I was an early adopter of HD TV with an LG Plasma TV. The contrast between the new HD TVs and the old Cathode Ray Tube sets was a stunning leap forward. We were into new realms of picture brightness, sharpness, clarity and vibrancy of color. But there were problems in those early Plasmas.
The major problem was, of course, screen burn. When I switch on that old LG now, I can clearly see the frames for the sports news channel burned into the screen. It makes me smile! Light reflection was another issue and it did always just slightly annoy me that I could, when my eyes caught it, see the rear window reflected in the screen.
So, I was somewhat surprised to find out that my brother-in-law had upgraded to a 54 Inch Panasonic Viera Plasma when we visited him and his family in Vancouver over Christmas.
With LED prices continuing to fall, I couldn't find a justification for going Plasma, especially with the problems known to exist with Plasma screens. Also Plasma takes away the 3D option (although I know 3D isn't everyone's cup of tea). Having spent many happy hours viewing at Graham's I was also a bit unsure about such a large screen size in his viewing area.
Once Graham fired up his new "baby" I was won over. I should have known he wouldn't have brought something sub standard as he loves his TV too much, but I was worried. I needn't have been as the 54 Inch Viera Plasma put in a stunning performance as we watched Inception somewhat in awe. It's a great movie for showcasing an HD set anyway, but the TCP54G25 handled it superbly well.
The Panasonic sales blurb suggests that their "new NeoPDP" technology is what gives such a stunning picture. They say it's what causes the deep blacks and white whites coupled with the deep contrast in colors. Its full 1080p HD although Panasonic say that their "600Hz resolution sub drive" provides the beautiful clarity in fast paced action scenes (and it is outstanding). Having seen this set in action (and I've seen a good few), this is a close to LED picture quality as I've seen on a non-LED screen.
I have to admit I also thought that viewing such a big screen relatively close up I would notice some decay in the picture quality, but it just wasn't there to be seen. The picture was brilliant. Crisp and clear, even on the fastest paced scenes and stills with very bright colors.
My first Plasma is definitely on the wane. It's five years old now and has had a lot of use, so to be expected. However this new Panasonic has an amazing screen life of 100,000 hours (quoted on an average viewing day of 8 hours - which is hopefully an over-estimation of the amount of viewing we actually do). Panasonic suggest this model will last 30 years before the picture quality has halved. If that is true it is definitely very good value indeed.
I have to admit I was really surprised by the screen life figures so I did a bit of digging. What I found out was that Panasonic did a deal with Pioneer on some very advanced Plasma technology which they put into the TCP54G25. Clearly the picture performance has benefitted, as for screen life, well, we'll have to see.
The TV itself is feature rich boasting features you normally see on much more expensive sets. It has the ability to play online content via a direct ethernet link. As with most HD sets if you want wi-fi you need to buy a separate adapter. This has become a bit of a bug bear of mine as I really think an HD set should include integral wi-fi!
The Infinite Black and other advanced picture technology is all included. I also liked "Viera Link" which allows you to somehow interlink all the HD devices you have attached. Graham said it was really useful but I didn't get a chance to see how it worked. So it does take a bit of working out! One thing that really did impress me though was the game mode, which was one of the best I have seen. His Boys are both huge gamers and the hilarious skateboard game they were playing on XBox 360 really looked excellent...even if I didn't understand it!
The connectivity on this set is basic, indeed there are only 3 HDMI ports, when 4 seems to be the norm on most sets today. Panasonic argue that Viera Link ensures 3 is all you need!
During our stay in Vancouver Graham's new Panasonic 54 Inch Plasma TV provided us with plenty of great entertainment. After all those winter nights up there are so dark and wet! Coupled with some nice red wine (so very expensive in BC) my preconceived prejudices were blown away.
I really wouldn't have thought of going out and buying a big screen plasma until I saw this one in action. But, watching the TCP54G25 it has definitely made me think again on this, especially so given the mid range price. If you can afford to go LED all well and good, but for the price you pay for a Plasma such as this, the price v performance gap is definitely much more marginal nowadays.
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