HDTV Reviews and Digest
Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
- 42-inch plasma flatscreen HDTV with full 1080p HD resolution
- Enjoy online content like Amazon Video On Demand, YouTube videos, Picasa Web Albums, stock information, weather
- Share your digital photos and AVCHD camcorder videos on the big screen using VIERA Image Viewer
- Three HDMI inputs and a wealth of additional connectivity options
- THX-certified for faithful movie image reproduction
42″ Plasma, 1080p, THX, Viera Cast, H.264, IP Camera Ready, PC Input, NEO PDP Panel which is brighter, Full-time 1080p TV lines of moving picture resolution, 3 HDMI, Native contrast ratio 40,000:1, Dynamic contrast infinite black 2,000,000:1, Game Mode, Anti Reflective Filter, 600 Hz Subfield Drive
List Price: $ 1,199.95
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Panasonic G10–Excellent Picture Quality and Price Combination,
This is based on my experience with the TC-P50G10, which is identical to P42 but with a larger screen. I bought it three weeks ago, and am very happy with it. I did a lot of research and tried out a number of TVs before settling down on this one, so I thought I would share some of the information and my experience with the TV, and hopefully make your decision in choosing the TV a bit easier.
First thing first. According to my research, the Panasonic G10 probably has the best picture quality among all TVs in mass production as of the time of this review (May, 2009). Most importantly it has pitch dark black level, scorching brightness, high color accuracy, and good motion processing.
I chose the Panasonic plasma over Sony and Samsung LCD for a few reasons. (1) Compared to 120Hz LCDs, Panasonic is significantly cheaper than Sony and Samsung. (2) I think the G10 is better in handling motion than the 120HZ LCDs. (3) The colors on the plasma are more appealing to me than those on the LCDs. (4) It has superior viewing angle. It looks perfect from any angle you will actually watch the TV without washing out the color, prserving the quality of the color.
The third point on color appeal is subjective and calls for description of subjective experience. There are lots of technical comparison of the colors on different displays on the internet, but my perceptual experience is that the colors on the panasonic plasma is very vibrant, punchy, tantalizing, and mesmerizing. The colors look like things in real life, but they are more intense than real life. A friend said “it’s prettier than real, but not distorted. It is just like an enhanced colorful world.” If you prefer high fedelity to real life colors, you can use the THX mode to tune it down to be very faithful to studio color measures. LCD in comparison is also very vibrant, but it doesn’t look as realistic. It’s more like computer graphics and less like colors of living things. Technically, this may have to do with the deeper black level on the plasma than the LCD.
Before the G10, I had the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ80U 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV. Both TVs have very appealing colors, but I returned the PZ80U and got the G10 because the G10 has a number of important improvements over the PZ80U: it has a brighter plasma display, has a VGA PC input, lower energy consumption, and more accurate color. Also, its frame is more compact, so I can fit a 50″ G10 into the space that would only hold a 46″ PZ80U. In fact, the G10 is brighter and more contrasty than last year’s top model Panasonic TH-50PZ850U 50-inch Viera 1080p Plasma HDTV.
What else do I like about the TV? It is very bright for a Plasam TV. According to tech specs and online reviews, it is the bightest plasma ever made. In Custom Mode, it is more than bright enough to watch in my room with direct sun light (sun light in the room not on the TV). In Vivid Mode, “you should prepare to put on your ski googles”. In fact, it’s too bright and overly constrasty and saturated for regular viewing. However, it is quite useful in displaying low resolution and low quality online video such as YouTube or Netflix Instant Watch. The extra boost in brightness, contrast, and saturation make the low quality online video look much more appealing and lively.
VieraCast is kinda cool. Not a deal maker but certainly not a drawback. I used third party firmware DD-WRT to set up a Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router as a wireless bridge. So the TV can get online without running a cable to my main router.
I find this TV fits my needs perfectly. But no TV is perfect, at least not for the technically savvy.
So here are the cons:
(1) The sound is mediocre. It is fine to watch a TV show, but lackluster to watch a good movie or music show.
(1.2) True Cinema 24-frame mode flickering is perceptually disturbing because the refresh rate is set to 48 Hz in the mode. It is a pitty because motion does look much more life like and less video like in True-Cinema mode. Wish the TV could run at 72 Hz.
(2) My PC only has VGA out but no DVI out. (This point does not matter for those with DVI out on their computers. A DVI to VGA cable will work fine) The VGA input on this TV does not support 1080 HD. It only supports up to 1280×768. Panny should not cut corner here. Although this problem doesn’t really matter for video contents because most computer…
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|Great Plasma at a great Price,
I have just received my new 42 inch G10 in the mail, and I must say, I am very pleased. I researched the living crap out of this set, so my expectations were pretty high. Upon opening the box my first impression was that the overall look of the TV is amazing. Just a solid design, without a whole lot of extraneous stuff. After removing all the stickers it really looks nice in my living room. Also pleased to notice the only light on this TV is a very small dim red light when it is on (I can’t stand bright lights on my electronics).
Once I turned it on and started messing around with the settings, I was pleased at how smooth, and natural all the menus are. Very easy to understand, but there is plenty of advanced control for the more hightech custy. Personally I like to tweak my settings, and the Panasonic remembers each input and preset, so its pretty painless. I found THX to have the most accurate colors, although I did tweak the settings a bit for a little more light. Custom allows you to get a very decent preset for TV viewing or daytime viewing in my case. Some say you can actually achieve a better picture through custom than through THX, but in my opinion THX was very good looking when watching a DVD.
Most noteworthy are the blacks. Simply stunning. I haven’t seen anything quite like it. I usually say Film is the best viewing experience, and I still do, but these Plasmas really put off that soft color that is very easy on the eyes (unlike LCDs). So far I haven’t seen any noise, or jaggies which is good. While gaming I noticed a slight (very slight) yellowish trail when following a white dot across a black screen. This is pretty minimal, but its there. However scrolling text showing no trailing.
24P doesn’t work as well as it could, which is to me the biggest draw back. There is flicker, causing it to be pretty much unwatchable unless you pump up the refresh rate.
This is a stunning television, that I hope will last for many years to come. Anyone considering it, should feel comfortable knowing that it really lives up to the hype. Check out the Cnet review for yourself. They have all the geeky details. But from a common customer (although I work in the video field), I can honestly say this TV is top of the line. Probably one of the best Plasmas out there.
*Update – It seems my set died today! It turned off, and the power light started to blink 5 times. I contacted Panasonic Concierge, and they are sending a technician out to my house. Luckily I was within a week of my warranty expiring! Very lucky! Be advised, it seems about 2-3% of Panasonic Plasma TVs may have this same problem (google: panasonic plasma blinking light of death). I will update once I get it fixed. Panasonic responded very well so far, and it seems I will not be paying anything out of pocket for the repairs. I will say Panasonic has a good track record with these sort of things, and its not uncommon for electronics to malfunction. The most important thing is how well they respond. So far so good. I recommend getting an extended warranty from Mack.
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|No longer a top rated television,
Over the past month people have been discovering that their 2008 and 2009 Panasonic televisions are no longer performing how they were meant to perform. One of the major reasons why the Panasonic plasmas are (actually now “were”) considered so fantastic is because they had excellent black levels, meaning the blacks look really black.
Well that’s no longer the case because after a few hundred hours the black levels double and triple to a point where even a mid-range LCD beats it. Panasonic issued a statement that they knew the issue existed and that they were investigating it. Well today they issued a statement that the issue has been reviewed and that there will be NO FIX.
Now to be fair, black levels do rise slightly over time, but they do not double and triple. In fact the Panasonic Plasmas from 2007 do not have this problem. To further prove this, a 2007 Panasonic Plasma after a couple thousand hours of use has BETTER blacks than a 2009 Panasonic Plasma after a couple thousand hours of use.
When Panasonic was asked about this, they said they were constantly “updating” their products. That’s good, but basically they are doing a bait and switch on you. They brought down the black levels so they could sell you the television and hope that you don’t realize that their newer sets will look worse than their older sets after less than a year of use.
The 2009 Panasonic sets look fantastic till this happens, but once it happens they look worse than 2007 models.
As a side note, the THX on these sets came broken for over half a year. The newer sets have the firmware that corrects the color decoding issues, but if your set doesn’t have firmware 1.28A then you have to call Panasonic to have them send someone to your house to update the firmware. Panasonic won’t deny you the repair but they sure will try and keep it a secret because they have to pay for the technician to come to your home.
At this point, you’re going to see a lot of review cites like [...] mention this issue because it is a serious quality issue. Currently [...] is conducting its own study with the sets it has in house. It’ll be about two months before they get done because they have to let the television set run for several hundred hours in order to take measurements.
Please note that this isn’t an issue you’ll see when you buy the television, it’ll be something that comes up later in its life, possibly after the 1 year warranty is up.
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