Overview

If you're shopping for a 2012 TV and picture quality is your highest priority, you should, in ascending order of financial recklessness, get a plasma, splurge for an Elite or wait and buy an OLED. If getting the best picture for your money is your highest priority, you should get the Panasonic TC-PST50 plasma -- although the Samsung PNE6500 is a very close second-place. At press time both cost hundreds less than the Panasonic TC-PGT50 reviewed here, and offer picture quality that's just as good.

That's not to say the GT50 isn't worth recommending; it's just a tweener whose reputation suffers the tarnish of comparison--both at the hands of better values like those two, and better performers like its bully of a big brother, the VT50. I love baby G's styling; its feature set is all I could ask for, and its picture quality is among the best of any TV I've tested. Its one seeming advantage over the ST50, a THX mode that promises picture quality similar to a professional calibration, just isn't good enough to be worth the extra money. If you have other priorities, however, such as premium design in screen sizes beyond those of the VT50 series, the GT50 still has plenty of appeal.

Read the full review of the Panasonic TC-PGT50 series