Panasonic X60 TX-P42X60B Plasma TV Review

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Reviewed by Mark Hodgkinson, 26th April 2013. Do you sit further than 9ft from the TV? Do you largely watch broadcast, streamed and DVD material? Is a Smart TV of no concern to you? Are you on a budget? If you can answer three or more of those questions with a ‘yes’ then the Panasonic X60B is certainly one for your shortlist. Recommended.
Read the full review...
 
I think this is exactly the TV everyone wanted to buy.
In 2006.
 
Don't discount it. At regular viewing distances and with what most people watch, most of the time - i.e. broadcast TV, it will give many a set costing far more a run for its money.

Not what I would choose, for me, but one I would definitely recommend to most of my friends and family, for how they use a TV.
 
Possibly a good bedroom set at what £400? My lowly 32" LCD cost me over 300.

There have also been people looking for a non 1080p set this good for a good year now. Is it me or does it look like the GT30 without the trim?
 
Bought a 42" x50 early this year for the bedroom, and it's a damn good TV for the money. I'm sure this would be just as good or better..
 
You're right that it's a very good TV. But its resolution is a glaring weakest link. In 2006 there were hardly any Full HD content and you could live without it. But the same cannot be said for 2013, and when the new consoles arrive in a few months buying a new non-Full HD will make even less sense.

It's great to have a quality TV for a fair price like this, but not at - what I think is an artificial - expense of technological longevity. The resolution isn't even the 1366x768 we see in other HD Ready TVs, or even the 1280x720 that most 720p content is in, and that worries me! :(
 
Thank you for doing this review. I am going to buy the 50" version once the price starts falling.

As a sacrilegious person who frequently zooms blurays to fit 16:9 and sits > 11ft from the tv I have no need for 1080p. This tv brings quality to the masses.
 
You're right that it's a very good TV. But its resolution is a glaring weakest link. In 2006 there were hardly any Full HD content and you could live without it. But the same cannot be said for 2013, and when the new consoles arrive in a few months buying a new non-Full HD will make even less sense.

It's great to have a quality TV for a fair price like this, but not at - what I think is an artificial - expense of technological longevity. The resolution isn't even the 1366x768 we see in other HD Ready TVs, or even the 1280x720 that most 720p content is in, and that worries me! :(

For a start not everyone is interested in HD, I know yes unbelievable, but it is true.

As Mark says the key is distance, I had a PX80 and in all honesty I could not tel the difference in res until just a few feet away at 42", it was a huge debate back then and I looked for myself. Technically 768 isnt great as it means everything is scaled, but at this size and from a decent distance you just won't notice.

I upgraded to a V20, PQ was a huge leap, massive, it wasn't the resolution though that made my jaw drop, it was the difference in dynamic range and colour, it was like a veil had been lifted. I posted on here about it, if you search for the V20 owners thread you'll find it.

My eyesight (with glasses) is very good, Im very picky and see all sorts of issues and imperfections. If I was sat 8ft plus away(as likely most people would be) from two sets that were identical other than res I simply wouldn't see the difference with normal content, probably even with test patterns. Also don't forget many many people don't even have bluray yet, don't game or have Sky HD etc and likely won't bother.

Sorry but if you hadn't noticed I disagree with you greatly, good marketing makes you believe everyone has something/ wants something and that is all it is IMO.
 
Far too many get hung up on the numbers and instantly dismiss a product. Having had an HD Ready Pansonic a few years back it was just fine for a budget TV and performed way better than I could have expected for the outlay. While performance in Bluray won't be absolutely jaw-dropping on this TV for everything else it will give above average results and indeed if you watch mainly SD material it is a no brainer.

When you consider that this TV is now available for under £356 from Amazon I don't think you can argue with that and I would certainly take this over a cheap 1080p LCD any day of the week ...
 
Far too many get hung up on the numbers and instantly dismiss a product. Having had an HD Ready Pansonic a few years back it was just fine for a budget TV and performed way better than I could have expected for the outlay. While performance in Bluray won't be absolutely jaw-dropping on this TV for everything else it will give above average results and indeed if you watch mainly SD material it is a no brainer.

When you consider that this TV is now available for under £356 from Amazon I don't think you can argue with that and I would certainly take this over a cheap 1080p LCD any day of the week ...

356??:eek: bargain of the year, hell I may get one this year for the livingroom and have a 55" VT in a dedicated film/gaming room.:D
 
Thanks for the review, a pleasure to read as always. :) A couple of questions:

Does the lower resolution panel of this model have any advantages over the the Full-HD Panasonics when it comes to displaying SD content? Sounds like all the Panasonic have very capable scaling, but does it look any better on a 1024x768 panel?

Is there no way to control the gamma?
 
Thanks for the review, a pleasure to read as always. :) A couple of questions:

Does the lower resolution panel of this model have any advantages over the the Full-HD Panasonics when it comes to displaying SD content? Sounds like all the Panasonic have very capable scaling, but does it look any better on a 1024x768 panel?

Is there no way to control the gamma?

Yes, for Tv Freeview SD on the 42" one ; but this model
according to the review is useless for HD Broadcasts
,all types of HD sources and even Upscaled DVD because
the unwanted artifacts not present on those original sources....

AV Forums makes a great work and they ve to be moderate
but this X60 is only for 576i/p true sources
 
It would have been good to see a picture of these scaling artefacts, I didn't think that downscaling was particularly difficult.
 
It would have been good to see a picture of these scaling artefacts, I didn't think that downscaling was particularly difficult.


We are not talking about "Artifacts" related to downscaling......that is the problem !

A bad downscaling produces broken edges , too much sharpness, judder...etc..
....the X60 have them...and also image artifacts like blur, double edges........

It is a lame cause for SD sources is an amazing tv
 
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Sounds like it could be a good set for me as I view mainly broadcast tv, DVD's and watch 720p content via a usb stick.

The only downside I can think of is I bet the screen is like a mirror with the curtains open.
 
Sounds like it could be a good set for me as I view mainly broadcast tv, DVD's and watch 720p content via a usb stick.

The only downside I can think of is I bet the screen is like a mirror with the curtains open.

It has no AR screen filter but works good with daylight , it causes a beautiful glass like glare to the images

anyway price/quality ratio for SD or even 720p sources is really good for you!
 
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This set is starting to interest me. I had been looking for an 32-37" LED TV until I realised that 42" is the right size so can therefore look at plasma's.
Actually, I have just bought a Samsung 42F5000 but it has something wrong with the picture so I need to return it. I would like to replace it with a Panasonic for their reliability, superior construction and picture quality. Their bare bones EM6 is not available in 42",the E6 is maybe a little expensive and the highly coveted top end plasma's are much too expensive so the X60B might just be the solution for my ongoing TV conundrum!

I do have some questions so perhaps someone could enlighten me?!?

1. The consequences of its 720p resolution;

a) Does this mean SD broadcasts will be better than a Full HD LED TV?
b) Will upscaled DVD's be better to watch than down scaled blu-rays?

2. Streamed content?

Is this downloading movies to a hard drive and then connecting to tv with usb? What would the quality of these downloaded films be like?

3. Viewing Distance

I sit 8-10ft from where the TV will go. Do you think I would be taking a risk with the X60B? SD is fine to watch on the 42" Samsung from this distance. Would the X60B perform in much the same way?

4. Smart blu ray/hard drive

Would it be worth buying a smart blu ray player to connect to the X60B bearing in mind its resolution. Would HD films on Netflix be enjoyable for instance? Or would I be better off getting a hard drive and 'streaming' films that way?

The other thing that concerns me are the actual dimensions of the TV. Thats quite a chunky looking bezel! I will have to take some measurements.

Having been a member of AVforums since November this is the first time I have considered plasma as an option. What is the life expectancy of a plasma vs. LED?

ps. I bought the Samsung from Currys for £439. They have the X60B on sale for £349. Very tempting indeed!

Thanks in advance for your input.

pps. Currys list it as having an HD tuner so will the HD channels be noticeably better than SD ones?
There is also an LG 42PN450B for sale which has a slimmer bezel. Are LG plasma's any good?
 
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This set is starting to interest me. I had been looking for an 32-37" LED TV until I realised that 42" is the right size so can therefore look at plasma's.
Actually, I have just bought a Samsung 42F5000 but it has something wrong with the picture so I need to return it. I would like to replace it with a Panasonic for their reliability, superior construction and picture quality. Their bare bones EM6 is not available in 42",the E6 is maybe a little expensive and the highly coveted top end plasma's are much too expensive so the X60B might just be the solution for my ongoing TV conundrum!

I do have some questions so perhaps someone could enlighten me?!?

1. The consequences of its 720p resolution;

a) Does this mean SD broadcasts will be better than a Full HD LED TV?
b) Will upscaled DVD's be better to watch than down scaled blu-rays?

2. Streamed content?

Is this downloading movies to a hard drive and then connecting to tv with usb? What would the quality of these downloaded films be like?

3. Viewing Distance

I sit 8-10ft from where the TV will go. Do you think I would be taking a risk with the X60B? SD is fine to watch on the 42" Samsung from this distance. Would the X60B perform in much the same way?

4. Smart blu ray/hard drive

Would it be worth buying a smart blu ray player to connect to the X60B bearing in mind its resolution. Would HD films on Netflix be enjoyable for instance? Or would I be better off getting a hard drive and 'streaming' films that way?

The other thing that concerns me are the actual dimensions of the TV. Thats quite a chunky looking bezel! I will have to take some measurements.

Having been a member of AVforums since November this is the first time I have considered plasma as an option. What is the life expectancy of a plasma vs. LED?

ps. I bought the Samsung from Currys for £439. They have the X60B on sale for £349. Very tempting indeed!

Thanks in advance for your input.

pps. Currys list it as having an HD tuner so will the HD channels be noticeably better than SD ones?
There is also an LG 42PN450B for sale which has a slimmer bezel. Are LG plasma's any good?

1- a-...as good as or better, i mean more natural...
b- no , bluray always better

2- first you ve to search if the usb of the tv accepts NTFS
file format of external hard drives, anyway you can use
a FAT32 pendrive , always search the best quality video file

3- tha 42 one is perfect

4- it is only 1024X768 resolution..... but the movie in the best possible quality will be always pretty impressive
even on a HD Ready plasma

If you re thinking you will regret with the 720p...just buy the ST60 panasonic plasma..cheers
 
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1- a-...as good as or better, i mean more natural...
b- no , bluray always better

2- first you ve to search if the usb of the tv accepts NTFS
file format of external hard drives, anyway you can use
a FAT32 pendrive , always search the best quality video file

3- tha 42 one is perfect

4- it is only 1024X768 resolution..... but the movie in the best possible quality will be always pretty impressive
even on a HD Ready plasma

If you re thinking you will regret with the 720p...just buy the ST60 panasonic plasma..cheers

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my many questions!
The ST60 or ST50 would be on my list if it weren't for my bank balance. I am thinking about saving for the E6 or swapping for the X60b. I wonder what the difference in picture quality is? JL have the x60b on their website so I might call to see if they have it on display in my local store and check it out.

edit. Panasonic Taunton have it on display so will have a look over the weekend.
 
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Hi. Recently bought one of these, and was wondering if anyone knows of a link to a guide for sorting out the recommended picture settings for this particular model?

Edit:

Will this guide do the job?

PicturePerfect Step 3 : how to set up the brightness, contrast, colour and sharpness on your TV | AVForums.com - UK Online

Hi. I am thinking about getting one too. Would you mind letting me know what you think about it? Have you always had plasma or did you switch from LED? Cheers.
 
Just been to have a look at the X60B in my local Panasonic store. I actually quite like the basic design and the build quality is first rate. The set was placed right at the front of the store so there was a lot of glare on the screen. The salesmen didn't seem to keen on me nosing around so could only watch a brief clip of the F1 qualifying.

Feedback would be very helpful!
 
well , the Panasonic E6 IPS Led is pretty impressive according to HDTV test review.....read it and decide
 
just brought a couple of these from john lewis on line about £350 and comes with 5 year warranty put in bedroom and they are spot on great picture quality nice size and great price, and I also like the bigger surround, I install a lot of lg tv's for work and their super thin rubbish is so badly assembled when it breaks and you open up to fix its all bits of tape holding things in place, I much rather have something a bit more solid with space inside for air to move etc and you can fix them!

while it doesn't have netflix skype and a browser or dnla :( (making the network fairly pointless) stick a bluray player with all that on it in and your sorted, I intend to just stick a nice little ATV box on mine tidy little black box under tv and lets me watch all my online films music and tv shows.

Panasonic are one of the few companies still building quality stuff I now have 2 of their commercial panels 50", a 50" active 3d plasma, 2 x 42" plasmas and a load of their other products around the house, really pleased with it all and some great clearance bargins this time of year as the new models come out. :)
 

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