Panasonic VIERA TX-P55ST50B Pro Reviews

Why change a winning formula when it comes to design or alternatively, why change a competitor's winning formula when it comes to design? Which is precisely what Panasonic seem to have done with the ST50’s Samsungesque appearance. At least the remote control is trademark Panasonic, which is no bad thing, but we would have liked to see 4 HDMI ports, rather than the slightly stingy 3 provided. We like the simplicity of the Panasonic menu systems - which seem to manage the trick of putting everything where you would expect it to be – and Panasonic’s 2012 Smart offerings continue to gather momentum in terms of sheer quantity. The True Cinema picture mode continues to be the best bet for ST50 owners seeking the most accurate images and the TX-P55ST50, reviewed here, made a reasonable fist at hitting the standards. Post calibration we were very close indeed to hitting reference greyscale and colour reproduction which, when backed up by the excellent contrast and black levels, helped to deliver pictures of an extremely high quality. The only real blights being some instances of dynamic false contouring and edge break up, particularly with content delivered at 50Hz. We did have some minor uniformity issues with the review sample, in the form of three very feint bands to the right hand side but they were so rarely visible, ‘issue’ is perhaps too strong a word. Along with the Samsung plasma’s, the G15 Panasonic’s are delivering some absolutely wonderful pictures in 2012 and we’re fortunate to have such great options.