I am in the market for a 42" Tv. After days of research find a deal from the local newspaper from PC Richard and Son. I believe they are only in NY & NJ. Went straight to the store and find a 50" for about $130 more than the 42". I cannot tell much difference between the 1080i and 720 side by side. Only if you watching a movie from a blue ray disc player there would be a slight difference. There are some good reviews from Amazon.
I have this television and I love. Note that the 50" has a higher resolution than the 42"! I know we'll be flooded with 'no 1080p, PASS' replies but trust me when I say that this television will blow most similar priced 1080p sets out of the water.
The difference would be between 1080P (not 1080i) and 720p. It is true that this is a hugely overblown stat for many HD panel viewers. It really depends upon your viewing distance. But others would argue that 720p is fast going the way of the HDTV dinosaurs, and that 1080p is really the way to go just by virtue of staying current with technology. That said, broadcast television will not do anything other than 1080i/720p for the foreseeable future. There's just not enough bandwidth to broadcast higher resolutions.
I'm still using a 720p 37" Panasonic (they no longer make that size) plasma, and it still looks fantastic from my viewing distance. Would I buy another 720p panel today? Probably not, but then again it's quite debatable whether I would see any visual benefit from going up to 1080p from the distance I'm at. There might be other variables in play; better color representation, other features like more HDMI inputs, etc., but for the most part, I wouldn't expect a quantum leap in picture quality from my viewing distance with a 1080p set...even at 42".
You'll notice that they say for the most part, the debate is now moot because of the prevelance of 1080p sets.
The bottom line for you should be whether the set looks good...to YOU. It's often hard to judge in a TV store like that because they have the settings maxed out (contrast and brightness turned way up). Try to judge how they would look from the distance you would be watching from at home, and with the settings at least on the "Standard" level rather than "Vivid" or some other setting that indicates extremes. Also, compare the sets for other features, like the number of HDMI inputs (you can't have too many!), picture-in-picture, if that's important to you, etc. But in the end, it's your eyes that matter. If you find a 720p set that looks a-ok to you and has the basic feature set you need at the right price point, who is anyone here to tell you not to get it? Panasonic is an excellent brand, and you'll be happy with it, I'm sure.
This is an excellent TV and the price is very good. When I was shopping, this was one of two sets I targeted. Price/deal put a Samsung PN50A450 in my living room and I love it. I would caution people that plasma sets have a glass front and *will* reflect windows and lights. If you are putting this set in a room where you have trouble controlling light, an LCD may make more sense.
I captured all the articles I read during my research here (not a commercial site, just an article on my blog). If you can darken your 'theater' and sit back at least four feet from the TV, a 720p 50" plasma is about as good as TV gets. If you spend a LOT of time in showrooms (Circuit City used to be my favorite place to watch TV), you will love this set. It's no Kuro, but it's close and it's half the price.
Nice find, OP.
hibindo
New Member
posted: May. 25, 2009 @ 6:56p
Very good research. This is a very basic set. It does not have a Ethernet jack but it does a 600 htz refresh rate (No LCD has this spec yet)with a high contract ratio 30,000:1. For the price I don't think there is anything close to this. Cnet got a review on this link Text
I pretty much agree with the review except for the overall score -- what was important to the reviewer is less important to me. I heavily weighted 'how it looks to me,' and this set looks good to me. Colors are better on the Samsungs and blacks are blacker on the Panasonics. BUT both sets look great in a crowd and even better when they are the only set in the room.
My bad for not reading carefully. I was talking about a 42" S series. A 50" X series for $777 is definitely hot.
crouchten
New Member
posted: May. 26, 2009 @ 11:24p
The OP was a great deal. Taking it a couple of small steps further, I brought the PC Richard ad to Sears and it price matched plus 10% of the difference (Sears price was $989 - $777 PC Richard price = $212 difference times 10% = an additional $21 off) for a net of $756.
I then used my Chase Freedom Visa that gives me 3% off my top three purchase categories (plus extends the warranty for one year) for a bottom line of $733.32 before tax with 2 years warranty (one from Panasonic, one from Visa).
That's like giving a 50 inch Panasonic plasma away. The Sears employee mentioned some guy just came in and cleaned out the store by buying the last three they had in stock using the price match from PC Richard. Mine was put on order and will be delivered in a couple of days.
I believe the PC Richard sale lasts until 5/30. For those in a PC Richard territory, it's definitely worth considering.
sacman21
New Member
posted: May. 27, 2009 @ 6:59a
Does anybody have the PC Richard ad?
sacman21
New Member
posted: May. 27, 2009 @ 7:00a
can anyone post the PC Richard ad for me? I'll take it to Sears locally, see what they can do for me.
mrnothanks
Member
posted: May. 27, 2009 @ 8:16a
+1. Please post the PC Richard Ad. What a steal if Sears will match!
crouchten
New Member
posted: May. 28, 2009 @ 7:59p
I should add that I also received free delivery from Sears since it is offering free delivery on televisions over 40 inches. There was a glitch when they tried to process that promo with my order (maybe free delivery wasn't compatible in the system with a price match) but the manager ran it through by charging me the delivery fee and then crediting me back the delivery fee.
Here is the PC Richard ad (see the TCP50X1 at the bottom for $777.97) - the original ad was an unusual size so I had to shrink it and scan it in two pieces. Good luck.
The PC Richard ad technically expired 5/30 (per the fine print at the bottom of the ad). Sears might not notice that, though, so it's worth a shot.
I'm not sure if PC Richard is still selling it for the same price.
Stinkah
Senior Member
posted: Jun. 2, 2009 @ 7:52a
Slikkster said: But others would argue that 720p is fast going the way of the HDTV dinosaurs, and that 1080p is really the way to go just by virtue of staying current with technology. That said, broadcast television will not do anything other than 1080i/720p for the foreseeable future. There's just not enough bandwidth to broadcast higher resolutions.
But keep in mind offline sources, not just TV. Gaming, DVDs, and most importantly for me, home video shot in full 1080p.
mumsa
Cranky Member
posted: Jun. 25, 2009 @ 8:50p
Just picked up the p50x1 for $777.97 @ PC. The display price was $949.99. Showed them an ad from Father's day sale and they honored it.
I bought the 42" from Best Buy when they and Sears had it on sale for $599 (!!) last week. Absolutely stunning quality. And one pleasant surprise: The sound is actually very good, definitely way ahead of the curve for flat TVs.
And purely for what it's worth: I have a 1080p 120hz Sharp LCD and this 720p panasonic (both 42"). Using the same upconverting DVD player, my non-bluray dvds look worlds better on the panasonic. With blu-ray, I'd say it's a wash, though the deep blacks are definitely more impressive on this panasonic plasma.
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