Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic TH-50PX75U 50-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

I've had this TV for 5 days now. I've spent the majority of those days cruising around the HD Tier of my local cable company. As far as the picture goes, it is simply beautiful. I've done a massive amount of tinkering with the settings. Not because I can't find the combination that I like, but because I just felt like playing around with it and comparing the different configurations. Do yourself a favor and make sure the first thing that you do is change the mode from "Vivid" to something else. "Vivid" is the factory default and most likely set that way to boost the attraction level for the showroom.

I started out by just using the calibration settings from http://www.plasmatvbuyingguide.com for the TH-50PX60U:

Picture Mode Standard
Picture +22
Brightness +8
Color -1
Tint -4
Sharpness -14
Color Temperature Warm

These gave the picture a warmer, more realistic feel right off the bat. Skin tones were much more realistic after calibrating to these settings. The TH-50PX75U is, for all intents and purposes, the same TV as the TH-50PX60U from last year with the former having a few more features.

I also decided to play around with the "Custom" mode and use the above settings as starting points. I decided to stick with the above settings for the time being as I find them most pleasing to the eye. Overall, the black levels look very good showing detail in the dark areas as well and the color is vivid. The picture looks very crisp and you get that "realism" factor that I have really only felt while researching plasmas and LCDs. Other technologies of HDTVs have not given me that "realism" feel.

I've found that it is possible to notice the differences between the various cable channels and the HD that they utilize. For instance, I was watching one of the NBA Conference Finals games on TNTHD and also flipping to a baseball game being broadcast on ESPNHD. TNTHD broadcasts in 1080i while ESPNHD broadcasts in 720p. I noticed that the ESPNHD baseball game was actually a tad more crisp and vibrant than the TNTHD basketball game broadcast. However, I also noticed that the basketball game looked more crisp whenever the main camera that is used to pan the floor during the action was not used and the action cut away to another camera. I was amazed that I could see the difference between the cameras being used within the same broadcast. That being said, the game action was still more crisp than anything that I have ever seen on my old tube, non-HD set. I think that I may have been able to assist this by tinkering with the settings a bit but it was far from an issue as it still looked great. Also, while I flipped back and forth between the baseball and basketball games I also happened upon a live concert which looked even better than either the baseball or basketball game. The detail was just stunning.

Also of note is the fact that you will notice that live events (sporting events, concerts) look much better in HD than a movie that is being broadcast in HD. The movies look very good and you won't be disappointed. I'm just trying to establish what to expect as a general rule.

I spent some time comparing the standard definition broadcasts versus the HD broadcast of the same events. For instance, I flipped back and forth between the basketball game being broadcast on TNT between their standard definition digital signal and their HD channel. If all you've ever known is non-HD TV you will not believe that you ever had to watch an event in standard definition when you do the flip-comparison. The amount of detail that I was missing with my old TV was just incredible.

I do not think that the standard definition channels are all that bad overall. Some better than others but for the most part it is slightly better than what I had been used to watching on my old TV. This, at least to me, is saying something being that this TV is 50" versus my old 27" non-HD TV. I was expecting the fuzziness of standard definition channels to be exaggerated because of being spread out over a much larger screen. I have also been using the "Just" aspect ratio when viewing standard definition channels which is like the "Full" aspect ratio except that it uses some sort of algorithm to make the center 1/3 of the picture appear without the appearance of being "stretched" and the outer 2/3 of the picture is stretched which seems to present a more normal presentation in lieu of being stretched. I am doing this simply as a precautionary measure during the first couple of hundred hours of viewing to guard against image retention (burn-in). I realize that the technology has come a long way in eliminating image retention but I would rather be cautious.

There is no PIP with this unit. However, this is not an issue for me as my HD/DVR cable box has the PIP feature which works just fine for what I will use it for.

I do not currently have a lot of peripherals and don't ever plan on having much more than I have now. I currently have my old DVD player (connected via component video), my XBox 360 (connected via component video) and my HD/DVR cable box (connected via HDMI). That leaves me with one more HDMI port and no more component video connections along with the composite and S-Video connections. I plan on getting an Upconverting DVD-Recorder that I will connect via the remaining HDMI connection thus freeing up one of my component video connections. Other than that I am looking into some sort of Home Theater In A Box (HTIB) that I will be connecting to the setup. I would have liked to have another HDMI connection for that purpose but I will manage.

The built-in speakers are more than adequate for now and I really don't have any complaints about them. Not overwhelming but they are fine until I can get a HTIB.

The pedestal stand that comes with the TV seems quite sturdy and was very simple to assemble and connect to the TV. Once on the stand the TV seems quite well balanced and it would take quite a shove for it to tip over. Panasonic also provides you with a couple of bands that you can use to screw into the TV itself and then to the stand that you place the TV on if you are not planning on wall-mounting the set to make it a little more stable. I prefer the stand/pedestal mounting personally.

The TV is in a fairly well-lit room during the day and even though this particular model does not have the glare reducing shield that the next level up model has, I have not experienced any issues with glare. This was a concern for me but I have been pleasantly surprised.

The black bezel/casing looks infinitely better to me than the TH-50PX60U's silver. It was a wise change by Panasonic for this year's model.

The remote is simple yet very functional. I like the larger buttons and everything is easy to find. The menu system is sufficient although I still find myself exiting out of a sub-menu when I didn't want to from time to time. This is probably more a result of getting familiar with the menu system than anything else.

Overall, I could not be happier with this HDTV thus far.

In November 2006 I went cheap and entered the world of HDTV with an Insignia 32-in., 720P, LCD screen from Best Buy along with upgrading to DirecTV's 1080i package. My first reaction was, "This is nice", but not as in "niiiiiiccccce!" Four months later the Insignia's screen starts to act-up, and that's when I say to myself, "Let's do it right this time."

My wife and I were watching some Hi-Def shows last night and couldn't keep from saying "Wow!" about every 20 minutes. Even with just relying on the TV's speakers it felt like we were there. Played around with the colors, brightness, etc, at that was easy enough with the on-screen interface. The couch is about 110" from the TV, so the 50" screen was a good size. Wouldn't want to go bigger, but glad we didn't get the 42".

Also glad I spent the extra $400 and got the 2007 model that's all black instead of the 2006 model that had silver trim. The Insignia had silver trim, so naturally I now equate silver trim to "cheap".

Since I do not consider myself an audio/video aficionado, I didn't hesitate to spend money now on a 720p system instead of waiting or spending more on a 1080p system. I am a touch worried about screen burn-in, but if this can last beyond five years then I'll be very happy.

Everybody who has stepped into our new place and views this TV hanging from the wall says the same thing... "Wow!!!" The next few minutes are stunned silence as they sit down and become mesmerized by the picture.

This TV has amazing colors, and is plenty bright in a brightly lit room. In fact, we had to turn the brightness down a couple of notches.

I'm not a techno geek so I can't tell you how many plugs of this type or that are on the thing. I can only tell you it was more than enough for our PVR & DVD/VCR to be connected and there are many more open jacks for other stuff.

We have had this TV for 2 months, trouble free and know at least 2 friends that are saving their pennies to purchase their own. Only time will tell us how good this TV really is but I can promise you once you have watched this TV for a while, you will compare all other TV's to it.

p.s. For those who are wondering, a standard 4:3 TV size picture on this screen (maintain the same aspect ratio) is about 42" when measured diagonally. I was always wondering about that and figured other people might too.

**** Update ****

We've had this unit for 6 months with ZERO problems and the "wow factor" lives on. Watching widescreen movies & sports broadcasts on other TV's is simply not the same after having this set in our livingroom. We're now known as "TV snobs"... thanks Panasonic!!!

You might find TVs with marginally better picture quality, but not in this price range. This TV has stunning styling and an even better picture. Menus are easy to navigate and setup is a cinch. I would recommend that the picture setting be changed from the factory default "Vivid" to "Standard". The Vivid setting enhances brightness and contrast. Standard setting will result in better detail and less susceptibility to burn-in, particularly in the first 200 hours of use. Plasma burn-in with quality TVs such as this is no more of a problem than burn-in with CRTs because of advancements in anti-burn-in technologies such as rotating pixels (check Panasonic's website for more detail).

I've been shopping for months and I am 100% happy with this set. I finally decided on a 50" Panasonic. Originally I was waiting for their new 1080p 50" plasma to show up in stores but I bought the 720p set instead. After doing many head to head comparisons between various 720p and 1080p sets I concluded that paying an extra $1200 for a 1080p set just wasn't worth the premium. When sitting more than 5 feet away from an HDTV set my eye cannot discern the resolution difference between 720 and 1080p.

I'm connecting my set to an HTPC. It syncs perfectly with my Geforce video card. When using a PC, there would be a small benefit to having 1080p resolution because fonts might be a little sharper. Once again, a benefit not worth $1200 extra.

At 50 inches this set offers the best bang for the buck. The only other plasma that typically gets rated higher than this one is the Pioneer but it costs $800+ more.