Panasonic TH50PZ800B Review

Panasonic TH50PZ800B is a 50″ plasma television positioned at the high end of the company’s lineup. Key features of this model include the Full HD 1920x1080p resolution, a quoted contrast ratio of 30,000:1, and the company’s V-REAL PRO 3 processing engine. Let’s find out how it performs!

Note: The specific plasma model we reviewed was the Panasonic TH50PZ800B (i.e. the 3-pin-plug British version), but if you see the term TH50PZ800 being used in this article, it refers to the same HDTV.

Design

Panasonic TH50PZ800B

The TH50PZ800B’s bezel design is more or less consistent with Panasonic’s other Plasma displays. Its stand-out feature is the rather attractive silver curve at the bottom of the display, which features a unique “curved” Power button, as well as a rugged-feeling flap which lifts smoothly upwards to reveal front-mounted HDMI, legacy video, and SD card inputs, and some buttons. Panasonic dubs this arrangement the “Horizontal Arch design”, and we have to say, we like it quite a lot.

The back of the unit features recessed hand grips, a most welcome feature given the weight of a large Plasma display, and given also that it doesn’t come pre-attached to its stand. These grips allow two people to carefully lower the display onto the stand (anyone who’s handled a 50″ plasma display will know not to attempt this themselves!)

Connections

The Panasonic TH50PZ800B plasma TV includes connectivity options to suit most purposes. The back panel features two SCART terminals (one of which can also accept S-Video feeds), analogue Component video and stereo audio inputs, three HDMIs, and a VGA PC input.

front inputs
Front: Legacy video, HDMI and SD Card front inputs

The fourth HDMI port is located under the flap on the front of the Panasonic TH50PZ800B (alongside the SD Card input and legacy S-Video and Composite video inputs). Clearly, this will be an aesthetic annoyance if you plan on having the maximum number of HDMI devices permanently connected, but in my case, I greatly appreciated its ease of use when temporarily connecting an HDV camcorder to the display.

Operation

On-Screen User Menu

Panasonic TH50PZ800B’s menu floats in the bottom left corner of the display, and offers access to [VIERA Link], [Picture], [Sound] and [Setup] menus. Controls appear to have been kept to a minimum.

Picture menu
Picture menu

The top-level adjustment in the Picture menu is for the [Viewing Mode], which allows selection of [Dynamic], [Normal], [Cinema] or [Eco]. The Panasonic TH50PZ800B plasma television does not feature per-input settings; but these four modes can be applied to inputs to partially address the problem (however, there are subtle differences in the video output between the modes, even if both are configured identically in the menu).

[Colour Balance] controls the Greyscale, with options for blue-tinted video [Cool], less-blue tinted video (oddly labeled as [Normal]), and [Warm], which we selected. [Colour Management] makes an almost unnoticeable change to the saturation of certain colours, and is not a Colour Management System like the name suggests. Finally, [P-NR] uses spatial noise reduction in an attempt to soften areas of the picture where noise often lies. This is a relatively ineffective noise reduction technique, as most objectionable noise is fast moving and would be better tackled with a temporal filter.

The [Setup] menu houses additional video tweaks, with options to toggle the [Intelligent Frame Creation] interpolation feature, [Picture Overscan] (which can be used to achieve 1:1 mapping on 1080i/1080p sources), and the [Side Panel] option to change the intensity of the side-bars for 4:3 content (the default option is [High] which uses grey-coloured bars, to help avoid image retention).

EPG (Electronic Programme Guide)

EPG

Panasonic, as usual, include the Gemstar GuidePlus+ system for navigation through Digital TV services. The layout is fairly clean, but too much of the screen is filled with explanations and advertising (for BBC branded products, no less). Navigation is relatively quick, and it’s easy to set up timer programming events.

Remote Control

The bundled remote control holds no surprises, as it’s Panasonic’s usual design: it fits fairly nicely in the hand, and buttons are well positioned and placed (if a little “clicky” feeling). Irritatingly, it needs to be pointed in the direction of the TV’s Infrared sensor for it to work properly. Picture in Picture (PIP) and Picture And Picture (PAP) features are activated by pressing the “MULTI WINDOW” button under the flap.

Calibration/ Measurements

Greyscale

As the Panasonic TH50PZ800B HDTV does not feature user-accessible Greyscale adjustment controls, we had to make do with measuring the least inaccurate [Colour Balance] setting – “Warm”.

CCT
[Colour Balance] “Warm” CCT
RGB Tracking
[Colour Balance] “Warm” RGB tracking

As the charts show, the “Warm” setting has an excess of Red, with the temperature overall being closer to 5500K, rather than our desired 6500K. The service menu will allow for further refinement here, but we assume that the majority of users will have to make do with an inaccurate picture. That said, an image that is too warm is at least preferable to one that is too cold.

Colour

Standard CIE
CIE chart with [Digital Cinema Colour] OFF, (with ref. to HD Rec. 709)
Digital Cinema Colour CIE
CIE chart with [Digital Cinema Colour] ON, (with ref. to HD Rec. 709)

Colour accuracy is very good indeed on the TH50PZ800B, provided the [Digital Cinema Colour] option is disabled. The secondary colours fared a little worse, but Green, Blue, and last but not least, Red, were very close to the desired targets. Enabling the [Digital Cinema Colour] option pushed the gamut past our targets with exaggerated colours, so we turned it off.

Benchmark Test Results

Dead pixels None
Screen uniformity Perfect
Overscanning on HDMI 0% with [Picture Overscan] set to “Off
Blacker than black Passed
Black level Excellent
Black level retention Stable in [Cinema] mode
Primary chromaticity Excellent (updated from “Very good”)
Scaling Average
Video mode deinterlacing Good; effective jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing Poor; Failed 3:2/ 2:2 cadence in all resolution
Viewing angle Excellent (> 150°)
Motion resolution 1080
Digital noise reduction Appears to be spatial only, ineffective
Sharpness Defeatable edge enhancement
Image retention None noted
Posterization Mild, though worse with poor source
Phosphor trails Yes; severity depends on individual susceptibility
1080p/24 capability (PS3) Accepts 1080p/24 video signal; no telecine judder
Input lag (rel. to fast PC monitor) 10-20ms with [IFC] off; 30ms [IFC] on

Power Consumption

Default [Standard] mode Average 449 watts
Calibrated [Cinema] mode Average 314 watts
Standby 1 watt

Motion Resolution

Chapter 31 of the FPD Benchmark BD allowed us to measure the Panasonic TH50PZ800B’s motion resolution. Although purple and green fringing (phosphor lag) was visible during the scroll, the pixel-thin bars were distinct all the way down to 1080 lines, an achievement which even the best LCD TVs can only dream of.

Picture Quality

High Definition (Blu-Ray)

For testing, I sat down in a dark room with Fox’s Region A Blu-ray Disc release of I, Robot. This disc features a beautifully detailed, untampered-with video transfer made from a digital intermediate, and makes for great test material. Even with the TV’s inaccurate greyscale, the film’s more sterile white scenes looked pleasing, and detail was sublime thanks to the 1920×1080 panel and 1:1 mapping. The TH50PZ800B does not apply any artificial edge enhancement to the input video, so the sublime detail was reproduced naturally without any harsh ringing or other forms of degradation (assuming the “Intelligent Frame Creation” feature is turned off). The display’s ability to render black was also incredibly pleasing, with both the letterbox bars, and more crucially, the film’s nighttime scenes, being reproduced well, rather than being lost in a grey haze.

All the same, the film’s natural grain pattern did become very slightly posterised and dithered, but this was only noticeable when sitting close to the display.

Standard Definition (Freeview Digital TV)

How you find the performance from the TV’s digital tuner will be down to whether you favour more detailed images, or images which are largely free of compression artefacts. Consistent with other current Panasonic displays, the TH50PZ800B appears to apply MPEG Noise Reduction at all times (there is no “Off switch”). On this Plasma HDTV, the effect is hardly objectionable (it appears much more damaging on the company’s LCDs). As a result, the already soft digital TV pictures appeared that little bit softer, but without as many compression artefacts. We’d like to have added some edge enhancement (“Sharpness”) here, but this would affect all other inputs sharing the “Cinema” picture mode, and add objectionable artefacts to pristine sources (such as Blu-ray players).

On the whole, Film broadcasts on TV are so incredibly blurred to begin with, that the Panasonic TH50PZ800B’s lack of Film Cadence Detection was typically unnoticeable (these broadcasts are so soft that the TV has almost no chance to create jaggies!)

HD Console Gaming (PS3)

The Panasonic TH50PZ800B HDTV will certainly please gamers with its low level of input lag (which we measured at around 10-20ms). However, as most next-generation console games do not contain consistent frame rates, we assumed that users might like to turn on the [Intelligent Frame Creation] mode to improve fluidity. This created two adverse effects: firstly, the level of input lag was upped to 30ms, and secondly, scanline-esque jaggedness and jitter were introduced, suggesting that IFC function converts internally to 1080i for its operation.

As is common with Plasma displays, green and purple phosphor trails were noticeable, although it is claimed that some people are fortunate enough not to notice this effect. This writer can, although the debate is open to whether or not this selective effect is necessarily worse than the overall blur of an LCD TV.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Excellent black level (measured 0.04 cd/m2)
  • Suitably accurate colour reproduction
  • Renders motion fluidly with minimal motion blurring
  • Displays 1080p/24 video signal without telecine judder
  • [Picture Overscan] control allows for 1:1 pixel mapping for 1080 sources
  • Video jaggies reduction is fairly effective
  • Excellent viewing angle
  • Relatively low input lag

Cons

  • Lack of per-input settings
  • Not enough video controls, especially given the display’s price
  • No user accessible greyscale control
  • Standard-def video processing lacking, no 3:2/2:2 film mode detection
  • The usual issues of PWM noise, glass reflection, phosphor trails and panel buzzing, which are present on all plasma televisions to a certain extent

Summary

Although we were a little disappointed by the lack of image calibration options on show given this display’s price (roughly £500 more than the 50-inch PZ80), we were still very pleased with the image quality produced by the Panasonic TH50PZ800B. More control over aspects of the picture, especially the Greyscale, would be welcome, but as it stands, the Panasonic TH50PZ800B really is a sight to behold thanks to its great colour reproduction and black level. And, while it might go without saying for a Plasma display television, the fantastic motion rendition pleased us greatly.

Recommended

43 comments

  1. A humble reader from Finland

    Thank you for the review it was quite informative as usual.

    However it did left me wondering a bit that is Panasonics flagship model really worse than pz80, pz85 and pz81 since they all got a “Highly Recommended”-rating? I re-read the previous pz8x reviews too and it seems that pz800 is at least as good on all (except Digital noise reduction) areas and even surpasses them in some for example color accuracy, black level and you didn’t even spot any image retention. It also has some extra features like supposedly better sound, extra HDMI, AVCHD playback from SD-card etc so i’m a bit stumped that it got rated lower.

    Also i would be grateful if we could get your calibrated setting that achieved such an amazing color accuracy? At least according to those ( /news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/hdtv_Pioneer-PDP-LX5090_cie.jpg vs /news/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/hdtv_Panasonic-TH50PZ800B_standard_cie.jpg ) pictures it seems to me that it has even better color accuracy than the reference level Pioneer PDP-LX5090.

    I did notice that a different person reviewed the previos models so it’s probably pretty hard to compare plus the other reviewer doesn’t see phospor trails.
    So with all do respect is it possible to have a small comparison from him too? It would help me (and others too propably) to make up their mind between all these panasonic models.

    Best regards
    Your humble reader

  2. I bought the 42 inch version of this tv and cannot find fault with it. The black level and colour are amazing. What this review doesn’t mention however is the fantastic sound quality! The bass is earth shaking compared to many sets i’ve heard and the surround is quite convincing too.

    If you are after a top quality plasma the 42 inch version is great value, even the 50 is compared to the new Kuro’s.

    For people who aren’t earning footballers wages this is the best mainstream tv you can buy.

  3. Sad that Panasonic once again left out white-balance controlls. Why go half way, when the gamut looks excellent?

    HDTVtest reviews are great but they could be even greater if you guys included measuring and comments about gamma in every test (you get it “for free” when measuring grayscale so why not?). Especially since gamma is one of the most import factors that determines how the picture looks.

    So I have to ask, is the PZ800 just as limited (too light and low in contrast) as the other plasmas in the Panasonic family?

    Which brings me to the next point, other than a better gamut and a slighty lower black-level, whats the difference between the PZ800 and PZ85?

    Keep up the good work guys! :)

  4. just got this set for 800 pound from works ( perks are sometimes nice )
    in a word top set it does however benifit from high contrast better than the px 80

    cinema
    reset all settings and when they are all in the middle they are on 32 and max is 63,

    so here goes try this first select cinema mode , reset all values
    colour 35
    contrast should be 41
    \ brighness 30
    sharpness i click left sd 3 clicks left for hd
    colour manag off
    temp warm

    remember con, brightness, colour ,
    have no numbers but they are on 32 when in the middle so go from there ,

    let me know if you s like em ,

  5. I’ve been a great fan of this site since it started up but I am beginning to think it’s the Panasonic/Pioneer lurvers site… The last vote (now some time ago) had the Philips xx9603/9703 topping the list of requested reviews but we’ve heard nothing since. Any news Vincent ?

  6. I totally agree with a “Humble reader from finland”. I’m truly surprised as to why the HD READY PX80 got a better grade then the FULL HD PY800. I would very much like to know what the PZ85 and the PX80 have over this model.
    Ido.

  7. T: comment about Gamma noted – expect to see that consistently in the future.

    Gary: no brand bias, but some manufacturers are easier than others to get review samples from. At the end of the day, it’s them who hold the keys.

  8. David Mackenzie>> Excellent. :)

  9. You and Vincent must agree how to grade HDTV’s
    Ido.

  10. In the US version of the plasmas released this 2008, all of them includes modes like Orbiter to prevent image retentions. In european models isn´t available.

    That utilities are available in the service menu?

    It´s posible a future upgrade through new software?

    Thanks.

  11. Thanks for the great review David.
    To put things into perspective I would like to know where this model sits in the “Best HDTVs” list on the front page.

    Speaking of that list, it’s a shame it isn’t longer so that all the models that David and Vincent have reviewed could be ranked from best to worst just like the boys do in “Top Gear” when they rank fastest car or driver around the track. You could do the same here with the panels.

  12. @Ido: The award gradings are only meant to be guidance… readers should go through the entire review to find out if the actual pros and cons are suitable for their needs.

    I can understand why some of you feel that the PZ800 should be “Highly Recommended”. However, in light of the much higher price (£500 more than a PZ80) with not that much of an improvement in picture performance (no white balance controls for greyscale calibration; secondary colours somewhat off; gamma still circa-2.0; and mediocre scaling and film-mode deinterlacing), I’d agree with David’s assessment.

    Panasonic PX80 and PZ80 deliver excellent value-for-money, which helped them attain “Highly Recommended” ratings.

    Warmest regards
    Vincent

  13. Vincent,
    Thanks for the explanation. I accept it.
    good day,
    Ido.

  14. Hello again…
    I checked more about this price issue and I came to a conclusion that the differences in price of the same models in the U.S. is muck smaller – around 150 pounds. check the price in amazon:
    http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_18311901_3?ie=UTF8&node=1065852&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gp-left-2&pf_rd_r=0N4WBN3XM5Q88940NK5J&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=413840501&pf_rd_i=1065836

    I don’t know why the gap is so big in the U.K. but it sure helps to clarify a few things regarding the grading the HDTV got.
    sincerely yours,
    Ido.

  15. I compared the 50″ pz85U and the 50″ 800 model reviewed here.

  16. the price difference between the 50″ pz80U and the 50″ pz800 is also high in america. I guess it all comes down to how much you care about the IFC feature and supposedly better speakers.
    Ido.

  17. When reading these reviews there’s one test in particular that I look for and that is “Scaling” performance. In this instance it’s found to be just “Average” .

    Does this mean that if you bought this TV and you have a large SD DVD collection, then you would need to buy a high end dvd player to watch them in decent quality? A dvd player like the OppoDigital dv-983h or dv-981h ?

    Why can’t these TV manufacturers put in a good scaling chip like a Faroudja one? Are they that expensive?

  18. yes and have been used before by pioneer and fujitsu and they were better but because of price and software issues were not used ,

    that came to our firm were i work straight from horses mouths ,

    its easier to implement scalers in dvd players as they perform more stable ,
    also our e-mail also stated that that its best to let the source do its stuff without the need for scaling

  19. IMPORTANT QUESTION!

    Re: “Consistent with other current Panasonic displays, the TH50PZ800B appears to apply MPEG Noise Reduction at all times (there is no “Off switch”).”

    Please oh please is there a way to disable that in the service menu? If anyone knows please share.

    This is my major problem with pana plasmas – the soft looking SD scaling.

    Thanks!

  20. >> When reading these reviews there’s one test in particular that I look for and that is “Scaling” performance. In this instance it’s found to be just “Average” .

    Does this mean that if you bought this TV and you have a large SD DVD collection, then you would need to buy a high end dvd player to watch them in decent quality? A dvd player like the OppoDigital dv-983h or dv-981h ?

    That’s right. Also, the implementation of the chip can be an issue too.

  21. I suggest you look in the blu ray department before buying an Oppo dv- 983h or 981h. every blu ray player comes with a pretty good Upscaler as well as the ablility to play high definition titles.
    Ido.

  22. Why is it that a cheap upscaling DVD player can produce a better SD upscale than the Panasonics internal scaler? Is it really that much harder to implement the same chip in a TV than a DVD player?

  23. To “A humble reader from Finland”>>
    No, it does not have better color accuracy than the G9 Pioneer. There is more to color accuracy than 2D coordinates of the primaries (i.e. the corners of the gamut, the red, green and blue points) that the CIE-diagram shows.

    As you can see the secondary’s (yellow, magenta, cyan) are way off and from the looks of it looks like the faulty white balance is the one too blame here. Wrong white balance affects basically all colors and the “colortemp:warm”-setting obviously is not good enough.

    Also, a 2D CIE-diagram only shows two-thirds of the truth, sort of. It only shows the saturation and tint of each color, not their lightness. Although I don’t know how Panasonic performs in this area, the Pioneer is almost correct here. Like basicly all reviewers Hdtvtest don’t include lightness in their reviews.

    (David&Vincent>> Showing a 3D CIE-diagram is not practical but if the color-lightness is presented in terms of % where “100” is the exact correct lightness of each color (below 100, too dark, above 100, too bright) it can be made much more “readable”. Together with an ordinary CIE one can show all 3 color parameters, without confusing readers too much, I hope :). I have a simple Excel-sheet that calculates this in an instant which is also great to have when calibrating a display. I suppose you guys have my email (since it is required to post here), contact me if you want one)

    Also related to all this is the gamma which, if Vincent’s comment “gamma still circa-2.0” is correct (and I’m sure it is), is handled far better in the Pioneer. Gamma mostly affects image-contrast and detail but it also affects colors.

    The sad thing is, with properly working Gain/Bias and Gamma controls this display could potentially have reference colors. For some stupid reason Panasonic choose not to include these rather “simple” features. Doh…

  24. Man i cant believe panny didnt include advanced picture controls in this set i was going to buying this plasma. Looking forward to the Samsung ps50a656.

  25. I’m confused as the review mentions nothing of the THX certification.

  26. It doesn’t mention THX certification because the european models lack it… Only the US models have THX certification and a special THX mode if I’m not mistaken

  27. i’m repeating this request i placed a few months ago.

    Could you publish your ‘.chc’ files before and after calibration for the reviews? Then we can find such interestrings such as delta luma for the color decoders etc..

    I’d be very gratefull.

  28. sorry i meant ‘interesting data’ instead of ‘interestrings’

  29. Thanks for that clarification on the THX reference. Without the THX certification in Europe it seems to me that Panasonic has really dropped the ball. I’ve seen the difference that the THX mode makes and without it the monitor is no better then the 85 series and given the cost savings the 85 series is the better value.

  30. Still no mention of philips 9703… everyone wants to know the performance of the pixel perfect engine, especially with the 9803 coming out later in the year which will have 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio but the same processing engine!!!

  31. Does the PZ800 show the same posterization effects like the PZ80 and PZ85?

    This was the main reason I did not purchase the PZ80, because my Pioneer 427 can display color gradations much more smoothly and without any annoying banding…

  32. After reading the w4500 comments i’m glad i bought this plasma. There is no uneven backlight to worry about and movies blaze off the screen.

    LCD isn’t quite there yet, they look amazing in daylight or till u move to the side.

    For most plasma is better, the only real issue is ambient light control.

    Despite having a filter they reflect badly!

  33. ya my th50pz800u is only 1 year and 1 month old and has already got a power supply problem. The power switch just blinks twice then pause and blinks twice but no picture comes on. what $ 2700.00 piece of crap.

  34. Oh ya forgot to mention that it is a highly recommended Panasonic plasma from cnet. I am so upset with my purchase of this tv. I spend $ 2700 on this tv because panasonic is supposed to be a reputable co. and they show me there gratitude by selling me JUNK !

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