I finally did it friends. I broke down about a week ago and ordered my very first HDTV. This is a big leap for me. I went from a Sony 24″ WEGA regular standard TV set to a brand new Panasonic 46″ 1080p plasma screen. This set is awesome!!! Its the latest model out there. In fact it is so new that they dont even have them yet in Circuit City or Best Buy. I bought it off of Amazon, which to me was a little tough to order a TV set from a non-brick and mortar store. But, here was the deal that I got.
Circuit City sells the same TV for $2199. Best Buy – $2199. Amazon – 1,797.86.
So, immediately i saved $400. I saved at least $60 for shipping and handling. And i probably another $150 – $200 because of no sales tax. I don’t think you can beat that deal anywhere.
The TV arrived on Friday. They called me the day before to let me know that they could deliver it the next day. So I setup the time and they gave a ballpark time between 12 and 5pm. They arrived around 2:30pm. The receipt said that it would be delivered by 2 guys and they would unpack it. It was actually delivered by 1 guy and i helped carry it into the house and down the steps. That part i wasn’t too impressed with. I expected two guys to come in unpack it and set it up. He basically just took apart the box and plugged the TV in to test the remote and the TV set. Everything worked and the TV looks fantastic. The delivery guy bolted after i signed the paper.
All in all a good experience. They were prompt and the customer service was on the money, i just wish i didn’t have to set the base up and put the TV together. I needed help putting it on the stand. I guess I would Amazon a 4 out of 5 stars if we were rating this. I definitely would recommend them to everyone.
So anyway, now let’s talk about the TV.
Panasonic makes some of the best TVs out there. I think there mid-range models have a better picture quality then some of the Sony. Its a plasma screen so the glass on the front is quite shiney, but it has a antireflective screen on it so this minimizes the glare. Also use it with low light in the room and your ok too.
I first tested regualr TV. The picture is better then my old TV because its so big. Its not an HD picture because i haven’t upgraded my cable box yet. That is next on the list. So, cartoon network looked pretty good.
The next thing i tried was hooking up my PS3 with a new HDMI cable to the TV set. This is a very exciting step. The first time seeing your PS3 in all its glory! When i turned it on it asked me if i wanted to register the new tv and up the resolution to 1080p. I clicked the HELL YEAH button! The screen goes black and then turns itself on looking 10,000 times better! The colors are vivid, the picture ultra sharp. This is sweet! So, i wanted to see what a DVD picture would look like. I punched in Spiderman 1. It looked decent but because the picture is so big you can see the artificacts in the picture of the video (mainly in the menu video where spidey is swinging from building to building). The movie itself was sharper and looked really good. It was a joy to watch it.
The next thing I tried was putting in a Blu-ray movie. This is where my jaw really hit the floor. I put in “The Corpse Bride” and holy shit man, this movie looks fantastic. I have 4 other blu-ray movies to watch on the TV set and I’m planning on getting The Transformers and some other good movies too obviously. I might also pick up Rock Band while I’m out there. So, the picture quality is incredibly sharp, detailed, and just ridiculous – its sooo clear. Get a HDTV for sure if you have a PS3 or Xbox 360.
The last thing i tried was I popped in Call of Duty 4 and played some online. Just like the blu-ray movies the games looked jaw-droppingly awesome! Very, very pleased with how the TV performs. I played for like an hour or so online. The only thing I noticed was every once in awhile I would trails when I move fast, but its very subtle and i think my eyes are more sensitive then most peoples.
The TV is the Panasonic 46″ 1080p Plasma screen model number: TH-46PZ85U. Kicks ass. Pictures coming soon.
until next time….I’m going to mess around with the TV settings some and also try hooking a computer into it, that should be interesting.