Excellent choice if you are on a Budget AND if you are not a videophile

This is one of the Best TVs available on the market especially considering it's price. I've had this TV for about a week now and have nothing major to complain. I was nervous getting a plasma TV due issues like glare buzz weight form factor ghosting burn-in etc. But this TV proved to live out most of the disadvantages of plasmas.



Pros:



1. Color Accuracy - Color accuracy great without even tweaking any calibration settings. I like the THX cinema mode the best.



2. Slick - The TV has a slim form factor and the uniform glass top (Bezel does not pop out of the screen). We absolutely love it's looks.



3. DLNA - This is the first TV I owned with DLNA capability. I installed the Nero Home media essentials that came with this TV on my laptop and I was able to watch photos and videos that are on my laptop in no time. The video quality also feels upscaled and close to HD.



4. Plug and Play USB - I connected my USB hard drive and instantly there is a prompt on the TV to play videos music and photos.



5. Netcast and Widgets - The TV comes with Netflix Youtube Vudu Picasa widgets and it also supports the Yahoo widget gallery. I haven't yet tried Netflix or Vudu. But Youtube and Picasa were really good. The picture quality of the youtube videos was not great but it really is a matter of the video itself but not the TV. Yahoo widgets were good too. I especially use the Twitter widget a lot.



6. Games - The TV came with some games pre-installed. I haven't explored this feature much. But I tried Sudoku and it was simple to use.



7. No Buzz - Since I read in one of the earlier reviews about the buzz sound I tried hard to hear it from my typical viewing distance (about 10ft) and I heard nothing.



8. Ease of use - The menus and features are very easy to navigate and operate.



9. Remote - The remote is really slick and with big keys and very easy to operate. Also has decent short cuts to most of the frequently used features.



Cons:



1. Black Levels - Black levels are not as dark as I'd hoped for in a Plasma. In fact in some cases I tend to think they are not even on par with some of the latest better performing Sony and Samsung LCDs. I was a little disappointed with this. But hey you get what you pay for..!



2. Glare - Like any other plasma TV this TV produces a bit of glare. But this is much better compared to a lot of other plasmas I've seen and in most cases you wouldn't really notice it unless you are looking for it.



3. PIP/POP - I'd hoped that a 2010 TV comes with the basic PIP/POP features. But seems like this TV does not have it. It's not a deal breaker for me though.



4. Zoom - The picture zoom feature is a little cumbersome.



5. Typing - Netcast widgets use the number pad for typing. But Yahoo widgets (twitter) rely on the visual keyboard and entering each alphabet takes a lot of strokes. I wish LG offered a remote with QWERTY keyboard something similar to the one that comes with Vizio VF552XVT.



6. Video format compatibility - I tried playing several videos of different formats - divx divx HD mpeg mp4 wmv avi etc. It was able to handle all formats. But within a given format some videos were not recognized (videos that I have are even though of the same format are different in bit rate compression resolution etc). Sometimes it does not recognize the audio. I wish LG comes up with a firmware update to expand it's support.



One feature I haven't tried is the wireless connectivity. This TV is both WiFi ready and Wireless 1080p ready. But both of these optional accessories which I do not currently have.



I haven't played around with a lot of picture settings yet (Mostly because I didn't need to). But as I explore more I shall come back to update this post.



This may not be the best TV on market. But for a little over 1000 bucks you can not go wrong with this TV especially if you are not a videophile and picky about deep black levels.More detail ...

I love this TV # SETTINGS UPDATE #

I have had this TV for nearly a month. After I got the basic picture settings where I like them I am continually amazed at what a terrific picture I get. For me the the CINEMA setting seems to be the best overall setting for both DVDs and broadcast/cable TV and I adjust the the other picture settings as needed for individual DVDs or TV programs.

I wanted to keep this brief so I won't go into any further detail. I am completely happy with this TV. You can never really be sure what a TV is going to be like once you get into your home. In this case I can't imagine how it could be any better.



AVERAGE USER PICTURE SETUP GUIDE



I have had this TV about 3 months now and still Love it. Over that time I have fine tuned the picture settings to the point where I am happy with them in almost every viewing situation and video format without having to make any changes. I watch my TV at ambient light levels from fairly bright to completely dark.

I thought a list of my settings might be a helpful starting point for new owners wanting to get the best from this awesome TV as quickly as possible. I didn't use any test patterns or fancy equipment to arrive at these settings. They were developed using real world viewing. You super techies can scoff and move on now and hopefully this will be a help to the rest of you.



SETTINGS



Picture Mode = Cinema (always)

Contrast 36

Brightness 36

Color 29 (you will probably use this

Tint +1 and the tint control most often)

Sharpness 50

Color Temp = warm

CATS off

Video NR on

Blur Reduction on



ASPECT:

Screen Format = full

HD Size 1



ADVANCED PICTURE



Mpeg NR = on

Black level = light (This is an important setting. On My TV it was defaulted to DARK. On very dark scenes like in

Theaters during concerts there is much useful detail that is lost with the Dark setting.

Another good example is the opening scene of "Master and Commander" The movie opens with a

long distance shot of the HMS Surprise alone at sea just before the sun comes up. The camera

slowly pans closer to the deck of the ship until we can see the black rigging silhouetted

against the grayish blue predawn with sailors climbing up and down the rigging for the

changing of the watch. The next scene is of the ships cook reaching into the on deck chicken

coop to grab a chicken. With the setting in DARK the cook's face clothing and the chicken

are all dark shadows with no detail. With the light setting the cooks features his ginger

colored beard and the soft blue and gray stripes of his shirt are now visible along with

the individual reddish brown feathers of the chicken he selected.



I hope this helps you get started. Everyone's tastes are different but this should be a good starting point.

I suspect that these settings should also be good for the other size sets in the S2 line

This review refers to the 2010 model TC-P54S2More detail ...

Panasonic G10--Excellent Picture Quality and Price Combination

This is based on my experience with the TC-P50G10 which is identical to P46 but with a larger screen. I bought it three weeks ago and am very happy with it. I did a lot of research and tried out a number of TVs before settling down on this one so I thought I would share some of the information and my experience with the TV and hopefully make your decision in choosing the TV a bit easier.



First thing first. According to my research the Panasonic G10 probably has the best picture quality among all TVs in mass production as of the time of this review (May 2009). Most importantly it has pitch dark black level scorching brightness high color accuracy and good motion processing.



I chose the Panasonic plasma over Sony and Samsung LCD for a few reasons. (1) Compared to 120Hz LCDs Panasonic is significantly cheaper than Sony and Samsung. (2) I think the G10 is better in handling motion than the 120HZ LCDs. (3) The colors on the plasma are more appealing to me than those on the LCDs. (4) It has superior viewing angle. It looks perfect from any angle you will actually watch the TV without washing out the color prserving the quality of the color.



The third point on color appeal is subjective and calls for description of subjective experience. There are lots of technical comparison of the colors on different displays on the internet but my perceptual experience is that the colors on the panasonic plasma is very vibrant punchy tantalizing and mesmerizing. The colors look like things in real life but they are more intense than real life. A friend said "it's prettier than real but not distorted. It is just like an enhanced colorful world." If you prefer high fedelity to real life colors you can use the THX mode to tune it down to be very faithful to studio color measures. LCD in comparison is also very vibrant but it doesn't look as realistic. It's more like computer graphics and less like colors of living things. Technically this may have to do with the deeper black level on the plasma than the LCD.



Before the G10 I had the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ80U 46-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV. Both TVs have very appealing colors but I returned the PZ80U and got the G10 because the G10 has a number of important improvements over the PZ80U: it has a brighter plasma display has a VGA PC input lower energy consumption and more accurate color. Also its frame is more compact so I can fit a 50" G10 into the space that would only hold a 46" PZ80U. In fact the G10 is brighter and more contrasty than last year's top model Panasonic TH-50PZ850U 50-inch Viera 1080p Plasma HDTV.



What else do I like about the TV? It is very bright for a Plasam TV. According to tech specs and online reviews it is the bightest plasma ever made. In Custom Mode it is more than bright enough to watch in my room with direct sun light (sun light in the room not on the TV). In Vivid Mode "you should prepare to put on your ski googles". In fact it's too bright and overly constrasty and saturated for regular viewing. However it is quite useful in displaying low resolution and low quality online video such as YouTube or Netflix Instant Watch. The extra boost in brightness contrast and saturation make the low quality online video look much more appealing and lively.



VieraCast is kinda cool. Not a deal maker but certainly not a drawback. I used third party firmware DD-WRT to set up a Linksys WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router as a wireless bridge. So the TV can get online without running a cable to my main router.



I find this TV fits my needs perfectly. But no TV is perfect at least not for the technically savvy.



So here are the cons:



(1) The sound is mediocre. It is fine to watch a TV show but lackluster to watch a good movie or music show.



(1.2) True Cinema 24-frame mode flickering is perceptually disturbing because the refresh rate is set to 48 Hz in the mode. It is a pitty because motion does look much more life like and less video like in True-Cinema mode. Wish the TV could run at 72 Hz.



(2) My PC only has VGA out but no DVI out. (This point does not matter for those with DVI out on their computer. A DVI to VGA cable will work fine) The VGA input on the TV does not support 1080 HD. It only supports up to 1280x768. Panny should not cut corner here. Although this problem doesn't really matter for video contents because most computer video resolution is less than 1280x768. And the pixel interpolation effect on the Plasma is more like a CRT and less like an LCD. So the set is reasonably good at displaying contents with resolution lower than its native res.



(3) VieraCast needs improvement. The content is still limited. The search function of Youtube on VieraCast is not as easy to use as on a computer. The Amazon video on demand price is way too high (but this is not really Panny's problem). I would kill for a firmware upgrade that enables Netflix streaming.



(4) The remote is not as well laid out as the one on PZ80. The 3 big buttons above the directional keys are occupied by the rarely used VieraLink VieraCast and VieraTool. The commonly used Menu key is moved to a small key. Totally wrong choice of ergonomics.



(5) VGA PC input is paired with RCA audio input. I wish it is a 3.5mm (1/8 ") mini jack instead which will allow a single cable cable integrating VGA video and mini jack audio. Now I have to use two cables.



(6) The stand does not swivel.



Regardless of the above drawbacks overall I find this TV to have the best picture quality and price combination. The pros by far outweigh the cons. The picture quality of this TV is truly amazing as such some calls it "The New King of Plasma." Anyone seriously considering an HDTV should take a look at this one now that the Pioneer Kuro exited the market.



I highly recommend it.More detail ...

Value performance quality - this LG TV delivers

Let me start by saying that I am not a videophile but when it comes to purchasing a television I can be very picky. I went through the whole LCD vs. Plasma dilemma 3 years ago when I bought my Samsung 5084 (one of the best non-Pioneer plasmas at the time). That said I was ready to supplement that unit this year with a 'smaller' LCD for the bedroom (didn't want to sweat IR horizontal line bleed etc). Needless to say LCD options in the 'budget' range lack features that alleviate some of their drawbacks forcing you to suffer through motion blur clouding and terrible black levels if you choose a set for ~$800).



Enter the 42" plasmas. For the sake of comparison I decided to investigate the plasma alternative once again. This essentially brought me to the Samsung C450 due to my positive experience with the 5084 and glowing reviews for the C450. Unfortunately users reported an audible buzzing noise from the Samsung (a noise I know full well from the 5084 and did not want to deal with on a bedroom set).



Enter the PJ350. I only became aware of this set after seeing it next to the Samsung at the store. From a design perspective it tops the Samsung with an ultra thin bezel very thin chassis and no 'touch of red'. Furthermore I heard no buzzing from the LG floor model while the Samsung sounded like someone was digging honey out of a beehive. Since it is a brand new model I had no reviews to rely on but I took the plunge.



Picture quality from this unit is superb for any sub-$1k TV much less one at this price point. This 720p set rivals my 1080p plasma in most respects most notably black levels. I have only had it for a few days now but setting the TV on 'cinema' mode at 70 contrast and 50 brightness is really impressive (I recommend switching those two numbers for several weeks to break in the unit). If you place your head behind the unit you can hear the typical plasma 'buzz' but this is completely inaudible at any reasonable viewing distance. While this goes without saying all the benefits of plasma are apparent with this TV: cinematic quality motion (none of that chincy 120hz movement) 24p bluray playback consistent backlighting etc. I have noticed a tiny amount of false contouring but less than my Samsung - hardly an annoyance. OTA video quality is of course superb. The reviewer who stated that colors are not as vivid clearly didn't recognize that picture settings are independently adjustable for each input. This TV does offer a settings wizard to help set the picture based on your unit and environment but I prefer manual adjustment to suit my personal tastes.



If you're worried about not having 1080p don't be. At this size you will not detect a difference anywhere outside 4' from the unit. The screen is quite reflective but if glare is your primary concern then you surely can settle for the inferior picture quality of a cheap LCD. While I have limited experience with my LG I can honestly say that I am very pleased thus far.More detail ...

great tv for the money

I got this tv on sale the day after it arrived in stores for only $720 and I could not be happier with it. The picture is fantastic right out of the box. As with all plasmas make sure you take the break in period seriously by turning down the contrast and brightness a bit for the first 100-200 hours. I've also been running the anti-burn in scrolling feature for about an hour a night when I go to bed and have yet to notice any sort of image retention although I haven't played any video games on it yet.



There's a lot of chatter about these Samsung plasmas having an annoying buzzing sound coming from them but I have yet to notice it. Maybe I just got lucky with mine but it runs very quietly.More detail ...

Blows LCD away

This pannasonic G25 is amazing. Clear Crisp Picture. Colors are amazing unlike an LCD. You never would know the difference unless you saw a plasma. Unfortunatly plasmas got a bad rap years ago and people shy away from them. This model (as do others including samsung) have built in image retention elimination devices. Follow the break in for the first 100 hours and you have nothing to worry about. The sound levels arent bad you probably have a surround system anyways so it dont matter. This picture gets better and better as it breaks in. All store demos are pretty crappy and usually the plasmas are off to the side. If stores used a good setup and dialed in the sets its unbelievable how many they would sell but most people drift to the big bright LCD or LED. This tv is bright and colors are unmatched. Hockey games and fast paced sports are crap on lcd but on plasma when the hockey players stop you can see every sliver of ice fly through the air. Plasmas are less money and better picture the an lcd why buy an lcd? I looked at the samsung however they have a realllly bad rep for buzzing. Get it dial in your settings and you too will be blown away.



More detail ...

Fantastic set!

Just received the TV today! It arrived a day early which was a pleasant surprise. Once I fired it up I was ecstatic with this set. The quality is amazing for the price the picture blows away a top of the line 42" 1080p LCD display that I've seen. Deep rich colors high contrast fluid motion...there is nothing not to like! Streamed Spartacus off Netflix and compared to my old little 22" LCD it really came to life.(Even if the writing is really bad)



It was able to find some basic cable channels in HD which is awesome and Modern Warfare 2 looks simply astounding (again much better than on aforementioned 42" and 22" LCDs.)



The sound is decent it's actually better than I was expecting. It's obviously no Home Theatre but I was impressed. It's got a few connections which aren't listed on Amazon...the 3 HDMI 1 PC 1 USB 1 Component 1 Dual Component/Composite Audio In 1/8" Audio Out 1/8" Optical out and cable. The menu is very easy to navigate and adjust and in it you can turn off it's startup/shut down sound if you find it irritating. It's kinda soothing though.



One negative I've found is that the audio running out isn't controlled by the televisions volume I guess that's pretty standard but it means my cheap computer speakers aren't much good. (No remote) Also when installing the base stand it felt like I was about to destroy the thread on the screws that are used...They aren't easy to get in there!



It's very elegant and looks great in my living room. It's not super bright which I love (LCD panels hurt my eyes after a while) All in all for the money it's a fantastic TV. I was looking for quality affordability and style.More detail ...

Not Only Excellent For The Money But Excellent Period.

I had tried to buy the previous "B" model at close-out prices but I missed the boat. Thought I might be outta luck until the "C" version started showing up a day or so afterward and it turned out to be basically the same TV just about 25lbs lighter - only 2 people needed to wall mount - I was down with that and $[...] bucks still didn't seem too bad. I had already researched for some time and Plasma was it for me. The Panny G-10 had a similarly good picture too and although it offers much to consider I liked the Sammy's picture just a bit more but you may want to check it out as well. I received the set with zero problems or issues: no dead pixels or any buzzing whines or anything amiss at all. Outta the box the picture was quite good and showed me good resolution performance even with SD cable with no video noise issues (although initially I did find it necessary to use the 3 supplied ferrite choke magnets that snap onto the power cord. These not only eliminated the several horizontal noise bands in the picture but cleaned up the resolution on the overall picture with no downside - an easy fix that totally nixed the problem for me).



But tweaking the picture a bit is where this set shines the most. When researching I came across a site that offered a list of picture control settings for the "B" version. Since this is really the same panel I factored it into my buying decision accordingly. Especially since the settings were said to be obtained with a Sencore color analyzer (about a $10000 pro device for calibrating video displays and is the sort of thing used by the Imaging Science Foundation - ISF. They at least did pioneer and continue to legitimize the video calibration practice but more to the point it WASN'T done by any of the more lame imitators that have since cropped up (like Geek Squad Spyder and others) whom I feel exist to separate you from your money (at about $300 a calibration) while hardly giving you a better picture adjustment than you can get on your own with a $25 calibration DVD).



What this means to us is that the results of what I'm taking to be the equivalent of a $300 (legit) picture calibration for this particular set anyway have already been posted on the web for free - not an inconsequential consideration for anyone interested. I'm posting those numbers here for those who are:



White Balance Settings:

Red-Offset: 22

Green-Offset: 25

Blue-Offset: 12



Red-Gain: 33

Green-Gain: 25

Blue-Gain: 33



Picture Settings:

Picture Mode: Movie

Color Temp: Warm 2

Brightness: 56

Contrast: 90

Cell Light 8

Color: 53

Tint: G35/R65

Sharpness: 10

Black Tone: Off

Dynamic Contrast: Off

Gamma: 0

Colorspace: Auto

Flesh Tone: Off

Edge Enhancement: Off

Digital NR: Auto

HDMI Black Level: Low

Film Mode: Auto



When I tried these settings I noticed a very organic natural-looking picture one that offered me a few surprizes. This set happens to be inherently capable of showing a more-than-generous amount of color saturation without problem. I personally prefer a picture that's just slightly undersaturated if anything (but I expect this set will accomodate anyone's taste on that score if yours are different than mine). With all this what I found was that even when slightly undersaturated and I felt the picture was indeed realistic-looking whenever an unusually colorful object was displayed (like a particularly vivid piece of clothing or a brightly flourescent color - like some NASCAR colors for example) this TV displayed BOTH the less intense colors of the more mundane objects and the most decidedly vivid ones equally well in the same scene AT THE SAME TIME - never subduing the most vivid colors even when the overall color level looked 'properly' undersaturated to me on the more everyday objects. Nor was it unnaturally emphasizing them for that matter. The result was a TV that on any good HiDef cable feed regularly showed me a surprisingly wide (yet natural-looking) "dynamic range" of color intensity in the images. I could just about feel as if the TV itself were getting out of the way and showing me clearly (and more truthfully than I've seen in my home before) just what the camera saw. Very nice and as I say surprizingly convincing (and this with simply 1080i and 720p cable feeds - a Blu-ray player is definitely next!). This set after my preferred adjustments didn't make all the colors look too subdued like some plasmas I've seen have ended up doing nor all the colors too vivid like some LCD's. I felt like it walked the line beautifully - not merely a good compromise but it seemed truly the best of both in this regard. Black levels were great and with excellent detail - no complaints.



In the end I did opt to deviate from the settings above but only with respect to overall contrast/brightness and color level settings everything else was the same. This gave me an appreciable gain in contrast that suits me and my family's tastes in our well lighted daytime living room. Plasma is usually not as vivid in the contrast department as most LCD's or LED's but in the mid-price range ($1000-$1500 retail) it's a small price for me to pay for a picture that I feel (with adjustment) is otherwise decidedly sharper clearer more life-like and dimensional than anything else for the money. I haven't felt that any comparative lack of overall contrast has resulted in any buyer's remorse for me at all as no such notion has yet remotely entered my head anytime I've watched it.



I'll add that in my experience with LCD's vs. Plasmas Plasmas kill LCD's and LED's when it comes to motion - at least in the sets in this price range. Up over about $2000 and differences between the panel types start to get quite a bit smaller to me. But just before I settled on this Sammy I went to Wally World and dragged home a Vierra LCD mainly to see if 'taming down' an LCD picture to suit my tastes could possibly be better than trying to 'pump up' a Plasma. In this case a huge waste of time! What I saw was a 120-Hz LCD on sale at just under a 1000 bucks that just couldn't do motion very well at ALL. I popped in a SD DVD of Lawrence of Arabia and it looked like it was shot "live-to-video" perfectly goofy. I also found out just how bad a 5-ms response time can look on a 47" set. The 120Hz feature DID work as advertised and made fast motion MUCH better than without but any slow-speed pan or movement caused a nearly instantaneous defocusing of the area of motion until the motion stopped and the blurred area was able to snap back into focus. When watching a head shot of someone speaking for example their face would perceptably blur in the areas of facial movement while the face of another person in the scene next to them (not talking) remained in sharp focus - too disconcerting. And too much of a disconnect to the experience to NOT want to look at a person while they were talking(!). Plasma (600Hz or no) inherently has no such motion problems that require the consumer to spend money on to overcome. If that wasn't enough (and believe me for me it was) the somewhat artificial vividness to the picture proved at least on this LCD to be something I could never quite tame no matter what the settings.



For me to pass muster a flat panel must make no major blunders in the 4 most important performance areas of color contrast resolution and motion. To me this Sammy does all of that and at a very nice price - I don't know how I can do much better than that especially without another free video calibration. In fact the only Plasma that I'm confident could beat it hands down is the discontinued-but-still-available Pioneer Kuro 50" plasma. But then it should it retailed for a mere $4500 when new. But a few months ago it could be had on the web for only 1600 bucks. It's just that at the time I didn't have the scratch. Now the remaining ones if you can find 'em were the last time I looked hovering around $3000. Oh well I'll tell you one thing though; this machine at this price has certainly eased my pain...;) I know this isn't 3D or more colors than RGB or anything but I'm more than content now to wait all that out. Til the next round this will do me just fine!More detail ...

Panasonic TC-P50S2 Review by Plasma TV Buying Guide

1080p HD Picture Quality: The picture presentation of the from the 50S2 is still very bright and with the improved black levels much improved. Black levels are deep and strong with an HD signal input through HDMI. While not the best we've seen lately they lose the dark gray haziness that the S2 can display with a 480i signal. Color is plenty saturated and dark shadow detail remains excellent.



Picture Presentation from 480i signals: We always test every TV with a 480i resolution. It is a great test of a TVs upconversion and processing chip sets. The signal may be likened to what you would see with your normal digital cable or satellite signal.The TC-P50S2 series plasma contains the new an updated version of the NEO PDP (i.e. plasma screen) from Panasonic. This is the same screen used in some of the higher end Panasonic series which should make this model a good value if picture quality is your primary objective. We find the picture quality overall improved from the prior S1 series. The drives do a little better job of eliminating motion artifacts than the S1 series did. Color rendition is still with black levels being the primary progress area of the S2 series delivering more depth and solidity. As was the case on the S1 series brightness is a strength of the these newer Panasonic plasma models.



Calibration Notes: Overall calibration to D6500K was very easy with this TV. Though there are no white balance adjustments available on the menu without entering the service menu the 50S2 calibrated so close to D65 from the start that it would have improved the TV inappreciably. We started our calibration from the custom setting in the Warm 2 color temperature position. The S2 series TV does not contain the THX picture setting option. Follow the following settings to calibrate to a nearly perfect D65. These picture settings are best viewed in a controlled light environment fairly dark room:



Picture Mode: Custom

Color Temp: Warm2

Brightness: +74

Contrast: +75

Color: +45

Tint: -2

Sharpness: +15

Color Mgmt: OFF

x.v.Color: OFF

C.A.T.S.: OFF

Video NR: Weak

Block NR: Off

Misquito NR: Off

Black Level: Light

3:2 Pulldown: Off

HD Size: 2



Black Level/Contrast: Black levels were an area that the S1 series needed a makeover on. They got it with this S2 series. These are not going to be the best black levels we see this year and we dont anticipate them coming close to some of the Samsung plasma black levels. However Panasonic has brought black levels back into welcomed focus. Final ANSI contrast measurement was 1261:1 which is a nice improvement over last year but far from what we want. One of the TVs greatest strengths lies in its white brightness which measured an average luminance of 31.50. This result nears LCD TVs in brightness and points to Panasonic's desire to compete with LCD TVs in this area.



Dark Shadow Detail: Partly due to the high brightness of this plasma dark shadow detail is excellent. Panasonic plasma TVs have long been a favorite of ours in this important area.



Color Rendition/Color Accuracy: Color rendition is much more saturated with HD content. The TV excels with HD content and is much more subdued in presentation with lower signals. Colors can seem a little weak and hazy at times with lower end signals. I will give them the thumbs up on reality however.



Features: One of the key feature differences of the S2 series with the G20 series of plasma by Panasonic is the absense of The Viera Cast feature set which enables online content via a web interface. As a result there is also no Ethernet port. The included Viera Link feature allows the user to control other Viera link capable outboard equipment. Viera Image viewer is the Panasonic compatible technology which enables use of SD memory card viewing via the SD card slot.The S2 has discrete picture settings for each input as well as Panasonic's new "600 Hz" specification for blur reduction.



This TV is Energy Star compliant due to an energy saver feature option. Power consumption for the S2 has been reduced from the S1. This is one of the main feature differences aside from improved black levels. Panasonic started improving efficiency in their plasma TVs in 2007 and have improved it 400% with this S2 model. They are now close enough to LCDs in energy efficiency that is should not matter.



To see the overall ratings and full review of this TV head over to Plasma TV Buying Guide

More detail ...

One of the best 720p Plasmas

Samsung and Panny's are 1a & 1b when it comes to plasmas. You really can't go wrong either way they both offer exceptional value in their 720p sets. And obviously if you are checking this TV out value and price are a big deal to you (me too!). So why did did I go with this set over a Panny? It just happened to be cheaper at the time of purchase I would have went either way.



I could go into the big 720p vs 1080p debate and take up a whole page. I am sure you've read many reviews already making the case for each. But the truth is you wouldn't be looking at this TV if price didn't matter. I am not calling you poor!! You just have some reason why you don't want to pony up for 1080p that's cool me too. The PN50C430 does exactly what it was meant to a great picture for a great price. As for burn in/image retention just don't leave something static on there for hours and you'll be fine. If you get image retention just watch some TV and it will go away. Don't use the scrolling or white features it's better to exercise the pixels with TV to get rid of image retention.



Ok first the PN50C430 vs. the PN50C450 model. These are basically the same TV. The 450 model has 1 more HDMI port and Touch of Color (a little red/maroon stripe of color on the bezel of the TV). That's it. I went with the 430 because I didn't like the red TOC. I wish it would have had that extra HDMI port but there are solutions for that. I also own the 2008 PN50A450 model. It has a nice silver stripe on the bezel which looks better than both of the 2010 models. Anyway now with the quick pro's and con's summary.



Pro's:

Great picture for cheap! HD looks very good.

Good colors and tones realistic

Nice looking (would like to have the silver stripe though!)

Much thinner than the 2008 model

More power efficient than the 2008 model

Lighter than the 2008 model (+/- 20 lbs!)

Good warranty

Basic menus but enough to customize picture nicely

Not a surround system by any means but decent sound for a flat panel





Con's:

No swivel stand the 2008 model has it and it's great :(

Remote it's cheap but serviceable. You could always buy a better one though.

Hookups it's manageable but it should have had 2 more HDMI ports and it doesn't have VGA

Buzzing but it's not really noticeable unless right up next to the TV or with no sound on

SD picture is ok it's crisp enough but a little dark even with AVS Forum recommended settings















More detail ...