Plasma reputations don’t come much better than Panasonic’s.
The Japanese company is one of the few mainstream brands still putting serious effort into these screens, and its consistently excellent Viera line has been a constant reminder of the technology’s arguable superiority over increasingly dominant liquid crystal.
The TH-50PX70B, enviably specified and incredibly modestly priced, looks to land a timely blow for gas-powered super screens.
Panasonic sets occasionally flatter to deceive when it comes to features, and you’d think something this swanky would be absolutely bristling with whizz-bang gadgetry and mind-blowing picture and audio tweaks. But you’d be wrong.
A screen this enormous is surely born for 1080p, for example, but the vertical resolution is just 768 pixels. It can playback downscaled full HD, though, which puts it ahead of many of its direct rivals.
V-Real processing lurks somewhere inside the circuitry, but, unusually for this sort of thing, you can’t adjust it to any extent and there’s no showboating, split-screen option (à la Philips) to show you just how much difference applying the processing is making to your picture. So you have to take it on trust that this proprietary set of picture refinements is worth having.
The other tweaks are pretty run-of-the-mill, with a typical menu of audio/visual adjustments and pre-sets to choose from and enough flexibility to cater to most tastes.
Connections
The connections are similarly unflashy, with only two HDMI inputs where three might have been expected, no digital audio output to send Freeview sounds to an external amp and no ‘secondary’ AV sockets whatsoever.
We know S-video is going out of fashion, that no-one in their right mind ever uses composite and can easily picture just how incongruous you’d look and feel listening to a set of this magnitude through headphones.
But to then find that these inputs have been dispensed with entirely in this set is nonetheless surprising. There is, however, a pair of RGB-wired Scarts plus a slot for a pay TV module to make up for it.
The first generation of Vieras helped shift the perception of large flatscreen TVs from expensive boys’ toys to must-have lifestyle products, and Panasonic certainly knows how to maintain affable relations with the mass market.
The remote is, on the one hand, ineffably stylish in gunmetal grey and satisfyingly weighty and, on the other, possessed of well-spaced, clearly marked buttons, all within easy reach and with a pleasingly firm action.
The menu architecture is unexpectedly un-flashy, with none of the fancy graphics we’ve come to expect from big-name brands but it benefits from a logical, easily navigable layout that a small child could master.
Even more gladdening is the fact that Panasonic has finally had the sense to include a single button to toggle through the various inputs and has done away with its old, diabolical colour-coded system.
The set does seem to take an age to switch on from cold, but aside from that you should be up, fully connected and running in no time.
Big-screen purists frequently maintain that LCD is okay for television, but gas is where it’s at for full-on movie thrills. Judging by the sterling display put on by the 50PX70B, they have a powerful case. Liquid crystal is so omnipresent these days that running out a really good plasma is getting to be a rare treat.
This Panasonic has all the best attributes of its technology, while keeping the typical flaws impressively in check. Colours, for example, are magnificently rich. Saturation is another talent (and the Viera has them in spades when required), but where plasma really scores is naturalism.
The variation in tone is nigh-on perfect, with actors’ pallors receiving impressively realistic treatment. It’s also remarkably even-handed, with no visible bias to either end of the spectrum and possesses an ability to dazzle one moment and exude finesse the next.
Throw a selection of films at it to get a sense of its range and you’re sure to be impressed: our standard-definition copy of Ice Age was all crisp blues and cartoon hues, while the noirish gloom of Batman Begins on HD DVD was nailed with considerable panache.
The latter film also really showcases plasma’s trump card: the facility with blacks goes way beyond anything you’ll find on most LCD displays, with a rich, impenetrable bottom end underpinning the remarkably solid overall effect and awesome greyscale ensuring that barely any detail is lost in even the darkest sequences.
Shade and brightness banding is barely noticeable, movement is fluid and convincing and the net result is an experience so immersive that you’ll be sucked right into whatever you’re watching from the first frame.
A set of this size inevitably comes with decent-sized speakers and there is some real volume at your disposal. You also get a generous, if hardly foundation-shaking, dollop of bass and the only real caveat we’d attach to what is really quite a decent effort from a set of TV speakers is that the audio tweaks are somewhat limited in scope.
On which note, whether or not you choose to bother with the virtual surround trickery is up to you; we’d suggest you stick with an unadulterated signal as the rendition is clean, faithful and easily entertaining enough by itself.
While more than a grand and half is still a hell of a lot to splash out on a telly, you do get a whole chunk of screen for the money. When you think that bog-standard 42-inch sets were changing hands for more than this until very recently, the value represented by this Viera is hard to ignore.
If you’ve got the space to house it, the Panasonic TH-50PX708 is a formidable set in just about every way.
For
* All-round AV performance
* Price
Against
* Not native 1080p
* Limited features
Verdict
Excellent picture from what amounts to an awful lot of screen for the cash
Specifications
Supported Format (Progressive) 1080p
Remote Control Yes
Remote Control Type Standard Infrared
Power Consumption (Operational) 465 W
Power Consumption (Standby) 0.6 W
No of Channels 99
Connectivity Component Video: HDMI, RF Antenna Input, Stereo Audio
No of HDMI Connectors 2
No of Scart Connectors 2
PC Connectivity PC In, MPN, TH50PX70B
Price at Launch 1650 GBP
Aspect Ratio 16:9
Contrast Ratio 10000:1
Native Resolution 1024 x 768
Screen Size 50 inches
Viewing Angle (Horizontal) 178 Degrees (180 if CRT)
Viewing Angle (Vertical) 178 Degrees
Video Compatibility NTSC, PAL
Audio Output Power 20 w
Sound Output Modes Nicam Stereo
Dimensions 1210 x 793 x 97 mm (w x h x d)
Weight (kg) 38 kg
Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) Yes
HD Ready Yes
Progressive Scan Yes
Auto-tune Yes
CI Slot Yes
Teletext Yes
