Panasonic ST50 TX-P55ST50B 55 Inch 3D Plasma TV Review
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| Review | Test Results | Details | Specifications | 16 Comments | ||||||
We've seen the 50 and the 65, now Mark checks out Panasonic's ST50 inbetweener
IntroductionThe model we have for review is the Panasonic P55ST50B 55 inch Full HD 3D Plasma TV with a Freeview HD tuner and full UK specifications. Also available is the Panasonic P42ST50B 42 inch Full HD 3D Plasma TV, the Panasonic P50ST50B 50 inch Full HD 3D Plasma TV and the Panasonic P65ST50B 65 inch Full HD 3D Plasma TV which have not been reviewed here but should offer the same features and a similar performance. Since we’ve already looked at the 50ST50 and the monster 65inch version, we thought we’d best check out the ‘in-betweeny’ Panasonic TX-P55ST50. The NeoPlasma G15 panels have been winning almost universal praise since their release in April 2012 but there have been a few concerns about screen uniformity with TVs out in the wilds and what better way for us to investigate than with a sample sourced from a retailer? Which is precisely what we’ve been able to do and since we’ve seen some extremely serious competition, for the ST50, in the shape of Samsung’s fabulous 60E6500 plasma, hopefully an interesting back to back comparison. SummaryWhy change a winning formula when it comes to design or alternatively, why change a competitor's winning formula when it comes to design? Which is precisely what Panasonic seem to have done with the ST50’s Samsungesque appearance. At least the remote control is trademark Panasonic, which is no bad thing, but we would have liked to see 4 HDMI ports, rather than the slightly stingy 3 provided. We like the simplicity of the Panasonic menu systems - which seem to manage the trick of putting everything where you would expect it to be – and Panasonic’s 2012 Smart offerings continue to gather momentum in terms of sheer quantity. The True Cinema picture mode continues to be the best bet for ST50 owners seeking the most accurate images and the TX-P55ST50, reviewed here, made a reasonable fist at hitting the standards. Post calibration we were very close indeed to hitting reference greyscale and colour reproduction which, when backed up by the excellent contrast and black levels, helped to deliver pictures of an extremely high quality. The only real blights being some instances of dynamic false contouring and edge break up, particularly with content delivered at 50Hz. We did have some minor uniformity issues with the review sample, in the form of three very feint bands to the right hand side but they were so rarely visible, ‘issue’ is perhaps too strong a word. Along with the Samsung plasma’s, the G15 Panasonic’s are delivering some absolutely wonderful pictures in 2012 and we’re fortunate to have such great options. The 3D images produced by the P55ST50B were excellent, with well-defined depth and a sense of solidity to the objects on screen; the P55ST50 is another winner from Panasonic that can deliver a wonderfully engaging 3D experience. As with every 2012 Panasonic plasma display we’ve tested with our new dedicated device, input lag is higher than we’ve come to expect from them but most won’t find a latency in the 47 millisecond range too debilitating The TX-P55ST50B is another sure-fire winner from the Panasonic plasma stable that manages to combine class leading contrast performance with an excellent feature-set to produce a display worthy of an enthusiast’s attention. The fact they’ve managed to do that at an extremely attractive price-point only further cements the bestowing of an AVForums Highly Recommended Award.
Styling, Connections and Menus Having had the Panasonic 55ST50 and Samsung 60E6500 back to back on our test bench, the remarkable similarities are self-evident. Panasonic term it the ‘metal and glass design’ which is certainly accurate - if not inspired - but what Panasonic term the ‘Crystal Strip’ is clearly a wholesale knock off of Samsung’s own ‘Cystal’ designs. Clearly both manufacturers are stretching the truth, somewhat, as both strips are just transparent plastic. We like the gun metal colouring of the ST50’s bezel which is matched to the – non-swivelling – base stand.  The growing trend of cutting back on HDMI inputs continues with Panasonic 55ST50 having only three, each being side facing and just 9.5cm from the furthermost point of the ‘crystal’ strip. Also sideways facing there are two USB sockets, with USB 1 designated for HDD recording, a headphone socket, a SD card slot and a Common Interface (CI) slot. Running along the bottom, and downward facing, are the legacy composite and component video connections that use breakout adaptors, along with the aerial input, an optical digital out and a LAN socket.  Duplicated from almost every other 2012 Panasonic is the new, and much shinier, remote control which is conveniently backlit as well as being sensibly designed with most of the ‘important’ buttons ergonomically placed for one-handed operation. It does show up greasy fingerprints more readily than the outgoing design so make the kids wear cotton gloves around the house. Not in the box but necessary for testing the 3D aspect are a pair of Panasonic's USB rechargeable TY-ER3D4MU glasses. As we’ve said previously we’re big fans of the new specs with them weighing in at just 26g and being very neutral in tint. The Menu has five primary sub-menus - Picture, Sound, Network, Timer and Setup but we’re just going to give you a rundown of the picture options here, having covered them in great detail in earlier reviews.
The Picture menu contains a choice of Viewing Modes including Dynamic, Normal, Cinema, True Cinema and Game. This sub-menu also includes all the usual front panel controls – Contrast, Brightness, Colour and Sharpness. There’s also the (unnecessary) Vivid Colour control and C.A.T.S. (Contrast Automatic Tracking System) option which is designed to adjust picture contrast according to ambient light in the room. Finally there is a P-NR (Noise Reduction) function that is designed to reduce compression artefacts and can be useful if you insist on watching the likes of ropey YouTube content on the big screen.
Also in the Picture Menu there are the Advanced Settings where you will find the 16:9 Overscan function. It is important to ensure that the 16:9 Overscan function is set to Off and the Aspect Ratio is set to 16:9 for high quality HD sources. There is also a control for Intelligent Frame Creation or 24p Smooth Film (when the content is encoded at 24p) which can be set to Off/Min/Mid/Max. Then there is the Clear Cinema mode for film cadence detection and the Resolution Enhancer control which is essentially another sharpness control and is best left off. Finally the Side Panel control increases or decreases the brightness of the side panels, whilst the Pixel Orbiter and Scrolling Bar functions are designed to reduce image retention. The calibration controls in the Advanced Settings area consist of a two point White Balance control which allows you to calibrate the greyscale plus, if you use the True Cinema Viewing Mode, a 3-axis 3D Colour Management System (CMS) and some pre-set gamma options. FeaturesSince the feature set of a modern day TV is so rich in content, we thought we’d take some steps to reflect the shifting sands by means of dedicated reviews for the various manufacturer’s Smart platforms. Fortunately, for this reviewer, I was beaten to the task by Steve Withers who gives chapter, verse and a whole lot more in his report here. If you’re only interested in a summary of that review, Steve concluded, ”Overall Panasonic's Smart VIERA platform is excellent and whilst some manufacturers offer a slicker interface or more features, Smart VIERA effectively covers all the bases. The VIERA Remote app is superb and in terms of interaction between your TV and your smartphone or tablet, Panasonic is ahead of the game."
Picture Quality – 2DThere’s not much left to say about the qualities inherent of the Panasonic G15 plasma’s but, for the benefit of those unaware, they are offering pictures of an extremely high calibre indeed. Boasting superb black levels and contrast performance, outstanding post calibration accuracy and some truly excellent video processing, the 55ST50 is no exception to what has gone before and is truly a joy to watch, almost all of the time. The same niggles are also present in the shape of some dynamic false contouring (DFC) and panning issues with 50Hz content which, looking at further, seems almost isolated to instances where the vector processing is being pushed to its limits, i.e. when objects are moving diagonally across the screen; which can cause edge-break up and multiplication almost anywhere on screen but we’d hardly call the 50Hz issues distracting this year. In most instances, using IFC at minimum should help clean it up a little. The DFC is definitely the biggest bugbear we have with the 2012 Panasonic plasma’s and, unfortunately, the only way to mitigate it is by engaging IFC at Max which gives images an awful ‘speed up/slow down’ cheap video camera effect and converts 50hz content to a 60Hz refresh where the subfield driving is more optimally tuned. We’d like to say calibration could help it but that’s not the case at all, simply by viewing in the most accurate (True Cinema) mode is about the most you can do but, that said, instances are fleeting and rare. The ‘big issue’ for the Panasonic plasma’s on the forums this year has come in the form of a uniformity issue. Last year we had the ‘green blobs’ which in 2012 has been replaced by vertical banding complaints; where owners can see thin vertical strips down the panel that aren’t illuminated to the same degree as the rest of the screen. We first spotted it with the UT50, which had one faint strip just in from the right hand side that was very occasionally visible on certain content. The retail sourced Panasonic 55ST50B, under scrutiny here, was almost identical to the UT50 with the same thin, feint strip just in from the right hand side but it also had another either side. Would we call it an issue? Perhaps but in this particular manifestation, one of only very minor proportions as it was so very rarely visible with real world content. That said, we have seen some instances that look a lot worse, at least in photographs, so we can understand how those affected would feel more greatly aggrieved. In terms of a comparison to the Samsung plasma’s, there’s so little in it, in the larger screen sizes, that it will come down to a touch of personal preference and which niggles you can most easily tolerate/not live with. For the Panasonic 50Hz and DFC problems you can swap brightness pops and some floating blacks in the Samsung’s but, either way, you’ll be choosing the best of the bunch in 2012. Picture Quality – 3DThe 3D images produced by the P55ST50B were excellent, with well-defined depth and a sense of solidity to the objects on screen. Whether the 3D content was provided by a frame sequential Blu-ray, a side-by-side TV broadcast or a 3D game, the 55ST50 was able to detect and correctly display the 3D images. The P50ST50B includes a 2D to 3D conversion function but whilst this worked to a degree, it remains nothing more than a gimmick feature that is best avoided. Overall however, when it comes to native 3D content, the P55ST50 is another winner from Panasonic that can deliver a wonderfully engaging 3D experience. CMS Click for more information. Gamma Click for more information. Greyscale Greyscale Click for more information. White Balance Click for more information. Our feedback for Panasonic
Have your sayDid you find this review useful? Please let us know. To comment, click here and post a reply. Review EthosRead about our review ethos and the meaning of our review badges here. 2,992 word review viewed 32,448 times. | Panasonic TX-P55ST50BSize: 55 inch television  Reviewed 29th August, 2012 by Mark Hodgkinson Supplied for review by  Key Features
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| Review | Test Results | Details | Specifications | 16 Comments |
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