Panasonic 42pz700, 50pz700u, 50pz750u, 58pz700u and 58pz750u Owners Thread! - Page 312

Is the 80u available now?

I'm in a somewhat similar situatuion in tha t I'm returning a 2nd 50pe700u with bad pixels and there may be no exchange available when I can do it later this week.

I agree most of the specs do look better, the pixel shifter, game mode and 24p playback would be cool. But the sound really looks weak with 2 fullrange speakers instead of the woofers and tweeters on 700. The sound is an issue for me because there is no way my much better half is going to go for a external system(going for the clean, understated look). The sound is pretty good on the 700u anyway.

Just a question Im unsure about, I dont have the tv yet but were looking at getting the 65 inch 750,I was just wondering since my receiver output is set to 1080i (bell express vu or dish network since there the same units,it can only output one resolution) if I use JUST mode for 4:3 programming will it automatically go to the proper 16:9 resolution mode for 16:9 programming, Im assuming the correct mode for 16:9 hd is full???

Probably not. If you have your receiver output everything at 1080i, then all the TV sees is 1080i regardless of whether the channel was originally 480i 4:3 or not. The way this is "fixed" with a DirecTV receiver (and I assume the Dish Nework receiver would operate the same way) is that the receiver itself adjusts the aspect ratio; so, for instance, you'll have the TV on FULL for everything (since it's only getting 1080i), but your receiver may have an option to insert pillarboxes on content that was originally 4:3 to put it in the proper aspect ratio and leave 16:9 content alone.

Hope that makes some sense.

--Mav

I thought about hanging my 58pz700u, but only for a second. I just imagined my new plasma sitting in a pile of broken screen. Even if I payed to have it done correctly that would always be in the back of my mind. Coming home from work to see it face down I can see the smaller designs, but the big boys are too heavy IMO unless you do have a steel beam.

If a properly built stud wall can't support the weight of a 140+ pound plasma tv I'm not sure if I'd want to live in that house

Truthfully, it's not the wall studs one needs to worry about it's the mount being able to handle the weight when it's properly installed. If the mount being used is rated to handle the load and the proper hardware is supplied then you should have no qualms about doing a wall installation of your 58pz700u. I'll be installing my 58pz750u on the wall using a peerless sf660 mount as soon as I finish out my basement.

If you think about it, your upper kitchen cabinets are probably attached to the wall using 3" drywall screws and when fully loaded with plates and food items likely weigh more than your plasma tv does.

Exactly. The guys were like man, this thing sure is heavy. Well, the second floor of my house is pretty heavy and the wall manages to hold that up just fine.

Just make sure you have a good secure attachment with properly sized bolts with properly sized hles drilled and you will be fine. I actually used 4 bolts across the top of mine (all into studs) and 2 on the bottom. When you consider the forces actually acting on the wall mount, the bottom bolts are pretty much along for the ride and just keep the mount from moving. I would hang off the side of a 50 story building with similar attachment.

Keep in mind the 77u has an "anti-glare" screen vs. the "anti-reflective" found on the 700u which is why forum members have commented on the difference between the two and their preference for the "anti-reflective" over the "anti-glare" as far as PQ was concerned. The "anti-reflective" on the 80u is supposed to be even more improvement on the "anti-reflective" display of the 700u which would be a good thing.

It's always a tough decision whether to go with what is tried and true (700u) or try something that is supposed to be an improvement (80u). Given the 80u is currently selling on average for $300 more than the 700u, an additional $75 sounds like a good deal, especially if you're not going to be using the 80u's speakers. Personally, if I wasn't going to use an external surround system, I'd try to snap up a 700u with it's 4 speakers vice the 2 in the 85u. Additionally, the 85u does not have the BBE® ViVA HD3D Sound feature.

+1. I used a Sanus VMDD26 to mount my 58PZ700U and the thing is solid as a rock (even when pulled away from the wall the full 26" and articulated). Even though it's solid as a rock, I admit to having worried that this thing was going to come crashing down on my kid for about a month or so, but it hasn't even budged since I installed it, so I no longer even give it a second thought. FWIW, because of my stud configuration, I was able to actually hit 3 studs, but it's not even close to being centered on the mount (again, as a result of where I wanted it on the wall and where I had to put the wallplate because of the stud configuration), and still, no problems.

--Mav

From my experience with my comcast cable box - if I have it output 1080i fixed, then if I set my 58pz700 on JUST mode, it will stay there no matter what channel I put on whether HD or SD or anything in between. But when I have my setop box on 'pass-thru' or auto, then I have to constantly change the Plasma aspect as I go from 480i to 1080i to 720p... it gets old after awhile. I will probably go back to letting the setop upscale everything to 1080i fixed.

I, of course, got the same one (at your suggestion) and yes, the mount itself is a tank. If the house gets crushed in a tornado, the TV will be dust but that mount will be untouched. Unfortunately, we've "standard" studs w/standard spacing and the wall plate was something like 4~6" too narrow to hit three. At least in our setup the bottom of the set is a bit less than two feet from the floor and there's the subwoofer and equipment stuff below it so it's only an inch or so to fall before hitting something (recall center of screen is at sitting eye height). So if the upper bolts decide to leave the wall, the lower ones will probably hold enough when the bottom of the TV sits on the stuff underneath it (until it can be fixed).

Actually, I do wonder about the studs holding up the the upper floor sometimes especially with things like an old big heavy desk covered with heavy books. But at least it's not the old style house with 2x4 studs (uses 2x6 I think).

I'm (finally) getting off my duff to get quotes to have my 50" Panny mounted on the wall (not over a fireplace) with the wires hidden in the wall. This should be a very easy/straightforward installation since it's just the TV and one satellite receiver. I have no dedicated DVD player...will use my PC/laptop for that and connect through the front panel. Already have my Peerless tilt mount ready & waiting.

Any ideas what my mount cost 'should' run? I'm NOT going to use the Geek Squad or any big box store. I will NOT be doing any of the work or lifting myself.

So how do you clean your panel/bezel. The book just says a high fiber cloth. Do any of you recommend a spray esp. for the glass part?

So far have just used a microfiber cloth (got packages of them at Costco a few years ago, and they're machine washable so long as softener isn't used). Long term I may have to wet one down. Hope not to have to do more than that. Microfiber cloths have amazing cleaning power in addition to being soft and cuddly. Even takes off fingerprints cleanly.

In any case, I'd dare not use a spray unless sold by Panasonic for their plasma screens. Don't want to mess with their anti-reflection layer and/or anything else they use on the surface. Why risk it when plain ordinary things seem to work fine.

I am looking at buying the 50pz700u and on a couple of sites it says it cannot accept a 1080/24f signal. It stated that it crops the picture. So does this mean you can't play bluray on this tv?

cool thanks. This is what I was thinking. As long as the screen doesn't attract dust, which according to some on here they don't seem to think it does. Not like a CRT does anyhow.

Any chance you could link us to those sites?

If that's what those sites really say, then don't believe anything you read on those sites, including "and" and "the".

My 58/750U not only plays my PS3's Blu-rays, it does so gorgeously.

I'd have to agree with this. I built the wall that I mounted my TV to. The lag bolts are seriously not going to pull out. No way ever. I even used 24" on center on the particular wall my TV is mounted to. Its in the basement and the walls are even floated.

You have to have some faith in construction. I have no worries at all. I'd even go bigger. Now a 103" screen.....I'd set it on the floor. lol

I think nearly everyone shrugs on this one because AFAIK anything that can source something that's 24fps can also convert it to something the set can take (60). Including blu-ray players. The only folk I've seen who concern themselves with it are those who will argue the nuances of how well it's done -- which is limited seeing as how 24 fps is even slower than the 30fps of interlaced video (480i, 1080i) so even perfection is flawed.

I made an interesting observation today that fits into a lot of what I've been seeing with the black levels on the 700u.

Background - I converted from all analog 2.0 to all digital a few months ago. I've been bothered from the get-go by the difference in blacks, and the control of blacks on the Panny versus the Sony XBR CRT I had been using. My observations to this point have been precisely in line with colnago's posts. I'm most bothered by the fact that you can't extract detail without blowing out the rest of the picture.

My technically unfounded speculation is that the problem may be in the brightness control itself. In other words, I'm assuming that the brightness control is fixed in what it "does" and changing anything in the service menu simply affects that indirectly - you still have a "fixed" brightness control. I have no idea how a digital brightness control works, but I assume there is a simple map, and downstream from that map is all the internal stuff.

Here's why. I have a Philips 3575, bought with everything else a few months ago. The blacks on the 3575 are atrocious. If the people in this thread were the same as in the 3575 threads, they'd raise the roof with their screams of outrage. It's dark in the extreme - insane, bizarre extreme.

The brightness control on the 700u is essentially useless in terms of balancing the 3575 picture to match the original. Full on 30 and you still can't get the detail, and of course the rest of the picture is totally blown out. I returned the 3575 and received a new one, several month later pack date, and it's the same. Got it back today.

I've been playing with it for just an hour, so may change my mind in time, but as I sat there disgruntled I had the bright idea to try the brightness control of the Reon in the Onkyo receiver. It has a drastically different effect than the set's control. It actually controls black levels without blowing out the whites. For me there's two issues overlapping - can I get a decent picture from the 3575, and can I use the Reon control instead of the set's for DVD now. So still a lot of investigation to do.

I'm just throwing this out to add a data point, but it can't be overemphasized that the Reon control is far superior for controlling blacks than the Panny control. This makes me wonder, as said above, if the problem is simply the implementation of the brightness control that's a large past of the problem with the 700u, and if service menu settings aren't accomplishing anything more than a workaround, even when professionally done.

Okay I was pretty much sold on getting the 50pz85u. I am taking back my second pio 5080 due to the buzz that in my mind is very unacceptable. So....I was all set to get the pz85u then started reading about the 50pz750u. In all of your opinions....are these sets going to be essentially the same. The specs look pretty much the same except the 750u seems to have more picture adjustments. The review I read on it said it had some of the best blacks of plasmas tested. I also read tha the 50pz85u is going to have great black. Please help in my confusion and give me your insight on what tv you would pick. thanks!

One more thing....does anyone owning a panasonic have a buzz that can be heard from 6' away or more?

Absolutely no buzz...zero...I have the TH-50PZ700U...it seems very well built...the picture quality is beautifully true-to-life...a very crisp and very clean PQ...colors are very natural...blacks can be deep but, overall, the blacks are not Kuro drippy...but that's okay - it excels in overall performance and plasma picture quality...HD & DVD can awe @ times...SD is surprisingly good...the 750U will not disappoint...1080p is a good thing...IMO.

I have the 58pz700 and I can't hear a buzz from 6mm away.

A display that can accept 24fps usually repeats each frame once or twice displaying at 48fps, 72 fps or even more. Even commercial film projectors in theaters display each frame 2 or 3 times.

No. And anyone who does has a defective TV and needs to have it repaired. Panasonics are not known to be buzzy. Be more worried about the power supply failures if you want to obsess about something

so what timeframe does the power supply problem rear its ugly head. Or are you being sarcastic?

"Ditto" for a 58pz750

Yes, for the theater projectors that's done to reduce flicker that would otherwise be seen. Basically making it flicker more to make it flicker faster which in turn makes the flicker not visible (persistence of vision).

But the source "data" from film is still 24fps and the issue of compatibility is really a different one than flicker reduction. The TV's are running with a hair under 30 fps for interlaced video or 60 fps for progressive. So conversion needs to be done whether it's done by the "source" box or by the "tv" box. Some TV's will run at a 72hz rate to make the conversion integral rather than use the less optimal techniques to fit into 60 that "multiplies" by 2.5 to make it fit which can cause some increased blur-like artifacts on fast moving objects instead of just plain blurring (when doing the half'sies). But in any case, this is for compatibility conversion as opposed to the (old fashioned film) theater trick which is for flicker reduction. This has been mentioned before in this thread, and those who have looked at 24fps movies converted by their player then viewed on their non-24fps panny seem to like what they see.

I don't think there was sarcasm involved. That's pretty much what I'd think too (power supply). Timeframe isn't known, just a statistical SWAG at what the problem probably is and the observation that problems usually get worse over time.

Huh? I think it's just myself and another poster, don't remember who, who forced 24 fps to the Panny and got some funky results. Definitely wouldn't want to watch a movie like that.

But to wakeaustin's question, every BD player can output at 60hz. Blu-ray on this set looks fantastic.