If you’re looking for a great Plasma HDTV to grace your living room in spite of all the hype created by LCD HDTV, you might want to take a look at the Panasonic section of your local electronics store. The Panasonic TC-P54V10 and TC-P54G10, in particular, are excellent choices.
One of the main features of both the TC-P54V10 and the TC-P54G10 is the THX Certified Display. Indeed, with the THX mode turned on, both models can transform your living room into a movie theatre as it faithfully recreates its audio and visual ambience. This means you can watch movies as they were meant to be watched without leaving your home. Color accuracy is also increased in this mode, although not as accurate as those in the Custom mode, as well as color saturation, gamma performance and other image characteristics.
Another main feature of both the TC-P54V10 and TC-P54G10 is the Viera Cast, which is Panasonic’s interactive suite. This allows viewers access to online updates from Bloomberg, such as news headlines and stock market updates, as well as local weather reports, YouTube videos and Picasa web albums. The best thing about Viera Cast is that it allows viewers to watch high quality videos – many of them HD – from Amazon Video on Demand, where a library of thousands of full movies and TV episodes are available via live streaming or for downloading without a subscription fee.
The best thing about the TC-P54V10 and the TC-P54G10, though, is picture quality. Indeed, both deliver breathtaking images, thanks to their black levels, the depth of which rivals the best Plasmas and even LED-lit displays. Because of this, the shadow detail is also impeccable and the rest of the colors appear even more saturated – something especially true with the TC-P54V10, which is equipped with Digital Cinema Color.
In spite of their similarities, though, they also have some distinct differences, making the TC-P54V10 better in some ways. For one, the TC-P54V10 is better in processing 24p or film-based content since it has a 96Hz mode, which when engaged, prevents the usual hitching problems and flickering. The TC-P54G10, on the other hand, shows signs of flickering when handling 24p content since it only has a 48Hz mode. When it comes to 1080p sources, both offer a similar performance.
Even in terms of design, the TC-P54V10 looks more stylish than its step-down model. True, both have the same glossy black frame and that of the TC-P54G10 is even thinner on all sides but what makes the TC-P54V10 eye-catching is its seamless design, with its entire front panel covered in just one sheet of glass, along with its subtler silver accent. Other than this, both have the same round non-swiveling black stands and invisible speakers although the TC-P54V10 produces better audio quality and even creates authentic 3D sound effects.
For videophiles, another reason to love the Panasonic TC-P54V10 is its Pro Setting Menu, which means it offers more picture adjustments than most Viera models, including the TC-P54G10. It also has an extra picture mode called Studio Ref, for a total of five adjustable picture modes and one that’s independent per input – the Custom mode mentioned earlier. Add to that the usual five color temperature presets, color management options and five aspect ratio selections and you can have many ways to improve the picture quality of your HDTV. There is even a function that adjust it automatically for you in response to the ambient lighting.
The Panasonic TC-P54V10 also has the upper hand in connectivity with four HDMI inputs, two component video inputs, a PC input and an SD card slot, to name some. Still, its little brother, the TC-P54G10 is not so bad, offering just one less HDMI input. The biggest difference between the two, though, is their price and if you consider that the TC-P54G10 is just as good as the TC-P54V10 with a lower price tag, it isn’t bad at all.
