Performance
You'll need to reduce ambient light to tap the PY850's potential due to its reflective screen. Furthermore, we've picked up panel internal reflections which affected sharpness slightly, though burn in or image retention was minimal during our review, even for games. Tuning to Singapore's MediaCorp TV broadcasts, most of the stations were displayed in clean grain-free visuals, void of common artifacts we normally observed on lower-end models. Comparing it side-by-side with the LX Kuro, the Viera was better in handling smooth scrolling news ticker, but lost out in sharpness.Switching over to the synthetic Avia test pattern, the SpyderTV Pro-calibrated TH-50PY850 was absolutely brilliant in this department, scoring perfect results for the grayscale tracking and color decoding. To verify some of these observations, we traded Avia with Blade 2 using our Pioneer DV-S969AVi DVD player and were greeted by revealing shadows that unmasked intricate warehouse structures during the ninja assault scene. Its 480p upscaling quality was spot on as well, evident in the standard-definition HQV benchmarks on both the jaggie "waving flag" and noise reduction tests.
It was a completely different experience altogether for the pristine 1080p24 Blu-rays. Aside from an instant boast in clarity, there was also nice image depth when we took Pixar's Cars for a test drive. This was rendered in rich saturated colors and Kuro-like inky blacks. Furthermore, flesh tones were just about right in Casino Royale with fluid motion throughout the Madagascar chase scene sans strongly visible distortions. It was a similarly strong showing in HD-HQV, thanks to the almost flawless jaggie and video resolution loss tests. Nonetheless, there was some details lost during the film resolution leg.
The same level of fluidity and crisp visuals were garnered in the PlayStation 3 Ridge Racer 7 and Xbox 360 Need For Speed ProStreet. Tapping on the 1080i component output of the latter did not compromise picture quality, but stepping up to 1080p caused a weird screen alignment error (this may be an isolated case). While most plasmas deliver soft PC text at non-native resolutions, this Viera was able to deliver sharp fonts at 1,024 x 768-pixel. Unlike the Xbox, formatting was accurate border-to-border, though fade diagonal and circular banding were slight issues for our color chart.
Shutterbugs will definitely be delighted by the JPEG playback's print quality and responsiveness, presented in their original aspect ratio and clocking in at an almost instantaneous thumbnail preview and blazing fast 2-second load time for individual images. We were out of luck playing back downloaded AVCHD files, but was reassured that it should work effortlessly with videocam-recorded media. Wrapping it up was the powerful 31W loudspeakers which belted out strong bass and extended treble. Good stereo imaging was another of its forte, reaching reference level with a 50 percent volume buffer.
Taking everything into consideration, the Panasonic TH-50PY850 is mostly on par or even better than our reference Pioneer LX Kuro in motion reproduction and features. At almost half the price of the latter and with limited comparable 2008 entries plus a proven anti-judder engine, this Viera is probably one of the best options for a full-HD plasma TV. Alternatively, there's the Samsung Series 6 at a similar S$6,999 (US$4,941.05) pricing, but until we've scrutinized its 100Hz processing, we would suggest you stick with this Editors' Choice winner--making it twice in a roll for Panasonic.
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