smoother transitions from colour to colour. Lets HDTVs and other displays go from millions of colours to billions of colours Eliminates on-screen colour banding, for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colours Enables increased contrast ratio Can represent many times more shades of gray between black and white.

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Connectivity

Viera flat panel HDTVs interact with an array of high-definition devices and services, making it easy for consumers to access and enjoy content as never before. As of 2008, Viera Link is compatible with Onkyo and Yamaha home theater systems.

	Videos and stills recorded on SD cards can easily be viewed via the SD slots on Panasonic Blu-Ray Disc players and Viera HDTVs.
	Viera Link means easy connectivity via HDMI cables. Finally, consumers can easily operate their Blu-Ray Disc players, DVD recorders and home theater systems with a single remote control device.
	Equipped with an RGB input terminal, VIERA can connect with your PC and serve as a large-screen monitor.

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Long Life Panasonic plasma panels are rated to last 100,000 hours, which is about 30 years of regular or 11 years of non-stop usage before the brightness of the display is halved.

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Get Full HD with Blu-Ray Disc Players A Panasonic 1080p plasma television is able to render 1920x1080 pixels, but standard DVDs have a resolution of just 720x480. Blu-ray discs output true 1080p High-Definition resolution and have a storage capacity ten times greater than standard DVDs, so no pixel gos to waste.

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Customer Reviews

Plasma v LCD My opinion
If like me your about to upgrade from your main old CRT set to a new flatscreen TV then hopefully my review may be of help. After having bought 4 issues of 'What LCD and Plasma' magazine I was even more confused.

Though the above mag gives an impartial view on both technologies most of the reviews are on LCD sets as more manufacturers are making them.The big problem with LCD is the contrast ratio's as most of the LCD sets still do not have the deep blacks that the Plasma offer.

I knew this for a fact as I had bought a cheaper Tevion 42" LCD set for the bedroom 6 months ago. Though the picture was OK, nice and bright, the skin tones were a bit unreal.

With this in mind I wanted to make sure that for my main set downstairs I choose the technology offering the best picture.

Having spent hours at Lunchtime in various Electrical stores looking at Plasma sets next to LCD -- I came down on the side of LCD as they appeared brighter than the plasma ones.

Having made my mind up on LCD I then decided that the Sony Bravia range was my choice as the colour contrast seemed one of the best with darker blacks than the majority of LCD sets.

I then started visiting Sony Centres who could get nowhere near the prices that the Internet sites were offering.However after checking the Terms & Conditions of the majority of Internet Sites (without paying extra for warranty)the return of the TV, even within the first years standard warranty, is at your cost which is frightening.

At this stage I got lucky, a visit to a local friendly electrical store
who sold both Plasma and LCD sets, gave me a wake up call.

Asking the Store Manager which gave the best picture he immediately claimed that Plasma gave the best picture especially at the 50" size I was after.He explained that comparing sets instore was confusing as the stores lights did no favours to plasma sets and as most played the same looped Blueray or Sky HD the LCD sets always appeared brighter.

He then went on to state that all the salesmen in the store had Panasonic Plasma sets on both picture quality and price.

As they had a special deal on the Panasonic TH-50PZ80BA at £1024 including
a 5 year warranty I made my mind up on the spot and bought it.

Having had the set now for a couple of weeks I can give you my opinion on the picture quality.

It is absolutly amazing and has opened my eyes to the advantages of the plasma picture. For the first time I have noticed slight variations in background colours which I had never seen before from my old 36" Panasonic Quintex bought in 2003 or the 6 months old LCD set.

I even ended up watching Emmerdale one night, which I cannot normally stand. I was watching it because I could not believe the range of colours
I was seeing, from the actors clothes to the colour of fabrics in Pollards sweat shop!!!

The picture quality is amazing and having a Sony Blueray player attached to the bedroom LCD set for the last two months I could compare the new plasma set with the Blueray discs I have.

The difference is noticable, especially the skin tones which appear so much more real on the plasma set. Watching football or Motor racing on the majority of LCD sets can lead to motion blur which is not present on plasma. I even prefer playing my PS3 on the Plasma set compared to the
LCD one as the picture looks less cartoonish.

Having had numerous friends over since purchasing the set all have been positive about the picture quality and like me agree it gives a better picture quality than LCD.

The sound quality on the Panasonic set is good especially when set to surround though I intend buying a new Home Cinema sound system to compliment the incredible picture quality.

In summary I believe without doubt that at this time a good Plasma set gives a more lifelike picture than even the best LCD sets around.

Brilliant Display
Recently bought this television. Very pleased with the purchase. Excellent picture especially with HD source - but very good on SD sources too. Bright punchy colours, really dark blacks, problem free set-up - nothing to complain about.

Fantastic plasma
Purchased 2 months ago and still impressed every time I turn it on. stunning TV to look at and impressive visuals both SD and HD. Works fantastic with my PS3 and bluray looks stunning. This is my first Panasonic plasma after previously owning Sony and Samsung, but the difference in class with this set is obvious strongly recommend, especially at this price