Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV Reviews

Review by TeamReveal for Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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Over the past month people have been discovering that their 2008 and 2009 Panasonic televisions are no longer performing how they were meant to perform. One of the major reasons why the Panasonic plasmas are (actually now “were”) considered so fantastic is because they had excellent black levels, meaning the blacks look really black.

Well that’s no longer the case because after a few hundred hours the black levels double and triple to a point where even a mid-range LCD beats it. Panasonic issued a statement that they knew the issue existed and that they were investigating it. Well today they issued a statement that the issue has been reviewed and that there will be NO FIX.

Now to be fair, black levels do rise slightly over time, but they do not double and triple. In fact the Panasonic Plasmas from 2007 do not have this problem. To further prove this, a 2007 Panasonic Plasma after a couple thousand hours of use has BETTER blacks than a 2009 Panasonic Plasma after a couple thousand hours of use.

When Panasonic was asked about this, they said they were constantly “updating” their products. That’s good, but basically they are doing a bait and switch on you. They brought down the black levels so they could sell you the television and hope that you don’t realize that their newer sets will look worse than their older sets after less than a year of use.

The 2009 Panasonic sets look fantastic till this happens, but once it happens they look worse than 2007 models.

As a side note, the THX on these sets came broken for over half a year. The newer sets have the firmware that corrects the color decoding issues, but if your set doesn’t have firmware 1.28A then you have to call Panasonic to have them send someone to your house to update the firmware. Panasonic won’t deny you the repair but they sure will try and keep it a secret because they have to pay for the technician to come to your home.

At this point, you’re going to see a lot of review cites like […] mention this issue because it is a serious quality issue. Currently […] is conducting its own study with the sets it has in house. It’ll be about two months before they get done because they have to let the television set run for several hundred hours in order to take measurements.

Please note that this isn’t an issue you’ll see when you buy the television, it’ll be something that comes up later in its life, possibly after the 1 year warranty is up.

Review by Dad and Mom in NC for Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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I’ve been researching HDTVs for the past couple of years, and I finally took the plunge when I found a great deal on a 42″ Westinghouse LCD back in May. I thought it was a great set… for about 2 weeks. The color would shift noticeably when you moved more than 30 degrees off center. Then the digital tuner started to go.

Since then I’ve been through 3 more LCDs and one Plasma before I decided that the Panasonic G10 was the way to go. My problem with the LCDs is I am just not happy with the off-angle shift in the black level. When you’re sitting head on, LCDs can look great, but as soon as you move off center, you can see the black is not consistent across the screen. This is especially apparent when you are watching a movie with the black bars across the top and bottom. Plasmas are not subject to this issue and plasmas have deeper blacks. This makes a HUGE difference (to me) when watching movies.

The other plasma I had was the Panasonic 42px14 ([…]). I returned it, however, as it had a few issues that kept it from being great (overscan, slow channel editing, etc), and I wanted a 1080p set.

The G10 was a great fit, because I needed a 42″ or 46″ set and the 1080p as well as the great review on CNET. I bought the G10 through the Amazon Warehouse Deals, and got a screaming good deal (saved about $200) and got a better deal than the S1 (the set just below the G10). The only downside I can see to taking this route is that since I purchased the set, the prices have risen significantly (almost by $200) through the same Amazon Warehouse Deals. I guess you just need to be patient and wait for them to drop again. I don’t feel like the prices should fluctuate that wildly. It just feels too opportunistic. Yeah, yeah, I’m well aware of supply and demand, but at some point it just becomes an excuse to abuse trust.

But that has nothing to do with the quality of this set. And back to that point, I am extremely satisfied with this tv set. The image really looks sharp and even standard definition is watchable. People complain about the speakers on all flat panel tvs, but I’ve found these ones to work great for casual viewing. Just nudge up the bass to about +5.

My recommended settings are going to be in more of a range, since this completely depends on your viewing environment. But here’s what I think looks great.

Use Custom setting

Drop the Contrast to somewhere between 55 and 65.

Raise Brightness up to between 56 and 64. Really, just raise it until you notice the black level start to lighten up, then drop it back a notch or two.

Drop the Color back to about 40-46.

Reduce Tint to about -5.

I just left Sharpness as is (75, since I don’t see any bothersome artifacts on the screen).

Everything else I pretty much left at default.

Ok, what else do you need to know?

Burn-in / Image retention? Not an issue with these sets. Temporary Image Retention can happen, but it’s easy to remove, and if you keep the contrast where I mentioned (lower than 75 at least), it shouldn’t really ever be an issue. I’ve never seen it in the 2+ weeks I’ve had this set.

Plasma Gases Leaking? Come on, you aren’t really going to buy into that myth are you? Nothing but urban legend junk, guaranteed… even if you do claim you have a friend who had to get his plasma set recharged (psst… you’re friend got taken).

High Energy Usage? If you tame the contrast to around where I’ve mentioned above, you’ll see energy usage that is very similar, if only a tiny bit higher than the same size LCDs. Seriously, we’re only talking a difference of maybe a couple bucks a month (at most) in energy costs.

So… if you’re still on the fence, then get off it! Prolonged fence sitting is going to hurt your posterior and make it hard to walk straight.

Review by L. Stanford for Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P42G10 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV
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This TV is simply wonderful. I can’t imagine a better TV for the price. I replaced a CRT HDTV with this, and this TV beats it in every single way. Simply can’t compare this to LCD’s in the same price range. To get similar quality on an LCD you’re going to spend almost twice as much.

I watch cable TV, DVD, Blu-Ray, and play PS3 games. All look amazing.

The only very small complaint I have is that the TV can be a little dim if I watch it during the brightest part of the day. My condo is very bright (skylights) so it’s probably more the fault of my place rather than the TV.