In my opinion, this tv is the best to be had at this time. To provide some background for that opinion, I have tried the following sets while I still had my Kuro 5020: The VT30, D7000 and the 80" Sharp 632U LED. The Sharp was something I had to try based on some reviews but it really was quite disappointing and never even made it onto the wall. For further information regarding my opinion of the Sharp, please read the comments section where I have answered a question regarding my expereince with this set. The VT30 was quite good but had color issues, uniformity issues and large bezel syndrome. The D7000 was far better than I had expected after reading the nasty comments about it. But none of these sets allowed me to feel good about sending my 9g Kuro packing.
With much anticipation, I ordered the 65VT50 from Amazon. The entire process was painless and quick as per usual. Delivery was sooner than expected and professional. They did send only one driver, so be prepared for that. But we managed just fine. I quickly inspected the set and immediately mounted it and got things setup. Everything went smoothly.
I did download and install an available update. The only new "feature" I noticed after the update was a fairly long duration banner at TV startup. This is defeatable within the settings, so fear not.
**** A second update had been released and is mentioned at the end of this review.
****** 09/28/2012 update #3 version 1.17 is out. This may effect a calibration
Now for my impression of this television.
This VT50 is simply beautiful. The smaller bezel and overall aesthetics are quite excellent. Gone are the days of "but LCD's are so much slimmer and/or less bulky". This set looks great turned off. I am happy to pay a premium for the single sheet of glass design even if that was the only difference over the GT, but its not.
Some complain about the silver trim, but you will be hard pressed to find an owner that does not like it. Personaly, I really like the look. I think the TV would look rather run of the mill and boring without it.
The touchpad was easy to pair with the television. I do not imagine myself using the touch pad much, but it does work as advertised. If you use your television to browse at all, you may find the touchpad quite useful. I had no issues navigating with it at all.
It is also worth mentioning that this set is also quite a bit lighter than the VT30.
To my eye, the blacks are right there with the Kuro I just sold. A meter may say otherwise but it takes a trained eye to see the difference if not side by side. The blacks are inky and satisfying and do not leave me wanting in any way. My eyes are pretty damn good and all I can say is that I do not miss my Kuro one single bit. And the extra real estate is quite nice as well.
Equally as impressive is the increased brightness of this panel. If you find that you are really drawn to the brightness of an LCD, but prefer the motion of a plasma, this set should fit your bill perfectly. I have two large windows in my living room and never feel like I need more out of my set in terms of brightness. The anti-glare works excellent as well.
If I was forced to come up with a gripe, it would be the red LED that comes on when the set is on. This was poor planning on Panasonics part but I am not losing any sleep over it. A little well trimmed piece of electrical tape takes care of that if it really bothers you.
Everything works as it should. HDMI control works perfectly on mine. I can hit the power button once on my Directv remote and everything turns on as it should (STB, TV, and AVR). ARC (Audio Return Channel) is also nice. This allows the audio from the TV to play through your home stereo while utilizing the same HDMI cable that feeds it content. To utilize this feature, you will need to plug your HDMI cable into HDMI #2 on the television. This is great for when you are watching Netflix or something emanating from the TV itself. All this functionality is assuming that you have an AVR that is up to date and HDMI 1.4a compliant as well as your HDMI cables. I use these cables
Mediabridge Ultra Series - High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet - (6 Feet) - Category 2 Certified - Supports 3D & Audio Return Channel [Latest HDMI Version Available
]. They have worked perfectly for me every single time and the price is nice. I still feel compelled to interupt when I see an employee at a Big Box store trying to convince an unknowing person to spend over $100 on a Monster cable.
You will notice that the HDMI ports are extremely close to the edge of the set. If you have rigid cables, it can present a problem and possibly cause them to protrude past the edge. There are several fixes for this. The one I chose was to use two of these connectors
Cable Matters Gold Plated HDMI Male to HDMI Female 270 Degree Adapter
. Together they create a 180 degree bend to allow your cables to be neatly installed.
Bluetooth is a great feature that this TV has. I can place my receiver in standby (bypass mode) and listen to TV at night with my wireless blutooth headset. I will take a quick moment to endorse this headset
LG Tone - HBS-700 Wireless Bluetooth Stereo Headset - Retail Packaging - Black/Orange
. They work flawlessly on everyting I throw at them from working out, talking on the phone while driving to listening to a TV show while eating a midnight snack. They are ultra comfortable and sound excellent. At any rate, I am unsure why this feature gets such little attention. But keep in mind that you do need to verify that your AVR will pass through sound via HDMI or there will be no sound at all when the AVR is off or in standby mode. This is assuming that you pass your content through a receiver. You can't fault the tv if no sound is getting to it.
I have had many high end TVs over the years but this one takes the cake for me as an overall package. No offence to anyone intended, but you could not pay me to place an LED TV in my living room. Sure the Sharp Elite looks great head on, but try going off to an angle, and not even an extreme angle and watch the PQ fall off a cliff. Looking at a plasma from any angle is like looking through a window. Not to mention that motion is far more natural looking on plasma in general.
As far as sound is concerned, I personally place very little time in this area. Many people may use the built in speakers for night viewing. I would say that these speakers are quite capable for that purpose. If you are looking for this TV to have a capable 24/7 sound system, then you will probably be let down with this and pretty much any other flat screen offering. If you are going to lay down the funds for this beauty, you should also be ready to invest in a descent sound system if you do not already have one.
*** Amended 3D glasses info.
Considering how passionate some folks seem to be about the exclusion of 3D glasses, I will only say this: This set does not come with 3D glasses. I am fine with that. You may not be.
Now lets talk about breaking in your plasma and some of the myths that go along with that. Many people will religiously use what are called break-in slides for the first 100 hours that they own the television. There are good reasons for this and there are misguided reasons as well. These slides are full screen color slides that you would run at 100 contrast for 100 hours as a slide show. This allows the phosphors to age evenly in there more fragile and impressionable state that is the first 100-200 hours. Now it is just as reasonable to simply watch mixed content for the first 100 hours instead of using slides. You just want to be sure to avoid letter box material or leaving stations on with static logos for long periods of times. The only downside of using content instead of slides is if you plan on using offered calibrated settings from someone like D-Nice on AVS. He has been kind enough in the past to offer calibrated settings to folks in an attempt to help out the community. He will break-in a set with the slides and then calibrate it. He will then post these settings for others to get at least close to a calibrated look. The best way to mimic his results is to break-in your set with the slides as he did. He will also be the first to tell you that panels vary and you may or may not benefit from his offered settings. If you do not use the slides as he did, then you will have less of a chance of benefiting from his settings because the panel will have been aged on a far less consistent scale. At this point in time, D-Nice has not posted settings for this particualr set. So keep this in mind, as there are questions as to whether or not he will at all.
Personally, I am not using slides anymore other than for use to inspect my panel for problems. Nobody wants to have a brand new set off limits for 4 days. I know I don't. This time round, I have not used slides and all is well in the world. If I want to get the set calibrated, I will.
Running slides in the hopes of matching the exact characteristics of someone elses panel is a gamble that may or may not pay off, and how would you really know if you were getting the most out of these "Free" settings without meters and training to tell you?
But, it is fair to say that you will have the least chance for any type of IR in the first 100+ hours by running the slides. There are no logos or bars or HUDs to worry about. I stress the point that they will not CAUSE IR but they will not help remove it. So it is a personal choice and there is most definately no reason not to run the slides other than it makes the set unavailable for 4 days.
As a side note, these slides are excellent tools to inspect your new screen for issues such as dead or stuck pixels, micro cracks in the glass and hot spots or uniformity issues. The trick here is to use this tool when you get your set and then leave it alone. If you constantly use these slides to look for issues, you will eventually find one and it will drive you crazy. And in most cases it will end up being something that you will never see while viewing normal content.
Slides can be downloaded by searching for "Plasma Break-In DVD Images" . Just select the "Plasma Break-In DVD Images" link. Once downloaded, unzip and place on thumb drive.
So there you have it regarding break-in. Use slides or mixed content for the first 100 hours or so and relax.
One more thing worth mentioning to those that are unaware. The picture on your set will continue to improve over the first 300+ hours. So please do not base your impression of the set on the picture that comes out of the box. Blacks settle in a touch lower and the picture quality in general will become a bit richer and vibrant.
Another common misconception is that slides should be used to help remove IR or image retention. This is simply not the case.
Here is an excerpt of something I wrote on AVS:
You will never be told to use slides to remove IR. Breakin slides are for breaking in the panel, period. Think about it this way. If you look at your IR while running the slides, you will see that the IR is flashing exactly the same each time. You are simply baking the IR in as far as I am concerned. You are maintaining that exact image over and over again. Now start a pixel flipper or mixed content for that matter. In this case, every pixel involved within the area of the IR is being given it own unique workout independent from the surrounding pixels. This random aging of the pixels will allow the offending pixels involved within the area of IR to hopefully slowly blend in better with the surrounding pixels.
Sure, there is an anti-retention tool that is built into the sets software, but do not let that fool you into a false sense of security. If you leave on a station with a static logo for two days straight, the tool will do no more than make the edges of the logo image blurry rather than defined.
I should also mention that I have had no hint of IR on my set to date (besides on slides). This is after days of watching Discovery channel who is one of the worst offenders of the infamous logo. They should be sued with other channels that wreak havoc on plasmas with these logos. I almost have to think they have stock in LED technology! lol
Settings: The following are the settings that I am currently using post Luminance patch. They are a combination of my own and others. I feel I have struck a very nice balance without having had an actual calibration performed. This is in no way intended or claimed to be professional calibrated settings. I would be happy if they work for you though. So it definitely does not hurt to give them a try. If you find colors to be off on your particular panel, simply disregard the Pro settings and only use the Basic settings.
Picture Mode: Custom
Contrast: 82 "Bright Room" Setting 98
Brightness: 52-54 "Bright Room" Setting 70
Color: 50
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 14-24 *If you have an external VP you may want this at zero
Color Temp: Warm 2 (or Warm 1) * Warm 1 will not be as accurate, but you may prefer it anyway as it will spruce up the whites a touch.
Cats: Off
Video NR: Off
Aspect adjustments submenu
Screen format: Full
HD size: Size 2 (Size 1 will perform a 95% overscan. Can be good to get rid of scan lines at top of screen for sat/cable content as well as video noise that can be seen on edges of some content)
H size: [grayed out]
Zoom adjustments: [grayed out]
Advanced Picture:
3D Y/C filter: Off [grayed out]
Color matrix: HD [grayed out]
These next two settings may or may not help poor content and should have little to no effect on quality content.
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Motion smoother:
Weak or Off: For most content. Pans will still be messy but no SOE
Medium: Clean Pans but with SOE. Great for animated content
High: Introduces far too many artifacts and motion issues
1080p pure direct: On
Black level: Light
3:2 pulldown: On
24p Direct in: 60Hz * 60Hz seems to function as 96Hz does without introducing artifacts that may or may not be detected. But 96hz mode does provide slightly better blacks. So use 96hz if you do not perceive artifacts.
Pro Settings:
Color space: Normal
W/B high R: -1
W/B high G: 0
W/B high B: 0
W/B low R: 0
W/B low G: -4
W/B low B: -1
W/B detail adjustment menu: (listed as Red, Green and Blue gain, respectively)
100 IRE: -1, 0, -1
90 IRE: -2, 0, +1
80 IRE: 0, +1, -1
70 IRE: 0, 0, 0
60 IRE: 0, 0, +1
50 IRE: +1, +2, +1
40 IRE: 0, 0, -1
30 IRE: +1, -1, 0
20 IRE: +2, -0, +1
10 IRE: -1, -0, +1
Red hue: 0
Green hue: +4
Blue hue: 0
Red Saturation: -5
Green Saturation: -4
Blue Saturation: 0
Color detail adjustment menu:
Yellow hue: 0
Cyan hue: 0
Magenta hue: +2
Yellow saturation: -2
Cyan saturation: 0
Magenta saturation: 0
Red luminance: 0
Green luminance: -12
Blue luminance: -2
Yellow luminance: 0
Cyan luminance: +4
Magenta luminance: +4
Black Extension: 0
Gamma adjustment: 2.4
Panel Brightness: Mid
Contour Emphasis: Off
AGC: Off or 0
Gamma Detail Adjustment Menu
100 IRE Gain: 0
90 IRE Gain: 0
80 IRE Gain: 0
70 IRE Gain: 0
60 IRE Gain: 0
50 IRE Gain: +3
40 IRE Gain: 0
30 IRE Gain: 0
20 IRE Gain: -1
10 IRE Gain: 0
Now a closing moment for the topic of BUZZING. All plasmas buzz....period. It is an inherent aspect of the technology. A perfect way to hear how this buzzing is effected by what is on the screen is by using the slides we talked about. Typically, the buzzing will be loudest on an all white or very bright screen. As you flip through the different colored slides, you will notice the buzzing changing in its intensity. Now some sets will obviously buzz more than others. You may have two identical sets that are side by side and one may be louder than the other. So if you have a set that you feel buzzes too much for you, an exchange may be in order. But be ready for no change, less noise and possibly more noise. But please do not base your impression while you are standing in a silent room with your head behind the TV. Listen to the TV sitting in your normal viewing location with volume at what you would consider "normal" or slightly below that. Then see if you can even hear it at all. Personally, I have to have my volume very low to hear it at all. Under my normal listening conditions, I NEVER hear my set buzz. There are many other factors involved that can contribute to the buzzing. Some of which include proximity of TV to the surrounding walls, room acoustics, sensitive hearing, furniture in the room, carpet, etc.....
I hope this information helps you in your decision. I know the feeling of being overwhelmed when you are are trying to make an educated choice amid a sea of conflicting information.
When all is said and done, I feel great about my purchase and highly recommend the television.
TopperMcFly
Update 07/31/2012:
Panasonic has released another update. This update resolves the issue with CMS color Luminance not functioning. ;-)Picture settings are reflected and noted above.
Update 08/19/2012:
In order to put minds at ease, I begrudgingly put the colored slides up after about 750 hours of use to see if I have any IR. I expected to at least see some minor IR but the fact is that I have ZERO IR! If you are worried about IR, stop. Follow my instructions and advice and it will be a non-issue.
And btw, my picture quality has steadily improved over the entire 700+ hours it has been running. What a gem.
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Reviews with images
VT50 King of the Plasmas
I bought this TV from Amazon about 3-4 weeks ago. I had been looking at getting a new TV since my 6yr old 42" Philips Plasma wasn't cutting it for me anymore. I almost bought the VT30 but saw all the high praise and reviews from CES 2012, so I decided to wait. While I cannot review on the VT30 the VT50 is an absolutely amazing tv. Before I give my review I would like to mention that the shipping company Amazon used to ship the TV was excellent. They were very careful and took their time opening and showing me that the tv was in perfect condition.Pros:This tv has many pros that have already been discussed. The black levels are incredible. I have not calibrated the tv yet but just using the cinema THX mode, the black levels are very good. I know many people with the Pioneer Elite and Kuros and this TV stands up with them no problem. The color reproduction is clean and not overbearing in the THX mode. In gaming mode the colors are a little too bright. Watching golf in HD with gaming mode the grass looks almost neon. I have watched several video sources including BD, DVD, broadcast TV (SD and HD), Divx, and streaming, and the TV does a fantastic job of scaling. Comparing the Netflix on the TV vs my HTPC the TV streaming Netflix looked alot better than my HTPC. The Viera Connect apps are amusing but nothing I would use regularly. In Full mode I get perfect 1x1 pixel mapping with my HTPC (DVI to HDMI connection) which I never had before with my old Plasma. I must say it looks way better. I can't comment on 3D yet as I do not have glasses but other reviews show that the active shutter technology on this TV works fantastic.Cons:I will just list out some weaknesses as Cons seems to harsh for this TV.-I have my VT50 mounted on the wall and the wireless card seems to not great signal. I lose wireless connectivity sometimes and have to run the connection test to get it back. Once you are using Netflix or something it is stable-For how much this TV costs I would have expected to get atleast a pair of 3D glasses-As others have mentioned the speakers arent the greatest on the TV, but most people I would assume like myself would use a surround sound system of some sort-There is a decent amount of glare on the TV if you have a lot of light in the room. It's not overly distracting but just be aware if you have alot of light or windows in your room-The Viera App for Iphone and Android while it is a cool app, the reliability stinks. It rarely picks up my VT50, but when it does it is pretty cool to be able to sling pics and vids from my Android phone right to the TV.Although not a con it would have been great if they had a wireless adapter for the optical output on the TV. You can connect a Toslink optical cable to the TV out to an AV reciever or soundbar, but if you already had a mount on the wall and cables already ran into wallplates like I did it makes for more of a messy install to run that line.Tip: Just wanted to add this in there as a note. I am using the component input which is an adapter on the TV. The default for the tv sets that to VIDEO and not Component so when I was trying to watch cable it wasnt coming through. They tell you in the instructions how to change that setting in the menu, but for those who dont read the instructions, like myself, that is what you need to change to get Component input to work correctly.This TV has become a perfect edition in my living room and everyone who see's it thinks the picture is amazing. I highly recommend this for those who really want the top of the line in the Plasma market.
