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|  | Home Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV | |
|  | |  | | | Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P50S1 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV | | | | | SKU:
| | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | Only 1 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | 50" Plasma, 1080p, NEO PDP Panel which is brighter, Full-time 1080p TV lines of moving picture resolution, 3 HDMI, Native contrast ratio 40,000:1, Dynamic contrast infinite black 2,000,000:1, Game Mode, Anti Reflective Filter, 600 Hz Subfield Drive | | | |
List Price:
| $1,399.95 | |
Our Price:
| $1,299.00 | |
You Save:
| $100.95 ( 7%)
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| | Product Details | | Product Length: | 4.2 inches | | Product Width: | 48.0 inches | | Product Height: | 30.3 inches | | Product Weight: | 72.8 pounds | | Package Length: | 52.5 inches | | Package Width: | 34.5 inches | | Package Height: | 11.3 inches | | Package Weight: | 90.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 51 reviews |
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| | Features | 50-inch plasma HDTV with full 1080p HD resolution and three HDMI inputsNeo PDP screen provides brighter panel, Full-Time 1080 TV Lines Moving Picture ResolutionVIERA Image Viewer lets you share your digital photos with friends and family directly from SD cardsVIERA Link lets you control your compatible Panasonic DVD recorder, Blu-ray Disc player600Hz Sub-field Drive produces crisp, focused images for sports, dramatic action, and all other fast-moving scenes
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Best Picture Quality, Customer Service is Lacking Jul 25, 2010
This TV was purchased just under a year ago and we didn't have any problems with it up until a month ago. The picture is far and away the best I've ever seen. It actually looks noticeably better than my smaller 1080i HDTV. The color is ridiculously brilliant. 1080p movies are amazingly crisp and gaming takes on a new level of realism. If you're looking for THE absolute best picture quality, go with Panasonic. I've only seen a couple of TVs that even come close and in general they aren't much cheaper.
The TV comes with a plethora of inputs, 2 HDMI, S-video, 2 component, a few A/V inputs, a digital audio input and an SD card reader for looking at pictures. Aside from that, it is pretty user friendly, with no convoluted menus to set things up. To get to another input, you just press the input button and use the up or down on the remote to change it. The features on the TV are fairly spartan for being a Panasonic however as you can adjust little more than the picture quality and some basic sound settings. In fact, some of the settings are grayed out like they're saying you should have bought the higher end model. The speakers are your basic 2 X 10W bottom-of-the-line (likely paper element) speakers. If you're looking for great sound as well, you'll need to spend some money on a decent surround sound system.
About a month ago, a vertical line right in the middle of the TV popped up an hasn't gone away since. It's about 3 inches wide and runs the whole height of the TV. It appears as if they're dead pixels and its appearance changes based on what colors are behind it. Needless to say, we called up Panasonic. They promptly sent someone out to look at it. That wasn't the problem. Panasonic is supposed to have a concierge service where if your TV needs repair or replacement, you're given a loaner TV in the mean-time. The service center in our part of the country only has a single loaner TV! Well it has been at least a month and we still have the problem. We haven't been given a loaner TV. We haven't had anyone return to pick ours up. And we haven't even received correspondence from Panasonic since their first visit. So you've got to take the bad with the good in this case. Amazing picture quality, but terrible customer service.
 Great TV Jul 08, 2010
Love this TV, was easy to hook up, wonderful picture and sound. Great price. Can't go wrong with a Panasonic
Great plasma TV for the price Apr 14, 2010
I purchased this TV to replace a 2 year old 42" Panasonic Plasma TV and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. In fact I had to rearrange my front room to push the TV stand as far back into the corner as possible because the TV is so big it was hurting my eyes. I have always enjoyed plasma technology over LCD for watching movies and especially for playing video games and this TV doesn't disappoint. For the price this TV can't be beat in size or connection options. However there are a couple things to note with the connections on this TV.
Older Panasonic plasma TV's had analog TV sound outputs (red/white connections) while this newer model only has an HDMI output. This caused me to purchase a new sound system because my old one only had the red/white connection options. Also this TV will not display 1080p over the component input; the best you can get is 720P/1080i. I found this out when trying to hook up my older Xbox360 to the TV over component and when I selected 1080p output all I got was a black screen. Overall this probably isn't a huge deal but it is something to be aware of if you can't figure out why you have an unexpected black screen.
As with most large TV's the built in sound is ok at best. If you are going to spend the money on a big screen TV it really does complete the experience by spending a few hundred more on speakers or a sound-bar. The menu is very easy to navigate and the remote is nice and big which makes it hard to lose/misplace.
Also there has been plenty of news recently about this series of Panasonic plasma TV's losing their deep black levels after a certain number of hours used. I can say that I have been using this TV on a regular basis for 8 months, and have probably passed the hour threshold, and I don't really notice a difference from when I got the TV. Granted I'm not a super videophile with the ultra eyes they use to spot these kinds of changes but from my point of view I don't notice a difference. So I imagine your mileage will vary with this black level issue.
So from my own experience of owning this TV I would highly recommend it.
-AJC
0 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Blacks will turn to greys in 1000 hours! Avoid all pansonic 09 - 10 plasmas Mar 09, 2010
I loved this set untill about 1000 Hours. Simply do a google search on panasonic black levels or check Cnet. My S1 is worse then an LCD. Pansonic claims this is a feature but after a coulpe more thosand hours I think my set will be fully washed out. I now leaving it on 24/7 wasting 500watts so I can show them the full extent and of thier problem and fight to get my warranty. This is pathetic. I will NEVER buy Panasonic again.
Panasonic S1 50 inch plasma ... my first HDTV Feb 12, 2010
I have had this TV for a little over two months now. I won't do a full review since so many others have done it justice. I will say that overall, I love it. It has rich colors and deep blacks. I was deciding between this 50 inch S1 and the 42 inch G10. I'm happy with my choice because you'll always want a bigger size screen. I went from a Sony 32" CRT to this and I was a little overwhelmed by the size once we put it on the stand. Of course, after a month, you become used to the size ... so get the biggest size you can afford that will fit your room. I'm telling you, it will appear to "shrink" in size after a month or so.
There have been a lot of complaining recently with Panasonic Plasmas losing their black levels after a certain period of time. I haven't noticed it yet and hope it doesn't happen or if it does, then I hope it will be so small of a raise that I wouldn't even notice. Panasonic says it's by design. Who knows who is telling the truth? They may or may not be searching for a solution, but so far ... it's staying as is. They have lost many future customers though, so they really should try to do something.
I still prefer Plasmas over LCDs. The blacks are so much better and the viewing angle doesn't change the picture quality. No matter how many different LCDs I see, I can't stand the black levels. Don't judge a TV by store lighting. LCDs will always appear brighter in stores and thus ... more appealing. Plasmas will appear darker in stores, which is why the average people stay away from them. These are the same people who spend $50 on an HDMI cable when a $10 cable will do the same thing. Trust me. The plasma screens (when calibrated properly) will blow you away. The reflection is not a problem at all. You get more reflection from the surrounding bezel than you do the screen. My LCD monitor has more reflection. My previous CRT TV had more reflection, so that problem seems resolved to me. Friends come over and they want to upgrade their LCDs to a plasma after seeing this TV. Of course, different people have different tastes, so you'll have to do your own research.
This TV isn't perfect. I don't see it as a five star television, but it is definitely a nice one. Problems I have with it is the Image Retention. There is no Burn-in as far as I can tell (which is different than IR). Image Retention can last a whole day sometimes, but it's barely noticeable. For example: I played "Batman: Arkham Asylum" all day one time. It was just a fun game that I couldn't put down. Anyway, there is a health bar/semi circle that stays on screen and only goes away if you are at full health. Well, after I finished for the night ... I could see that outline on the screen. It was very faint and only when the screen was otherwise completely dark, so it didn't bother me ... but it stayed there the next day. Again, I can't stress enough that you actually have to look for it to be able to see it. Plus, it does go away. Older plasma will have the burn-in problem. I just wish the image retention would go away quicker because it is a scary thing to see after a few hours ... and it makes me wary of playing games that have constant HUDs.
Another problem is that the sound is mediocre. It's not terrible, but since they put the speakers behind the TV, the sound is kinda muffled. They did this for design looks, thinking that most people would use a receiver anyway. Well, I couldn't use my receiver really until I got an optical cable. My receiver is eight years old, so it didn't have HDMI cables. I would've preferred the speakers being in front for better sound.
The three HDMI inputs are okay, though I wish there were at least four. I plan on upgrading my receiver at some point so this might not be an issue. One thing I didn't know before purchasing this TV was that you can NOT get 1080p signals using component cables. This makes no sense to me. I have one of the older Xbox 360s that does not have HDMI, so I'm stuck with component. It's not horrible because most games are made for 720p, but Netflix is supposed to be 1080p. Since Panasonic doesn't seem to want to upgrade their Viera-Cast Blu-Ray players with Netflix (saving that for 2010 models), I was thinking about using the 360, but I can't get 1080p. I'm fine since I can use my computer via HDMI, but it would be nicer without having to put my computer on. You can get 720p and 1080i with component in case you are wondering.
The SD card slot is basically a joke. If you put in a card that has pictures that have a higher than 2 megapixel resolution, be prepared to wait to view a slideshow. Most cameras nowadays have at least 8 megapixels which makes viewing them painfully slow. If I have friends come over that want to show their pictures on the big TV, I won't put it in the SD slot because it's way too slow. I'll put it in my Wii SD slot. That has a much better slideshow performance, plus ... you can actually make a puzzle out of the pictures.
Overall, I do love the TV regardless of the minor quibbles. The black levels are great, but they aren't as great as I'd like them. The greens do look a tad neon in some instances, but who knows if that is really the TVs fault or if it's the issue with the source material because I don't see it on every channel or Blu-Ray. I didn't like the look of the Standard Definition channels compared to my CRT, but I think that's the problem with the service. Standard Def DVDs look more than fine on this TV. The TV's not perfect, but there's isn't much out there that is. I know this TV is getting harder to find. I paid under nine bills for it, so it was a good deal for me. If you're thinking about waiting for the 2010 models, you may have to wait until November to get a great deal. If you are waiting for 3D, then I'd suggest you wait another two years at least while they get all the kinks out. The biggest concern is that rise in black levels after a certain amount of hours that people are complaining about on forums. Are they being too picky about it? I don't know because I haven't noticed it. But ... it does make someone think twice about choosing Panasonic.
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Consumer Reports Says: Buy HDTV at Amazon!
Washington, D.C. (July 2010) -- When it comes to price, Consumer Reports says shoppers are most likely to find the best deals online. And the publication called three ecommerce sites "standouts" in this year's Consumer Reports ratings of electronics stores: Amazon.com, Crutchfield.com and B&H (bhphotovideo.com)
The magazine's survey was based on more than 38,000 purchases of electronics, including flat-screen TVs, between January 2009 and June 2010. The report indicated that online stores consistently offered better prices. (The magazine's full report can be found in its July 2010 issue.)
"Buying online can be better," the magazine said in a press release. "The higher-rated electronics retailers in Consumer Reports annual reader survey are Web sites. Readers who bought online rated their overall satisfaction at 90 out of 100 -- higher than those who bought in a store. Additionally, many Web merchants offer free shipping, even on TVs, which could spare the hassle of struggling to fit a bulky carton in the car or paying a local store for delivery."
Consumer Reports said that while no single retailer scored excellent in all shopping categories, Amazon.com came closest.
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