Panasonic TH-50PZ77U

I was leaning heavily towards 1080p LCD tvs primarily because I felt their images were so much sharper and crisper than the comparably priced 720p plasmas. Then I stumbled across the 1080p th-50pz77u and it was even priced lower than many of the LCDs I was looking at. So I had a hard look at it and finally purchased one.

I'm only giving it a 9 rating after reading the rating guidelines but for my money, it's pretty darn close to perfect.

I've had it for a few weeks now and it's connected to a Dish network HD DVR and an upconversion DVD player and I am simply amazed at the HD quality. The SD picture quality is also very good.

Now that I've been watching it a few weeks, I finally appreciate what the CNET editors mean when they continue to reiterate the importance of the black level. I think because of the awesome black level of this set, the color depth and brilliance completely blow away those of any LCD I looked at.

There are a ton of menu options to choose from in terms of picture settings and there are several presets. After fiddling with the settings a while, I generally come back to the presets and I think they are right on target with those.

It's mounted on the wall in our basement TV room so there is not a lot of external light but I can say even with the lights on, there is no noticeable glare so I'd say the anti-glare coating is doing its job very well.

Under cons, I point out it only has 2 hdmi ports. I think for the price and quality of this tv, that is a very, very minor point - but it was really the only downside/inconvenience I've encountered. I believe the picture quality is pretty much the same when I connect with the component ports but the on board sound is a little better when going through the HDMI. That's not much of a drawback because I'm running the sound into an external receiver anyway - so bottom line is, I can still connect 4 hd devices, 2 hdmi and 2 component - and that's plenty for me.

Love this tv, extremely glad I went plasma over lcd and Panasonic has great dependability/repair ratings from consumer reports. I spent a little more than I planned on but I am now glad I did.

I highly recommend this model. Think it would be very hard to beat at any price level.

To begin, this is my first foray into the HD world, coming from CRT to this was HUGE step up. To me, the picture is FRICKIN AWESOME! bottom line is that I think my viewing experience is OUTSTANDING!

I have done approximate 7-8 months of heavy research, on a daily basis, reading the forums, visiting BB and CC and Tweeter etc... my initial thought was LCD, but the refresh rate, price, and glare was a sticking point with me (looking at Samsung and Sony which both make wonderful products I am not knocking them at all) so I decided to look at the Plasma technology. And Panasonic seemed to be the best overall brand as far as quality and value were concerned. So I narrowed down to the new 800 series, however I didn't like the fact of paying over 2000 for a TV. So I was intrigued by the 77U series as a sales rep suggested to me and because the TV will be in family room with many windows. After checking out the new Panny's, the glare on the new 750, 800, & 850 models is very noticeable, so why pay all that money to see yourself every time the picture changes. With the 77U, the anti-glare screen does the job. Other reviewers gripe about PQ going down because of it are wrong, (I know kinda bold) if you have a deep dark color and you want it to look good, why would you want to see the glare? To me that doesn't make sense. I am also ecstatic with the color and with watching sports. I have yet to notice motion blur in watching football, baseball etc. Making slight adjustments is no problem and the menu is really laid out well. I have had the TV for about a month, I purchased it on clearance, so I paid a wonderful price. I have noticed some slight blurring with fast color on my satellite service, which I am contributing to compression with the signal. I am really excited to get a Blu-Ray player so I can see a full 1080p signal and I know that it will blow me away again. So, as far as my overall experience goes, 2 thumbs way up.