Panasonic TH-50PM50U arrived today - Page 2  

This is my first post. After reading and searching these forms for months like a mental patient I finally ordered the 50PM50U from Costco. I ordered on the 9th and it arrived in 10 Business days. No problems at all.

I have my DTV Tivo unit hooked up thru SVideo until I upgrade that rig and I am shocked at how good it does look.

I have an OTA tuner hooked up with Component to get my Local HI-Def fix and every thing looks good. The true test will be Sunday when I watch the Steelers play the Broncos. Go Steelers.

I ran out and Picked up an upconverting DVD player 'Toshiba SD-K8505U' from Costco today. I have this hooked up thru HDMI. It looks great but I did notice 2 very long pause points in Monsters Inc. So It may be going back. I may want to give the Oppo player a Try. I have read some about that player. But the jury is still out on this.

My next purchase may be the 4 to 1 HDMI switch from mono-price. To deal with only having 1 HDMI input on the PM50U. Then maybe a Harmony 880.

It sure is easy to spend money with this hobby. :)

I'm new to this site and have been trying to find one of these units.
Cosco's web site doesn't list it. May I ask what thier price was on it and can anyone help me locate one? Thanks.

The site said 4-6 WEEKS for delivery...I was bummed, but figured this would give me a chance to see the Philips 50" that is going on coupon next week. Then if it looked OK, I could cancel the Panny.

Well, on 11/19 I got the email that the Panny had been shipped! COOL.

No Philips for me...looks like I'll have teh Panny for the Super Bowl.

Time to order my Oppo DVD player, DVI>HDMI cable ...


EDIT: Thanks to Precision80 for posting the tracking link...
http://www.homedirectusa.com/track.html

Ordered my set from Costco first thing 8am Monday morning they went on sale. It was delivered 10 business days later (Friday Morning). I have been sitting in this chair ever since!

LOVE it! Fantastic Picture!

I moved my Rear Projection Mitsubishi 55 " to the basement. I was really scared that I would miss the 5" extra size. I was VERY pleased with the Mits. picture. There is an amazing difference. This picture is so much better. So glad I made the switch to Plasma!!!! It give a 3D depth feeling to the picture I have never experienced before. The picture is SO good I don't even miss the larger size.

It's interesting the mentions of "motion sickness."

I've observed (and commented before in my comparisons with plasma vs other displays) that the plasmas have a stronger "suck you into the image" effect for their size, vs projection-type displays. It seems to have a more vivid impact.

For movie watching I have a black backdrop behind the plasma, and I mask out the black bars for 2:35:1 films. So it's like a mini-front projection effect. The weird thing I notice is how visceral camera moves can be watching the plasma. For instance, the camera zooming and twirling around during the intro dog-fight in Revenge Of The Sith gives me much the same type of vertigo and visceral feeling of motion as when I watch the same scenes on a big front projector set-up.

I attribute this effect to the fact that, despite the disparity in size, the plasma image is more vivid, solid and realistic.

Personally, I enjoy the effect, which is why I've increased it in my set-up. (No one has complained of motion-sickness or whatever when watching films at my house).

You're a "prime-candidate" to ride "Mission Space" at Walt Disney World! :D

Hello all. AVS forum is such a great resource. And I'm happy to say this is my first post.

Does anyone know if the TH-50PM50U is still available at costco online? If so, can you get an extended warranty with it? I'm a little gun-shy because the last big TV I purchased (36XBR400) had problems a few months after the factory warranty ran out. Too bad, it was a fine TV.

Thanks.

i don't think costco is still selling the panny.

and with them you don't really need an EW cuz they have such an awesome return policy.

Hey Vette,
Where are the wires?
Did you run the power cord thru the wall (many here say a big no-no) or do you have a plug installed higher in the wall?
Just curious...

Thanks Oysterhead and Vette.

Since my last post, I have read many a thread about Costo's return policy. Sounds like a winner. On the website it is stated that the TH-50PM50U would ship in 4-6 weeks. Is that accurate, or are they stalling because they are out of stock and waiting/hoping for a new shipment? It really seems that nearly nobody has a Panasonic 50" in stock. (Except certain online retailers that I don't trust completely) Maybe I'll just wait for 60U's... March I guess?

if you really have to wait 4 - 6 weeks, then I would DEFINITELY wait for the 60 series.

Just need to vent to some people that will understand, WHERE THE F IS MY TV!!!!??? i cant watch this 19" toshiba from 1991 that i borrowed since i sold my 50 inch dlp. Im starting to lose my mind!

Just got it yesterday...really natural colors compared to my PIO 4312. PIO colors and overall PQ are much brighter (had mine ISF'd) last year.

Takes awhile to get used to but HD PQ great and I'm really surprised at how good SD looks; much better than on the PIO, even with a larger screen.

HDMI is breaking up from Comcast 6412 box. Switched boxes and HDMI cables, reconnected the PIO and no breaking of picture on the PIO.

Called Panny who got me in touch with a service rep locally. He is investigating with Panny, says this model is so new (basically a 50PX50U model with no tuner) that they have very little feedback etc.

Panny service asked if the HDMI "break up" occurred with box set to all scan rates, 1080i, 720p etc. It does.

This is not edge flicker; it is picture break up intermitantly only on HDMI/DVI connection. Component is excellent.

Any thoughts? Service Rep said Panny may be looking for a software upgrade if possible to correct.

I could just return the unit to Costco, but would rather try and get it fixed. As you all know, Panny's are currently hard to get your hands on.

Regardless, I will return it/replace if not corrected.

Any Costco 50PMU owners having this issue?

Thanks

I too ordered mine on 1/11, the website says it is shipped but to date I did not recieve it. I live in Northern California. Did you say you got an email with shipping details? I did not get any such email.

Looks beautiful..I have my cabinet on the side and may need 25ft of AV cables (s-video, component & HDMI) since I plan to run them through the attic and through the wall behind the plasma. Any suggestions on where I can get and what brand?

Thanks for the website. I found the following when I typed in my details:

Status Reported By Reported Date
Unload Tru Air Ride Services 01/17/2006
Load American Relo & Logistics 01/16/2006
Pickup American Relo & Logistics 01/13/2006

It shows tru Air ride Services as the carrier that will be delivering my Panny after picking it up from American Relo & Logistics. To date I did not recieve my Panny. Begining to wonder where Tru Air "unloaded" the set?

Gongura,
My tv is unloaded someplace too. For the past three days. No response from voicemail at the homedirectusa phone message. I just hope they don't try to deliver it on this Sunday.

Oh, and go to monoprice and order your cables. Many on this forum have used them. Their prices are great. Quality? I have no personal experience with them yet. But remember, if you get your tv and don't have your cables, you have a whole lot of nuthin'.

If your Motorola is similar to my Comcast STB, when you select the feed, you can also select how the 4:3 signals will display. You can select "stretch" in the 4:3 Override area and it will fill the screen.

I'm in the same boat and i ordered on the 12th. Mine has showed:
Unload Guiney Delivery Service 01/24/2006
Load American Relo & Logistics 01/23/2006
Pickup American Relo & Logistics 01/17/2006

I can't even find a google listing for Guiney in Calif. and I'm in N. Calif. Why do I think there are a bunch of movers who are really going to enjoy the Superbowl!

Just spoke to the delivery company, they have the unit but no truck is coming my way until Monday! AARGH!!

try calling bekins see if they can give you the info.

If anyone is still waiting for delivery, I'd recommend calling Bekins (800) 611-6302 with your waybill number and checking on the status. There was mixup on the paperwork between Bekins and the local delivery company, so my order's been sitting in a warehouse for about a week. Everything was cleared up with a few phone calls.

Well after ordering on the 12th mine just arrived today. The delivery guys said they had 12 drop offs to do today. Things I have learned:

1. The initial settings really take getting used to and are pretty dark (and I've only had mine for 2 hours!)
2. My dish PVR 501 is so freaking antiquated the best output is S video
3. Riverdance looked pretty crappy but Star Wars 3 looked freaking amazing.
4. Standard def is going to take some getting used to, I hope the rest of the family will tolerate it while they get used to it.

Questions I have:
1. The Dish PVR has a 4:3 output and a 16:9. I have set it to 16:9 I am assuming that is the right thing to do
2. I have a cheap Go Video DVD/VCR combo that allow me to choose interlaced or progressive, should I just try each to see what looks best or does one play better with the scaler.

I'd be interested what other new owners have to say!

Got my Panny today (atlast!)...The one dilema I have is how to hang the Panny on the wall. Do I have to use Panny's wall bracket or can I use any universal wall mount/bracket? The reason I asked is because the Pio 4304 I had earlier had holes in the back to which I can attach the mounting brackets. I do not see any such holes on the back of the TH-50PM50U. Any advice?

The setup looks awesome. How did you mount the Plasma? Did you use teh Panny bracket or a universal mount?

In regards to gongura's question,
I got my Panny on 1/30. I wall mounted it with the tilting unit advertised on costco (turned out to be peerless brand), great price. It worked fine. You need to remove the plastic tabs on the back of the panny to attach the brackets. They worked flawlessly. A bit heavy when you put it up though, so be careful.
My only problem with my setup was with the Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD dvr from cablevision. At first it refused to enter the setup wizard for HDTV and all it would display was every channel in 1080i (standard channels made people look like clayfaces). But a bit of plugging and unplugged the hdmi allowed the unit to be set to a variety of outputs, and standard tv looks pretty good in 480i.
Next step for me is hooking up the hdmi dvd player I just picked up. I got the hdmi switcher from monoprice so I'll post how it works.

I wonder if the Costo PM is the reason it is so hard to find the PX's anywhere. Maybe when they lowered their price, panasonic had already cut a deal with costco to produce "x" units, and in order to fill that promise they had to stop making the PX's... The question is, will we see any more PX's before the 06 models come out, or are the PM's all that will be available.

It's too bad the PM's dont have a cable card or I'd pick one up.

Doug