Panasonic TH-58PZ800U: Cnet Editors Choice?

I just got the TH-58PZ800U on Friday and have been extremely happy with it. It does reflect light more than my old rear projection LCD, but even in a bright room the picture quality is 100x better than my old tv.

The blacks are not quite as black when there is a lot of light in the room, but the TV is far from unwatchable. Also keep in mind that my picture is set to THX mode with the default setting which some people say is too dim. Once I get some more hours on the set I'll start to tweak it.

It's an overcast day today, but here are a few pictures taken at around 10am in my living room with 3 large eastern facing windows. I find the reflections from the shiny bezel to me more of an issue than anything. Simply closing the curtains solves all of these problems.

Pjb23, this is off the subject, but what are those round speakers you're using? I'm not familiar with them. Thanks.

I dig the living room and TV table

They are Anthony Gallo A'Diva's.
http://www.roundsound.com/adiva-satellite-speakers.htm

pjb23,
Pics and room placement of display looks fantastic!

Chris

One thing I found interesting about the review is how they commented on how store mode made the settings on the TV much brighter than home mode. Maybe a few 85/800/850 users should try resetting that option, I'm going to try it on my friends 85U and see what it does.

Thanks. The room looks great by the way.

I own this HDTV.

CNET was not as clear as they might have been in their review and failed to point out that their comments were referring to the THX mode. The THX settings are slightly dim but with the "picture" setting turned up and adding a bit of brightness to this THX mode you have a picture that generally looks very good if not excellent with a wide variety of source material.

However you can turn up the brightness considerably more if you use a non-THX mode.


I use THX for movies (with the picture setting increased to 95%, brightness at 62, color 50, and tint at -8, sharpness at 50).

But I've also created a custom mode which has far more "pop" which I use for some regular TV shows that were never intended to be shown in a theatre (Custom settings - picture 85, brightness 50, color 34, tint -7, sharpness 50). This picture jumps off the screen and is very bright. However I use it rarely.

It is important to note that a brightness setting of 50 in THX mode is VERY DIFFERENT from a brightness setting of 50 in a Custom mode. The same is true for most other settings. A picture setting of 100 in custom mode would be so bright and over-saturated that you'd need sun glasses while a picture setting of 100 in THX mode is more muted.

Nine times out of ten I prefer the THX settings but when I want some more "pop" on a certain channel I use the custom settings I created. Using my custom setting no one could ever claim the picture is too dim, rather in most cases, it is far too bright!!!

If I had read this CNET review prior to purchasing this set I would have had the same concerns that daltonlanny had. However you really can make this set as bright as you want! Yet the THX mode will satisfy you at least 90% of the time

daarrid, thanks for your post on the display and for posting your settings.

Happy to be of any help.

There has to be sample to sample variations regarding settings! I saw a bit too much green in people's faces and that is why my tint is at -8 which adds some red.

My custom settings work best for shows hosted in a television studio like a national newscast or CNN

Woah woah woah, hold on here folks, so Cnet now deducts points because of price point? I don't understand, by their standards Elite 111>Panny but panny still got editors choice. No sir, I don't like it.

Why? That's just the system they use and once you understand it then it makes sense. Never make any purchase based on one sites "editor rating" or lack thereof...anyone who does probably wouldn't appreciate the differences between Pioneer and Panny anyway.

I agree with their method, especially when they are up front about it. Value is a very important consideration for their audience. If they didn't consider price they would soon be irrelevant as a source of consumer information as only the most expensive TVs would be recommended.