I am helping a friend with a home theatre setup and we have it narrowed down between two sets, the panny TH-50pz800u and the samsung pn50a550. Both sets can be had for between 1400-1700 and that is the price range we are trying to stay in. I myself have the panasonic th42pz80u and love it, which is why i first recommended he get a panasonic, only in the 50 inch size. He then found this samsung which has favorable reviews and can be found for less money than the panasonic.

My question is, which TV is the better buy? Spec wise they are similar, i've just never had experience with samsung plasmas so im looking for some 3rd party input on the two sets. If the panasonic is a better by is the 800U worth the extra price over either the 80u or 85u? The main reason we were looking at the 800 is because it has 3 hdmi ports on back instead of 2 and since this is all going to be wall mounted we wanted the extra port on back in case of a future HDMI addition.

I always come to these forums for AV help and I'm hoping i can get some good insight on to which of these TV's is the better set. On a different note, if you feel there is a better option than either of these that is under 1800, please feel free to recommend it.

Thanks!

Edit: If a mod reads this please fix my error in the spelling of panasonic in the title

I've had both sets in my home before returning them both. I returned the the Panny because standard def lacked detail and I watch a good bit of it. I'm guessing that Panasonic applies a good bit of noise reduction even with the user controls set to off. The Sammy has an acceptable level of detail, although more grain as a consequence. I think my Samsung had better blacks than my Panasonic although many say otherwise about their sets/experiences. Once I adjusted the color settings according to one of the configurations posted in the Sammy forum, the colors appeared spot on to me. The effect is much more powerful than I would have expected. Faces often looked too red on the Panasonic, though otherwise it looked very good.

Ultimately, I returned the Sammy because it had screen uniformity issues (gray horizontal bands) and even more importantly, it made a loud, electrical popping noise intermittently. I'm waiting now to see what's reported from CES at the end of the week before trying again. For the money, the Samsung is a brilliant set, especially if you can find one without issues. I could live with the banding, but not a potential breakdown or fire!

50PZ800U! Why? Because I have one and love it. THX mode out of the box is great. I've been enjoying mine since last Saturday! :)

I decided on the 58" 850U. I am blown away by the picture quality. I LOVE my Panny. Jaw dropping picture

Hello, I vote the Samsung for the same reason as the poster above...the colors are spot on accurate.

Although I would really recommend a bump up to the pn650 model...a better panel for the same price...I don't know if I can post this but I got one for 1599 at BB. Granted I had a bad one (a few stuck white pixel) but man it was amazing after the calibration! And the price speaks for itself.


Also I must admit, the Sammy left wanting a bit more brightness...but I really think that is just all plasmas...

Hello, I vote the Samsung for the same reason as the poster above...the colors are spot on accurate.

Although I would really recommend a bump up to the pn650 model...a better panel for the same price...I don't know if I can post this but I got one for 1599 at BB. Granted I had a bad one (a few stuck white pixel) but man it was amazing after the calibration! And the price speaks for itself.


Also I must admit, the Sammy left wanting a bit more brightness...but I really think that is just all plasmas...

Yeah, i saw the pn650 model for about the same price after i made the post. Is there any way to turn off the red color?

Thanks for all the replies so far. Please keep them coming!

Yeah, i saw the pn650 model for about the same price after i made the post. Is there any way to turn off the red color?

Thanks for all the replies so far. Please keep them coming!

you cant turn off the red color, its the actual color of the bezel....and i would take the sammy, because i cant see paying the extra money, the same reason i would take the 85u over the sammy, i cant see paying the extra money

There's no turning it off, but I loved the touch of color....me and my girl friend nicknamed the t.v. "Big Red"

Its one of those things you either like or you don't.

There's no turning it off, but I loved the touch of color....me and my girl friend nicknamed the t.v. "Big Red"

Its one of those things you either like or you don't.

You're not a Nebraska fan, are you?:p

I've been in the same "decision" boat as the thread topic... I was dead set on the Th-50PZ80U by Panasonic, but after months of research and comparisons in different local stores and websites, I think I'm actually going to go with the PN50A650 by Samsung.
The colors look incredibly accurate, it has plenty of inputs and "tweaking" features.
One main thing that bothered me with all the Pansonics I looked at was that they had a red "push" to the picture which really turned me off.

I think we are leaning towards the 650 right now, just seems like a lot of TV for the money. Is there a certain thread with the proper break in settings and post break in settings?

I personally like the touch of color but he wasn't to crazy about the idea i don't think. Were doing an in wall installation along with mounting 3 speakers around the tv so he just doesn't want it to stick out too much.

Thanks for all the input!

I think we are leaning towards the 650 right now, just seems like a lot of TV for the money. Is there a certain thread with the proper break in settings and post break in settings?

I personally like the touch of color but he wasn't to crazy about the idea i don't think. Were doing an in wall installation along with mounting 3 speakers around the tv so he just doesn't want it to stick out too much.

Thanks for all the input!

you cant even notice it, once you see it, it wont stick out at all


for settings, the a550 and a650 pretty much are the same panel, the 650 just has more features so here's the thread you want, look at the first post

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1011420&highlight=pn50a650+settings

I just read the review comparing the 85u and a650 on plasma tv buying guide and the reviewer said the panasonic is better suited for a bright room, well this tv is going in a bright room with a lot of windows...there is potential for curtains down the line which could help with some of the brightness. Taking this into consideration, what do you think would be better?

The Panny definitely has a better screen for reducing glare... I'd say it's a noticeable difference.
Other than that, I don't think there is any difference.

The Panny definitely has a better screen for reducing glare... I'd say it's a noticeable difference.
Other than that, I don't think there is any difference.

i would say these two tv's are are both awesome, and i would get whichever one you can get a better deal on.....samsung, better colors, panny, better blacks....for me, the blacks mean more, so i will be buying the 85u....blacks are why i would be buying plasma over lcd anyway

i would say these two tv's are are both awesome, and i would get whichever one you can get a better deal on.....samsung, better colors, panny, better blacks....for me, the blacks mean more, so i will be buying the 85u....blacks are why i would be buying plasma over lcd anyway

I went with the Panny 850U and couldn't be more happier!

I went with the Panny 850U and couldn't be more happier!

little out of my price range, great tv, congrats

little out of my price range, great tv, congrats

hey, he bought long term. heh

I have the th-50pz800u and love it. I got it from Amazon for a great price. The samsung is not bad though I just think the 800u is better. Good luck.

whats the diff between the Panny 800u and the 850u? im also nervous about possibly going with Samsung..

Im now trying to decide between plasmas as my Toshiba LCD had green screen issues...

I have the 510 sammy, has pink whites, as most people do with them on a white screen. Text is blurry on it also. It will be going back to best buy. Right now I am trying the vizio 505, very nice set, panny glass. I may keep this one. I have a 46" panny 800u on the way to try out also. I use these as a computer monitor and bedroom tv. 50" computer screen is awsome............

I've had both sets in my home before returning them both. I returned the the Panny because standard def lacked detail and I watch a good bit of it. I'm guessing that Panasonic applies a good bit of noise reduction even with the user controls set to off. The Sammy has an acceptable level of detail, although more grain as a consequence. I think my Samsung had better blacks than my Panasonic although many say otherwise about their sets/experiences. Once I adjusted the color settings according to one of the configurations posted in the Sammy forum, the colors appeared spot on to me. The effect is much more powerful than I would have expected. Faces often looked too red on the Panasonic, though otherwise it looked very good.

Ultimately, I returned the Sammy because it had screen uniformity issues (gray horizontal bands) and even more importantly, it made a loud, electrical popping noise intermittently. I'm waiting now to see what's reported from CES at the end of the week before trying again. For the money, the Samsung is a brilliant set, especially if you can find one without issues. I could live with the banding, but not a potential breakdown or fire!
dont know what problems you had, but sd on my 46pz850u looks amazing. never imagined sd could look so good' as for diff between the 800 and 850 some reports have the 800 being more natural but the 850 more colors. but in real time every article i read has the 850 blowing the doors off the 800 for pq. also the 850 has the internet link for hooking up to the net. limited sites now but works great. also the cabinet on the 850 looks better.

I just recieved my 46" 850. Watched part of RE5 in SD and Jerry Maguire in HD. Just turned down the brightness and contrast down to 45, sharpness all the way off, standard picture. The movies are from Comcast cable and I just can not believe how much better the picture looks from what I saw in the store.
Unable to do side by sde with the Samsung but I am happy.
Like the other guy said, go with the price, the differences are pretty minor.

Well we actually ended up going with the 50pz850U. When bestbuy had the samsung a650 onsale for 1499 we tried finding one but it seems the entire state was sold out. So we then called ABC warehouse to see if they carried it and we happened to be talking to the manager on the phone and he said they didn't have it. We had a coupon to bestbuy for 12% off which would have brought the TV to the 1300's so the ABC manager said he would sell us the panny 50" 850u for 1395! This was all over the phone, we didn't even have to go to the store to try and get a price match. So we ended up getting what top of the line panny for $1395, can't beat that!

Well we actually ended up going with the 50pz850U. When bestbuy had the samsung a650 onsale for 1499 we tried finding one but it seems the entire state was sold out. So we then called ABC warehouse to see if they carried it and we happened to be talking to the manager on the phone and he said they didn't have it. We had a coupon to bestbuy for 12% off which would have brought the TV to the 1300's so the ABC manager said he would sell us the panny 50" 850u for 1395! This was all over the phone, we didn't even have to go to the store to try and get a price match. So we ended up getting what top of the line panny for $1395, can't beat that!

1395 shipped?!

that's an awesome price!

1395 shipped?!

that's an awesome price!


I know it, i couldn't believe it. We picked it up at the local store so it was 1395 +6% sales tax.