Panasonic VIERA TC-P65ST50 65-Inch 1080p Full HD 3D Plasma TV Reviews

Panasonic plasma is the way to go, March 9, 2012

Received this p55st50 tv on 3/6 from Amazon. Must be amongst the first few owners, ordered without looking at one in store as not available to date. Amazed by the picture quality, black levels and popped up colors.
I have owned a 42″ panasonic plasma for last 7 years and has always found it superior in natural color reproduction and movie picture quality when compared to LCDs.
It was a time to upgrade. I did look at some LCDs but never found them any close to plasma in natural color tones and movie picture quality. I think Panasonic offers the best quality plasma amongst very few plasma manufacturers left in market. So picked p55st50 which is at competitive price, superior than last years best rated vt30 and offers most features from higher line ups for 2012.
Here are few major features stood out to me. Will add/edit later..
– Amazing picture and color quality. Noticeable improved motion smoothness, vibrant colors
– profile is prettey slim. Around 1.5″ thik. Thickness is uniform from top to bottom exept the edges on all four sides are thinner. The bezel is better(thinner) than last years st30 model. There is a clear plastic extention around the bezel which is not enhancing the the look and I guess is added to provide protection against any damage to the edges. There are no buttons on front of the pannel only the remote sensor the power light and I guess a ambient light sensor. The power, volume, channel and menu buttons are on the right side back of the pannel which easy to access when needed. The black bezel is almost non-reflective and offers no viewing distraction as I have noticed in some other brands. The new antireflective screen appers to be working well. The screen itself displays very less reflection even while watching in birght room with big multiple windows
– 3 hdmi(1 with arc), 2 usb inputs on left back side which I guess are more than sufficient as most wouldn’t hook up more than 3 hdmi sources and those who do and invest in this expensive tv would also have a reciever with multiple hdmi inputs.
– Out of the box the colors were displaying some tint/non-natural tones but after changing/adjusting settings they are looking great. I might have noticed this as I am used to watch a 7 year old plasma. Now actually I started liking the popped up colors and they are definitely look attractive when compared to LCD displays. Black levels and details in dark are amazing. Haven’t seen as deep black levels in any other tv yet. I preferred cenema mode for bluerays and custom for HD cable. SD videos showed some pixalation but that is expected on a 55 inch large display. Some lower resolution DVD and SD videos are not as sharp as on my old 42″ 480p panny again the magnification factor of 55″ display is to blame. But most dvd video with good resolution were displaying perfectly without any pixalation. I was blowen away by the picture sharpness for blueray and hd cable channels.
– Did not notice any of the issues like fluctuating brightness, fbr discussed for 2011 panny tvs in various forums
– Very easy and simple set up
– Installation was quick (except – two people needed to lift and slide the panel into stand. Understandable considering the 55″ size). Set up was very simple and intuitive. Connected via 5GHz wireless. There is option of connecting via ethernet but so far I am not noticing any bandwidth issues on wireless.
– The viera connect and internet features are great. DLNA support is amazing. Could connect to ps3 media server application on my pc and stream some dvd movies with dolby 5.1 sound. Browser wasn’t installed out of the box, but could install it from viera market. There is android and ios app to control the tv as well as browser from smart phone.
– Netflix HD movies looked great. Was no way to determine the resolution but picture was clearly hi defination, better than dvd format, no buffering/stuttering.
– There are plentey of movie streaming apps including amazon, vudu and others some subcriptin based some free.
– Other than movie streaming and browsers no other viera applications I guess are much useful. There are weather, news, fitness, game applications out there but I think smartphone/tablet is better device to access them.
– The new advertised 8 train speakers with 3d sound – I checked out the tv sound , was crystal clear, with some sourround effect but not something which will replace your 5.1 sorround system. I have Onkyo 7.1 system and the sound was no match to Onkyo. Quickly switched back to Onkyo. Plugged ps3 and cablebox to reciever via hdmi and used optical out from tv to connect to reciever for audio from streaming, audio/video applications, sd/usb streaming. The optical out from tv is passing dolby digital signals but as from online forums the optical connection can pass only two channels. Good for most but if you want all the channels when available you will need hdmi cable with audio return…

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Nearly Perfect TV, March 11, 2012

Well, I use the term ‘perfect’ by most people’s standards. I’m sure professioanl calibrators and very picky videophiles can find numbers to show where there can be a lot of improvement, just as with all tvs, However, I likely represent the majority in what constitutes being considered almost perfect for a tv.

I certainly have not had the tv calibrated or even changed the settings much. However, the picture is stunning as it is and calibration would only make it that much better, although possibly less stunning for those who want that more than realism. 🙂 I would say the contrast is too high and for me personally there seems to be too much of a reddish skin tone, but all of that can be dealt with when I feel like changing settings.

The bottom line is that the picture is great, to my eye the blacks seem very good, audio is the best of any tv I have tried, the price is amazing, the awesome uniformity and viewing angles of plasma, improved motion compared with last year (apparently), etc…

I say the audio is awesome, but keep in mind I have only been using tv speakers for years and years, so I am not comparing with surround systems. As horrible as most tv speakers sound, though, these sound better to me. During normal tv shows, the news, etc… I was thinking it sounds too “off in the distance”. But when I watched Sucker Punch and had the volume a bit louder, I was amazed at the bass and just overall substance of audio. Maybe I am mistaking bad audio for good audio just because it’s different, but it sounds good to me personally and someone online ahd said Panasonic apparently did some change in speakers, which would explain the differences.

The only negatives I can come up with, which are quite minor, are:
1. Puts out a TON of heat. Even for plasma, it seems much warmed to me than the st30 sets did. Maybe I have it brighter than I did on those though.
2. Only 3 hdmi inputs.
3. Only one hybrid composite/coomponent input. So you can only use ONE out of those two types combined.
4. At first didn’t ntoice you have to go to the input list and press an arrow button to set it to component or else if yuo use a component hookup it is treated as composite and the picture is only black and white.
5. No audio/headphone jack. I have tried many tvs from 2011 and a couple 2012 tvs and almost all of them had this, but the Panny does not.

All minor things to deal with in exchange for great picture quality and sound quality. The only way I will be returning it is if I can’t get it to stop hurting my head. I’ve had tons of both plasma and eld sets bothering my head or eyes. This is not much different. It feels like something tightened around my head when I watch it. Maybe flicker, maybe reflections, maybe who knows what else. I’m going to be depressed if I have to return such a great tv because I’ve tried most everything else and nothing with great picture quality is easy on my head and eyes for some reason.

The GT50 sets come out this month and are likely to be technically better, but not worth the $700 or so extra in cost, I personally believe. On paper, anyway. The only real differences are THX certified mods (which still won’t be accurate enough since everyone has different viewing environments), an extra hdmi port, and supposedly twice as many color gradations or w/e it’s called. So for $700 you’re basically getting an extra port and barely noticable picture changes is my assumption. COuld always be that it ends up better though. 🙂

Oh i forgot to add this still has the buzzing like the ST30 as far as my set goes. About 5 feet away it was loud enough to hear while watching a movie. I just think the picture is worth all of this. I tried the Sony HX929 and even a second 929 set as well. Both had very slight flashlighting, the blooming is absolutely horrible, as are the uniformity and viewing angles. I think a lot of people who review that set just want to feel it’s worth the money when theyr ate it so highly. I do think it’s MUCH better at getting rid of flashlighting and bleedthrough than edge lit sets, but it costs double their price as well.

I did not test this tv in 3D yet. I was going to get the 2012 blyetooth panasonic 3d glasses, but I dont want to have to pay to ship them back if I cant keep this tv due to my head issues.

EDIT: lol Just noticed someone on another site sayigng I’m a troll; for mentioning that this puts out a ton of heat. Yes, they caught me. Indeed someone rating this 5 stars is trolling by saying the truth that it puts out more heat than others. i tried several ST30 sets and the Samsung PN51D7000 and never noticed as much heat as this one. now the pastc ouple days I ahve not ntoiced it as MUCH, but it’ss till mroe than those other models. To the point where I feel a layer of heat if I am standing a foot or two from the tv. Definitely not…

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Best Picture I have ever seen, March 6, 2012

I have owned Panasonic Plasmas in the past and I have to say I have always loved them, but hands down this TV is in a whole new ball park. The picture is absolutely astounding. It simply blows any other TV I have ever seen away. I cant recommend this one enough. I have told everyone I know how good this thing is and the friends who have seen it in person are saying the same. I actually converted a few of my friends and convinced them not to buy one of the new LED TVs after seeing it.

I do want to give a plug here to the AVSFORUM guys. I really appreciate the recommendation on this one and am glad I bought this one rather than last years model.

BUY THIS TV!

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