Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Review by T. Walker for Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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My Samsung 50 inch DLP finally gave up the ghost, and don’t get me started on how many times the repairman had to come out and put parts in the darn thing, and how long it sat waiting on those parts, and oh yes the bulbs that would just go out for no reason. But I digress, on to the Panasonic. I got a deal at $695.00 from another dealer and what a breeze to set up with my home theater system and harmony remote. I did not even look at the owners manual until I was watching tv. I did not know how sharp and clear my dish network HD channels were until I got this TV, it is so user friendly. I did go from a 50 inch to a 46 but the quality of the picture more than makes up for the loss in size. At the time I bought the DLP in 2004 a Plasma this size cost around $5000 and the quality was no where near this good. Again I say this is a great TV.

Review by Christopher Tomlinson for Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I just bought this TV from another retailer. Great TV and a great price (less than $800!!). I really prefer the plasma picture over LCD. Truer blacks and no fast motion rendering problems due to the 600Hz speed. Even if you don’t need the true black image, you can’t find a 46″ LCD running at 240Hz (currently the top LCD speed) for the same price point. I am very impressed with the TV and wish I could find the same bargain on a 55 – 60″ model for my family room!

Review by D. Robertson for Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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This is my second Panasonic plasma screen. My first Panasonic, now about two years old, is a great 42 inch set and has a great picture. I used it for my satellite tv, computer and running blu-rays from my PS3. I thought I couldn’t got wrong with Panasonic after the success of the first, but I am disappointed with the 46 inch U1. It was an incredible price at another retailer ($788 and I’ve heard of some getting it for $698) and I noted the 5 star reviews here, but after having it a few weeks, wish I had spent more on something else. The picture controls have very limited effect, and frankly the image is very dark. Some movies and TV shows..especially those shot at night have such a dark image that you can’t see any detail. This TV is very energy efficient as compared to their other models, and uses half the energy that my 42 inch did, and maybe that is where the image sacrifice is. That said, it is 46 inches, and Panasonic has one of the best durability track records out there. So, good bang for the buck perhaps, but I would buy another TV if I had it to do over again.

Review by S. Hupp for Panasonic VIERA U1 Series TC-P46U1 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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Pretty much, this TV rocks.

They have some at a local store and I’m bewildered people walk by them at their price point and buy a more expensive, inferior TV set.

It looks good with any source. SD, HD, it does great. Of course things are not going to look as good with SD content, but you’ve got a 46″ screen where you wouldn’t be able to see the gritty details as well as on an old 27″ SDTV set – it’s technology, not magic.

Do yourself a favor and get your TV calibrated. We picked up a copy of Elf on DVD and used its picture calibration setup, the picture went from great to even greater. It was impressive. I didn’t think it could had got any better.

Video games, this thing is like an arcade monitor on steroids. They don’t have monitors as good as this thing in arcades.

Even playing super fast games everything looks buttery smooth. Even old 16bit video games look good on this monitor.

Over the air HDTV looks great, especially a local 1080i channel (PBS HD). It looks like a computer screen using DVI input instead of a TV screen, that’s how good it looks.

My complaint? I DO have a complaint. The TV signal meter will not stay up longer than 2 minutes, and when I’m outside adjusting an antenna looking through the window in the cold and it vanishes, that sucks.

But that’s about it. Family has a 2 year old Vizio plasma that has noticable ghosting, otherwise called burn in (but fades, so, ghosting).

This television has not even had a hint of ghosting even from the word go. I’m completely comfortable playing video games with it, for hours. Not a single problem.

Plasma? Panasonic? Win.