(no longer a lurker...yay!)

My buddy was looking for a new plasma. He is familiar with mine (TH-50PX80U) and i recommended picking up this years version of it, which he did. It arrived DOA. Upon turning it on a 2" vertical bar was both blacked out and had color bars within the streak. Not good. The unit came from a ma and pop store and they will "take care of it". The unit is a (TC-P50X1). I was wondering what the major differences were (that actually make a difference) between this version (looks like 3 different versions this year) vs mine. Only things that jumped out at me were the native 30K/1 CR vs my 15K/1, the new 600hz vs my 480hz and his ability foe 24p cinematic playback (something i don't care for).

Were a little bugged out about him getting a bum TV but i think it has more to do with handling than quality control. The store owner insisted it's fine to lay them down though i have always heard and practiced standing them upright for transport.

Anyway, should he call it good if the replacement works fine, or should he be looking for something else. I have heard of no issues with the pani plasmas myself other than this one.

.. prob a lemon, but who knows. the discussion of whether to lay down vs standing upright was threaded yesterday & discussed in past. my belief is it should always be stood upright, despite those who state "i drove mine home strapped to the roof and nothing happen" .. of course, i'm being ridiculous. all my sets have been delivered upright, either on a pallet and/or with a 'tip sensor' attached to the 'outside' of the box.

the X1 seems to be similar to yr PX80 as you detailed; sell him yours & use his credit to upgrade to the V10. :)

It's possible that transporting it flat put excessive stress on a video board or some other board inside the TV causing the internal damage. It's not always the glass that gets broken when transporting em flat - sometimes the internal components get damaged by the weight of the panel over a bump and they're not designed for that kind of horizontal stress.

BTW - That is last year's model - it was discontinued back in January and replaced by the 50X1 in Feb 2009.

What is your buddy's budget and is he replacing an older set?

Just curious as to why only going to 720p instead of 1080p.

I'm looking at the 720 Panasonic also. Partly because of the money, and partly because I don't anticipate EVER utilizing 1080p. All broadcasters are utilizing 1080i or 720p, and I don't plan to ever buy Blue Ray, as a standard DVD upconvert player does just about as well without the cost of Blue Ray DVD's. I rent most of my DVD's and the only video rental store in my small town has just started featuring more DVD's than VCR tapes, and I don't anticipate them ever offering Blue Ray. Most experts I see say that the average person can't tell the difference between 720 and 1080 if he's a few feet back from the TV. I sit around 12' back, and from a 42" screen, I doubt if I could tell the difference. So for half the cost, 720 is a no brainer for me.

.. prob a lemon, but who knows.
I am hoping so. I have not heard of and of these sets failing and the way this one is messed up points to abuse/trauma to me. I did read something about the possibility of light "lines stretching from one corner diagonally to the other with the 50X1

BTW - That is last year's model - it was discontinued back in January and replaced by the 50X1 in Feb 2009.
Yes. I have the PX80U. Bought it 2 months after it came out last year. Logged almost 7K hours as of now, use it as a computer/HTPC monitor and it has been wonderful. That's why i recommended one.

What is your buddy's budget and is he replacing an older set?
He got this set for 800. I was trying to get him to hold off for black Friday deals but he isn't one of those people that can wait. 800 is about max. Sweet deal though. I think i paid 1400 for mine when it came out.


Just curious as to why only going to 720p instead of 1080p.
Same reason as me, Content and viewing distance. I'm about 8-9' away and he is 11-12' away. 1080P not really worth the premium.

At my viewing distance, you really cant see much of a difference between DVD and BD, certainly not a dramatic one. I have A/B compared the heck out of them. This set does DVD very well. It does it so well that i don't even feel the need to up-convert. I have 30 BD movies on a 1TB drive and i have almost 300 DVDs on a 1.5TB drive. The cost alone to store them, original cost of purchasing them puts DVD way ahead of BD in my application. My HT is 5.1 and i cant see going to 7.1 in this room ever. I don't even watch cable tv. The few tv shows i watch are either streamed over the internet or DL. I still have basic cable hooked up as i do have the cable internet. If i really need to watch something standard cable doesn't look all that bad. So for me, no reason to go with 1080P or BD. If i do it will absolutely be with a projector and drop down anyway.

My buddy is just replacing a 20 something inch CRT tv.

Cool... Yeah, go as big as possible at that point. A 46" 1080p wouldn't offer much at that distance over a 50" at 720p.

I'm still on my 10 year-old Yamaha 5.1 receiver (never did have the .1 part). That's an upgrade for next Christmas! :)