Toshiba 50hpx95 VS. Panny 50px500 which 1 to choose??!!

I have been everywhere online trying to read as many reviews about these two sets as I can. In a nutshell, the Panny px500 series is one of the nicest sets available on the market today--especially for the money. I think that the Toshiba may indeed be a very nice set also, but it appears to be too new to confirm that.

Again, from what I have read, the Toshiba Cinema Series plasmas are using the same plasma panels as the Panasonics are. This, in theory, is what is putting both of their plasma product lines on a very serious and heavy backorder.

I live in Cincinnati, but have the day off on Wednesday. I'm heading up the road to Indianapolis as they have a Magnolia Store inside one of their Best Buy stores. I spoke with a gentleman who said they have the 42" version of the Panasonic (42px500--NOT the px50), as well as the Pioneer Elite plasma (pro-1130hd), the Pioneer consumer line (pdp-5060hd), AND the Toshiba Cinema Series plasma (42hpx95). This is the first, only, and closest place--for me at least--that has all of these units in one place for me to check out at the same time. According to the sales guy I spoke with, the Panny and the Pioneer have both HDTV and a Denon DVD player hooked up to them. So I am hoping to give both of those sets a good workout. I've got my LOTR R.O.T.K. DVDs and my Finding Nemo DVD loaded and ready for the trip so I can check out some fast motion scenes, great color scenes, and some grey/black scenes.

I've been checking out plasmas for almost 6 months now and am not only ready to get one, but I am starting to get tired of looking at them!! If I can't make an educated decision after tomorrow, then what's the point??!! I will post some observations on here sometime over the next few days, once I have a chance to assess them all......

This may be too late,,, but Toshiba makes GOOD TVs, Panny gets the most attention, I have 32" 14 year old Toshiba CRT great set. John

Seen your message about u checking into the plasma televisions. Right now my choics are the Pioneer, Samsung, Hitachi and Pansonic 50 inch plasmas. Is their any info you can share with me about what tv you purchased?

By the way, I am also from Cincinnati.

toward the SONY KDS-R50XBR1 or the PANASONIC TH-50PX50U (I'd rather get the 50PX500U, but nobody has it 'in stock'.) The Sony is not a plasma, though; rather it's a LCoS based set. Good luck shopping. Right now I'm saving my bucks.

river.

I found one at Magnolia. I had ordered ordered on from another store and while waiting for it to come in I went to Magnolia with the bill of sale with a fuly refundable deposit and they honered the price of #3846.

I've also been shopping for an HDTV for several months now and have narrowed it down to the Sony KDS-50XBR1 (SXRD Rear Projection) and the Panasonic TH-50PX50U (Plasma). Originally, I had arrived to the conclusion that the Panasonic offered the best picture and home theater experience for the money. But after reading CNET's 8.8 editor's choice rating and Home Theater magazine's rave reviews of the Sony, I'm now leaning towards the Sony. Its price has dropped substantially the past month and appears to offer a sharper picture than the Panasonic (when viewed at CC). I have a friend who purchased the Panasonic a few weeks ago and he's not 100% sold on the plasma. Any thoughts in comparing these two HDTVs or any other model in this price range?

Well, I did have my Wednesday off this past week and I made the trek to Indy to the closest Magnolia store around. First off, I must say, WOW! What a great store and a great concept. You literally can get the best of both worlds at these Magnolia stores that are located inside of Best Buy. Like when Best Buy offers their 2 years no interest plans, you can utilize that at the Magnolia store as well. Very cool. I have never been someplace to look at plasmas where you can walk right in and see the px500 Pannys, the Pioneer Elite AND Purevision lines, and Fujitsu plasmas. Come to find out upon my arrival, the salesman I had spoken to was mistaken. They do NOT carry the Cinema Series from Toshiba. but they did have the 50hp95 to look at.

I have never spent a more enjoyable 3 hours in one store as I did this past Wednesday. The staff at Magnolia were great to work with. They all have the same no pressure phylosophy that Best Buy has to offer. Non-commisioned, helpful, knowledgable people. They made my visit extremely helpful. From a TV standpoint, here is the set up they were using for the main sets I went to check out: The Panny 42px500 was running to a Denon DVD player. The Pioneer Elite Pro-1130hd was running to an HD DirecTv tuner. The Toshiba 50hp95 and Pioneer 5060hd were not part of the Magnolia room, but were on the main floor inside of Best Buy running through their HD loop.

Again, the staff at Magnolia was very helpful. They gave me the remotes to the Panny, both Pioneers, and Toshiba so that I could play around with their settings, display modes, colors, etc. Each of the 4 sets I played around with were ALL set to what is the equivalent of "dynammic" mode, where it provides for the brightest, most colorful picture. The thing is, though, is that almost all 4 sets needed some sort of calibration. Come to find out, the whole store I was in just opened on October 21st. So no wonder--they haven't had the time to really get in their themselves and getr their feet wet. It was kind of cool. I'm messing with the settings and the sales people are gathering around to watch me do all this. Sort of neat.

Anyway, the px500 is a great set. My two DVDs I took passed very easily on this unit. Finding Nemo with all of its deep rich colors, and LOTR--ROTK looked great with tremendous black detail. There was very little, if any, noticeable artifacting or false conturing. I was especially watching for some "clay-facing" which is prone to happen in all dark scenes, but I noticed nothing that would make you step back and say "what's wrong with the TV." Overall, I was very pleased with the performance of this set. The only bummer from an experimenting standpoint, was the fact that they only had the DVD player hooked up to it--no HD feed on it at all. So I needed to go on the Best Buy floor to look at the 50px50u which did have the HD loop being fed through it. To try to keep this from turning in to a novel, I wasn't very impressed with the feed that the Magnolia room was feeding to the Pioneer Elite. It looked sort of grainy and fuzzy, even though it was HD from DirecTv. It wasn't like grainy like analog TV, but it definitely did not have that "pop" that most people are used to seeing when watching something in HD. So I ended up spending a good chunk of my time on the main floor comparing the 50px50u, the 50hp95, and the 5060hd.

All I can is, WOW! What an extremely tough decision. And all I did Wednesday was reaffirm everything so many other people out here are saying. "It's a matter of personal preference." That statement now totally rings true--at least for me. The HD feed being ran to those 3 sets I just mentioned, all looked outstanding. Crisp, vibrant colors, deep, well-done blacks. All 3 sets (again, px50u, hp95, and 5060hd) did a remarkable job. I was literally within one foot of these sets looking for video noise, artifacting, etc. I was very hard pressed to find any major faults with any of these 3 sets. Again, their out of the box settings needed some adjusting. The Toshiba was leaning a little too much to the blue side and the Pioneer looked simply oversaturated. The Panasonic was actually the best one of the 3 in these terms. But once I got the remotes and was able to do some modifying, I was able to get all 3 sets to standards that would be perfect--at least for my tastes. One thing to keep in mind when shopping for these sets--which I was reminded of by the sales folk--when you finally buy one of these and get it home, you're no longer going to be comparing them side-by-side with a different brand or model. So your best bet is truly going to be to pick one based on the PQ, appearance, and features that would like your set to have. I honestly and truthfully believe that any of those 3 sets--the px500 series, the Cinema Series hpx95, and the 5060hd--would make for truly enjoyable and fun HD experience. There isn't one of the three that stood out among the rest of them. I would be more than happy with any of those 3 sets in my living room. The only thing missing from my decision process is not seeing the hpx95 from Toshiba. Everything I have heard and read mentions that the hpx has the same plasma panel as the hp, so in theory, PQ should be about the same. But you never know. Either way, beauty is simply in the eyes of the beholder with any of those 3 sets IMHO. But if pushed into a corner and forced to pick among the 3, I would have to go Pioneer, Panasonic, and then Toshiba. But again, that's my view.

The separate media receiver and mulitiple inputs, along with a very user friendly, a customizible display, and the classy piano black finish all add up to put it a very small notch above the Panasonic. The PQ between the 3 was virtually the same. The Panasonic does have big advantage in price over the Pioneer. But it also lacks a second HDMI input--which isn't the end of the world, but is something to consider since I will be needing/wanting two for my set up. I would love to see the Cinema Toshiba, because not only does it have 2 hdmi inputs, but also a memory card reader. Very huge points for that, but where on Earth can I see this set??!! Anyway, my bottom line point out of everything is, IMHO, any of those 3 sets would look great in your living room. It honestly does come down to a matter of preference. For my money, right now, I would have to lean--although lean every so slightly--towards the Pioneer.

Good luck. Sorry to ramble on. I welcome anyone's thoughts on this sets or which one you plan to purchase!!! Take care. -Scott

Looking at the Toshiba 50HPX95. It is the Panasonic plasama and enhanced Toshiba electronics. Thsi cool thing about the Toshiba was the cable card set you and TV guide so I can get rid of my DVR box all together.

I think we are going the Toshiba route... MAN are thses things pricy though....

I was lucky and saw this at a local store. Understand that the 50's are in short supply. I'm hoping I can fit this 50" one in the space I have Vs the 42".

Late yesterday I bougnt the Toshiba 50HPX95 from onecall.com

Bob & Woto,

Have you guys actually seen the hpx95?? I would love to check this set out before I do end up pulling the trigger on one, but I want to see one up close before buying one online.

I am in Cincinnati and cannot find that set anywhere locally. That's why I had to make the trek to Indy to find the ones that I did want to look at. Can you guys drop me some knowledge on where you ended up getting/seeing this set?? Thanks for your help.

-Scott

Yes, both were the HPX95 the 42" and 50"

Unfortunately.... I wanted the 50" but just now determined it is to big for the spot I am placing it
so. tomorrow I'm getting the 42HPX95....

The good news is it's $1,000 less then the 50" so I can also get the Toshiba HD unit for recording just like my DVR box.

From what I have heard and read some other places online, the hpx95 will finally be available at most major stores (at least the ones that will carry it) on Monday the 21st.

The two places here in Cincinnati that were expecting it, did not have it in stock as of last weekend. I have been calling every Sunday for the last 2 months on this set!! Every place is closed as I type this, but I really want to see this TV before purchasing the Pioneer or the Panasonic.

When I had first heard about this new hpx95 coming out, I went everywhere online looking for it, or at least some information on it. But after many hours of searching, I sort of came to an impass on what to do about it. I like the features of this set on paper, but could never find it anywhere to check one out--and STILL cannot find it anywhere. If this TV can match the Panny and the Pio in PQ, then this could definitely be the set of choice. Given the mulitple HDMI jacks, an AIO memory card reader, the virtual surround sound, and the THINC set up, this set could be a true diamond in the rough. I have held on purchasing a new plasma for this reason alone--the off chance I could actualy see one of the Toshibas in action.

Oh well, maybe tomorrow's the day. I guess we'll wait and see. For those of you that have ordered / or own this TV, drop some info on what your intial thoughts are.......

Olum's, here in Binghamton NY (607-729-5775 or 1-800-964-5690)) had 2 50" and I belive 2 42" ones left as of early this afternoon. I purechased one of the 42" because the 50" would not have fit in the area we planned on putting it. Talk to Ed Grummons the Sales Mgr.

Rather than retype everything I just did an hour ago, below is a cut and past of what I just wrote about the hpx95 from Toshiba. I finally got to see one up close and personal, and in a nutshell all I can say is "Awesome!!" This is truly an outstanding set. I'll cut and paste what I wrote and include the link to where I post on www.avsforum.com. Between here and there, these are by far the 2 best websites to post your info about stuff. Now it's time to try to make a decision as to which one to get!!.......

Great. Now what do I do??!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very well said MrDuke. I have been waiting for months for local stores to get the hpx95 into their stock. HH Gregg--an A/V store based in the Midwest--finally got them in stock this past weekend and had a 42" version on display hooked up to an HD DirecTV unit.

I spent almost an hour playing around with the settings and comparing it to a Panasonic 50u and Hitachi HDT52 sets at the store. I must say, after doing a couple of months of research on the px500 and the 5060hd, I was very impressed with the PQ of the Toshiba. The PQ was top notch on the Toshiba. I still can't get over it. I kept looking and looking for something so that I could say to myself "Ah, see. Pioneer is the better set. Or Panasonic is the better set." But after the hour there at the store, I honestly could not even come close to being able to say that.

The DirecTV feed at HH Gregg was showing the news on HDNet. I am not familiar with this channel, as I have cable, but I was assured that the channel was indeed being broadcast in HD. Overall, here are some of the main sticking points that I--along with a couple of the salesman--noticed. Static images on a couple of different scenes posed to be a problem for the Hitachi. The Hitachi had a fair amount of judder. On one of the scenes, the Panasonic 50u actually had some very bad false contouring. It looked bad enough to turn me off right away. but I know that Pansonic is a reference tool when comparing sets, so I kept watching.

Black levels and shadow detailing totally blew me away. I figured surely there would be some loss in shadows compared to other sets. Not so. The Toshiba blew them all away. Several scenes that had lots of black detail tended to be totally blacked out on the Panasonic, but showed great contrast and detail on the Toshiba. I thought it might be just a one shot deal, but it happened on many of the scenes in which I was specifically looking for difference in black levels. And the black levels weren't the only differences between the Panny and the Tosh. The colors on the Toshiba were much more vivid and bright. Not oversaturated by any stretch. Pioneers out of the box are good for that. I am talking just some very nice, rich colors. HH Gregg has all of the remotes to their TVs attached to the actual TV, so I was able to go into the settings on any of the sets I wanted. The scary thing is, the Panasonic was set to "dynamic" and was being blown away in both dark scenes and color rich scenes by the Toshiba, which was set on "standard". The only downside (in my eyes) that I could even think of is the that the Pioneer picture has a little more "pop" than the Toshiba does. But gosh, that's so minor who cares??!!

I don't know whether to be surprised or happy or disappointed or what when it comes to this set. I have been looking at the Panny 50px500 and the Pioneer 5060hd for months now, and have posted several posts both here and at www.cnet.com trying to compare the three and figure out which one to get. Up until today, I kind of had my mind set on the Pioneer with the Panny as my back-up choice. But now, man, I am honestly torn between the three. I was initially attracted to the Toshiba because of the dual HDMIs and memory card reader, but would never buy this set without checking out PQ. I do like, though, the separate media deck and "pop" that the Pioneer picture has to offer. Now I am officially in a total quandary. I have zero clue on which set I would purchase if pushed into a corner and forced to make a decision.

All I know is that this new hpx95 Toshiba is an outstanding looking set. The PQ, along with the abundant features of this set, make it an excellent package to consider. Those shopping the Panny and the Pioneer would be very well suited to give the Toshiba the same amount of attention that they are giving to both of those sets............

-Scott

Here is the link to where I made the post. Thanks for taking the time out to read my thoughts. Of course, any feedback is always welcome.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6582402#post6582402

TV is being delivered today. Will leave a message after I have it setup.

I have shopped at Magnolia here in Milpitas ca. of course at Best buy. and every time I drop in there will be 4 or 5 salesman and mabey 3 or 4 customers and they ignore the costomers they all seem to be doing nothing but ignore the customers . Last time I went there I tried to ask the salesman a question and he said he would be rite back and he never did Any way I found a hi-end store in San Jose ca SAN JOSE HONDA SONY . They treat me loke a king even thou Iam on a beer budjet I just bought a Denon-AVR-3805 and Atlantic Technology speakers 4200 and I actually saved over $400 buying from them happy holidays stewart norrie

Yo Scott. So, did you make a choice and pull the trigger on a plasma yet? I'm leaning toward the Toshiba myself.

The panasonic 50u made the #1 choice by consumer reports again.

I spent about an hour comparing a Panasonic 50PX500, Hitachi 55HDT51 and Toshiba 50HPX95 at Video Only in Seattle. They were all great sets but the Toshiba looks like the winner in the best bang for the buck catagory. The nice thing about the Hitachi was the killer looks and 55'' picture but the PQ was not in the same league as the Panasonic or Toshiba because of the poor blacks. The Toshiba has the outstanding PQ of the Panasonic and addresses all the shortcomings of the Panasonic including PC input, HD scaling, advance color management and has a ton of other features not available on the Panasonic. Initially I thought the Panasonic looked like it had less noise and a smoother picture than the Toashiba but it looked like the reason was because the sharpness was nomially lower than on the Toshiba. With a little tweaking I got the PQ of both to be nearly the same. One thing I notice on the Toshiba is the color accuracy is outstanding. The reds looked red and not the typical orange red and greens looks green not the typical yellow-green I have seen plague too many plasma. Video Only had the 50HPX95 listed for $3800 but I am sure you could get them to knock off $200 to $400 off the price. This would be one heck of a plasma if you can get it for $3500. The only downside is the cosmetics. I hate the grayish cheap looking stand that doesn't match the black or silver on the plasma and they have monogramed on the upper right corner of the black frame all the features of the set i.e. TV Guide. I would love to figure out how to get a different stand (swivel if possible) and to remove the monograms without damaging the frame.

Bob, great choice. Hell, all 3 are really. It's like I keep looing at these 3 sets and every time I walk away from one I say "That's the one I'm getting." Then I'll go across the street to look at one of the other 3 and then I end up saying the same thing.

If you don't mind my asking where and HOW did you get one of those sets? From what I have heard, they are basically stopping the selling of the px500s because they are on a such a huge backorder. Either wat, congrats again. If you haven't dropped a review here on cNet, do a favor and do that sometime in the near future.

-Scott

I also live in Portland and went and looked at the 50HPX95 tonight. Awesome set! Chances are I am going to buy it tomorrow, but like said before it's on back order for 2 weeks, but that's ok because I can get it for $3424 out the door. Video only is the only place I will ever go to buy a new TV. I bought my Toshiba 34HPX83 from them back in 2003 and also got a great deal. It's been an excellent set for me.

Well I have a week to wait until my 50hpx95 comes in. Ended up paying $3231 for it out the door! Feel like I got a great deal considering retail is $4499. Thats about 28% off retail.

Where did you buy yours? That's a great price!
Thanks,
Scott