Panasonic VIERA S1 Series TC-P58S1 58-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV, Black

5 comments

1. 

   B. Green on December 6, 2009 at 12:15 am

   I’ve been looking for a TV around 60 inch, Plasma or LCD. I’m leaning toward the plasma because of the wider viewing angle. I want to build a home theater with this tv, so I want a good one. I found this one at Best Buy for about $1000 less than the ones I had picked out. I read the reviews on [...] and the professional reviews said that the screen had an overall green cast to it that can’t be adjusted out. The personal reviews said that the picture quality is exceptional. So I decided to do my own comparison. It would have been better if I could do a side by side comparison, but this wasn’t possible at the time. What I did was take a copy of Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix and watched the first 20 minutes of it on the Panasonic TC-P58S1, then I took it home and rewatched the same 20 minutes on a smaller Samsung LCD.

   Here’s what I noticed: During the episode under the bridge near the beginning, with the artificial lights, the Panasonic cast a light green light on everything, with the Samsung, it was a light shade of yellow. During the walk home from there, the Panasonic and Samsung both was an overall green color, but more pronounced on the Panasonic. The same thing inside the house with the curtains behind Harry. Now, at Sirius Black’s house, whenever Harry walked through the dark hallways, the Panasonic showed overall different shades of green only, and with the Samsung, it was different shades of brown, grey and some blue. Inside the Ministry of Magic, immediately upon entry, the Samsung showed the greens as more magnificent shades of green than the Panasonic.

   Overall, that’s a deal breaker for me for this particular tv. I hope the TC-P58V10 is much better, but I haven’t got to compare it yet.

2. 

   E. Dreher on December 6, 2009 at 2:57 am

   I’ve had this set for almost one month now and, so far, I have been very happy with my decision. I think the picture quality is amazing. I haven’t pushed the sound much because I generally route through my surround so I can’t comment too much on that. The set up is easy. I’ve sampled HDTV, standard tv, Blu-ray and video games and they’ve all been pretty awesome. My only complaint with the set up is that there’s only 3 HDMI ports. I’ve got Blu-ray surround, HDTV cable box, Wii, Xbox and PS3 all hooked up to this set currently. Now Wii isn’t HD so that wasn’t an issue going through component but I had to choose between Xbox and PS3 as I chose to use the other 2 HDMI’s for the cable and the Blu-ray. I ended up putting the Playstation through the third and the Xbox through component cables only because I’m playing PS3 more right now. Also, I’m not techie enough to be able to see the difference between HDMI and good component cables so not a huge deal to me. If you are, this may be an issue if you’re hooking up a lot of stuff.
   
   The price was great, the set up was easy and the quality so far is awesome. I would recommend this if you’re in the market. I was debating between this and the 65 inch and I’m actually happy I stayed at 58. This size is perfect. (I view from about 10 feet)
   
   The only other thing I could whine about is the stand. It’s that shiny, glossy type of stand that shows every speck of dust so you’ll want to have a stock of shams around. If you’re mounting it, no big whoop.
   
   I primarily watch sports and action movies as well as play high frame rate games (COD MW2 right now) and there have been no issues with transitions and the clarity is amazing. If I’m going to watch the Lions get their tails kicked each and every week, I may as well see it like I’m there.
   

3. 

   A. D. Bailey on December 6, 2009 at 5:15 am

   I gave hard consideration to buying Samsung’s 58 inch B650 but couldn’t pass Amazon’s deal on the Panasonic’s 58S-1 with the Blu-ray. I wound up paying $1475 for the TV which is $200 cheaper than what I paid for my 50 inch Samsung two years ago. While it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that others have, it has everthing that I will use consistently. The picture is great and sound is not an issue as I’m hooking it up to an A/V Receiver. For the $$ I saved, I can buy a good mount and some HDMI cables. Delivery for this monster was within a week.

4. 

   J. David Bell on December 6, 2009 at 8:07 am

   We upgraded from a 9 year old Sony rear projection tv hdtv. Wow, picture quality is amazing!!! I have a hdmi connection with DirectTV and the picture is soooo much clearer. Got the tv delivered from Amazon for $[...] total so, it is a great value.

5. 

   Beetee on December 6, 2009 at 10:12 am

   I was bouncing between this tv and one of the Samsung’s (550/560) models, I was very concerned about getting a Samsung buzzer or having a greenish tint on the Panny I scoured the internet for all the reviews I could find. I was still having a tough time making up my mind on which one to go with. I made a couple of trips to the store and both brand’s PQ looked great to me, but looking and listening to a tv in the store is not the same as having it in your own home. Anyway last week, Bestbuy put this Panasonic on sale for $1499 and my mind was made up for me. I am still on cloud9 with this TV, the picture is unbelievable, no greenish tint in any of the modes, although I have kind of settled on the Standard mode right now (still tweaking with custom). I can’t comment on the sound as I turned off the speakers right away, which is a nice feature. PS3 games and Blu-ray on this tv are mindblowing! 1080i & 720p is also outstanding. This set replaced a 2yr old Toshiba DLP and the strides made in the last 2 years are just hard to comprehend. Also the case on this tv is beautiful, it just showcases the room, that shiny hi gloss piano black finish just grabs your eyes. Well hope this helps out others who may be twisting like I was, on picking a set. I also looked at the LED’s but when you get in to the bigger real estate the price was just too much for me.