Product Description

The Panasonic TH-50PX600U 50" Plasma HDTV delivers a cinema-style viewing experience at home. The 50" high-definition ready plasma screen creates deep blacks, bright whites and over 8 billion colors - for bright scenes with vivid realism. Its high 3000:1 contrast ratio gives you a superior picture; the wide range of blacks and whites are rendered with depth and dimensionality. Brilliant, vibrant colors are also fully recreated. Receive and view local over-the-air broadcasts on this plasma in stunning HDTV clarity using the built-in HDTV tuner. The CableCARD slots means no more bulky set-top cable boxes - insert a small card that allows you to receive standard definition and high definition digital broadcasts. A single HDMI cable carries high-quality digital audio and video, without having to deal with a tangle of wires. You can even share your JPEG photos taken with a Lumix digital camera, using the built-in SD card slot. 4 - 3 aspect ratio for TV/AV modes - zoom, full, just HDTV compatibility - 480p/720p/1080i Motion Adaptive 3D-Y/C Digital Comb Filter Color Purity Optimizer (3D Color Management) Video Noise Reduction Motion Pattern Noise Reduction Mach Band Effect Enhancer ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuners SD Card Slot (JPEG Photo Viewer 3) PC Card slot (PCMCIA, JPEG Photo Viewer 4) BBE ViVA HD3D Sound Surround Sound 6-speaker audio system - 2 bass-reflex woofers & 4 tweeters, 26W total output CableCARD ready HDMI-HDCP interface Video inputs - 3 Composite (2 rear, 1 front), 3 S-Video (2 rear, 1 front), 2 Component (Y/Pb/Pr, 2 rear), PC in (RGB-VGA, Mini D-sub 15-pin) Audio inputs - 1 PC, 3 audio, 3 rear Component, TV Guide On-Screen Program Guide Picture-In-Picture (2 sources) V-Chip Built-in closed caption decoder Sleep/On/Off timers Video Input Labeling Trilingual display - English, Spanish, French Power Consumption - 555W (120V AC power supply, 60 Hz) Inclu

Product Details

• Color: Silver
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: 50PX600U
• Dimensions: 44.00" h x 62.00" w x 20.00" l,
• Display size: 50

Features

• 50 screen
• Progressive Scan
• Widescreen 16 - 9 aspect ratio
• Up to 3000 - 1 contrast ratio
• Native Resolution - 1366x768

Customer Reviews

Absolutely Amazing
This is the best TV on the market! Consumer Reports ranks it number one again this year (500U last year). Please turn the settings down out of the box though. Panasonic puts the TV in the horrid "Vivid" mode which makes you feel like you got ripped off, but once you turn down the settings the TV couldn't look any better. The sound quality is excellent for non-auxillary sound. CableCard, PIP, VGA input, better sound and much nicer bezel than the 60U were the reasons I chose this one over the 60U.

Wonderful picture, feature set, sound, I love it!
This is my first plasma TV and I love it. We bought this to put the icing on the cake after having remodeled our complete house. The TV sounds great, and looks great. HDTV is stunning! I am very pleased with my purchase and would recommend this TV to anyone.

GREAT PICTURE, BUT FEW ADDED FEATURES
First off as a background, I view HD programs on this TV from a FIOS subscription. I also watch blu-ray movies and play games using PS3.

It has only been 10 months and the price of this TV (TH-50PX600U) has dropped to more than half. I purchased mine from BB for $3,200++ on September last year with 36 months, 0% financing . Back then, this was Panasonic's top of the line for their 50-inch models and it was available only at the Magnolia Home Theater section (BB had the 60U, which was $500 less). 1080p models available then were limited and the price was too steep. The price points between the 720p and 1080p made me decide to go for this TV.

The good thing with shopping around first and looking at the floor models before making a purchase is that you can personally view the different manufacturer models' side by side so you can clearly discern the difference between them.

PROS:
- better picture clarity and vividness
- comparable to picture quality with the pioneer elite (arguably the best plasmas but the price difference is not justifiable to me).
- blacker blacks

CONS:
- Aesthetically, this TV was on the losing end because all the competition had the elegant pure black front side (panasonic has since then followed suit).
- does not have PIP feature when using HDMI
- PIP has only one mode (split sreen)
- when viewing pictures, you cannot resize or zoom in
- has different aspect ratio views but you cannot resize/stretch each setting (I have a toshiba HD TV and it has that feature)

Overall, I rate this TV 4 stars because of the cons stated above. Would I recommend to buy this 720p model now that there are 1080p? You have to consider a number of factors. The obvious reasons would be the price point and the screen size.

For a 50" screen is it worth getting a 1080p? I don't think so. The eye can only distinguish or resolve individual pixels at a certain TV viewing distance. Increasing the resolution at this distance will not make any difference unless the viewer goes closer or the TV is enlarged.

If you have DVD collections like myself, will there be a difference viewing them on a 720p or a 1080p display? DVDs have 480p resolution. No matter what they say about upscaling of 480p to either 720p or 1080p, it is still 480P and there is really no difference.

As regards the technology, there are no 1080p programs at the moment and most HD transmissions are either in 1080i or 720p. Both 1080p and 720p are capable of 1080i image conversions. Which is better in converting 1080i? Well, I only have 720p HD TVs so I cannot make a comparison. For 720p, definitely the 720p will be better as this is it's native resolution and unlike 1080p, no image scaling is required.

There is no question that 1080p will eventually be the choice as it is inevitable, but is it worth now to spend twice the cost of a 720p TV or roughly coughing up $1500 more? If you are getting a 50" TV with a limited budget, then NO. But if you can get the same financing that I got from BB, then GO FOR IT and get a 60" or a bigger TV.