Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

Review by J. Thoms for Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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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-P54S2

Review by Kam Shart for Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I’ve had a few Panasonic plasma’s throughout the years and I still even have a Hitachi Director’s Series plasma (which I have to say, blows every plasma on Amazon out of the water, but it’s also $7,000).

The Panasonic TC-P54S2 (the 54″ display in the S2 line of plasmas) is a truly breathtaking television. The G25 line is more expensive and does offer a slightly richer and deeper black than the S2 line (among other, totally unnecessary features), but it’s barely noticeable when the S2 plasma is broken-in and calibrated correctly. It’s very important that you break-in and calibrate this display. (Check AVS Forums for the calibration slides, which should be run non-stop for 100 hours – then set the settings found in a sticky thread to get the best possible image quality for this display).

There’s no buzzing sound like another reviewer said, the display runs cool for a plasma, the colors are vibrant, rich, deep, the contrast is breathtaking (especially compared to so many LCD’s that lack a deep contrast like plasmas) and it is just a great display. Did I also mention that it’s below $1,300? I remember a friend of mine spending $22,000 on a Marantz 65″ plasma which today looks like pure garbage. It’s disgusting.

In addition to being a videophile, having a degree in Digital Editing and Cinematography and working for a film production company (where we use $15,000 Sony Professional Reference monitors) I have to say that this is truly an outstanding display product from Panasonic. I’ve spent a few hours enjoying a 50″ G25 series and won’t lie that to the trained eye, certain blacks seem darker and deeper – however, to 99% of you out there, you’ll never know the difference.

The new neo-PDP plasma technology also helps many things from the last-year S1 series plasma technology from Panasonic. Many bugs have been fixed, the plasma display itself is better and Panasonic actually listened to their customers on multiple issues.

A great tv, but please make sure you break-in the display and calibrate it correctly. 5/5 stars, I would buy 3 more of these if I had room in my house.

Review by PinLord for Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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The TV arrived defective but the problem was quickly taken care of by Panasonic. I got the 50″ and 54″ versions of the TV for different rooms in the house. The 50″ looks slightly better in my opinion, but that is expected considering the size difference. HD FiOs looks incredible, my XBOX 360 looks even better, and blu-rays are absolutely mind-blowingly clear. The colors are excellent and required minimal tweaking. I did calibrate to THX standards, but it was fairly close to the out of box settings. If you own this TV do yourself a favor and set it to Cinema mode and leave it for all viewing types. It’s clearer than the other modes. The power draw is near the level of LCDs, blacks are deeper, and whites are shockingly nearly as bright too! A fast screen refresh rate and life over 30 years before dropping to half its brightness makes this TV pretty much impossible to beat dollar for dollar. Would definitely buy a Panny again.

Review by Michael Capo for Panasonic TC-P54S2 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I purchased this TV for my basement and have to say I am very happy with it. First off, the picture is very good, especially when viewing HD and BluRay. Standard definition is just that, not very crisp, similar to all other TV’s. Plus who watches Standard when there are so many HD choices…not I. I am pleased with the size to price comparison and feel I got a lot for my dollar. The S2 is lacking some of the internet capabilities, but that’s something I do not care to have nor can I justify the price increase. I plan on streaming with a media player so it is not an issue for me. The set itself is very nice looking and looks great hung up on my wall. The sound from the speakers is not the best as is the case with most flat panels. I am wired for surround sound so will be looking to add a 5.1 + receiver soon anyway. There are inputs on the side so I can hook up a Wii or PS2 without having to worry about getting behind the TV, also there is an HDMI on the side as well. This is my second Panasonic Plasma and really like their product and quality. In comparing the S1 and S2 there are some significant improvements with the S2 model. Shipping was phenomenal with Amazon Prime trial membership. I ordered at 3:30pm EST and received it the very next day at 5pm, it was a day ahead of schedule and had it setup just over 24 hrs after ordering, which is very impressive. Overall I recommend this TV and am very pleased with it so far.