Home > Consumer Reviews > Panasonic TH-50PZ80B - 50" Widescreen Viera 1080P Full HD Plasma TV - With Freeview

If like me your about to upgrade from your main old CRT set to a new flatscreen TV then hopefully my review may be of help. After having bought 4 issues of 'What LCD and Plasma' magazine I was even more confused.

Though the above mag gives an impartial view on both technologies most of the reviews are on LCD sets as more manufacturers are making them.The big problem with LCD is the contrast ratio's as most of the LCD sets still do not have the deep blacks that the Plasma offer.

I knew this for a fact as I had bought a cheaper Tevion 42" LCD set for the bedroom 6 months ago. Though the picture was OK, nice and bright, the skin tones were a bit unreal.

With this in mind I wanted to make sure that for my main set downstairs I choose the technology offering the best picture.

Having spent hours at Lunchtime in various Electrical stores looking at Plasma sets next to LCD -- I came down on the side of LCD as they appeared brighter than the plasma ones.

Having made my mind up on LCD I then decided that the Sony Bravia range was my choice as the colour contrast seemed one of the best with darker blacks than the majority of LCD sets.

I then started visiting Sony Centres who could get nowhere near the prices that the Internet sites were offering.However after checking the Terms & Conditions of the majority of Internet Sites (without paying extra for warranty)the return of the TV, even within the first years standard warranty, is at your cost which is frightening.

At this stage I got lucky, a visit to a local friendly electrical store
who sold both Plasma and LCD sets, gave me a wake up call.

Asking the Store Manager which gave the best picture he immediately claimed that Plasma gave the best picture especially at the 50" size I was after.He explained that comparing sets instore was confusing as the stores lights did no favours to plasma sets and as most played the same looped Blueray or Sky HD the LCD sets always appeared brighter.

He then went on to state that all the salesmen in the store had Panasonic Plasma sets on both picture quality and price.

As they had a special deal on the Panasonic TH-50PZ80BA at £1024 including
a 5 year warranty I made my mind up on the spot and bought it.

Having had the set now for a couple of weeks I can give you my opinion on the picture quality.

It is absolutly amazing and has opened my eyes to the advantages of the plasma picture. For the first time I have noticed slight variations in background colours which I had never seen before from my old 36" Panasonic Quintex bought in 2003 or the 6 months old LCD set.

I even ended up watching Emmerdale one night, which I cannot normally stand. I was watching it because I could not believe the range of colours
I was seeing, from the actors clothes to the colour of fabrics in Pollards sweat shop!!!

The picture quality is amazing and having a Sony Blueray player attached to the bedroom LCD set for the last two months I could compare the new plasma set with the Blueray discs I have.

The difference is noticable, especially the skin tones which appear so much more real on the plasma set. Watching football or Motor racing on the majority of LCD sets can lead to motion blur which is not present on plasma. I even prefer playing my PS3 on the Plasma set compared to the
LCD one as the picture looks less cartoonish.

Having had numerous friends over since purchasing the set all have been positive about the picture quality and like me agree it gives a better picture quality than LCD.

The sound quality on the Panasonic set is good especially when set to surround though I intend buying a new Home Cinema sound system to compliment the incredible picture quality.

In summary I believe without doubt that at this time a good Plasma set gives a more lifelike picture than even the best LCD sets around.

Recently bought this television. Very pleased with the purchase. Excellent picture especially with HD source - but very good on SD sources too. Bright punchy colours, really dark blacks, problem free set-up - nothing to complain about.

Purchased 2 months ago and still impressed every time I turn it on. stunning TV to look at and impressive visuals both SD and HD. Works fantastic with my PS3 and bluray looks stunning. This is my first Panasonic plasma after previously owning Sony and Samsung, but the difference in class with this set is obvious strongly recommend, especially at this price

had this tv for 4 weeks now a fantastic tv great picture hd is fantastic , good sound 5 stars all the way was going to buy 800 model but this is better value

Excellent TV. Bought at £1080, can be seen cheaper now though.

This model in the Panasonic range differs by having worse speakers than the TH50PZ800B and does not have built-in Freesat like the TH50PZ81B. However, this is the cheaper plasma TV with the exact same display qualities as those models. If you're looking to hook up a sound system then you wouldn't need really good TV speakers. If you are thinking of getting a separate Freesat box later on, then you wouldn't need to have that built in - thus, this model suited my needs.

I expected blacker blacks but otherwise performance is excellent. Colours are reproduced with great consistency, fine detail becomes more apparent due to the size of the display. Easily wall-mountable. The remote is easy to understand and use. SD broadcasts are decent but the TV excels in HD content. The fans at the back of the TV are whisper quiet and the general build quality is great. Recommended.