Panasonic VT50 (TX-P50VT50B) 50 Inch Flagship 3D Plasma TV Review

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Reviewed by Mark Hodgkinson, 26th March 2012. The Panasonic VT50 will leave you gasping in awe because for movie watching it has no equal. With its mighty dynamic range, deep rewarding blacks and astonishingly accurate colour palette, there simply is no equal on the market today. It won't be for everyone but for anyone interested in seeing video at its best, it's a must see!
Read the full review...
 
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Thank you Mark,

Very detailed review, made for fun reading.

Although it is late so may have to read it again when rested. :D

Thanks again.

Aaron
 
Great review Mark!

Black levels measure phenomenally well. Colour accuracy looks great. What's not to like:) Wish there was a way to get a higher peak luminance out of the pro modes. This area seems only slightly improved compared to 2011 sets.

Did u get the chance to check out the colour decoding at various colour luminances and saturations? The older sets exhibited some errors there.

I noticed issues with colour decoding when being fed a RGB signal for the 2010/2011 sets(would end up decoding HD encodes using SD decode). This was especially so when the player's EDID was sending out mixed signals. (Was primarily prominent when using media players that tend to start up in RGB before changing to YCbCr when the menu came up - Dune Media player comes to mind). I hope this is fixed as well.

Still, this looks like a fantastic set....
 
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Brilliant TV and a brilliant review Mark - very well done!:thumbsup:

Great to see a TV match or beat the Kuro and your review kind of puts a nice perspective on it as it manages to do this with all these added bells and whistles (we have come to expect) yet keeps prices pretty realistic for the paying public.:smashin:
 
Great review! :thumbsup:

Just one thing that lets this set down for me and that thats the low light output in Pro modes. :(

26ftl thats dull, alright for the evening as you say but daytime no good.
I wonder why Panasonic has capped it? If the pro mode could have hit 35-40ftl it would have been a all round spot on tv. I know theres THX daytime which hits the 40ftl mark but as you said in your review the controls are hidden in the service menu to make adjustments and there not as good controls there. So its not as if these sets cant get to a decent light output there just capped on the Pro settings. Which is a shame as for me this is the important setting.
Firmware fix maybe to resolve this? I shall keep my eyes peeled.

Looks like my tv is safe for another year. :)



Unless the Pro modes light output can be set higher via FW fix ;)
 
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I wonder if there can be said something on linebleed issues

The 'warning' green background with white letters which you see preceding a trailer is a good test.
 
Such a shame a) It's so expensive and b) It's 9" smaller than what I've got now. I think I'll be keeping my 59" D6900 for at least another 12 months but it has to be said this is a bloody good review and if I was in the market for a 50" TV this would surely be top of the list right now (if I could justify the cost which I'm not sure I could tbh). Be interesting to see how this years Sammy's compare on price and performance. Good review Mark, wasn't expecting it so soon so nice surprise :)
 
Great review as always Mark :),

Looks like my PH9 days are numbered, will just move to bedroom tho.
 
So 2 fans on the VT50, i wonder how many the GT50 will have since the ST50 seems to have 0.
 
Great review Mark!

Black levels measure phenomenally well. Colour accuracy looks great. What's not to like:) Wish there was a way to get a higher peak luminance out of the pro modes. This area seems only slightly improved compared to 2011 sets.

Did u get the chance to check out the colour decoding at various colour luminances and saturations? The older sets exhibited some errors there.

I noticed issues with colour decoding when being fed a RGB signal for the 2010/2011 sets(would end up decoding HD encodes using SD decode). This was especially so when the player's EDID was sending out mixed signals. (Was primarily prominent when using media players that tend to start up in RGB before changing to YCbCr when the menu came up - Dune Media player comes to mind). I hope this is fixed as well.

Still, this looks like a fantastic set....

Hi Venkatesh

Colour decoding seems much improved. I didn't have time to fully check but the signs are encouraging. If I find time before it's sent back, I'll update with some more results.

Although we were only getting ~26fL in Pro, it did have the appearance of looking brighter than that with real world material. Next to a 2010 Panasonic calibrated to 35fL, it looked almost identical for luminance.

Likewise, I'll see if I can check the colour space/EDID issue but I don't have a Dune.

Best

Mark

Great review! :thumbsup:

Just one thing that lets this set down for me and that thats the low light output in Pro modes. :(

26ftl thats dull, alright for the evening as you say but daytime no good.
I wonder why Panasonic has capped it? If the pro mode could have hit 35-40ftl it would have been a all round spot on tv. I know theres THX daytime which hits the 40ftl mark but as you said in your review the controls are hidden in the service menu to make adjustments and there not as good controls there. So its not as if these sets cant get to a decent light output there just capped on the Pro settings. Which is a shame as for me this is the important setting.
Firmware fix maybe to resolve this? I shall keep my eyes peeled.

Looks like my tv is safe for another year. :)



Unless the Pro modes light output can be set higher via FW fix ;)

As I said above John, it looks a bit brighter than the measurements suggest with real word sources. That's not to say it couldn't use a bit more but it looks excellent for evening/nightime viewing and at least there's now the option for an accurate(ish) day mode:)

Excellent review Mark!

How is the motion compared to the ST50?

Hi

Sorry I've not seen the ST50 yet but you've got to think they'd be very similar if not identical in that area.

I wonder if there can be said something on linebleed issues

I did see some on one occasion but it's generally something that doesn't bother me unless it's happening a lot.
 
Wow! nice surprise to see this up already!
Fantastic review Mark, I'll need to read it a few times to take it all in, so much info, cracking job.:thumbsup:

So for films it looks a stunner, sadly(at least for picky sods like me) SD still isnt great, at least for the UK. I hate false contouring one of the things Im loving about my D6900 is it has far less.

Green splat wise I will be holding judgment and would advise people hold of buying for a couple of months, my GT30 was clear for a long time, then it seemingly appeared from nowhere. Depending on this and how bad the contouring is this set would be very tempting if I had the money.
 
Thanks for the reviews Mark/Steve.

Could you do a brief comparison of the ST50 against the VT50 on 2D picture quality? I'm sure lots of members would like to know if the VT is worth the extra money.
 
Thanks for the reviews Mark/Steve.

Could you do a brief comparison of the ST50 against the VT50 on 2D picture quality? I'm sure lots of members would like to know if the VT is worth the extra money.

It would be great if we could do so but the TVs are hundreds of miles apart and it's Russell Williams that has the telescope:)
 
Just to note that these are our initial reviews of the products. We intend to cover most of the screen sizes for the ST, GT and VT (and others) and the sets will go between the reviewers here so we will be able to do some comparisons further down the line. Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the review Mark,

Basically because of the 50Hz bug Im decided to avoid the VT50 line and get a 55WT50 instead, but I have a question regarding the 50Hz Bug. There has been a hint in the review, that the 50Hz is only related to 50Hz sources. This can not be true, as the 2011 line ( Im a owner of VT30 ) gave me posterization and double images ( weird edges ) with panning scenes ( mid to fast ) also when watching 24p blu-rays. Could you please compare this area by VT30 (I own ) and the VT50? I mean the 24p blu-ray panning scenes.
Thank you
 
Thanks for the review Mark,

Basically because of the 50Hz bug Im decided to avoid the VT50 line and get a 55WT50 instead, but I have a question regarding the 50Hz Bug. There has been a hint in the review, that the 50Hz is only related to 50Hz sources. This can not be true, as the 2011 line ( Im a owner of VT30 ) gave me posterization and double images ( weird edges ) with panning scenes ( mid to fast ) also when watching 24p blu-rays. Could you please compare this area by VT30 (I own ) and the VT50? I mean the 24p blu-ray panning scenes.
Thank you

The Blu-ray motion is absolutely is as silky smooth as is possible to be with low motion film content, to my eyes. The DFC issues weren't totally restricted to 50Hz but far more common at that refresh.
 
Does it have more or less of the "rainbow effect" (RBE) compared to last year? The 30-series was atrocious in this regard. LG and Samsung fared a lot better imo (so clearly not all Plasmas are equal). What about the 50-series?
 
Does it have more or less of the "rainbow effect" (RBE) compared to last year? The 30-series was atrocious in this regard. LG and Samsung fared a lot better imo (so clearly not all Plasmas are equal). What about the 50-series?

I don't see the rainbow effect with plasma myself but some do. Or are you talking about something else? Perhaps a bit more description required.
 
Thanks for the Reveiw Mark:thumbsup:, How many bloody TV's you got on the go then :laugh:.

Black level and Shadow Detail sound overwhelming but still the 50hz bug and False contouring !, Once you spot those red n green stripes on skintones it's Fatal for me :eek:.
 
50Hz..still, what the hell's going on Panasonic?

When are the Samsungs due for review?
 
You do not need to enter bank details to download free app's when creating a Viera Connect Account, you can choose to 'update details later' and still download free app's. If you wanted to get a paid for app then obviously you would need to enter payment details.
 
Thanks for the Reveiw Mark:thumbsup:, How many bloody TV's you got on the go then :laugh:.

Black level and Shadow Detail sound overwhelming but still the 50hz bug and False contouring !, Once you spot those red n green stripes on skintones it's Fatal for me :eek:.

The DFC (red/green stripes) seems quite a bit reduced @ 50Hz Martin and you know it's something that troubles me too.

I've just the three on the go at the moment:)

You do not need to enter bank details to download free app's when creating a Viera Connect Account, you can choose to 'update details later' and still download free app's. If you wanted to get a paid for app then obviously you would need to enter payment details.

Ah right, OK Max but the process makes it look like you need to create to get the download and it's still daft that it doesn't come pre-loaded.
 

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