Panasonic Professional VX300 (TH-65VX300) 65 Inch 3D Plasma TV Review

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Reviewed by Stephen Withers, 25th November 2011.
In conclusion, the Panasonic Professional VX300 is an exceptional display that deservedly wins our Reference Badge and as such must now be considered the benchmark against which all other televisions will be measured.
Read the full review...
 
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Great review, glad to see something finally has come along to challenge the Kuro. Just a naive question. You say their is no tv tuner, what exactly would i have to buy to use it as a normal tv? Would a Sky plus box do? Sorry for the silly question not really an expert:blush::blush:
 
Great review, glad to see something finally has come along to challenge the Kuro. Just a naive question. You say their is no tv tuner, what exactly would i have to buy to use it as a normal tv? Would a Sky plus box do? Sorry for the silly question not really an expert:blush::blush:

Anything that delivers a TV signal via HDMI will do, so a Sky+ box is fine or cable or Freeview or Freesat.
 
Thx for the review Steve.

Couple of nerdy questions :

- Did you compare Normal and Cinema max light ouput ?

- Is banding back in the "Bi-level drive tech"-less Normal picture mode ?
In Cinema mode, do finer graduations/lack of banding carry on at high APL ?
Do you have more info about this tech ? (my guess : light output traded for an additional subfield allowing the second sf to be lit at lower luma level hence doubling the very dark color graduations and only these)

- Did you notice any form of "dynamic" gamma/luma depending on APL ?
 
Great review, Steve, thanks.

Typical, but when I finally get the money together for a high-end 50" display (and video processor), there are non around to buy! Given the performance of the VX300 (and a price tag that puts it out of the range of many) and the fact that there are no plans for a 50" VX300, is there any chance AVForums could get hold of the 50" broadcast monitor, the TH-50BT300, to review?

Edit: Out of interest, can/how is the nanodrift screen saver defeated, since according to the manual for the VX300, there's no 'off' setting?
 
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With any luck we'll see what tech trickles down from this to the VT40 come CES in the new year.
 
Out of interest, can/how is the nanodrift screen saver defeated, since according to the manual for the VX300, there's no 'off' setting?

You're right, according to the manual the Nanodrift can't be turned off but after a bit of experimentation I found a way, you just hold down the enter button for a few seconds.
 
Did you compare Normal and Cinema max light output?

Is banding back in the "Bi-level drive tech"-less Normal picture mode?

In Cinema mode, do finer graduations/lack of banding carry on at high APL?
Do you have more info about this tech? (my guess : light output traded for an additional subfield allowing the second sf to be lit at lower luma level hence doubling the very dark color graduations and only these)

Did you notice any form of "dynamic" gamma/luma depending on APL?

Yes I did compare the light output of Normal and Cinema and needless to say Normal was brighter.

I didn't notice any banding in Normal mode but the majority of my viewing was done in the calibrated Cinema mode.

I didn't see any banding in Cinema mode at high APL and I'm afraid I don't have any additional information on Bi-level Drive technology.

There is a Dynamic Picture mode but that appeared to just be the brightest setting which is why it doubles as the ISF Day setting. There is however no dynamic gamma/luma feature on the VX300.
 
Yes I did compare the light output of Normal and Cinema and needless to say Normal was brighter.

I didn't notice any banding in Normal mode but the majority of my viewing was done in the calibrated Cinema mode.

I didn't see any banding in Cinema mode at high APL and I'm afraid I don't have any additional information on Bi-level Drive technology.

There is a Dynamic Picture mode but that appeared to just be the brightest setting which is why it doubles as the ISF Day setting. There is however no dynamic gamma/luma feature on the VX300.

Thx Steve.
Let's hope CES will bring us good stuff.
 
Steve did you have any of the double image on video games as with the VT30 with games below 60fps?

I am the small percent that would buy this for movies and video games.
 
Steve did you have any of the double image on video games as with the VT30 with games below 60fps?

I didn't have any problems with double image but then the games I played were at 60Hz so I couldn't really comment about games below that.
 
Hi Steve,

Many thanks for another excellent review. I too hope some of the newer features will find there way into the 2012 models. There is one question regarding 3D that continues to bother me. I hope you can shed some light on the issue. With Blu Ray 3D material, the output seems to be at 1080p 24fps. Does the Panasonic use a 96hz refresh rate for 48Hz per eye or some kind of cadence enabling 120hz or 60hz per eye.

I ask because either method may have problems. Implementing 96hz or 48hz per eye might introduce the danger of perceived flicker. 120hz or 60hz per eye using cadance might presumably introduce movement artifacts. I know the best solution so far is triple flash but Panasonic has yet to adopt that reference standard. I was unclear from the review which refresh rates the Panasonic was using for your 3D testing and I look forward to your thoughts on this. From the review it seems that whatever it was, the results were excellent.

Regards,

Paul
 
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Many thanks for the review Steve.

Did you look for green patches on a grey background?
 
Hi Steve

Given what you said about the quality of the internal video processing and CMS/calibration controls, in your valued opinion could you justify the use of a Lumagen Radiance video processor with this Monitor (and that's why we love it) or would it offer very little tangible difference.

P.S. Here's hoping the Australian price when it finally lands here is closer to the US price and not the UK price, to all the UK members you have my sympathy 7,999 GBP Ouch!!
 
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the review, did you get a chance to see how the vx300 perform in displaying standard definition:rolleyes: live broadcast and or dvd ?

Thanks
 
Thanks for the review, did you get a chance to see how the vx300 perform in displaying standard definition:rolleyes: live broadcast and or dvd?

Of course, I spent five days using the VX300 as my main TV and watched everything on it - standard and high def broadcasts, DVDs, 2D and 3D Blu-rays and 2D and 3D games. As I mention in the 2D Picture Quality section, standard definition looked great thanks to quality of the video processing and the superb picture quality.
 
Given what you said about the quality of the internal video processing and CMS/calibration controls, in your valued opinion could you justify the use of a Lumagen Radiance video processor with this Monitor (and that's why we love it) or would it offer very little tangible difference.

Just about any display will benefit from the addition of a Radiance, the question is whether the improvements would justify the additional cost. To a certain extent it depends on the content you are watching and whether or not you want the Radiance for other features such as switching. Certainly with the Radiance you could get the greyscale ruler flat and tweak the magenta but these errors were largely imperceptible to the human eye. There's no question that if you did by-pass the internal scaler and use the Radiance the results would be spectacular but the internal video processing was also very good so again it is debatable whether you would notice the difference without test material.
 
There is one question regarding 3D that continues to bother me. I hope you can shed some light on the issue. With Blu Ray 3D material, the output seems to be at 1080p 24fps. Does the Panasonic use a 96hz refresh rate for 48Hz per eye or some kind of cadence enabling 120hz or 60hz per eye.

I ask because either method may have problems. Implementing 96hz or 48hz per eye might introduce the danger of perceived flicker. 120hz or 60hz per eye using cadance might presumably introduce movement artifacts. I know the best solution so far is triple flash but Panasonic has yet to adopt that reference standard. I was unclear from the review which refresh rates the Panasonic was using for your 3D testing and I look forward to your thoughts on this. From the review it seems that whatever it was, the results were excellent.

I didn't actually check the 3D refresh rate but as I mention in the review there was no evidence of either flicker or motion artefacts, so whichever approach Panasonic are taking, it seems to be working.
 
I didn't have any problems with double image but then the games I played were at 60Hz so I couldn't really comment about games below that.
The PS3 and 360-games are all in 60hz but the majority of them are 30fps or even lower.

In german forums are often players that changed from LCD to plasma and ask similar questions about doubleimages on their consolcegames and the truth is, that they didn't realize on their old LCDs, that 30fps-games will never deliver sharp scrolling.

On the plasmas with their very accurate motion handling the difference between 60fps and 30fps games suddenly become very obvious for them and so they are disappointed for the moment, but it's the fault of the games not the fault of the plasmas.
 
Hi Steve

Will you be reviewing the smaller BT300 models which have the same spec as the VX300. £2600 for the 42, which is not too bad.

Thanks
 
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Hi Steve, thanks for your reply. Whilst I was disappointed with no refresh rate info I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I have been busily researching the Panny VT30 this morning and it is very difficult finding info on refresh rates for 3D. I would urge you to explore different refresh rates for 3d in your reviews if you feel it worthy. However, from the few informative reviews I have found, it appears that all the latest Panasonics display 3d at default 120hz refresh with cadence. They seem to be able to do this without obvious artifacts. Like myself, the authors of these reviews make a plea for triple flash and quad flash for 1080p 24fps 3d material to be included on future models. This might finally make viewing feel natural and relaxing through active glasses.

Regards,

Paul
 
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