Panasonic Viera TH-58PZ800U

I love this TV. It's big and the picture is outstanding, particularly when using HD sources. When using non-HD sources, the picture is alright, nothing special, but really that is to be expected in any… tv, especially one of this size. The worst thing I can say about this television is that it does have a lot more glare than my other 57" television, and it can be annoying. Any light shining from behind you will be very noticeable on the screen. Fix? Shut off the light. I rated this TV at 4 stars instead of 5 because of this glare. All in all an outstanding product. I have owned many televisions over the years, RCA's, Toshiba's, Panasonic, Hitachi, and by far the best televisions have been the Panasonics. Boy did I love my Tau :) ABOUT DELIVERY SERVICES: I purchased this television through Amazon from Electronics Expo. They used a delivery service called Manna Distribution Services. A single delivery man came and brought the TV into the house - a 'threshhold' delivery, just inside the door. I signed for it and off he went. I then took the cardboard cover off the top and discovered the TV screen was shattered. I immediately contacted Electronics Expo, who asked me to provide some pictures of the TV, which I did. He asked if I wanted to cancel the order or a new TV, I wanted a new TV. He took care of the arrangements. Ten days later Manna Distrubtion Services again came, took the broken TV and delivered the new one. Before I would sign I undid the box and had a look at the screen and this TV was in apparent good shape. I signed and off he went. The moral of this is do not be timid about inspecting any product that is delivered to you. For myself I am uncomfortable with doing it, but for a high cost item such as this, and the amount of time (ten days) I had to have it in my house (my house is small so this was a major imposition - and also I had no TV in the livingroom for this whole period of time), it is well worth the effort to examine the product before signing. If broken, refuse delivery. All in all I feel Electronics Expo did a good job, as well as Manna Distribution Services regarding delivery. I only wish I had been less timid and thoroughly examined the TV before I signed for it. I am pointing this out for the rest of you so that you don't make the same mistake I did. SOUND: I am not rating the sound portion of this TV. I have not even turned on the TV speakers to be honest, as I have it connected to a Marantz SR6003 a/v receiver via HDMI and listen to the sound through Acoustic Research AR1 Hi-Res speakers. Most reviews I've read rate the sound as of good quality, but many people will prefer listening to the sound via a/v receivers and chosen speaker system. CONCLUSION: The new TV is just terrific, beautiful picture, and apparently well made. I surely would recommend this product. The recent price drops have made it even more attractive because Panasonic has now discontinued it and come out with their new models. If you are looking for a large screen TV at a reasonable price you cannot go wrong with this one. I hope you find this review helpful.

expand

collapse

After doing research for about 6months plus. I finally settled on this 58' Panasonic plasma. Wow! What an amazing pic! I just got done watching the Lakers beat Orlando. Felt like I was at the arena.… I'll give this set some more time but I'm very happy. 6ave did a great job shipping the tv. Got there on time and in top condition. The only problem is I don't have this plasma in my bedroom! NOw I'm gonna hv to buy another tv :) JD

expand

collapse

This is my first HD flat screen. For months I compared LCD vs Plasma, comparison shopped brands and size. After deciding on the new Panasonic 50" line I took my wife to Best Buy to see the unit I settled… on. She made a beeline for the big screen room and for about an hour we sat down and looked at all they had to offer. We settled on this unit - but it was twice the price I had planned to spend. "Buy the big one," she said - so while in the store and using my Blackberry I found this unit on Amazon for several hundred dollars cheaper. I bought it on the spot on Amazon. Delivery went smoothly - very smoothly. When the unit arrived I helped the guy carry it in and open it up. As he assembled it I went over it carefully, and he insisted on hooking up cable to it to get a picture. After doing that we both inspected it inch by inch. Well, he didn't really but I sure as heck did. The TV arrived flawless. Since purchasing it I have used it for HDtv, PS3 and a PC (q6600 quad core, 4gb RAM, Sapphire 4870 running eval copy of Windows 7) - all through HDMI. The picture is gorgeous on all three inputs. All HD shows are fabulous - even a gameshow like Wheel of Fortune is enjoyable to watch with the full color and clarity of HD on this TV. The PS3 is stunning; even my Wife who hates video games has stood watching our son and I tearing up the desert in Motorstorm or storming the universe as Ratchet and Clank. She's even expressed an interest in giving them a second chance. I don't understand the problem some LCD fanboys have with Plasma. There is no ghosting at all - unlike LCD - critical since my son and I are both avid FPS gamers. I don't have every light in the room on while watching TV, so glare isn't a problem that turning a light off doesn't fix. The colors are vivid without being cartoonish, and the motion is as smooth as CRT (well, almost as smooth as CRT if you read the lab tests). As for burn in I haven't seen anything. I tend to flip between channels and input sources during a typical day, so I don't think I'm prone to it. Spending this kind of money on a television is really tough in this economy. However Panasonic knows plasma, and Amazon knows how to get the unit to you without a scratch. "Buy the big one." The wife was right. I have no regrets buying this unit from Amazon, and neither will you.

expand

collapse