Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Review by Stephen Howland for Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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The value you get for the price of this tv is second to none. I just recently put this tv in my house replacing an old rear projection tv and i am amazed at its color accuracy. I did find my self making a few tweeks from the factory settings but once you get it to where you like the picture you’ll fall in love. Sports and movies shine on this set. I preferred the plasma over the lcd because the movement on the tv was much more natural than the 120hz lcd displays. I sell T.V.s at sears and after being around both for a while I find the plasma image much easier and natural to look at. I chose Panasonic because they seem to have mastered the plasma technology and even a Samsung rep told me that he preferred Panasonic’s plasma to Samsungs plasma. I will admit to liking some of the new Sony’s coming out and the new LED tv is really cool but you cant touch those televisions at this price point. I kind of wish I had waited for the G10 seeing as it came in at such a close price difference but I cant complain I love this tv and it is a few hundred dollars cheaper. I should also note that the anti-glare filter works really well I wouldn’t be worried about glare issues. If anyone got through this review my advice to you is to buy this or the step up G10.

Review by James Ahearn for Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I decided on the P50S1 after about 250 hours of daily HDTV research for the past 3 or 4 months, in which I debated everything from plasma vs. LCD to screen size to features to ease of use to durability.

The 2009 Panasonic plasmas use the new “Neo-PDP” panels, which I can tell you personally having lifted both are much lighter than an equal size 2008 model plasma. The manual prudently warns against a single person lifting the set, but I did so myself with no problem.

This model was initially sold on Amazon at the initial MSRP of $1799, but has now dropped to a street price of under $1400 one month after being released. Placed my order on Wednesday the 8th, scheduled delivery for the following Wednesday the 15th. Was very surprised to get a phone call from Amazon’s freight carrier, CEVA, asking if they could deliver the TV on the 11th. Four days early, and on a Saturday no less. The CEVA driver carried the box into my apartment, unpacked it, let me inspect the TV, assembled the stand, put the TV on the stand, and let me hook up the power and HDMI connection to turn the TV on, all before I signed for it.

Picture quality in the Cinema preset is already outstanding to my eyes. However I’m sure color accuracy will improve once I tweak some settings as posted at [..]. The Panasonic 2009 S series, G10 series, and V10 series all use the same physical panels, so the only differences between them are software/firmware, and extras like the VGA input and VieraCast on the other series. If you don’t need the extras and are willing to tweak your picture settings, the S series is the best value for money out there.

If I really nitpick, the only negative I can come up with is the glossy black finish shows dust very easily, but that is true of most any HDTV currently sold.

Review by AJW for Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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This tv is great! I have been researching tvs for over a year to find the right one. I read all of the professional reviews (cnet) and this is the tv that I decided on. I was on a budget, I am a college student who does a lot of gaming and blu-ray watching. I am extremely picky about picture quality and this tv delivers an amazing picture! This blows nearly all LCD tv’s out of the water. I was not going to get a plasma to begin with because of the supposed “image retention” which I have yet to notice. I am extremely glad that I got a Panasonic Plasma. The blacks are so deep, it almost looks as though the tv is off when the screen is black. The deep blacks make the colors pop! I have watched a number of blu-rays and played a couple of hours of games and I am in love already. I highly recommend this tv to everyone. It is an extremely good deal. Any LCD for this size would be much more expensive and have a much lower picture quality. Also for those of you deciding between the G10 and this tv I would recommend this one. I went to the local Best Buy and compared the two next to each other and I could not notice any difference between the two. Save yourself some money. Good luck deciding on your next tv I hope this review helped.

Review by Shawn Hedrick for Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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My current TV was a Toshiba DLP, which was going through $[…] bulbs once a year ! So i went looking for a new lcd or plasma. First, i don’t see how anyone will be very impressed with the standard picture setting ? It’s a dingy, dull screen. However on “Cinema” or “Custom” setup, this picture is night and day brighter and more colorful. Maybe too much so. But at these settings, this tv easily rivals anything out there.

Here are CNET’s calibrated settings, which i was’nt impressed with at first, but am using now.

On your remote click “menu”, then click “picture” to get into these adjustments. Use the “arrow buttons” to navigate and change settings. Click the “return” button to get back out.

Use a quality HDMI cable, and give it about 3-4 weeks to break in. These settings really work well after some break in.

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picture mode: CINEMA

Contrast: +55

Brightness: +63

Color: +32

Tint: 0

Sharpness: 0 ( I am at +50 )

Color temp: Warm

C.A.T.S: Off

Video NR: Off

Zoom adjustments: ( Grayed out )…not adjustable

-Advanced picture submenu…< same menu, but arrow down and you'll see this.>

3D Y/C filter: ( grayed out )…not adjustable

Color Matrix: ( grayed out )…not adjustable

MPEG NR: Off

Black level: Light

HD Size: Size 2…….(mine is now on size 1 now and grayed out,Maybe a Dish network thing ?)

H size:( grayed out )……( mine is now adjustable and i have it on size 1 ) I’m guessing another Dish Network thing.

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I have the TV picture size ( format ) on “Normal”.

I have the Dish box tv size ( format ) on “Normal”

For best picture and easiest setup, use a quality HDMI (digital) cables instead of Component (analog) cables. They don’t have to be $150 monster cables. I ended up using a $9.00 HDMIKing HDMI cable. Component cables will provide HD, but you won’t get as sharp of picture as HDMI.

I got into it with Charter because they had given me a HD box that was component cable only, and they would’nt swap my box out for a HDMI box. I ended up switching to Dish Network, and am glad i did.

In 1983 i paid $750.00 for a 27″ Toshiba flatscreen, picture tube. 4 years ago my 46″ 720p DLP cost me $[…]. This 50″ 1080p Plasma was under $[…] !

Out of the box, this TV is nowhere near it’s potential. With some time and setup it it has a very good picture. I still compare it to more expensive LCD’s and i still feel i made the right choice.

Review by J. Berger for Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I’ve been using the S1 for almost a month now and absolutely love it. It has a beautiful, realistic picture that is perfect for video gaming and Blurays. It may not have quite the ‘pop’ of an LCD, but I much prefer the look of a plasma with it’s improved accuracy and uniform picture. I’m coming from a 34″ Sony XBR970 – which itself is a very accurate set – but this Panasonic has made me a convert. It’s plasma from here on out (or as long as they keep making them I suppose).

Of course one of my concerns before purchasing this set was burn in. I do a large amount of gaming and letterboxed movie watching, and I didn’t want to have to be constantly worrying about damaging my set. Well, I’ve been gaming on this thing since day 1 – many of which have static HUDs – and I have yet to see even the mere hint of image retention. Same goes for letterboxes, they leave absolutely no lingering image. I play 360 and PS3 on the Game picture setting and movies on Cinema – both of which have their contrast set around 80.

Regardless, I have been running break-in images while I’m not using the set. I’d say it’s getting on average about 15 hours of use a day for the past few weeks. Not necessarily because I’m worried about image retention any more, but more as a stress test – because I figure if anything is going to break down it’ll be in the beginning. I’d also like it broke in for proper calibration as well.

The blacks are very black – but not pure black. There’s a bit of brightness still there, but it’s more than acceptable. In my opinion still better than any LCD I’ve seen, and even more important more uniform.

The remote is pretty awful, so maybe plan on replacing that with a Harmony or something.

SD signals are what they are – SD. They tend to look a little worse on this plasma than they did before on the Sony, but I think a large part of that is just because of the bigger screen. Flaws and static are more readily apparent at 50″.

I’m no videophile, so personally I’m not seeing any sort of green push. Sometimes I *think* I see it, but I can’t totally convince myself it’s not just the source – because 99% of the time the picture looks great. I’m still looking to get it professionally calibrated down the road though, so I’ll be curious to see what difference that makes.