CNET gives the Panasonic TH-50PX77U plasma high marks
By Matt Burns 
posted April 13th 2007 7:56AM
posted April 13th 2007 7:56AM
Plasmas may not be selling as they used to be but that doesn't mean major players are giving up on them. Panasonic has a long pedigree of quality PDPs and according to CNET, the latest series doesn't mare their image. They found the 1080p HD DVD detail on the 720p PX77U to be excellent even when sitting next to Pioneer's 1080p 50-inch plasma and Sony's 1080p XBR2 LCD. In fact, we wish we could have attended the testing session, as it is the best assessment we can think of 720p vs 1080p. CNET thought of this too and indicated just what we had thought: there was little noticeable difference from the between the three sets at a viewing difference of 7 feet. The bottom line however is the set has amazing black levels, great colors - with a little inaccuracy - cool styling, and an anti-glare screen coating. All this made for a 8.0 out of 10 over on CNET. We just hope people don't give up on plasma when searching for a new flat-screen as this just proves they can produce a great picture even if the resolution is a little lower.
"HD DVD, Improving Plasma!!"
Bunk - C|Net is heavily invested by Plasma flatpanel advertizing and that makes cnet assessments biased to the 1366x768 market.
IMHO side by side an 1080 LCD with true 1080 source kicks the crap out of 720p on anything.
From most reports this TV's display is great with DVD source and a 720p feed from ESPN, but it does not do 1080i very well. If your thing is FIFA on ABC or ESPN then get this, if you're into Major League Soccer on HDNet or CSN then look for a different set.
David Katzmaier's CNET reoport on the PX77U was tested in a darkened theater setting and they also did a service-menu level calibration.
The reports wasn't all good, like most plasma displays the Black-level retention was rated as POOR.
This false contouring issue with plasma displays makes LCD looking better nowadays.
Really agree with above post! [by Ed W]
Why is it that Panasonic (Sony, Hitachi & others) always FAIL "1080i deinterlacing" from the test discs/patterns(?) yet Pioneer, Sharp and a few others always pass?
Folks, HIGH DEFINITION TV means that the display should definitely have the right processing chips for 1080i material(!), from sources such as upconverted DVDs, HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, as well as HD cable/satellite feeds.
I've read many display reviews on cnet and other sites, as well as print sources like Sound and Vision, The Perfect Vision, Home Theater Magazine, HDTV Inc, (etc) and many of the name brands are NOT equipping their sets with the proper 1080i-deinterlacing chips(!) - like the Silicon HQV chip, and others from Broadcom, Faroudja, etc.
Heck, even the new Vizio 60-inch 720p plasma ($2600 at Costco.com) includes the Faroudja chip, and PASSES 1080i deinterlacing tests [see cnet's review].
Also, Syntax's new 47 inch 1080p LCD set (model 747i) includes the Silicon HQV chip and received a a very high rating from a recent Sound and Vision review. This set also includes some other unique features, like dual ATSC tuners, etc.
No offense to Panasonic, but I'm NOT about the buy theirs or any other company's display if the internal 1080i processing can't correctly deinterlace 1080i-HD signals, which is the most common content these days [unless you still watch DVDs in standard 480p, without upconversion to 1080i].
You shouldn't trust Cnet reviews anymore. Cnet was fantastic during the dot com boom, but it's no longer the same company as it used to be especially post-zdnet buyout. Look at the silly, useless 2 minute video reviews by "anyone can be an editor of the day".
In this day and age of low attention spans, I can understand the draw of Cnet for non-techies, but it's hard to explain to these same people you cannot trust everything on the internet. Because of the Cnet brand, Cnet more than any site is a target for the "people for hire" type websites who pay people to write fake user reviews online to jack up product ratings.
Same reasons why Consumer Reports is so popular even though they outsource product testing to outside companies and don't even know the facts of the results before publishing them.
Like a generation gap.. trying to explain this phenomenon to "older" people.