Take a look around the current TV market - projection TVs are a thing of the past - Rear Projection "tube" tv's and LCD projection TVs cannot be found for sale, except on "closeout" deals. DLP TVs are still alive and kicking for the moment, though it seems everyone wants a sexy flat-panel hung on the wall.
I fell into that group also, and decided to upgrade my 65" rear projection HDTV to a flat screen of some sort. I did LOTS of research, and ended up getting this Panasonic Plasma. First, I'll discusss the TV's attributes, and then discuss some things I thought about as I decided to buy this TV.
Specs:
Dimensions (without stand): 31.1" (H) x 47.6" (W) x 3.7" (D). Weight is 75 lbs.
Connections: 2 composite video (1 in front), 2 S-video (1 in front), 2 Component video, 3 HDMI 1.3 jacks (1 in front). It also has a composite video out, analog audio out, and toslink (fiber optic) audio out connection, though it only outputs in stereo. It also has a SD card slot, allowing you to show pictures from a digital camera.
The TV is a 720p HDTV, with a 16:9 display (1,366 x 768) . Native contrast is 15,000:1, with "dynamic contrast" shown as 1,000,000:1. Note that the dynamic contrast is pumped up by all plasma manufacturers. I'm not sure if it's worth anything, but I know the native contrast number is important.
It has 2 speakers, though I have not used them. Instead, I have it connected to my receiver for audio. Others have said the "bass boost" feature can distort the sound, when using the Tv's speakers.
There are also viewing modes - including "standard," "Game," "Movie," "high contrast," "custom," etc. In essence, they try to make it easy for you to get a great picture. The custom settings allow you to tune the TV's picture to whatever you like.
Plasma vs. LCD:
There are two types of flat panels - LCD (like flat-panel computer monitors) and Plasma. This TV is a Plasma. While LCDs and Plasmas look similar, the technology that displays the image is quite different. LCDs seem to be gaining market share, though they tend to be more expensive for the same screen size (particularly over 50").
Plasma TVs have the reputation for being highly reflective, due to the fact that the technology requires two panes of glass on the front of the tv. Fortunately, I can control the amount of light that is in my viewing room, through the use of blinds. Additionally, this TV has "anti-reflective coating" on the screen, which is intended to help fend off the reflections. If reflection is a problem for you in your viewing area, you may want to check out LCDs instead.
Plasma TVs also have a reputation for being heavy. I can only speak about this one, as it is my first Plasma, but I did not find this to be true. This TV, in fact is just about 75 lbs, which seems appropriate for a 50" TV.
Plasmas have a reputation for being prone to screen burn-in or "image retention." In essence, this means that the scrolling bars at the bottom of the screen, or the channel indicator picture (usually at the bottom-right) would be permanently burned-in to the screen, so it is always displaying. This is especially a problem with video games, as it is very easy to have a static image displaying on the screen for long periods of time, such as a health meter or gun being displayed at the bottom, in a first person shooter game. After doing significant research, it appears that image retention is largely a problem of the past - most of the new Plasmas have been able to get rid of this problem. Now, I'm certainly not going to test this theory by pausing a game for 24 hours... but I have paused movies, tv and games for up to 20-30 minutes with no adverse consequences.
Plasmas also are known to have good black levels, in comparison to LCD TVs. In short, this helps dark objects, shadows or dark scenes appear more realistic. In my opinion, it just makes the picture look better.
In the 50" flat screen market, the 720P plasmas seem to be much lower in price than a similarly-sized LCD or 1080P Plasma (roughly $1200 vs $2,000 at the time of this writing). For me, the difference in picture detail did not seem to match up with the $800 saved by going with 720P. Note that at the time of this writing, the only things that take advantage of 1080P are video game consoles (Xbox 360 and PS3), Blu-Ray high definition DVDs and Dish Network's video-on-demand "turbo HD" channels. Additionally, the increase in detail from 720P to 1080P is not as evident on the game systems as it would seem. Finally, my viewing location for this TV is approximately 9' away, and it would be very difficult to see the difference between 720P and 1080P on a 50" TV from that distance or further. So, I saved my hard-earned $ and with the 720P TV.
Why this TV?
The next question is which brand? In my research, Panasonic and Pioneer are widely regarded as top-notch manufacturers of Plasmas. Other 50" Plasmas the same price range are available from Samsung, Insignia, LG and Sharp. I saw TVs from all these manufacturers, and none looked as good or were as well-regarded as the Panasonic. So, it went on sale and I jumped. Note that the Pioneers are regarded as the best - and have price tags to match. I am extremely happy with my decision.
Now, there are a couple minor annoyances -
1) there is channel lag if you connect this TV directly to your cable or use an antenna. I use a Dish box, so it is not an issue for me.
2) the remote is not bad, but seems clunky and does not have any back-lighting
3) no picture-in-picture available.
You should know that Plasma TVs should NEVER be set on their front or back - they must remain upright, or risk messing up the picture. This was actually a problem I faced getting this TV home. I ended up having to unbox it in order to get it home.
I purchased this TV from BestBuy, which did a price match for me. Since it was a fairly large purchase, I sprung for the extra $220 and got the 4-year warranty. I know that these warranties are usually a fool's bet, but I have used these on two occasions with other major purchases (1 TV and 1 laptop), and was happy I got it.
