TCP55VT30 Plasma HDTV Reviews

Panasonic, already the leader in plasma TVs, has finally taken design seriously, and the Panasonic Viera TC-P55VT30 is as good looking as the best LED LCDs out there. In terms of core performance, the color reproduction is great and the motion performance is good.

Panasonic's VT25 series 3D plasma won many awards in 2010, including the Best of the Show award at CES 2010. Even though we didn't think it was the very best 3D TV available we thought it was certainly one of the best and a TV no consumer would be disappointed with. Panasonic returns to CES 2011 with the VT30 series, introducing new features and new screen sizes. The VT30 is the flagship from Panasonic this year and continues Panasonic's impressive tradition with plasma tv technology.600Hz technology lets you view superb Full-HD motion and still images with 1080 lines of resolution. For even greater clarity with motion images, Panasonic uses its own unique image-analysis technology. This technology converts the motion in each scene into data. And each frame is practically displayed for a shorter length of time than in previous systems, to reduce aftereffects. The TC-P55VT30 inevitably carries Panasonic’s latest online content service, dubbed Viera Connect. Highlights of this platform are the BBC IPlayer, the AceTrax movie rental/purchase service, YouTube, Eurosport, Facebook, and Skype - though the latter feature is only available if you cough up extra for a webcam. A WiFi dongle is included, so you don’t even need to run an ethernet cable to the TV to take advantage of things like built-in Netflix.

It would be easy for Panasonic to lose its faith in plasma as it ploughs its lonely furrow, or have a crisis of confidence as to whether it’s pursuing the right course. But actually, the more everyone else does LCD, the more Panasonic just redoubles its efforts to keep plasma not only current, but ahead. So it is that the TC-P55VT30, a member of Panasonic’s 2011 flagship range, hits our test benches boasting Panasonic’s new ‘NeoPlasma’ panel design packed with innovations galore.

One important way consumers can protect the environment is by choosing high-quality products and taking care of them so they last for a long time. A high-quality VIERA HDTV can help. Thanks to a newly designed phosphor process and rear panel process, our plasma panels last for up to 100,000 hours before the brightness decreases by half. That's more than 30 years of viewing 8 hours a day.

VIERA incorporates technology that analyzes picture information in both the preceding and succeeding frames, and creates a precise supplementary frame between them. This suppresses the jerky effect seen in movies, so playback is smooth and natural-looking. The distinctive tonal qualities and atmosphere of the movie are preserved, and you enjoy extremely lifelike 3D images.