50under50

It’s starting to feel like the beginning of the holiday rush and as such, I’m looking for a new Plasma TV as a treat for myself. After doing some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Panasonic TC-P50G10 Plasma HD Tv is great bang for the buck.

You don’t have to take my word for it. Both Cnet and Home Theater Magazine gave this bad boy rave reviews as one of their top picks. Unless you’re that discerning buyer that must have the top of the line electronics, then the Panny Plasma should be more than good enough. Don’t get me wrong. This set has superb black-level performance nearing the vaunted (and now-discontinued) Pioneer Kuro set, highly-accurate primary colors and grayscale in THX mode, great color saturation and features VieraCast (internet enabled services). You may fuss over the less-accurate green color decoding and secondary colors and the limited picture controls. Read more about the 2009 Panasonic line-up.

• 1080p HDTV
• Viera Cast™
• THX Certified Display
• Viera Image Viewer™

“No other 50-inch display at or below this price impressed us more than this one. You could pay much nmore for a 50-inch display that outperforms it, but it wouldn’t be by much.”

– Home Theater Mag

“I bought the TC-P50G10 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…”

– Feng Zhou (5 stars)

Buy Panasonic TC-P50G10 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV $1050 from Amazon.

TC-PV10

If you feel compelled to drop a little more coin ($2100) you can pick up the G10s big brother, the TC-PV10 series. This Panasonic plasma has the same deep blacks that grace its less expensive little brother, and adds a couple of key improvements: better video processing to handle 1080p/24 sources, and more picture adjustments that allow it to transcend the limitations of THX mode. Its picture should satisfy all but the pickiest of videophiles, and it also outperforms any LCD-based display, LED or otherwise, we’ve ever tested. Beyond image quality, the V10 delivers plenty of features and an eye-catching one-sheet-of-glass design, for a combination that deserves serious consideration from buyers willing to pay for it. It earned Cnet’s Editor’s Choice Award and declared itt as “the overall best picture quality of any flat-panel HDTV we’ve tested so far this year.” Its main external differentiator is what the company calls “one sheet of glass” design, where a pane of glass extends beyond the edge of the screen and over the bezel itself, leading to a seamless look that’s even more impressive in person than in pictures. (It’s worth noting that only the 50- and 54-inch models feature the one-sheet design).
Buy Panasonic TC P50V10 1080p HDTV $2100 from Amazon.