The center piece of any home theater is the TV! I have been on a quest to build a good home theater and set aside a large chunk of my budget for the TV itself! I purchased the Panasonic PZ5080U and here is my review!
In the store the Panasonic Plasma 80u looked good but, the best way to see how a TV will look is to make your choice and get it home into your environment, with no large showroom lights. When taking this Panasonic home, make sure you have a large enough vehicle, and take a friend! The Plasma is incredibly heavy, coming in at 100lbs with all of the packaging! Make sure you have room for the TV! in your home too. This is a big TV and will take up ample space at 49″ in width, 31.1″ in height it is a beast! The great thing about flat panels is just that! This TV is just 3.7″ deep!
Is the TV easy on the eye? Yes it sure is! While this TV has a glossy bezel, it is not overly glossy, just about right. There is a very classy strip of chrome that runs along the bottom of the TV; it adds a very nice touch to an otherwise plain TV. There is a panel on the front casing as well that hides away the built in controls on the TV as well as a couple of front inputs. The inputs you will find on the front of the set are
1 HDMI input
1 S video input
1 set of component inputs
an SD card reader Input
I thought it was a little strange to have an HDMI connection on the front of the TV but these days with Hi Def Camcorders becoming more prevalent it makes perfect sense. Around the back of the TV you will find a few more connections available to you
2 HDMI inputs
1 S Video input
1 set of composite inputs
1 set of RCA inputs
In terms of color reproduction and black levels Cinema mode on this Panasonic plasma is the most accurate. If you are used to a bright picture, cinema mode will take a while to get used to but after a couple of days your jaw will hit the floor everytime you turn the TV on! I used the blu ray version of DVE HD Basics on my blu ray player to help calibrate my tv, only on the cinema setting was I able to get an almost exact match on the red, green and Blue scale, I would say it is 98% accurate
Cinema mode along with the warm setting provides the most accurate gamma readings, color tones and blacks. The picture when hooked up to your cable box or blu ray player via HDMI is absolutely breath taking! I have never seen a TV look so amazingly beautiful! Blacks are black not grayish like on some LCD sets, the 20000:1 contrast ratio is more than plentiful and provides deep, deep blacks without crushing them. Color tones are amazingly accurate with a little calibration. Panasonic Plasma TVs are known as market leaders when it comes to accurate color reproduction and black levels. You can calibrate you TV in the Menu.
The menu is laid out very well and is very easy to navigate. The 80u is Panasonics entry level plasma, being so the amount of controls that are available to you are somewhat limited compared to their higher end sets but they have left enough control so that you can get the picture just right! You will find your usual, contrast, brightness, sharpness controls along with color tint and darkness levels. You can also choose whether or not to turn on the dynamic contrast ratio as well if you so desire, plenty of options to tweak this TV. I have seen many TVs and have calibrated many, but they have never produced a picture that is as stunning as the one that the Panasonic Plasma does.
Watching HD content on the Panasonic Plasma is an absolute joy! Watching the big game on the 50″ screen in full HD glory is stunning! I am a huge movie buff and love watching blu rays too and the picture clarity at full 1080p is mind blowing! It quite seriously is like watching everything again for the first time!
This TV also has built in QAM tuners so that you can attach an HD antenna and you can pick up your local stations in HD for free! Also if you have any other Panasonic devices this TV will connect to them with Viera link. The TV and the other Panasonic devices that have viera link will be able to communicate together to provide a seamless experience!
The only two gripes I have about this TV. The remote and the speakers. The two areas that every manufacturer skimp on. The sound that comes from the built in speakers is at best a 2 out of 5. They sound very metallic. The remote, is cheaply made and looks cheaply made, although the buttons are well laid out it just does not feel nice! I cannot wait for the day when manufacturers spend just a little more on these two things!
The Panasonic Plasma is an incredible TV, that offer class leading color reproduction, and deep black levels. Panasonic Is the leading manufacturer when it comes to Plasma, especially now that Pioneer stopped making them, If you want accurate colors, deep blacks and excellent quality, then do not over look Panasonic Plasma TVs.
