Panasonic TC-P42G15 42 VIERA® G15 Series 1080p THX®-certified plasma HDTV

By HDTVReviewsDigest | Published: November 9, 2009
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Panasonic TC-P42G15 42" VIERA® G15 Series 1080p THX®-certified plasma HDTV
 
Manufacturer: Panasonic
Customer Rating:
 
List Price: $1,299.00
Sale Price: $978.83
Availibility: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Slim Style This design embodies the concept: the blending of images and sounds. This smart new VIERA HDTV form gives a not to classic design schemes while bringing fresh styling to the large flat screen TV. THX® Certified Display THX reproduces movie images exactly as the movies creators intended them. In the early 1980s, Lucas film, established the THX Standard to stipulate the audio and video quality criteria for cinema environments. The overall aim was to improve the experience of cinema-goers and faithfully recreate the audio and visual ambience that film makers intended. Viera® meets the high standards set by the THX Certified Display Program. VIERA CASTTM Enjoy Internet content right on your TV. With VIERA CASTTM technology, you can enjoy online content such as videos, photos, weather and stock information through an easy-to-use Web interface that's build into the TV. No extra equipment required.

Product Details
  • 1080p Full-HD Resolution
  • Elegant Slim Design
  • THX Certified Display
  • Viera casttm
  • 600 Hz Sub-field Drive

Video Reviews
No video reviews found for this product.

Customer Reviews
Why is plasma losing the HDTV war?
 
Review Date: September 24, 2009
Reviewer: Roq A. Martin, Kirbyton, KY
I have been a home theater enthusiast for some time now and I am the type to upgrade every few years in a desire to experience the newest and greatest tech out there. I have had experience with old school tube TV's, CRT rear projection, LCD and DLP rear and front projection, and LCD flat panel TV's. As a gamer, I had never taken the chance on plasma due to "image retention." That said, I have to say that I am SO glad I finally took the risk! After just a few days of use, I can already say that the G15 is the best TV I have ever had. I have yet to see LED, but honestly, I am not sure how picture quality can get much better than this. I haven't even done any calibrating of my own. I just use the preset Game and THX modes. If you are in the market to buy a new TV, and you are a gamer and Blu-Ray watcher, then do yourself a favor and buy a plasma. I think I have finally found a TV I could possibly keep for a lifetime, assuming it stays alive.
Outstanding
 
Review Date: September 29, 2009
Reviewer: Timothy J. Carroll, Seattle, WA USA
I have never owned a flatscreen before so I was trying to get the best for my money. I never considered a plasma tv, I always thought LCD was the way to go; I understood that plasma tvs burned out quicker, used way more energy, heated up to the point where they couldn't be watched for long periods and of course I heard horror stories about image burn in. What I was delighted to find is that many plasma manufacturers have addressed these issues in their new tvs. This TV is energy star certified, which means its energy consumption is very comparable to many other LCDs of the same size (ie, almost identical to LG LH50 42"). The heat created/circulated in the tv is not an issue at all, even after watching the tv for several hours, the back of the panel is barely warm. and burn in is impossible with new orbiting pixel technology. Even more impressive is a new screen wipe technology, so that in case your tv was left on for a week solid, even then any trace of a burn in image can be completely erased. One of the best selling points of this tv is the lifespan, over 100,000 hours. thats almost double even the best LCD lifespans (60,000). As for the picture itself, let me just say you can not find a better picture than a plasma, LED can not come close. and the top of the line for all plasma TVs is panasonic. pay no attention to contrast ratio, every company has different ways of measuring that stat. Plasma is back in a big way, in a few years, the prices on these tvs are certain to go up.
An excellent TV
 
Review Date: October 1, 2009
Reviewer: M. Haukaas,
I did a lot of researching before buying this TV, and I have so far been very happy with the results.

The picture is amazing, of course. There is virtually no glare on the screen, which can be a problem for some plasma tvs. The blacks are incredible, and the colors have been great, even without doing any hard calibration. Setup was very easy. The sound is very good. Not sound system good of course, but you can easily get by without one. We've had some televisions in the past, including HDTV's, with absolutely horrid sound, and this comes nowhere close.

Some people say that the THX picture mode is too dark. While it is somewhat dim, it is absolutely perfect for viewing in a darkened area for movie viewing. Adjusting all of the picture modes is very easily done, however for an out of the box calibration without breaking it in, THX is a very good option.

A very minor nitpicks, hardly worth mentioning really. The remote does not have a button on it to just flip through the picture display options (standard, custom, thx, etc), but rather have to go into a menu to access them. The menu is right on top, it's not buried, but it would be more convenient if you could just flip through without having to go through that.

I have yet to experiment with the VieraCast options, so unfortunately I cannot comment on those.

Overall, an amazing tv, especially for the price.
fabulous! perfect! (other words)
 
Review Date: December 21, 2009
Reviewer: J. Lee, Irvine
Although I had a very bad experience with Electronics Expo shipping to get this product, the resulting Panasonic G15 Plasma tv has been a truly excellent step up from my Advent HDTV tube.

It is strange that Panasonic doesn't perform phosphor break-in and color calibration in the factory (which involves running a specific color slide-show for 120 hours and then setting it to the recommended numbers from avsforum), but the resulting color depth and CRT-level viewing angle and response has been a welcome relief from LCD.

The blacks are very black and consistent versus Samsung's dynamic contrast (although not as black as the black plastic), and is very important for truly deep contrast pictures which LCD can never achieve except by individually dimming a back-lighting LED -- a very expensive proposition. It's not about how bright the picture can get because they can all get there, but the blackness describes the true floor for the contrast range, and only CRT, plasma, and OLED can get there.

Power usage does fluctuate between 10 watts and 300 watts (depending on how many pixels are lit and how bright), but it's no more than a gaming PC and I'm still spending less on electricity than my solar-panel based friend.

There is NO image retention issues with this 12th-generation plasma screen that would be any different than a standard CRT tube. I've left a paused image on-screen for hours with no burn-in nor image retention. As a comparison, my friend's Samsung A650 plasma gets image retention in just a few minutes of ESPN2 whereas this Panasonic doesn't EVER that I can even see.

The 4 fans in this TV are mostly non-audible banking on slow RPMs with large fins. The remote is well-sized with large very accessible buttons, but totally useless with my TiVoHD and cable-card setup.

I do recommend using a pre-processing device such as a TiVoHD to upscale all video to the G15 minimally as 480p because Panasonic has HORRIBLE native SDTV up-conversion that involves some pixelation and bad deinterlacing for 480i content. It's been fine for the Wii though which only has 480i output.

Unfortunately, all this Viera services from Panasonic hasn't kept up with WiFi, so you'll have to come up with either a wired internet connection by running a cable, WiFi-to-cable base station, or Powerline internet.

The speakers are average and drop a bit of bass, but are usable as any OEM tv speakers.

All-in-all, a great value and avoids the viewing angle hassle.
Great TV
 
Review Date: October 16, 2009
Reviewer: Bob Green,
This is a wonderful TV at a reasonable price compared to others that are current. It is only available in major cities at this point. great blacks and remote is easy to use. Speakers are on bottome so TV is not as wide as its predecessor.
Panasonic makes good on plasma perfection
 
Review Date: November 1, 2009
Reviewer: John F. Pashia, Saint Louis, MO USA
I have been extrememly impressed with my new TV. I feel setup was a snap, and the picture quality out of the box is spectacular. I enjoy having the THX picture option and the remote is easy to use. A great purchase!
happy with the viera features
 
Review Date: November 19, 2009
Reviewer: Jim L,
We got this model because of the audio out and the viera DSL link and are very pleased. It is worth the money and effort to get the G15 for those reasons. Viera will bring in movie streaming from Amazon for 3 bucks so competes with cable pay per view without the high cable charges which go on month after month even when you are not watching.
The best tv I have ever owned
 
Review Date: December 30, 2009
Reviewer: K. Boyce, New York, NY
I only have two small complaints about this tv, but neither of them prevented me from giving it a strong 5 star rating overall.

First, the Vieracast online features are a bit weak compared to what I have seen in other sets, particularly Samsung's new LED line. Hopefully Panasonic will improve this with some firmware updates in the future.

Second, the menu interface is surprisingly boring and functional. While I give Panasonic points for making it straightforward and easy to use, I expected the menu design to be a bit more sleek on a 2009 television.
The researcher
 
Review Date: December 11, 2009
Reviewer: Richard Osborn, San Diego, CA USA
Background:
My 10 year old panasonic television was not cutting it anymore with the new HD content that is so widely available. The built in media area that came with my house only allowed a 42 inch television in the space provided. Seating is about 12-15 feet away. I watch lots of sports, movies on occasion and some television shows. I was looking for a centerpiece to build my home theater around. In the future I hope to add a bluray player with streaming Netflix, and a media center Linux computer.

Decision:
I kept reading that for a 42" television that you are sitting more than 10' from you shouldn't waste your money on anything over 720p. I agree with this, but this tv was only $250 more than the 720p and had many other features that increased the quality of the picture far above the 720p models. This picture is definitely better than the 720p panasonic televisions and to me it is worth the extra $250, not to mention the psychological bonus of knowing that you own the best possible option at a great price. I love finding great deals on exceptional products that are not mainstream and in my opinion plasmas are no longer mainstream due to the relentless marketing efforts for LCD and LED.

Product:
The product was packaged securely upon arrival and looked like it would be able to withstand anything the delivery guys could throw at/on it. Setup was quick and easy. IT DOES NOT COME WITH AN HDMI CABLE, which sucks. It took me 30 min. to put it on the stand and get it connected to my components. Menu's are easy to use and relatively intuitive. One nice thing about this television is that there are plenty of guides on how to configure it to achieve the optimal picture, you can reference the G15 or the G10 guides online. The picture is stunning, upon turning the set on my wife exclaimed ' how did we live without this for so long?'. The bezel and screen are very nice and shiny, which inevitably means lots of fingerprints. The sound is not good at all, but if you are buying this television you should be planning to hook it up to external speakers to get the most out of your HD experience.

Conclusion:
So far I am very happy and will update the review as I spend more time with the television.
Panasonic G15 42'' plasma
 
Review Date: February 14, 2010
Reviewer: Suprit Parida, USA
Alright..May sound cliched.. but then I did do a fair deal of research before taking the plunge. I spent a lot of time swaying between Plasma and LED, Panasonic and Samsung. So folks here is the thing.. if you are looking for great value for money Panasonic G15 is the way to go. Are there better TVs around..probably -V10, Samsung 8500 series LED, but the cost factor just puts them in altogether a different bracket. And then I prefer the natural colors of Plasma than the high contrast, eye tiring LED/LCD displays where Half an hour into a movie at night time, you feel the need to fiddle with the back-lighting!

So what's good about this TV? well, quite a few things.
-very natural colors,1080p, crystal clear picture.
-guys I didn't find the audio insufficient at all. I actually keep the audio at only 25(which is only 1/4 of the available range!) and it is more than sufficient.
-very quite. no fan noise or any buzzing AT ALL.(reported in Samsung or older versions)
-3 HDMI inputs(enough i guess) and SD card slot. PC input, which works quite well and it is fun having a 42" computer screen.
-the anti reflective screen actually does a pretty decent job at reducing reflection.
-remote is not cluttered and buttons are easy to locate.
-THX mode is excellent and really adds very life like quality to movies.
-looks good too( although I feel probably Samsung is more stylish). G10 has almost the same specs as G15 but has more pronounced silver fade at bottom..did'nt quite agree with me.. and G15 appears slimmer as well.
-Viera cast. especially Amazon Video on demand is a nice feature. You tube feature has some shortcomings such as-you cannot make the video to full screen. 2010 panasonic range would have netflix as well but I assume that will push up the price as well.

As the TV is still in the Break in period(100 hrs), I use custom settings with contrast below 50 and the picture still looks great and is not hard on the eyes.

So all in all, a great buy. I assure you wont be disappointed at all if you go with this one.

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