Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

Our Price - $1,399.99

1 Used - from $715.00

Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

PRODUCT FEATURES:50" Class (49.9" diagonal) Widescreen Viera Plasma 720p HDTV with Anti-Reflective FilterDeep color technologyGame modeBuilt-in SD card slot / GalleryPlayer ready to view3 HDMI inputs and Viera Link HDAVI control

Panasonic's 720p plasma sets offer incredible value in an HDTV with the unbeatable contrast ratios and fluid motion of plasma technology.  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's New This Year?

• 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. Color and Deep Color (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 3 HDMI inputs on all models (4 on PZ800 and PZ850 series)
• THX Certification on PZ800 and PZ850 series

Which Viera is Right For You?

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.

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

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

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

Connectivity

	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.

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.

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.

Which is the Right Viera for You?

	Screen Size Measured Diagonally	1080p Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels	Native Contrast Ratio	PC Input	THX Certification	24p Native Reproduction	Speakers	HDMI Inputs	One Sheet of Glass Design	Swivel Base	Shades of Gradation	H.624 Codec	Digital Cinema Color	Studio Reference Mode	Pro Setting Menu	Serial Port	Standard Features
TH-42PX80U	42 inches		15,000:1				2	3			4,096						480 Hz Sub-field Drive Technology Anti-Reflective Filter Viera Link HDAVI Control Built-in SD Card Slot w/Photo Viewer and Gallery Player Deep Color Technology x.v. Color 3D Color Mangement Sub-Pixel Controller Motion Pattern Noise Reduction Anti-Image Retention Mode Game Mode Scratch and Impact Rsistant Panel 100,000 Hours to Panel Half-Brightness (>30 years @ 8 hours/day) Lead-free Panel
TH-50PX80U	50 inches		15,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-42PZ80U	42 inches		20,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-46PZ80U	46 inches		20,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-50PZ80U	50 inches		20,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-42PZ85U	42 inches		30,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-46PZ85U	46 inches		30,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-50PZ85U	50 inches		30,000:1				2	3			4,096
TH-42PZ800U	42 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-46PZ800U	46 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-50PZ800U	50 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-58PZ800U	58 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-46PZ850U	46 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-50PZ850U	50 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-58PZ850U	58 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120
TH-65PZ850U	65 inches		30,000:1				4	4			5,120

 

Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Accessories

 

Panasonic Viera TH-50PX80U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV Reviews

My Panasonic plasma 50 Inch is the easiest TV I've ever used in my entire life. It has simple features such as digital tv selections on the remote, access to my pictures thru my smartcard reader. The reader is a little slow but the pictures come out absolutely beautiful. I have an S-Video output that works wonderfully and all's I had to do is plug in my laptop to my s-video or my HDMI cable to the tv, and it hdisplays on the screen with-in seconds. Please note: you must change to the input device. The HD quality is better than most TV's I've seen even with 1080p. LCD is just not very clean compared to plasma. But make sure you keep it face up at all times! Never place a plasma TV down on it's face. It will ruin the picture. I purchased this TV on a Black Friday special for only $700.00 and it was the best investment I ever made! It's well worth over $1,300+.

 

I've own this TV for over a year now and it has been a stellar performer since we got it out of the box. My original hopes were for a temporary (ie affordable) solution for our home theater room-- but its so met every expectation that its grown into a permanent role.

The picture is very crisp, with very deep blacks, good light/dark detail, and accurate colors. Of course the picture settings out of the box were a bit vivid, but with some tweaking it looks a good as any similarly priced plasma I've ever seen (we chose the Panasonic after home-testing a similar Samsung).

I personally wouldn't lose too much sleep over the 720p vs 1080p. With HD signals and blu-ray discs the picture looks fantastic. And unless you're sitting within 2 feet of the screen, you'll probably never notice the missing resolution. (I have a 1080p Sony as well, and detail-wise they seem identical.) Besides, most the movies I watch are normal (upconverted) DVDs, which look wonderful as do the standard definition channels as well.

After one full year of daily use, I haven't had a single problem with this TV. And considering the low price I paid, I'd consider it a winner on every level.

 

I purchased this tv to replace a Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ80U 42" 1080p Plasma HDTV that was stolen.

I liked the 42", but felt that, with the distances I watched it from, a 50" would be better, and that 1080p was of no use to me.

I was correct. The 50" is better when viewed from 10'+ and it was impossible to tell the difference between 1080p and 720p. It was also $75 cheaper to get the bigger tv, so it was win-win all around.

I do wish it had a few more features, but I feel that it represents the best "bang for the buck" in plasmas at this price point and size.

 

We purchased this set in Oct 2008 at our local Best Buy (incidentally at the $999 price that Amazon has today in 2009) and are very happy with it. Picture is fantastic, controls easy to use. Our cable company switched our HD cable box from a component output to HDMI, and man, did the picture get even better.

We also use an Apple TV connected to this television via HDMI, that looks great as well. Great fun to surf YouTube right on the TV, and the quality is actually pretty decent. We've rented and purchased HD movies on the Apple TV and they look fantastic as well.

Even though it is only 720p the picture looks great for my aging eyes, and we use it in a large living room seated at least 8 feet back. I'm not sure we could tell a difference between 720p and 1080p anyway. Great way to save a few bucks.

There is an optical audio output, so you can send the audio from your HDMI sources out to your receiver as well. We don't use the speakers on the TV, we run everything through our Onkyo, which also sounds great.

The main cons:

This set is light on inputs; only 2 component inputs on the back, 2 HDMI inputs on the back, and one HDMI on the front. With more and more gear using HDMI you might have to snake a cable to the front and leave the little door open. Minor inconvenience, as we don't have ours wall-mounted.

Also, this thing is rated for almost 500 watts of power when it's on. I did notice our power bill went up a little bit when we switched from our 19" tube to this monster. But the picture is great and worth the power premium. (I prefer plasma over LCD)

By the way, this is our only TV, and we're glad we picked this model.

 

Honestly, I did some homework and believe we made the best purchase. Color is vivid and I was worried about a plasma being in a somewhat well lit room, but that is not a problem for this television.