Panasonic TC-PST50 series (50, 55, 60, 65 inches)
As we said in the review, the ST50 "sets a lofty standard for HDTV picture quality this year," and if picture quality is your deciding factor yet money is still an object, we haven't reviewed anything better. Its black levels are deeper than those of any 2011 plasma, its color is extremely accurate, and its bright-room image superb. And its price is more than reasonable. In short, it's our Editors' Choice.
The good: The affordable Panasonic TC-PST50 series exhibited outstanding overall picture quality, characterized by exceedingly deep black levels with great shadow detail, accurate colors, and solid bright-room performance. Unlike LCDs, as a plasma it has superb off-angle and uniformity characteristics. The styling is attractive and the feature set well-chosen, including excellent onscreen help options.
The bad: The ST50 uses more power than competing LCD TVs, and doesn't perform as well in bright rooms as those with matte screens. It doesn't come with 3D glasses, and it showed more crosstalk in 3D than some competing TVs. The ST50 is only available in 50-inch and larger sizes. Three HDMI inputs is one fewer than most midrange TVs offer.
The bottom line: With flagship-level picture quality for a midlevel price, the Panasonic ST50 series sets the value standard among videophile-grade TVs.
October 31, 2012 10:27 PM PDT
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