Flat-screen LCD HDTVs offering 1080p resolution are as common as dirt, but you need to dig a lot deeper to find plasma models touting the same resolution specification. For example, in the 50-inch size range, there's been only one true 1080p plasma so far: Pioneer's PRO-FHD1. Although it's hard to fault the Pioneer's astonishing picture quality (I couldn't), the $8,000 list price puts it well beyond the reach of most shoppers. Fortunately, at $3,500, the Panasonic TH-50PZ700U 50-inch 1080p plasma HDTV gives us a considerably more down-to-earth option.
Along with its 1080p plasma display, Panasonic's new 50-incher features a glare-resistant screen coating to improve daytime viewing, a built-in HDTV tuner, and a slot for viewing digital pictures and videos on SD and SD High Capacity (SDHC) cards. The TV's dual HDMI ports also support HDAVI Control, Panasonic's version of HDMI CEC (Consumer Electronics Control). This is a protocol built into the HDMI spec that enables you to operate other HDMI-connected equipment (in this case, Panasonic's, but also some upcoming Onkyo receivers and other components) using a single remote.
Though priced well below Pioneer's existing 1080p model (new ones are coming in the fall), Panasonic's TH-50PZ700U sports a similar sleek-looking gloss-black bezel. Inch-thick mesh strips running vertically down both sides of the screen conceal the set's built-in speakers — an elegant and nearly invisible design. Meanwhile, a flip-up door located dead-center beneath the Panasonic logo hides an A/V input with composite- and S-video connections and a full set of control buttons for changing channels, adjusting volume, switching inputs, and navigating menus. Aside from this, the only other feature found on the set's streamlined front is the slot for plugging in SD/SDHC cards.
The back panel isn't outfitted with every imaginable type of jack, but it does have most you'd expect to see, including HDMI, component-video, and VGA. The set's formidable remote lacks a backlit keypad, but its oversized, clearly labeled layout made it easy to work in a dark room. To switch inputs, you hit the TV Video button and scroll through an onscreen list with names such as HDMI 1 and Component 2. (Unfortunately, there's no menu option to tag inputs with more recognizable labels such as Cable and DVD.) And pushing the Aspect button lets you cycle through the following display modes: Full (for 16:9 images), 4:3 (displays standard-def images with gray vertical sidebars), and Just, H-Fill, and Zoom (which stretch or zoom standard images to fill the set's 16:9 screen). All of these modes work with a range of program types, except H-Fill, which can be selected only for high-def inputs.
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The Short Form
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| Price $3,500 / panasonic.com / 888-843-9788 |
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Snapshot
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| Panasonic's 50-inch, 1080p plasma delivers great performance at an affordable price. |
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Plus
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| •Crisp high-definition picture •Natural color balance •Powerful contrast and strong shadow detail •Affordable compared with the competition |
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Minus
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| •Occasional banding artifacts visible |
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Key Features
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| •1,920 x 1,080-pixel screen •Built-in HDTV tuner •Front-panel SD/SDHC card slot •HDAVI Control for HDMI-linked Panasonic components •Inputs: 2 HDMI, 2 component-video, 3 composite- and S-video; VGA; RF antenna/cable; 6 analog stereo audio; minijack stereo audio; SD Card •50 x 33.5 x 14.5 in; 123.5 lbs (w/stand) |
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Test Bench
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| With the Panasonic set to Custom picture and Warm color-temperature presets, its grayscale displayed a pronounced red bias, tracking approximately ±800 K of the 6,500-K standard from 30 to 100 IRE. Adjustments to the set's service menu evened its grayscale tracking out to around ±100 K from 30 to 100 IRE — excellent performance. The set's red color point was slightly oversaturated compared with the SMPTE HD spec, while green showed a more pronounced oversaturation. Color-decoder tests also revealed a fairly severe —20% green error on the HDMI inputs. Overscan measured 0% in HD Size 2 mode with high-def signals and 4% in Size 1 mode. The set displayed 1080i test patterns very cleanly and with full resolution via HDMI, but the same patterns showed noise in high-frequency bursts via component-video. A 720p pattern looked relatively soft on both the HDMI and component-video inputs. Screen uniformity was excellent when viewed both head-on and from off-center seats. Full Lab Results |
The Panasonic provides four picture presets, all of which can be modified, with your changes stored in memory. Furthermore, you can create a Custom picture preset for each of the set's video inputs. Of its three color-temperature modes, Warm delivered the most natural-looking color range. Other adjustments that I selected during setup included Light Black Level (the other option, Dark, stripped too much shadow detail from dim parts of the picture), HD Size 1, which reduced picture overscan to 0%, and 3:2 pulldown On. I also switched on the Mosquito Noise Reduction mode for most standard and high-def programming that I watched on the TV. Unlike the set's coarser Block Noise Reduction mode, this one eliminated picture noise without over-smoothing the picture.
PICTURE QUALITY
The new Blu-ray Disc of The Queen has some really spectacular images — many of which served to highlight the Panasonic's strong performance. For example, in a scene where the Queen (Helen Mirren), the Queen Mother, and Princes Philip and Charles picnic beside a river on their Scottish Highlands estate, the texture of the royals' tweedy jackets and woolly sweaters came through crisply, as did the fronds of evergreen branches in the background. All four characters' skin tones looked completely natural, and the Panasonic also proved capable of bringing out subtle differences, such as Charles's more ruddy and tanned complexion next to the pale, bloodless faces of the other family members.
Measurements determined that this Panasonic has a tendency to oversaturate greens. In a scene where the Queen encounters a stag after her car gets stuck in a mountain stream, however, I could see a stunningly wide range of subtle green hues, and none looked artificial or overly pumped up. The Panasonic also displayed consistently solid black levels, and its contrast looked solid and punchy throughout the movie. Another Blu-ray Disc, The Great Raid, demonstrated the TV's impressive ability to flesh out shadow detail. Watching a barracks scene in which the ailing Major Gibson (Joseph Fiennes) chats with his fellow POWs, I could see plenty of background objects in the soldiers' dark surroundings.
One other, more objectionable thing that I noticed when watching The Great Raid was a slight banding artifact during several panoramic shots of the camp. Instead of a smooth ramp of blue-to-white tones, the sky was divided into a coarser ramp of colored steps. Although I didn't see this effect often, it did show up in some other clips, such as a dark scene from The Sopranos where Tony and the doomed, coked-up Christopher speed along the highway in an SUV. On standard DVDs, the Panasonic's high-def upconversion was generally clean and crisp, though it fell short of the performance of some other TVs I've tested. The 720p-format high-def programs I viewed also appeared slightly soft, but not overly so.
BOTTOM LINE
At $3,500 or less, the Panasonic TH-50PZ700U 50-inch 1080p plasma HDTV is an intriguing display at an affordable price. From its sturdy, attractive design to its simple yet effective picture adjustments, it's one class act. And though the TV's performance falls a bit short compared with that of Pioneer's acclaimed model, it's good enough overall to earn my enthusiastic recommendation. Go out and get yourself a Panasonic 1080p plasma. With the money you save, you can buy yourself both a top-shelf HD DVD player and a Blu-ray Disc player.
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