Panasonic G25 54" Plasma

After spending a couple of weeks seriously researching tv's I decided I wanted to go plasma. I weighed the options of LCD LED-LCD Plasma and DLP and concluded that all along I've wanted Plasma. Friends and acquaintances tried (hard) to convince me that LCD or even LED was the way to go...especially in my living room with 3 windows. I spent many hours trying to convince myself that LCD was what I wanted but no matter what I always came back to "...but with Plasma I can..." Thus the search began for the Plasma that best suited our needs.



I considered LG (PK750/950) Samsung (C550/590) and Panasonic (S2/G25). I knew going in that Panasonic was the brand to have (some might argue) if you want Plasma. Given their purchase of Pioneer's Plasma tech in the last year I figured they'd be a lot more expensive than the price I paid. LG's looked great but although slimmer were priced a little higher and had a major glare issue. Not for us. Samsung is leading the way in tv tech. Their LCD's are top-notch (from what I've seen) so I figured their Plasmas must be close behind. They looked good had good specs but 2 things kept me from Samsung - Glare (not as bad as LG but not as good as Panasonic) and Buzz. So many people complain about their Samsung Plasmas making loud buzzing noises. I didn't want to take a chance and narrowed it down to Panasonic. There's about $400 price difference between the S2 and G25 and before yesterday only 2 reviews existed on Amazon for this tv and both were not-so-good. But I made the decision to go with the G25 and I couldn't be happier. On to the review...



I purchased from Amazon for almost $250 less than Best Buy's "on sale" price saved on tax (about $150) and got free shipping. Amazon contracted Pilot freight to deliver my tv and they did a great job...especially for free shipping. Wasn't white glove but the delivery guy was well within the time frame friendly and put the box exactly where I asked him. I opened the box and there stood the largest purchase I've made in quite a few years. I thought the tv stand I had would suffice for this but it is a little larger than I thought so we need to shop for a new tv stand. The pedestal the tv comes with is solid - wide base and has two posts on each end to support the tv. Eight screws later the tv is mounted on the pedestal sitting on my now-dwarfed tv stand. I didn't have any HDMI cables at that moment so I hooked up my antenna and ran a quick setup and tuned in to the lcoal digital channels. WOW!!! I'm not sure I've ever seen a tv display look so good. I've always been in awe of my friends DLP and LCD tv's but from a not-so-great antenna signal our tv looked way better than theirs. I purchased HDMI cables last night and hooked up the satellite receiver and my PS3. WOW again!!!! I've never seen a movie game or tv programming look so clear with so many colors and black blacks...not like the LCD we have upstairs in our room. I switched the tv to THX setting and to my untrained eye it looked liked a well-calibrated tv. I softened the contrast brightness sharpness etc down to 50 as Panasonic and other tech-ies recommend a 100 hour "break-in" of the tv. So I'm gonna be cool with it for a week or two and then modify the settings more to my liking. The frame of the tv is black and one of my two least-favorite parts of the tv. It will definitely retain a lot of fingerprints and smudges but I figure once the tv is on a new stand and placed where we want it there will be no need to go touch the tv except to dust it off. There are 3 HDMI connections (2 back 1 side) 2 component connections SD card slot USB ports and an ethernet port. Plenty of connections to do what you want...although my second least-favorite part of the tv is the fact that the Digital Optical out only sends out a PCM/Stereo signal to my audio receiver not Dolby Digital 5.1. Only what is being pulled in from the OTA tuner will be sent DD/5.1 if available. From what I understand though all tv's do this not just the Panasonic. The remote is handy has a "light" button and lights up almost all the buttons in red (helps in the dark). The menu is not too complicated to navigate through and use. The speakers a just ok but I am running all sound through my reciever and speakers. The screen is large and does and excellent job blocking out glare. The display is crystal clear and like said earlier the tv produces such rich beautiful colors and some very black blacks...and all with very little glare. Very smooth motion for sports or action flicks to round it out.



Overall the G25 is a top-notch tv with plenty of bells and whistles. One could go larger for the same price but will sacrifice many features that this tv provides. And I'm conviced that no other retailer could beat the price that Amazon sells this for. For a plasma or any tv for that matter at the $1600 price-point this is the tv to have.More detail ...

Fantastic set!

Just received the TV today! It arrived a day early which was a pleasant surprise. Once I fired it up I was ecstatic with this set. The quality is amazing for the price the picture blows away a top of the line 42" 1080p LCD display that I've seen. Deep rich colors high contrast fluid motion...there is nothing not to like! Streamed Spartacus off Netflix and compared to my old little 22" LCD it really came to life.(Even if the writing is really bad)



It was able to find some basic cable channels in HD which is awesome and Modern Warfare 2 looks simply astounding (again much better than on aforementioned 42" and 22" LCDs.)



The sound is decent it's actually better than I was expecting. It's obviously no Home Theatre but I was impressed. It's got a few connections which aren't listed on Amazon...the 3 HDMI 1 PC 1 USB 1 Component 1 Dual Component/Composite Audio In 1/8" Audio Out 1/8" Optical out and cable. The menu is very easy to navigate and adjust and in it you can turn off it's startup/shut down sound if you find it irritating. It's kinda soothing though.



One negative I've found is that the audio running out isn't controlled by the televisions volume I guess that's pretty standard but it means my cheap computer speakers aren't much good. (No remote) Also when installing the base stand it felt like I was about to destroy the thread on the screws that are used...They aren't easy to get in there!



It's very elegant and looks great in my living room. It's not super bright which I love (LCD panels hurt my eyes after a while) All in all for the money it's a fantastic TV. I was looking for quality affordability and style.More detail ...

SUPERIOR PICTURE QUALITY INCREDIBLY REALISTIC COLOR REPRODUCTION

If you are like me you put a lot of research into a expensive purchase like a flat screen television especially since it is something you plan to use for several years. I chose the Panasonic G25 after months of research trying to determine which was "better" LCD or Plasma while also investigating which brands and models were the best performers.



What's in the box?

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The 50" TV

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Swivel stand

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Lighted remote including batteries

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Detailed Instruction manual

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Quick Start Guide



I purchased this TV as our main television in our family room. I own two other flat screens both LCD and both from Panasonic 32" and 42".



Set up is a breeze. The box is designed to be easily opened by releasing four plastic clips built onto the box. This allows the top (most of the box) to be lifted of the TV while the TV remains secure and stationary in the lower part of the box. The included swivel stand comes in two pieces and is easily assembled with a few included screws. If you use this stand you simply have to lower the TV onto the stand. This can be done vertically without laying the screen down on its face since the design of the TV mounting components are flush with the stand. Some TVs require you to place the TV in a horizontal position to mount it to their stand. You possibly could do this assembly alone as the TV is not very heavy but due to sheer size it is extremely prudent to have someone help you.



Many professional reviews will advise you to beware of plasma "burn in" of images or using plasma in a brightly lit room. I worried about these two things constantly during my research.



Panasonic's manual does advise you not to leave a 4:3 image or any still image on the screen on the screen for very long periods as it can contribute to some burn in. But in general even if you watch 4:3 mode all day long the TV has a couple of features which helps protect its image including orbiting pixel technology and a scrolling bar which can be run across the screen to help cleanse it. I have watched a good deal of 4:3 format on this TV and have not had any issues whatsoever. The orbiting technology slightly moves pixels about undetectable to the human eye which really minimizes the chance of any burn in.



As far as a bright room don't worry! My family room is decent size and has a cathedral ceiling with a skylight plus a southern wall that is almost all window and a sliding door on the opposite wall. So the room has lots of light. I can watch the TV during the brightest time of day without any loss of quality or viewing ability. The anti-glare feature of the screen reduces the natural reflective characteristics of glass down to practically nil.



I tend to watch most programming on the TV's THX mode. This will give you a somewhat less bright display than the G25's "Standard" or "Vivid" mode or compared to most LCDs but personally I am looking for the most accurate pleasing display not simply "the brightest". If you do prefer a very bright display the TV's numerous picture settings can easily give you a bright display.



I am a huge Panasonic fan and that did factor into my choice of TV. I find Panasonic typically gives you high quality at a reasonable price.



As for price you will spend several hundreds of dollars more for an LCD of comparable size and quality. Some better quality LCDs in this size range will cost double what the G25 sells for.



Most of the features on the TV and remote are intuitive and the menu offers general explanations of the purpose of each setting. The remote itself is well laid out and easy to navigate although this was not very important to me since I am using my FIOS remote for most typical functions.



There are three HDMI ports on the TV as well as RCA and component connections and coax input. There is also a PC port as well as two USB ports. The lone port type absent is S-Video. While S-Video is passé if you have a DVD player that's a few years old you might be using S-Video to connect to your TV so be prepared to upgrade or switch cable types if need be.



The TV can also be networked either by Ethernet cable or wireless adapter. You must use Panasonic's adapter if you choose the wireless route which is one of the few cons on this product. Compatibility with common wifi adapters would have been nice since the Panasonic wifi adapter is over-priced. Although Panasonic confirmed you must use their adapter I tried a couple of others any way but the TV did not detect them. If you network the Tv you can make use of numerous features like direct connection to several services (some of which require a subscription or fee). Examples are Amazon Video on Demand (cost associated) YouTube (free) Pandora (free) Twitter (free and a few others.



A couple of typical complaints about Panasonic TVs are the sound quality and starting with the G series from 2009 the black levels displayed on the screen becoming lighter after several hundred hours of use. The sound is decent on the TV and many people will probably cutover to their home theater for audio when playing DVDs or music-related TV programming anyway. I don't believe the concerns over the black levels are a huge issue. That is just my opinion; I am neither an expert nor any type of engineer. At the end of the day everything I have read seems to indicate that the resulting black levels from Panasonic's firmware still leaves the display at a better black level than the competing Samsung products so .........



Aside from being limited to Panasonic's wifi adapter about the worst thing I can say about the G25 is that for the price Panasonic could include some sort of cleaning cloth for the screen which is typical even on their own lower end LCDs.



Overall this television has astounding picture quality and realistic reproduction which is superior to any LCD or LED TV I've seen. For the price you cannot go wrong or find a better flat screen HD TV.





NOTE:

If you are a making your first flat screen HD television purchase please remember that no matter what brand or type you buy standard display will not be as sharp as high definition programming and the larger the screen the more noticeable that is.More detail ...