Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

For the price, this TV is all most perfect! After MONTHS of researching I bought this puppy last weekend and the picture is just amazing. I have friends that have spent $2,500+ on HDTV's last year and this one blows them away.

Don't let people tell you this is a great "entry level" or "mid-level" T.V., because I have seen Pioneer's elite brand and I can tell you that most people will not be able to tell the difference.

Sure if you are a videophile (or work for cnet) you will be able to tell the SLIGHT difference in picture quality and response (oh! Look for that millisecond in the corner of Star Wars, you can actually see the rendering of the ship, wow! That is worth the extra $2k!).

To me, spending double (or sometimes even triple) for a picture quality that I *might* be able to tell the difference on *some* movies seems to be a waste to me...I rather spend it on my audio system where I can tell a REAL difference.

So why only 4 1/2 stars out of 5? Read on:

Pros: Price is awesome (bought mine at ABT for $1199 and got a free Bluray player). Picture is just awesome, it blows away "mid-range" Sony, Samsung, Sharp HDTV's. Unless you are planning on paying 3k+ for an HDTV, you will be wasting your money to buy something more expensive.

Cons: Here is where I take half a star off, sound. The sound is not terrible and it doesn't ruin the T.V. however, it just isn't up to par with other sets I have listened to. I am not sure how to describe it but it sounds "thin" if that makes any sense. Some people might not like the fact that it only has 3 HDMI ports but that seems plenty for my setup.

So you should buy this TV if:

-You do not mind that it only has 3 HDMI ports
-You will be hooking it up to an AV receiver or external speakers of some sort
-If you do not plan to hook it up to an external sound source, you do not mind that the speakers are lacking (they don't have that "full sound" to them).
-Looking for the "best bang for your buck"

Again, I do not see the reason to spend any more money UNLESS you need a bigger screen or need the 800 Panasonic series because you need 4 HDMI ports or need to connect your TV to the internet to get the latest weather and stock reports.

Just my 2c

I did a lot of research for both LCD and plasma. At the end I had two strong candidates, the Sony Bravia and the Panasonic Viera. After a side by side comparison at a local store I decided to go with the Viera. I purchased the unit a month ago and I'm very happy with my choice of the TV and purchasing from Amazon. Delivery company delivered on the date and time promised. Performance so far has been flawless. Colors are rich, warm and the image quality is awesome. Watching NBA games in high definition takes TV watching to a new level with this plasma TV. Just turn your lights off at nightime and watch your favorite sport and you'll see what I mean. Highly recommended.

Pro:
I settled on this HDTV after much research.

If you want an HDTV that can be used as a monitor, this is a good one because there is a setting for overscan. Overscan is the amount of picture your digital TV will cut off. Then it resizes the image, then displays it. If you have a true 1080p source, you want to eliminate overscan so you are displaying every pixel of input (for actual 1080p Blu-Ray or computer input). The problem is that this setting is buried in the menus, and is not easily accessed. An improvement would be to put this as a button on the remote.

You DON'T want this setting activated when watching normal TV because there is garbage at the top and bottom of most TV signals. Having this setting on displays the garbage!

Another reason I picked this HDTV was for sports viewing. I'm a sports junkie, and watching 720p input from ESPN or ABC looks great. The TV scales this input very well. I can even zoom in and the 720p signal zoomed looks good.

A word on blur: There is no blur on a plasma. LCD screens can make a tiny amount of blur. Great. But when I watch the sports shows I normally watch, the broadcast has a slight amount of blur from camera motion and perhaps poor image processing.

The only thing you might want to consider if you're considering this TV is getting the next models up, which are the Panasonic TH-46PZ800 or TH-46PZ800 models. Both will display 24Hz, which is what Blu-Ray movies come in. This is only needed with Blu-Ray - HDTV is in 60Hz. The 24Hz display mode will result in smoother Blu-Ray viewing. If you don't get this, the Blu-Ray player must be set to 60Hz output, and the change from 24Hz to 60Hz can be a bit choppy, and result in "judder" during some panning scenes. Ask a Circuit City or Best Buy employee to show you, and you'll see. Or don't, and you'll probably never ever notice.

Also, the sides of the TV are a little larger than I think they need to be. There is a good 2.5" border of "frame" around the picture; I'd prefer 1" or less. Go check it out at a big box store, and see for yourself - this is simply a question of taste.

Other models I considered: Sony's 120 Hz LCD 46 inch, Samsung's LCD TVs, Toshiba's 120 Hz 46 inch LCD. All had slight blurs, so I went with plasma.

If you're worried about plasma screen burn in, do some research. This TV will shift the picture up and down to avoid that effect, and will also turn OFF if the picture is from the same channel for too long. From what I've read, that almost totally eliminates burn-in issues.

I had spent many months searching for a tv for my great room. After doing a significant amount of research I decided to go with the 46" Viera TH-46PZ85U. I'm impressed by the overall quality of this product as I have been a fan of Panasonic tv's for a while but the picture on this is amazing. I have mounted it on the wall paired with a polk audio 5.1 home theater setup and I feel as though I'm at the theater. Very deep blacks and watching the NFL on Fios TV is like being at the game. i would recommend this tv to anyone.

I've owned the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ85U 46" 1080P PLASMA HDTV for a little over a month now and it is awesome.The picture is even better than I expected and is worlds away from the old 32" Sony WEGA CRT television I had been watching for years. You really don't appreciate what you had been missing before the plasma flat screen.Broadcasts in 480i almost make you shy away from watching once you get spoiled by high def. We have only been to see one movie since buying the TV. I'd rather just rent movies at home since I added the Bose 321 system (which is not a must).The TV speaker quality is very good-much better than most, but now it's like a miny theatre at home.
Everything on the TV is very user friendly and I have no problems whatsoever with glare, burn-in, or heat that some people claim is associated with a plasma. You can't go wrong with this HDTV. I researched a lot and spend several trips comparing TV picture quality and features.I was leaning toward it or the Samsung LCD. I've seen the picture quality of my freinds Samsung 550 LCD and it's good too, but for the money ....I'll take my plasma.Panasonic claims 100,000 hours before the plasma screen begins to loose half brightness where all the others are rated at 60,000hrs.Amazons white glove service and Panasonic's Viera plasma get an A rating from me. I am very happy with my purchase and will gladly do it again in the future.Overall...very pleased.