The “Break it Down” Blog

EngadgetHD is reporting that ConsumerReports recently got their hands on the Panasonic TH-50PZ700U and rated it the best TV ever. I am actually a ConsumerReports subscriber (like $7/year) and logged in to check out what all the hub-bub was about, and sure enough it was their highest rated plasma.

Reading through the review it’s actually quite comprehensive, much more so than they used to be a few years ago. The other important TVs that they included in the comparison were:

• Panasonic TH-50PX75U
• Pioneer PDP-5080HD
• Vizio P50HDTV (Got CR Best Buy)
• Vizio Maximvs VM60PHDTV10A

And while these all scored lower than the 50PZ700U, the other Panasonic was fairly close and the Pioneer was a few points lower. The Vizios scored much lower as you can expect for a budget TV, but still did better than Hitachi/Philips/LG. (NOTE: I’m intentionally being vague as I don’t want to get sued for reproducing their reviews here)

While there seems to be plenty of sarcasm in EHD’s post, looking at the reviews trickling in from other sites… seems to suggest that ConsumerReports was right.

• Amazon: 5/5
• CNET, User Opinions: 8.9/10
• Circuit City: 4.7/5

NOTE: I checked the Amazon link for this TV 20hrs ago, and the price was $2400-ish… now it’s $2198, wow!

Doesn’t this make the $1798 deal that lasted for about 30mins for this TV all that much more painful to have missed?