I know prices are coming down on flat panel TVs but this is ridiculous - a 58-inch 1080p plasma HDTV for $1720.22 delivered? Must be a catch, right? Nope, it's true and it's from Amazon.com - an authorized Panasonic online dealer.
Here's the link:
Note: Be sure that the page says "ships from and sold by Amazon.com" in order to get free shipping. Amazon's marketplace sellers may charge more and charge extra for delivery. If it lists a different vendor (like 6 Ave or TigerDirect) then look at the right side of the page for "More Buying Options" and find the link to add this to your cart from Amazon.com.
The S1 series from Panasonic is their "no frills" 1080p line. This means it features that high quality, high contrast, highly detailed plasma picture, but it's lacking the advanced VIERACast IPTV features (Amazon videos-on-demand, YouTube, weather channel widgets, etc.). To get those in a 58-inch model, you'll need to wait a little longer (and pay quite a big more) for the G10 and V10 series to make their way into the 58-inch screen size.
But if all you care about is a large extremely high quality HDTV picture, then the TC-P58S1 is the big screen Plasma TV to get under $2000. It's also more power efficient than previous models due to its neoPDP panel which offers even better contrast performance than last year's models (40,000:1 native contrast, over 2,000,000:1 dynamic constrast) with up to 50% savings in power usage.
The set features three HDMI inputs as well as component video, composite and s-video connetion. It also includes an SD card slot for viewing digital photos on the big screen. It also includes a new anti-reflective filter to minimize room glare and a wide viewing angle that allows you to get the same contrast and color intensity even when viweing the set from well off-axis (a problem for many LCD and LED/LCD TVs). The built-in ATSC tuner allow you to tune in local DTV and HDTV broadcasts that are transmitted over the air for free in most areas of the country. QAM and NTSC tuners are also included for tuning in digital cable channels as well as the few remaining analog channels still broadcasting after June 12th.
More information available on Amazon.com.
