Panasonic Viera TC-P50V10

The Panasonic V10 50" is just awesome. This was my first HD tv so maybe I'm easy to impress, but all the reviews ([...] and Amazon) agreed that this is an incredible plasma tv. My concern about everyone's… advice saying that LCD's may be better for a bright room had me a little worried about choosing a plasma. But after having it for a little over a month now, it's been great. Glare has not been a problem at all. I have it set up next to a wall with windows - only slight glare if trying to watch with full sun through the window. I purchased through Electronics Experience (~$1,700), for a great price and they proved very reliable sellers.

expand

collapse

I spent forever researching my first big screen TV. I finally settled on this one because, first, I really wanted a plasma because motion blur really drives me nuts. At 240 Hz refresh, I'm sure the newer… LCDs are better but I still like the plasma. Secondly, I bought this one for its ability to process all the latest and greatest video and audio and interface with my computer and 'net. In other-words, I thought this on had the best shot of keeping up with technology as long as possible. The picture quality is fine. I do not necessarily notice the color distortion spoken of in the reviews although I have not yet viewed a BluRay but I have downloaded HD movies and played them. I am somewhere between an casual viewer and a videophile. The connectivity is great; I am using all HDMI and Digital Optical (buy these through Amazon - the local stores charge and arm and a leg!) The menus are easy to use and the set up was pretty easy. The antireflection coating works quite well IMO. I have only one complaint but this is probably universal with antireflection coated screens; that coating is DELICATE. I managed to scratch mine and a replacement glass is $930 + shipping and install and its not currently available anyway. So Be Careful! The audio through the TV is OK for internal speakers. Overall I am very happy with this TV and recommend it highly.

expand

collapse

I've owned the TV for about a week and a half now and I can't wait any longer to write a review. The bottom line is that the picture quality looks absolutely amazing out of the box. HD content looks… absolutely incredible. I'd give it six stars if it streamed Netflix (or maybe even if VieraCast had another interesting option) and if it looked a little sharper on Standard Definition content (oh, yeah, and if Amazon let me give it six stars :-). But at the end of the day, if you're dropping this kind of money on a TV, you probably have a Blu Ray player and HD cable and you're going to be blown away by the experience. And I do mean experience -- because watching high definition content on this TV is tantamount to a religious experience. Let me first mention that this is not the TV that I wanted. I wanted the Samsung PN50B860. It is less expensive, it has better streaming options (important for me because I only have Internet service, no cable TV) and it looks a hell of a lot cooler. But I couldn't get past one review after another that lamented the horrible buzz of the Samsungs and the fact that every independent comparison that I read more or less said that the Samsung's picture quality was not quite awesome and that this TV was more or less the 2009 king of HDTV. After spending a good deal of time sifting through reviews and staring at screens in the electronics stores, I couldn't get away from the fact that the picture on the Panasonic TC-P50V10 was not disputed. No one claimed it was less than the best. I should say that I think the styling on this TV is almost downright ugly. It doesn't hold a candle to the way the Samsung looks. The "one sheet of glass" thing doesn't do it for me at all. But, my girlfriend gave me the push I needed when she asked me one rhetorical question: Which is going to matter more -- the way it looks when it is turned off, or the way it looks when it's turned on? Sold. As I don't have cable television or a Blu-Ray player, my first move was to use VieraCast to watch an HD movie or two (or 7 or 8) via Amazon on Demand. Contrary to the one negative review on here, I found the content to load quickly and the menus to be simple to navigate. I may suggest some changes on Amazon's end -- but nothing I would change on Panasonic's end. I take that back -- there are TWO things I would change on Panasonic's end. The reason I just decided to change "ease of use" to 4 stars is because of the fact that they grey out some menu options in some playback modes. Why is there not a timer available when the TV is in VieraCast mode?!?? I really want to speed up this first 100 or 200 hour break-in period and it would be really helpful if I could rent a movie and leave it to play and use a timer so it will go off. I'd also like to be able to fall asleep watching a movie now and then as this TV is currently in my bedroom. That is probably my only major complaint about this TV. But that problem is likely not something that will concern most people thinking about buying this set. The other small grievance I have is that when you spend almost seveteen hundred smackers on a TV, can't it just come wireless out of the box? I still haven't picked up a wireless access point, so I'm running a stupid ethernet cable up the wall and upstairs to where the TV is. Dumb. But in no way a dealbreaker. More importantly -- picture quality is absolutely superb. I don't know if I can say enough about it. When I first looked at TVs in a store, the pop of the colors on an LED screen looked really cool to me. Once someone pointed out the terrible exaggeration of the colors (blue smoke coming from a volcano....and pink lava), I realized that the constant brightness might get old after a while. Now that I have this TV, I absolutely realize that this was a correct analysis. I like looking at a bright LCD in the store....but you absolutely can not beat the cinematic quality of the picture on this screen. The colors are rich and deep and it gives a depth to the picture that you just won't get if the screen is blinding you with light. I actually feel like I'm in a movie theater when I watch this television....and personally, I don't think you can beat having a movie theater experience at home. I literally order snowcaps by the case here in Amazon and I can sit at home and feel like a king watching this set. And that is keeping it on low settings to break it in -- I can't wait until I am a couple hundred hours in and I tweak the settings. My only picture quality complaint is a small amount of blotchiness in the blacks that I've noticed in some dark backgrounds (Gothika and Law & Order). I've chalked it up to not being broken in and not being on the top settings (and to the fact that I was streaming those things on the Internet). We'll see if that improves - and I'll be sure to come back and update either way. But by and large, you can't beat the way that the colors in general seem to pop into your lap and make you feel like you are actually inside the movie. All that said, I have been a little unimpressed with the picture quality when watching some standard-definition content (from Amazon on Demand and from a laptop via HDMI connection). I still haven't hooked up my regular old DVD player, but my hopes aren't real high for my old DVDs until I get a good Blu-Ray player that will upconvert them nicely. I look forward to that day . . . because I own more than 500 movies on DVD and a lot of seasons. I definitely do want to enjoy them on my new big screen, and I hope that works out well when I decide on a Blu-Ray player. When I do, I'll be back to update this. A note on value -- do some shopping around. As I write this on 10/31/09, I can say that I got this TV at a more than twenty-one percent discount from the Amazon price or the price of other big name brick and motar stores. Take a look at some of the retailers who sell on Amazon.....they have their own sites and their own deals. The TV arrived via UPS (sure, no white glove delivery service....but my girlfriend and I were able to carry the TV in and set it up ourselves...it wasn't worth the extra cost....and even if I had chosen the white-glove service, it still would have been significantly cheaper). Don't be afraid to call a dealer and ask how much better they can do.....most of them have price-match programs and so on. I did very very little haggling to get the price into the range I wanted. In fact, I really just named the price I wanted to pay and I paid it. Keep that in mind. Changing gears, I have read a number of complaints about the sound quality of this television. My first thought every time I read this type of comment is "Who drops anywhere near two G's on a TV and doesn't either already have or plan to buy a home theater setup? Do these people honestly use the TV's speakers? Do they expect a TV that is 3 or 4 inches thick to sound like the IMAX?" That said, I don't have mine hooked up to any type of sound system right now and I have to report that it sounds awesome. As a former DJ who owns a surround system for both home theater and one for a computer (and the necessary pieces to run my computer through the home theater), I have to say that the TV speakers sound pretty darn good to me. Granted, I have the TV in a bedroom at the moment (and not a huge bedroom at that) and my expectations were not IMAX sound. This TV's built-in sound exceeds my expectations....but I don't plan to use it for very long -- and seriously, neither should you. Buy some sound equipment. Last, but not least, burn-in/image retention. So far, it's nonexistent. My girlfriend has driven me a little batty a couple of times by watching YouTube videos without fullscreening them (thereby keeping a static menu on the left for a while). We have slid through hundreds of movies on the Amazon on Demand menus with static images on the top and bottom. We rented one movie from Amazon that was in High Def but was letterboxed (why?!?!? -- and why can't I change the setting and zoom it to get rid of the letterbox when I'm using VieraCast?!?!?). Neither has caused even a HINT of a problem. I'm still being overly cautious whenever I can be.....but I have not had the slightest hint of image retention/burn-in. This seems to be the quality product that one would expect when one spends this kind of money. All in all, I give the Panasonic TC-P50V10 an emphatic stamp of approval. I'm thrilled with my purchase. I went to the mall last night and cheated on my baby a bit looking at how pretty the Samsungs look....but at the end of the day, my girlfriend was right - I want the TV that knocks my socks off when it's on. I have heard ZERO sound from the V10 (no buzz) and I have noticed no heat (supposedly all plasmas produce it?). The picture is gorgeous and VieraCast is OK. I look forward to VierCast updates -- and if they don't come, I'll get a Netflix-enabled Blu-Ray player. You should buy this TV, just don't pay full price. I know I won't regret it any time soon.

expand

collapse

The set is awesome. Plenty of picture adjustments so everyone should be able to find or create a picture they like. HD at its finest and a picture that will wow you. The THX mode is nice for movies but I do… find it a little on the Green side. Looking into calibration settings on CNET and AV forums to see what can be done to adjust. The picture in game mode, custom mode and vivid mode brighten the colors on the screen if you are looking for a brighter look where THX mode and studio ref maode tend to tone the brightness down. It's all a matter of eye taste for which setting you like best. As I said there are enough picture settings here to make just about everyone happy.

expand

collapse