Panasonic TC-P50X1 plasma HDTV reviewed
April 30th, 2009
CNet have reviewed Panasonic’s 50 inch 720p plasma HDTV,the TC-P50X1, and have come up with a ‘Good’ rating at 3 out of 5 stars. They highlight inaccuracy of colour on the TC-P50X1 as a major negative along with faint diagonal lines in lighter areas, but on the upside is the price-tag and ‘excellent’ black-level performace.
This HDTV reproduces superb blacks and excellent shadow detail, while costing a relative pittance for a big-screen HDTV. Unfortunately, two major problems prevent it from earning higher praise, namely that it suffers from less-than-accurate color and the presence of faint on-screen lines that may be a deal-breaker to sharp-eyed viewers.
I must admit that if anyone reviewed an HDTV and came back with colour inaccuracy then I’d be passing it by. But may be the price tag will seduce some customers into purchasing the Panasonic TC-P50X1. If you are still keen here are the specifications on the unit
* 50 inch 720p Plasma panel
* HDMI , S-Video , Component , Composite
* 48 x 3.7 x 30.3 inches
* 75 lbs
* 720p 16:9 display
* 30,000:1 contrast ratio
* 480i , 480p , 720p , 1080i , 1080p input formats
* SD Memory Card slot for viewing your photos
* 2x10W speakers
* 2 x HDMI input, 1 x Composite video/audio input, 2 x Component video input, 1 x S-Video input, 1 x Audio line-in, 1 x Digital audio output – Rear
* 1 x Composite video/audio input, 1 x HDMI input – Side
So all the figures stack up especially with a US$1,100 price tag, but the CNet review really puts me off. It really is a case of what you get is what you pay for and cutting corners on a price tag usually means the manufacturer has cut corners elsewhere. Unfortunately we have to give the Panasonic TC-P50X1 plasma HDTV a big thumbs down.
Source: CNet
Purchase: Amazon
Featured Tags hdtv, panasonic, plasma-HDTV
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Comments
would like to know if the Pannasonic TC-P50X1 720p is equal or better than the TH-50PX77 1080i. thank you.
Hi Norma,
We couldn’t actually find any details for the TH-50PX77 on the Panansonic site, but did find this old review from CNet – http://reviews.cnet.com/flat-panel-tvs/panasonic-th-50px77u/4505-6482_7-32317316.html. It gets a ‘Very Good’ rating from them. You state that the unit is 1080i, although the review says it is 720p. So I’m not too sure what spec is correct, but in answer to your question I would suspect that the TC-P50X1 is the slightly better model due to its higher contrast ratio of 30,000 to 1. But that’s possibly the only major difference. Hope that helps.
It seems you’ve based your review on CNET’s review?! Have you actually seen the TV to even warrant the “thumbs down”??
In the price range of the TC-P50X1 nothing I could find comes close to its black levels, color gamut, and contrast. Now available for around $700, it has better picture than virtually any 1080p LCD set that could be considered a competitor, including most displays costing hundreds more. At a distance of 10 feet for a 50″ display, there is little difference between 1080p and 720p. But the black levels and color differentiation across the gamut still make all the difference when it comes to a realistic picture.
To give this set a big thumbs down eschews the big picture. It may not compare to the much costlier 1080p neo pdp plasma panels Panasonic makes, but it is far closer to that quality than anything else in and a good margin above its own price range. This panel has black levels and color as good as the top of the line plasmas from 4 years before it that cost thousands. Ask anyone who calibrates TV’s for a living.
This is also a 12th generation Panasonic plasma panel with 100,000 hours before half-life. It is highly reliable due to Panasonic’s experience tweaking this technology for so many years, other plasmas can’t say the same. The speculation in this blog post about cutting corners is baseless. This panel uses older technology to keep costs down, but the technology in this set is not unreliable. The main benefit of the newer neo pdp technology is power savings, not reliability. Still, it only costs about $1 to run the TC-P50X1 for 24 hours straight over here at a 20 cents a killowatt hour.
Bottom line is that this set is better than anything in its size costing hundreds more. CNET had two nits to pick, but the significance of those nits is very small when other displays in this price range have pictures look downright cartoonish and flat, due to poor black levels and blown out colors. Colors are blown out to pump up the “contrast ratio” number on the box, which is the difference between the darkest the display can go and the brightest. Sets with poor black levels have to blow out the colors to cartoonish levels to show a high contrast ratio number on the box. This results in bright, cheap displays without much depth to the picture or color detail. The TC-P50X1 manages to avoid this, unlike virtually all its rivals, even some of the much more expensive ones. Awesome bang for the buck, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.