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Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ85U 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV
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Average customer review:
Product Description
PRODUCT FEATURES:50" class (49.9 " diagonal) widescreen VIERA Plasma 1080p HDTV with increased native contrast ratioPC inputAnti-reflective filter, deep color technologyGame modeBuilt-in SD card slotGalleryPlayer ready to view3 HDMI inputs and VIERA Link HDAVI control
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #12217 in Consumer Electronics
- Color: Black
- Brand: Panasonic
- Model: TH-50PZ85U
- Dimensions: 12.70" h x 351.70" w x 54.50" l, 104.00 pounds
- Display size: 50
Features
- 1920 x 1080 Resolution
- 1000000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for the Brightest whites and darkest blacks
- 4096 Shades of Gradation for spectacular Color Reproduction
- Viera LinK™ HDAVI Control lets you operate all of your home theater components by pressing a single button on your TV's remote control
- GalleryPlayer® allows you to enjoy the world's finest high definition art and photography on your Panasonic HD plasma TV
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Product Description--March 10, 2008
With its 2008 Panasonic Viera Plasmas, Panasonic brings anastonishing 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's New This Year?
- Super Contrast--native contrast ratios on the PZ85, PZ800 and PX 850 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. Color and Deep Color (HDMI 1.3 features)
- 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?
Click here to see a comparison of step up features on each Viera series.Amazing color reproduction
The incredible black reproduction of a Panasonic High-Definition Plasma TV results in impressive contrast and beautiful, natural colors. So you'll get warm, accurate skin tones, gorgeous greens, breathtaking blues and vivid reds. For color that's as rich and bold as life itself, look to a Panasonic Plasma TV.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.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.
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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.
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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. |
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| 4 HDMI inputs to connect all of your devices directly to your television. | 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. |
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 Cert | 24p | Speakers | HDMI Inputs | One Sheet of Glass Design | Swivel Base | Shades of Gradation | H.264 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 |
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| 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 | | | 4,096 | ||||||
| TH-46PZ800U | 46 inches | | 30,000:1 | | | | 4 | 4 | | | 4,096 | ||||||
| TH-50PZ800U | 50 inches | | 30,000:1 | | | | 4 | 4 | | | 4,096 | ||||||
| TH-58PZ800U | 58 inches | | 30,000:1 | | | | 4 | 4 | | | 4,096 | ||||||
| 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 | | | | | |
Customer Reviews
The Best Plasma for the Money
I'm not sure what the huffing and puffing is all about... Some people are leaving negative reviews supposedly because of the reflections on this Panasonic Plasma TV. One reviewer's comments and to paraphrase that "So bad that it almost makes the tv unwatchable in anything but pitch black room" What???? and as John McEnroe would say: You Cannot Be Serious!!
The TV is in our family room with several windows. Either we are all blind in my household or we are watching 2 different televisions.
I purchased the Panasonic Viera TH-50PZ85U 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV towards the end of March. This TV has been nothing short of amazing. The picture quality is unbelievable. It has 3 HDMI ports. I connected our PS3 and Wii to it and I can tell you that playing games on this puppy is awesome.
The screen life is rated at 100,000 hours compared to last year's model of 60,000. So basically if you keep the TV on for 8 hours a day, the screen will lose half its brightness in 30 years.
Consumer Reports rated last year's model as the best 50 inch Plasma TV, and I have no doubt when they review this newer model the rating will stay the same.
The bottom line, for the price and Panasonic's excellent reputation for Plasma TVs you can't go wrong with this one.
take reflection reviews with grain of salt please
I've only had this tv for 5 days and I'm new to big screen tv's but the reviews here stressing the glare are greatly exaggerated. Can you see reflections on the screen when it's off? Yes. Can you see lights reflected on the screen when watching the tv? Not really. If you're looking for it and focusing on nothing else maybe. Now would be a great time for you to go to a chain store and see these things including previous years models hanging on the wall as well as LCD's. You'll see they all will have reflections (you may have to lower yourself to see them - the stores deliberately tilt them and otherwise engineer it so these are hard to see) There are many reasons to choose LCD or plasma but if you're otherwise considering this tv don't let these complaints about reflection deter you. I'd have given it 5 stars but my home theater is still under construction and I haven't had it long enough to make a complete and fair assessment.
Update (4/18) - I've had the TV for three weeks now and if the "edit review" option permitted it, I'd up my score to a 5. The TV has great picture quality. The only notable "drawback" I would mention is that it does not excel at processing standard definition input so if you don't intend to get HD inputs (from an antenna, satellite/cable receiver, upconverting or Blueray dvd player, etc.) or if you need to continue to support SD inputs you may be disappointed in its performance on those content sources.
Almost identical to last years
I have owned a few different HDTV's in and I have to say the Panasonic plasma is one of my favorites. I own a 52" XBR4 LCD and this plasma blows that out of the water when watching fast moving sports and movies. I also have a Pioneer 5010 and under normal everyday viewing, there is very little if any difference in picture quality.
I just bought the TH-50PZ85u and calibrated it yesterday. First of all let me say that I also own last years TH-50PZ77u and bought this to put in our bedroom. I was really excited about the improved contrast ratio because on paper it was such a huge jump over last years model but after getting it set up and watching it side by side with my TH-50PZ77u, I have to say it looks almost exactly the same. I played several Blu ray movies (Cars, Casino Royale...etc), test patterns and solid color screenshots and they were no differences to my eyes. In some instances, the blacks were more detailed on my TH-50PZ77u. I also prefer the bezel on last year's model. the TH-50PZ77u also has a great anti-reflective screen that helps out immensely with sunlight and ambient lighting
All this said, I do think that this TV displays and excellent picture both in HD and SD but it's not an improvement over last years model at all, just an updated look. I really wish that there was some sort of standardization when it comes to TV specs because this TV does not live up to its advertised specs.
