Panasonic VIERA TX-L47WT50B Pro Reviews

A smooth operator, Panasonic's TX-L47WT50 is both its best-looking and best performing Edge LED-backlit LCD TV so far. Achieved in a seriously short amount of time, the brand that's famous for plasmas has here developed a super-slim bezel containing smooth, blur-free, contrast rich and immaculately detailed images. A special mention goes to its smartphone app, though VIERA Connect's app-packed pages impress, too. However, a high price and some distinctly old-fashioned menu systems take the gloss off an otherwise assured package.

Offering razor-sharp HD and a well-stocked internet portal, Panasonic hits the ground running with this 47-inch LED show-stopper. The WT50 will look great in your lounge, has generally good 3D and multimedia file support is convincing. There are cheaper sets of comparable size around, but few offer this level of sophistication and performance.

Very rarely has the bestowing of an AVForums Badge so hinged on the single factor of Price, as it does in the case of the Panasonic LX-47WT50 but there’s an elephant in the room here, in the shape of the ever-so-slightly-less-featured DT50. At £600 more than the DT50, according to the Panasonic UK Website, the Flagship TV does very little to justify the premium over its stable-mate. It’s not that the WT50 isn’t a great TV in many ways, but in terms of picture quality there’s little to separate the two and, in fact, we’d give the slight edge to the DT50 for its flatter gamma response and inexplicably cleaner motion handling. OK, with the WT you get 2 pairs of 3D glasses, the Touch Pad controller and dual core processing but if you can do without the Touch Pad (you can use a Tablet/Smartphone as a replacement), one could easily buy a couple of pairs of ‘tech specs’ and save themselves north of £450. The dual core processing is no great miss as, in the case of the WT50, it only slightly enhances the Browser and Streaming experience, yet doesn’t offer the full calibration suite of the similarly equipped GT50 and VT50 plasmas. The WT50 is good looking and full of fun – especially in 3D - but an expensive date when you could take her slightly more reserved sister home and have just as good a time.