Panasonic - 46" Class / Plasma / 720p / 600Hz / Smart HDTV

The wife and I went out the other day to just look at purchasing a bigger LCD TV for the bedroom. We had a 27 inch Panasonic and were wanting to upgrade to a larger 42 inch Panasonic. It had to be a Panasonic because of the 5 on/off times features it has. My wife like using them to wake us in the morning instead of a alarm clock. BestBuy a 42 inch Panasonic for $491.00 but I went to BestBuy that night hoping I could get that TV for something like $458.00. If I could not I was going to wait till Black Friday and see what they would have. Well they did not have this model at the price I was hoping. I walked around the store and there it was the 46 inch model Open Box for $429.00. I told my wife this is it! We are taking this one home. I got more than what I was looking for and saved some money too. I financed the TV for Promotional 18 months same as cash no interest. Comes to $26.00 a month. I can afford that. Wife and I have plans to pay it off sooner in 9 months. This only issue I am having with it is the CinemaNow Streaming Video Apps is not working with my Wifi Connection. It will not connect. All the rest do with no problem. I hope to get that issue resolved sometime in the near future. I am HAPPY with our purchase. With it being Open Box the BestBuy Staff wrapped it up in plastic real nice for its journey home. Wife and I were in business after about 10 minutes or less of setup.

PRICE: Five Stars. 5/5 I originally wanted the 42 inch version of this TV, but instead saw this model on sale for 399 which was about 40-60 dollars CHEAPER than the 42 inch version depending on where you look. Could not pass that deal up. The price vs performance of this set, in my eyes, is unmatched. Try to find a 46 inch LCD TV similarly priced and of equal picture quality. You won't. PICTURE QUALITY: Five Stars. 5/5 The whole reason I bought this set, bought a plasma. The picture. I originally had a 40 inch 720p Sony LCD. Not a bad TV by any means. This Panasonic crushes it in every area. The picture is absolutely amazing. ESPN, blu ray movies, standard def, streaming, games on the PS3 are just top notch. If it matters, I have a Verizon Fios HD box and the channels look great. Viewing Angles: The viewing angles are great. From left, right, below, above it all looks good. With my old Sony, there was definitely signs of the image being washed out if I sat too far to one side of the TV.. Plasmas do not have this problem. Standard Definition: I know, I know. We buy these TV's for all their HD glory. But how a set handles a standard definition source is important to me. Sometimes I enjoy watching certain programs, whether it be an old DVD or a television channel that only outputs in standard definition. This TV REALLY impressed me in this regard. SD looks GREAT. My old Sony LCD really failed in this area. The picture would look grainy and like absolute garbage. Unwatchable. 1080p vs 720p: You aren't missing anything. The reason I wanted the 42 inch version of this TV was because I was a TINY bit worried how a big set (46 inch) would look with a native resolution of 720p. I always figured 42 inch and below, go 720p. 46 and up, go 1080p. That WAS my rule of thumb anyway. But I'm happy to report everything I view looks FLAWLESS. If you're worried about being 'left out' by not jumping to 1080p, DON'T. At this size and, of course, depending on the distance you view the TV, you won't be losing anything in terms of visuals unless you sit RIGHT IN FRONT of the TV. Your eye really can't discern the difference between 1080p and 720p unless you sit right in front of it. And who watches TV like that anyway? If I ever get a 55+inch TV, I'll go with 1080p and reap the benefits. SOUND: Four Stars. 4/5 I'm no audiophile. I'm pretty much happy as long as I don't hear any hissing or 'tinny'-like sound coming from the speakers. As far as speakers go in flat screens, I can safely say these are some of the better ones. FEATURES: Four Stars. 4/5 Comes with Netflix, CinemaNow, Amazon Instant Video, Pandora, Napster, Facebook, own built in 'media player' to play certain videos and pictures. Honestly the only thing I bothered to use was Amazon. I really can't speak about the other services. Amazon loads up pretty quickly and gets the job done. it's not blazing fast but not slow either. I don't know if the reasoning for that is because I directly connected with an ethernet wire to my router or what. I refuse to use wireless with streaming. Wired connections just work better. And also, I plugged my Western Digital external hard drive into one of the usb ports and it was recognized. I have tons of video on it, but it was only able to play a select few. Seems to only play .mp4 files but I can't be sure. The set also has a pixel orbiter that runs on the screen to prevent any image retention (burn in.) This really isn't an issue though unless you leave something on for an ungodly long time. I've left the set on ESPN, which has an ESPN logo in the bottom right corner that doesn't move even during commercials for a few hours and nothing happened. I mean, I wouldn't push it. I'd turn it off when not in use and change the channel just for the sake of changing the channel and refreshing the screen to something else every now and then during the first few days of use just to be safe. SHIPPING/DELIVERY: Five Stars. 5/5 I purchased this model for $399 on 11/24 and it arrived on 12/1. Upon checkout I selected the quickest possible delivery date, which was 12/1. The day prior to delivery I was contacted by phone to confirm delivery date. They do their deliveries in two hour windows, they said mine would arrive between 7 am and 9 am. Got here around 8 am. Fantastic service. The box didn't have one crease in it, let alone a dent. I was worried about how it would be handled.. but the TV came in flawless condition. VERY happy about that since I never purchased something this big online. The only knocks against this set are: 1. only two HDMI ports and 2. GLARE. You can buy an HDMI splitter/switcher for about 10 bucks to add more HDMI ports so that really isn't a huge problem. But the glare.. yeah, this bad boy does have some glare. I'd go as far as to not recommend this set if you're going to be viewing this TV in an area with alot of light, whether natural or artificial. It picks up reflections very easily. For my purposes and my uses this isn't an issue for me though. In conclusion, could not be happier and would make the purchase again in a heart beat. I'll mention it again: I cannot heap enough praise on the delivery of the item and the handling of it. Came when it was supposed to and in perfect condition. Sometimes you hear horror stories about deliveries, man. Glad everything went well. Hope this review helps someone.

This TV far exceeded my expectations. I use it for watching Uverse TV and streaming Divx movies from my PC and it works perfect. The DLNA function was an added surprise that turned out to be my favorite feature. The picture is better than the LG LCD it replaced. The black levels are near perfect and uniform throughout the display. I have it wall mounted on top of the fireplace and the sound is good enough to use without a sound bar or surround sound system.

I like the picture quality, and no problem connecting to the internet. (netflix). Sound is decent, and a great buy for the price (600$ when I got it six weeks ago). My only small complaint is that there doesn't seem to be a quick app to see youtube videos, and no tutorial on streaming computer videos to the tv - I'm trying to figure this out in the few hours of spare time I have on weekends. It's not a critical issue by any means, and apart from this one small thing, I have no complaints. A good buy, but time will tell if its a great buy!

Let's start with the bad; CONs * 720p, not a big deal since most '1080p' content are really just upconverted feeds (no TV channel is 1080p and most games still run at 720p). At 46" you'd have to be about 3-4' away from the screen to notice any difference between 720p and 1080p. * Lack of inputs, 2 HDMI, 1 component, 1 composite. Only an issue if you want to connect a laptop, a cable box and game console at the same time through HDMI, even then you can just send the cable box through component and not miss out on anything (cable signals are so compressed you won't notice any difference) * Glare, plasmas still come with glass screens. Haven't had a problem my sunlit room, but there's glare when sitting at certain angles with certain lights on. No issues at normal viewing angles, though. * No wifi built-in, but then again only TVs costing at least twice as much have it. That's really about it and none are anything close to deal-breakers. The Plasma problems of last decade are practically gone. The TV is listed at $17/year in electric consumption and it doesn't get hot. Panel-life expected to be 20+ years at 10 hours/day. Burn-in is almost non-existent with the pixel orbiter. PROs * Great picture. 600Hz (no blur) with excellent black levels (dark colors don't look grey like on most LCDs). Despite being 720p the picture looks great. It even does SD feeds really well (ever see how great something like a Pixar movie looks on an LCD, but then you put the TV on a regular channel and everything looks worse than the 20 year old TV you had? not an issue with this plasma) Sony has a 1080p 46" LED LCD that produces a better picture but retails for $2000 and is still above $1000 on sale. At $400-550 you're not going to find a better picture. * Sound. No flat-panel display has great sound (please, hook it up to a stereo system), but it's well above average. * Features. SD card, USB inputs and internet connectivity. * Excellent viewing angles. No difference in picture if you're sitting, standing or to the side. At 46" you can still 5' or 15' away (was initially concerned that a 42" would be too big from 8' away for SD channels, but this 46" produces a good enough picture that it's a non-issue) Just like to add that ordering online was a breeze (there was a line to get into the store 12 hours after Best Buy open on Black Friday) and they give you an accurate two hour time window. Delivery guys were great. Takes less than 5 minutes to unbox and have fully connected. Overall a great TV at an excellent price. Only regret not buying two. Highly recommend this along with the other 2011 Panasonic plasmas.

Got this for an early christmas present on black friday..didnt wait in line for a thousand hours either..went in and to my luck they had 10-12 left at 2 in the afternoon. This TV is awesome..LOVE the internet connectability ..no more RGB hook ups to the tv with my laptop. 720p compared to 1080p is really un-noticeable unless you zoom in...the 600hz refresh rate is pretty much irrelevant since most HD channels/cable/sat companies on produce 1080p @ 60hz anyway...I think someone else mentioned this as well, but it is true. Great buy, would buy another one and recommend..only two things I dont like as well as others mentioned is the GLARE and lack of inputs. but I am not a gamer so it doesnt bother me, just putting it out there for those of you who are... Our living room is really bright and this doesnt help much with it...in a basement or darker area...badabing

Our old picture tube tv finally gave out and we needed a major upgrade. We did not have a whole lot of money to spend and after an exhaustive search we wound up with the 46" viera plasma. We couldnt be happier. great picture, good sound (we have a surround system) and great experience so far. The difference between 1080p and 720p - there isnt any! Blue ray discs and DVD's look amazing. For the price, you cant go wrong.

I have this hooked up to my HTPC. As such I have not tested the sound at all, but when I turn off the lights and crank up my surround sound its better then being in the theaters. Watching Lord of the Rings and Twilight (only two movies I have watched so far) and I can see more definition then in theaters. For the price I could not ask for better. Cons. 1) When its off it works as a mirror. So when your sitting in the living room with it off you tend to just stare at yourself. 2) Lack of inputs is a severe problem. Although most of my game systems are routed through my HTPC, I do not have infinite money and can not afford 100 input cards. Anyways, 2 HDMI - 2 composite = not enough. Need at least 1 more HDMI, 1 more composite, and 1 DVI. 3) Best to watch in dark, otherwise you can get some mean reflections.