Panasonic TC-P46C2 46-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

Review by Cass G for Panasonic TC-P46C2 46-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV
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I’m not an expert, but I am an enthusiast, who loves watching tv and movies, and I continue to be blown away by Panasonic, this is my 3rd Panasonic hd set and I love it, for the price points of Panasonic plasmas, versus the competition, there is just no contest. I can see a lot of improvements on this set compared to my 5 year old 37inch plasma, the blacks are extremely dark and colors true and bright, and color adjusting is more sensitive, the set is very intuitive to its source and self adjusts format for each channel, 3:2 pull down adjusts to 24fps sources, pixel orbiter to prevent image retention, the just setting is improved for a more true less stretched picture, picture is very smooth and fluid,no dead pixels, no ghosting,fast action is great with the 600hz refresh rate, the tuner is improved for more free hd channels, the sound also improved with 2 10 watt speakers. I do have some nit picks though, the surface of the screen being large picks up alot of reflection from any light source and it is difficult to watch with out the windows covered and lights off, the remote is not universal, and I’m not a great fan of vera link because all of my components are not Panasonic, this set also has a CATS feature that adjusts the set to the lighting conditions of the room, while I appreciate the thought, this feature hinders viewing and you will want to set it to off on all your picture modes for optimal viewing, no vga, only 2 hdmi ports, speakers, although sound is good, are on the bottom of the set facing down in to the table. I can live with all of this though, it’s a high quality BIG plasma set with an outstanding picture I will enjoy for years to come that I got for an incredibly low price.

Review by Karlton D. Lynch for Panasonic TC-P46C2 46-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV
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The reviewer “Cass G” pretty much hit the nail on the head, this plasma tv is fantastic! This Panasonic TC-P46C2 has great black levels and color saturation. I will mainly focus on that in this review. The picture overall still deserves a 5/5. However, a friend of mine has the 42″ S2 series (1080p), and that set has even lower levels of black, plus a slight more vividness in the color (I was slightly jealous, I’m over it now).

This is because his version is a more refined panel than the C2 series plasmas. You can also step it up even further on the black reproduction by getting a G2 series or the 3D VT series tv’s. I’m emphasizing a lot on the black reproduction because I used to have a LG 42″ LCD, albeit awesome color accuracy, lacked true blacks that can add an irresistible layer of depth to anything on it. And after reading much on Panasonic’s awesome capability of delivering blacks so black that it’s almost scary, I had to snatch one up.

I also have a 22″ 1080p Insignia LED-LCD (for some Halo Reach multiplayer pwnage :), and that, surprisingly, almost competes with this 46″ C2 series. Color on the Insignia is spot on compared to the Panny (see below). Nevertheless, the black levels are a shade darker on the Panny. Still the black levels and overall picture quality on the Insignia is unbelievably top-notch, you can’t beat that tv around the small-size.

The downsides to this 46″ C2 is that the green is mildly tinted fluorescent, meaning it looks neon. No matter how hard I tried to calibrate, it didn’t get rid of it. Red is not as affected as much by it, but it has just a tinge of it as well (this trait was also noticeable on the S2 series). The sound is very clear, achieving good separation with easily audible speech, though more headroom (volume) could be used here. No big deal, as if you bought a HDTV, you might as well get the other 50% of the experience and acquire HD sound.

Everything else is pretty much standard fare, for I just wanted to get the “meat” of the tv, which is it’s picture, out there. So for the price, around 6 benjamins, this 46″ window literally cannot be beat.

*I’m also very aware of the strange “lightening” or “rising” of the black levels on the upper-tier Panasonic plasma’s (generally speaking, the G20-25 series). I am hoping that this phenomenon doesn’t happen to this set, because that would be terrible that it would lose the very edge that gives this plasma series praise.

Review by John D. West for Panasonic TC-P46C2 46-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV
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I am not what you would call an early adopter of new technology, I wait for the market to settle down and for the bugs to be worked out of the products. So this is my first big TV and I love it. No more squinting across the room trying to make out what the DVD menu says and the quality even from a DVD player is so much better than what I’ve had before. I can’t wait to get it set up for Blu-Ray, guess I’d better get the old wallet out again.

I was sceptical about buying a 720p rather than a 1080p resolution TV, but after reading some reviews and comments on the two technologies, I went into a couple of stores and found unless my nose was nearly on the glass, I couldn’t tell the difference.

Only downside is that the price of this TV has come down slightly from what I paid a couple of weeks ago! If, like me, you’ve held off buying a big TV – wait no longer.