Panasonic TH-50PZ700

Panasonic TH-50PZ700 50-inch plasma TV offers full 1080p (1920 by 1080 pixel) resolution with a contrast ratio of 5000:1 and is proclaimed to display 68.7 billion colours with 4096 shades of gradation. It comes with an integrated ATSC/NTSC tuner. Quite a number of video inputs including two HDMI version 1.3, two component, two S-video, two composite video and a single VGA (PC input) are located behind the TV. In the front there is an additional S-video/composite video input behind a hidden door as well as an SD memory card slot for viewing pictures directly from a camera’s memory card. The Panasonic TH-50PZ700 HDMI inputs accept the 1080p/24 frame per second (fps) signal, although the Panasonic converts it to 1080/60 fps. The Panasonic TH-50PZ700 looks quite attractive with a luxurious glossy black bezel. At the two sides of the screen there are two built-in speakers of just over one inch on either side of the screen which are not overtly visible and do not mar the looks of the TV in any way. The included remote features have arranged buttons but no backlight Reviewers from canadahifi.com found the channel buttons to be too large but very responsive, making it easy to use. Reviewers from howstuffworks.com found its video performance to be perfect in low ambient light with very high brightness combined with crisp image; but a not as good performance in bright rooms. They stated that the sound is also not to be of the expected level.