Reviews Written by Barney

Panasonic TH-50Px60U

Pros: Best picture for non-HD channels compared to others in class.

Cons: Occasional horizontal hold shift when turning TV on. Seems to be isolated to HD channels. Easy to fix: Cange channels and back corrects alignment.

Some say the HD image quality is not as great as others in it's class. That is debateable. Personally I think it's just fine. If you are looking for the sharpest HD picture around, well, then go up in board quality to the sharper (higher resolution)Panasonic TH-50Px600U (*-Note... it says the 600U, not 60U).

The 600U costs a little more, but the picture is fantastic. And the non-HD picture is better than any of the other brands. Only Fujitsu and PIoneer boards in the same class seemed to have a better HD picture, but that's what you get for the extra couple thousand $$$ you pay. Fuljitsu rejects more boards within their quality control than any other manufacturer... higher standards.

I regress, back to the Panasonic TH-50Px60U. As usual it comes down to what is important for you. For me it was the following top three criteria:
1) Non-HD picture quality - Not everything is in HD, and I love to watch those documentaries on the Discovery channels. The Panasonic TH-50Px60U (and Panasonic TH-50Px600U) won out here in their respective classes and price ranges, hands down.
2) Contrast Ratio (black look like black) - The Panasonic TH-50Px60U won out here for others in it's price range.
3) HD picture quality - Others had better quality in its price range and class. Not by much, we're talking the difference between being able to count Hillary Rodham-Clinton's whiskers before an upper lip waxing and not. Is that something you really want to see? Don't answer that aloud within earshot of anyone. :-) ...