Finally got a plasma tv.

$150 is a great bargain. I have a Panasonic plasma in one room and a Panasonic LED set in another; the plasma is far more natural to my eyes. One thing that might help: if you don't have access to a professional video calibration service, or don't want to spend the bucks for that, at least spend a few bucks on a calibration DVD. Disney makes one for $10 that is actually pretty good on getting the set close to optimal:

Amazon.com: Disney WOW: World of Wonder (Single-Disc DVD): Various, Richard Casey: Movies & TV

 

Anybody know how the Panasonic App /remote works ?

 

Maybe, but these are reasonable:
https://quantum3dglasses.com/shop/n11-universal-3d-glasses-by-quantum-3d-ir-bluetooth-compatible/
Whu-huh?! There's a sale? Like, right now-?

 

Oh, and if you'd like to compare your setting to the experts, AVS Forum has a good settings guide for just about all models, somewhere in a deep, dark corner that used to be alive with discussion on Panny Plasmas. Just search for your model, there's probably an, "Official" thread.

 

I use the official brand.

 

The correct model number is TH-58PZ700U; it had a MSRP of 4K back in 2007. There is a wide range of quality and price on plasmas. The specs tended to get better each year, and the later ones at the top end IMHO surpass anything available today that's not OLED. The later ones tended to run less hot and use less power, but at $150 you got a lot of TV, especially if you are hip enough to dial in the settings.

 

I understand the power conpsution of such a big plasma screen is well over 500 watts ?!

 

It's probably a great set. I have a 46" that is probably a little older. By the time I replace it OLED will be affordable and I'll bypass LCD completely.

 

I often use the "official" brand of things...unless I decide to try others.

 

You forgot to mention that screen burn is also a completely overblown issue. You really only have to worry about it for the first few hundred hours or so. I have CNBC on for hours every day (with that bloody ticker on the bottom), no issues whatsoever.

 

Yeah, that's true and they did get much better at this over time. On mine, I have noticed some retention (when watching tennis for hours, in the scorecard area), however, this is different to burn-in as it can be wiped away through either a built-in screen wipe setting or just watching other content for a while. After all these years, there are no permanent markings on the screen.

 

I have a 50" Panasonic Plasma that was bought in I believe 2006. Watching it now. 11 years later it still wows me. I have very few complaints. Also have a 42" Panny LED that is very good, but not as good as the plasma. I hope my plasma lasts another 10 years.

 

CNET lists 609 watts for this model. I have a 52" Samsung and love it. Best color I've seen after adjustments as shown at AVS forum. I highly recommend that site to find settings for most any set.

 

My G25 from 8 years ago is still going strong as well. IIRC power consumption was only about 10-20% more than an equivalent sized LCD.

 

My 32¨LCD draws meagre 65 watts, like a 20¨CRT TV

 

One thing to bear in mind is that the trend now is for increased power consumption! Why? Mainly because of HDR support which requires much, much brighter spot highlights and general brightness levels (where required).

Most LCD panels, when calibrated for conventional SDR, will have power consumption rated roughly at around 100w. However, when calibrated for HDR, that jumps up to more than double.

That's not going to improve much for LCDs. OLEDs in HDR mode are still about double their SDR levels. The way forward is with inorganic LEDs (still some years away) which are brighter at lower energy inputs.

 

Not talking about cornflakes.

 

One irk with the panny is the bloody remote screen appearance that's present when you switch on for a couple of seconds.

 

You mean a big@ss TV right ? I have no use for anything over 32¨ in my small house. My TV manual states 46 watts, 0.5 in standby. I hate too bright a picture, so my energy consumption must be under the average stated.

 

I guess so, though 50" these days isn't really considered big@ss. Sure, you can do all kinds of things to reduce power consumption, like turning down brightness levels, etc, but I was making a more general point about calibrated displays (which need a certain level of brightness) and especially calibrated displays for HDR content. HDR content will always demand more brightness (provided of course that your TV supports UHD HDR content).

 

Are they on the same input? My PS3 is on HDMI 1 and I watch Netflix on HDMI 2. I had to calibrate the settings for both independently, I believe.

 

I've had my 65" Panny plasma for 6 years now with ZERO issues. Much more lifelike that my 55" cartoonish Sony LCD. Another poster incredibly claimed Panasonic plasmas have off axis viewing issues. Bollucks! That is a huge advantage Plasmas (any brand) have over any and all LCDs, that and, smooth motion without the soap opera effect.

 

Man, the 55" LG B7 is under $2000 right now, and that's actually cheaper than plasma was 5 years ago. And it uses about half the power and is half the weight (under 40 pounds).

Hire an ISF calibration guy to come in and tweak it. One of the secrets of these sets is that the calibration experts know how to dig in deep to the factory menus and turn a bunch of stuff off, which gives them a little more range and helps them provide a fairly "honest" looking picture without any weird processing going on.

Note, BTW, that there is a principle of color displays called metamerism that deals with the problem that CRTs, LCDs, LED LCDs, Plasmas, and OLEDs all look slightly different from each other even after calibration. There are ways to compensate for this to a point:

Calibration of Displays with Different Illumination Technologies

 

Was 2012 the last/best year for the plasma ?

 

I've had my plasma 55stw50 for a few years now. Don't bother with smart features. Just watch movies /media.
Picture stunning after my Sony Wega.