[The News Bot]

Reviewed by Phil Hinton
It might only be HD ready, but with an acceptable out of the box performance against the standards, strong dynamic range, good black levels and with no special features getting in the way; the X10 is an absolute bargain that offers performance levels well above its price point. It’s a best buy!
Read the full review...

[petet66]

Great review - a few questions that I have arising from it are:

1. How do you get into the service menus to set the greyscale correctly? This seems an important factor in the image quality.

2. Once into the service menus do you need specialist discs/equipment etc to set the greyscale correctly?

3. Is greyscale correction highly specialised or can confident users do it themselves?

Thanks again for a great review!

[majnu]

Phil Do you have before and after calibration pictures of material viewed on the TV? It would be nice to see how the calibration made a differene in PQ.

Cheers

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by petet66

Great review - a few questions that I have arising from it are:

1. How do you get into the service menus to set the greyscale correctly? This seems an important factor in the image quality.

2. Once into the service menus do you need specialist discs/equipment etc to set the greyscale correctly?

3. Is greyscale correction highly specialised or can confident users do it themselves?

Thanks again for a great review!

1) I will not publish details of how to get into service menus for obvious reasons. If you are clever you will find the answer quite quickly. You are likely to void any warranty if you enter and mess things up.
2) You need calibration software, a probe and the relevant test screens, plus the knowledge of how the service menu works.
3) Confident users who have learnt what they are doing should be able to manage it. AVForums will be offering training later this year in terms of calibration. We have been pushing Panasonic (and others) to add these options in user menus to protect users from entering the service menu.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by majnu

Phil Do you have before and after calibration pictures of material viewed on the TV? It would be nice to see how the calibration made a differene in PQ.

Cheers

I'm not a fan of using images for the obvious reasons. As a forum member once said, it would be like auditioning high quality speakers down a phone line.

[allstar_07]

Hi,

Thanks for the review. You say the cinema mode with warm colour gives best performance and looking at your picture you have sharpness set to zero and colour around 45% - so does that picture of the menu represent the best setup?

Cheers

[Jay]

Hi Phil did you measure the motion resolution?

If so could you let me know what the resolution was, and generally how it handles motion?

Would you say it handles better than say W5500 with motion flow enabled?

[TimCha]

Very nice review and great timing too. I was just on the verge of ordering my own P42X10 and went into the forum to find this review. I was already happy with what I've seen in a store myself but it never hurts to have someone more knowledgeable confirm some of my own findings.

I have a question about the calibration though. Was your set the P42X10B with less settings than the P42X10E in the menu that made it problematic to do the calibrations? I have a P42X10Y on the way which is as far as I can tell a P42X10E with a DVB-C tuner and 2 years of manufacturer warranty instead of 1. Would it be possible for me to do some of these calibrations on my set without having to go into the service menus and void my warranty? BTW I guess I have 2 questions. Is it possible for people to see whether I've been in the service menu or not in the 1st place if I reset all the settings to the original values?

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by allstar_07

Hi,

Thanks for the review. You say the cinema mode with warm colour gives best performance and looking at your picture you have sharpness set to zero and colour around 45% - so does that picture of the menu represent the best setup?

Cheers

Those are the settings for our review room. They will likely differ from yours. Best advice is get hold of a pluge, sharpness chart and contrast test pattern and set them to your room.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by Indecisive Jay

Hi Phil did you measure the motion resolution?

If so could you let me know what the resolution was, and generally how it handles motion?

Would you say it handles better than say W5500 with motion flow enabled?

On the PDP benchmark disc it managed the specified 900 lines (actually just a little higher). Motion handling, especially with 24p material was good with no obvious issues. Like every other Panasonic it will not lock onto 2:2 cadences, but as most players do this fine I don't see it as an issue.
Can't comment on the Sony as I have not seen it, but David might be able to shed some light on that question.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by TimCha

Very nice review and great timing too. I was just on the verge of ordering my own P42X10 and went into the forum to find this review. I was already happy with what I've seen in a store myself but it never hurts to have someone more knowledgeable confirm some of my own findings.

I have a question about the calibration though. Was your set the P42X10B with less settings than the P42X10E in the menu that made it problematic to do the calibrations? I have a P42X10Y on the way which is as far as I can tell a P42X10E with a DVB-C tuner and 2 years of manufacturer warranty instead of 1. Would it be possible for me to do some of these calibrations on my set without having to go into the service menus and void my warranty? BTW I guess I have 2 questions. Is it possible for people to see whether I've been in the service menu or not in the 1st place if I reset all the settings to the original values?

Our review sample was a retail sourced B model from DirectTVs. I have not seen the E or Y versions so cannot comment on what controls will be available for white balance.
I wouldn't be surprised if the TV logs each entry to the service menu, although I cannot confirm that. If you want to calibrate your greyscale using white balance controls a good starting point is the Greyscale for Dummies thread in the calibration forum. HTHs

[TimCha]

Oh I haven't noticed there's a calibration forum yet, thanks for the swift replies.

[Jay]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

On the PDP benchmark disc it managed the specified 900 lines (actually just a little higher). Motion handling, especially with 24p material was good with no obvious issues. Like every other Panasonic it will not lock onto 2:2 cadences, but as most players do this fine I don't see it as an issue.
Can't comment on the Sony as I have not seen it, but David might be able to shed some light on that question.

Thanks for the reply.

I'd imagine the w5500 is probably about 600ish with motionflow engaged if the previous Sony 100hz ones are anything to go by.

[Pires02]

Good review, thanks.

Maybe a strange question but I'm trying to find out information about the stand it comes with. I have a TH-42PWD6 currently wallmounted that I intend to transfer to the bedroom and put on a stand. Buying a stand for it seems shockingly expensive so it would obviously be good if I could use the existing wallmount for the X10 and the X10 stand for the D6.

I know the D6 can take a whole range of stands and was hoping Panasonic kept the same basic prinicpals.

Thanks for any help.

[tvbox]

Great review there guys!
I got mine on Thursday, and still very pleased and have not seen much problems with Picture Quality. See my little homemade review below
I agree, despite being HD ready, it's still a great TV, especially for SD and Freeview like what i'm watching at the moment

[vicendea]

Hi Phil,

I've noticed on other T.V reviews you've mentioned the gaming performance. Did you manage to measure how well this T.V performs while gaming and how much display lag it had? I play online xbox and I find this will be an important feature for me. And I'm assuming setting the 360 to 720p would be the optimal setting?

Thanks

[Capoerista]

Hi Phil,

Same as above - I'm interested in PC gaming compatibility.

How much input lag is there?
Can you get rid of overscan completely?
How about green ghosting - in absolute terms and compared to similarly priced plasmas from Samsung and LG?
What is the game mode performance over HDMI and VGA?

Thanks.

[petet66]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

1) I will not publish details of how to get into service menus for obvious reasons. If you are clever you will find the answer quite quickly. You are likely to void any warranty if you enter and mess things up.

Good point - stupid question on reflection

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

2) You need calibration software, a probe and the relevant test screens, plus the knowledge of how the service menu works.

A probe????
Where could I get the software and test screens?

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

3) Confident users who have learnt what they are doing should be able to manage it. AVForums will be offering training later this year in terms of calibration. We have been pushing Panasonic (and others) to add these options in user menus to protect users from entering the service menu.

Online training or class room training?

Thanks again for a great site.

[petet66]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

Our review sample was a retail sourced B model from DirectTVs. I have not seen the E or Y versions so cannot comment on what controls will be available for white balance.
I wouldn't be surprised if the TV logs each entry to the service menu, although I cannot confirm that. If you want to calibrate your greyscale using white balance controls a good starting point is the Greyscale for Dummies thread in the calibration forum. HTHs

Am I being a total dummy? I can't find the Calibration forum...

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by petet66

Am I being a total dummy? I can't find the Calibration forum...

Room Acoustics, Audio & Video Calibration - AVForums.com

[Pires02]

Tvbox,

Thanks for the additional review.

Does the stand have it's own model no.?

Trying to establish whether it is compatible with a TH42PWD6.

Thanks

[tvbox]

Originally Posted by Pires02

Does the stand have it's own model no.?

TBLX0093 for the 42x10

[Pires02]

Originally Posted by tvbox

TBLX0093 for the 42x10

New googling can commence on compatability of X10 to the wallbracket and PWD6 to the X10 stand.
Cheers!

[alsina]

The 2009 Panasonic plasma sets have different wall bracket fixing points so are not compatible with previous model genuine Panasonic wall brackets.

[Pires02]

Thanks Alsina.

In the end I phoned Panasonic and they were very helpful. Didn't call them initially as I know they will only recommend certain stand for certain models e.g. ST05 for the PWD6, but they explained that whilst the panels would be compatible PH11 the Vieras wouldn't.

Think I will still buy an X10 and wallmount them both as I have heard that a suitable wall bracket can be purchased for £30-40. A friend said he'll lend me his pedestal to get me through a short term need.

Thanks for posting.

[welshpet]

I must add my comments and say how glad I am to have purchased this tv. My son has a bigger screen size plasma Panasonic and advised me to purchase this rather than an LCD.

My neighbour called in to see how I had set it up, and commented on the fact that my picture - even on aerial - was better than his on Sky. His is an LCD, but I don't think he knows the difference.

Anyway super buy, can definitely recomend this tv.

[warbie]

I'd also like to know how this screen handles video games - input lag, any green fringing/retention?

[Capoerista]

Hello,

Could you please make this review comparable to Samsung and LG's by including information on input lag, image retention, green ghosting and overall gaming performance?

So many people asked for it.

Thanks.

[Hudson]

Hi Phil,

Just read the review after buying the tv !! Glad i made the right choice, i am about to buy another one (cinema room duties), i like the idea of getting the greyscale just right...... but am very very nervous about going into the service menu, are there ''bods'' or companies that will do this for you ? And if not, is it really very hard to get the settings that you used to get the scale perfect ? Thanks for a great review, very informative and well written.

[FFrrEEddRRiiKK]

Hi Phil,

Great review, thanks.

Do you know where one could get access to a user guide of this sets service menu?

It's just that I would like to study this before I go into the menu and start moving around settings.

I assume you found only greyscale drive and cut, and no settings for gamut, i.e. RGBCMY saturation, tone and intensity, i.e. lack of complete CMS menu?