Panasonic TC-P50G15 Excellent HDTV, replaces the TC-P50G10

I'm ashamed to admit, then I never even inspected this TV in person before buying it. All the reviews were so good, I felt confident buying it. However, I was first going to purchase the Panasonic VIERA G10 Series TC-P50G10 50-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV, as the price difference wasn't clear as to what was different. Fortunately, I waited a few extra days, and most resellers starting going out of stock on the G10, so I moved to the G15. And the G15 is actually cheaper now than the G10, which I've heard is discontinued.

The G15 is about 2" thinner, and supposedly has an extra anti-glare coating. I'm amazed at how little glare there is for a plasma, and the ability to view it at extreme angles. I'm even contemplating not buying the full-motion mount, because I may not even need it.

The menu's are easy to use and understand, nice big fonts. Only gripe, of which I'm hoping to find a solution, is that when watching 4:3 shows, the TV fills the sides with grey background color, instead of black.

Panasonic TC-P50G15 Awesome TV

I will spare the technical jargon. This is my first Hi-Def TV and I am thrilled with it. I am purposely late to the game because I had a previous Panasonic just wouldn't die! I decided not to miss another NFL season without Hi-Def. I did a TON of research and came up with this. It is everything I would have hoped. Set up was very easy and I have it hooked into a Panasonic BD80 Blu-Ray and a higher end Denon receiver. I have not done a lot of color adjustments but they were easy to find and I will let it settle in a bit and then run a calibration disc. My true test were two things. First, all the Sunday NFL games. No blurs, no pixelization and great sound (I do run it thru the Denon though and do not use the speakers on the tv). I have absolutely NO complaints about how it handled the fast football action. Second, Narina on Blu-Ray, wow. Color was spectacular!
The biggest tell, was the fact that my wife said she noticed a difference (a truly apathetic television viewer that is now swayed to the joys of pure digital goodness).
Absolutely love this tv. Can't wait for a long cold winter to truly kick back and enjoy!

Panasonic TC-P50G15 AMAZING-- I'm done! ....Review completed.

OK I'll add a little more but it will not be an objective, technical review. It will contain a whole bunch of superlatives and emotional comments.

EMOTIONAL PART
THIS BAD BOY IS BAD!! Wonderful colors, contrast, blacks. The picture pops and everything. I have watched Planet Earth, Batman: Dark Knight and other Blu-rays on the TV. It is nothing short of spectacular. Great saturation, believable colors and context.

LOGICAL PART
I was about to buy an Open Box Kuro Elite Pro for still a bit more than this one -- but the price on the Kuro was so right I thought I had to buy it. Well I went to Best Buy to see both in action. Unfortunately BB must be favoring the Panasonics because they set the Panny to Vivid or something other than THX video setting and had the Kuro on Natural or THX. So on first review the Panny looks more vivid, lively (as expected). I really wanted the Kuro because I had always wanted one. So he set the two TVs the same and in one or two areas the Kuro was better:
Specifically: 1. On a mixed black and white screen -- in this case it was a magician and the background was a black curtain with white moving stars. The Kuro did something beautiful and warm and my insides tingled.
2. An actor was wearing a pure white shirt I thought the Kuro was whiter.

But in many cases I saw no discernable difference and in one case I agreed with BB that the Panny was better-- it was another off white background-- the Kuro had a reddish tint whereas the Panny did not.

So for that much more I did not see the value. So I ordered the G10 first. Then I saw the G15 that was a bit flatter and ordered this one.

I use a Yamaha YSP-4000 so I cannot speak to the sound quality but the video quality is tops! For this kind of HDTV money you cannot go wrong.

Also the delivery was sound/good. Although they arrived later than communicated -- once they arrived the TV was in top shape. So with no shipping charges this is a great buy!!

Panasonic TC-P50G15 Great TV

I've had a G15 for a couple of weeks now and it's great. I use the THX setting. The picture looks great and very realistic. I admit it is kind of dark. Not a problem in a dimly lit room. The brightness can be turned up if the picture is too dark.

I looked at many LCD TVs. Particularly the LED back lit Samsung LCDs and samsung Plasma's. The Samsung's look vibrant. The picture really stands out in the store. The problem is the picture looks kind of cartoonish. The new Panasonic plasmas just make the picture look the way it should without making things look overly colorful or adding extra frames. It really does a great job of showing dark portions. On LCD's the dark colors kind of blend together and look very dark grey. On the G15, I can see subtle details in darkness.

I have the TV hooked up to the internet. I can view You Tube videos and get a local weather forecast. It's neat to play with, but I don't really use it. It's an easy way to get software updates.

The SD Card slot is useful for those with a camera or camcorder. I take the HD card from my Canon HD camcorder and put it in the slot and the TV plays it with no problem.

Some have reported problems playing blu-ray movies in native 24p format. I've played them at 48Hz and 60Hz and haven't noticed any issues at all.

My old LCD used to get very hot. Not this TV. I thought Plasma TVs used more power. My TV may use more power than an LCD, but the power must go toward the picture because not much goes toward heat generation.

Off angle viewing on this TV is much better than with LCDs. The picture looks the same when viewed at 45 degrees. On my LCDs, there is noticeable color drop off at that angle.

Overall this is by far the best TV I've ever owned. I have 3 other HDTVs and none come close to matching the picture quality of this TV.

I think this TV is identical to the less expensive G10 model. The only real difference is this TV is about 2" thick while I think the G10 is 4" thick. The slimmer model will probably be better for wall mounting, but other than that, the TV is identical.

Panasonic TC-P50G15 Exceeds Expectation (Don't be fooled by the showroom)

I purchased this TV almost a week ago and so far color me impressed. I have to admit, while in the stores I was not impressed by this TV at all. Most of the other sets appeared to have more color and vibrance to them. In the store this G15 appeared to be very dull in color and over contrasted. My brother who sells televisions to the RV industry had been touting the G10 as the second coming to High Definition TV. I have debated this with him many times as I have declared the Panasonic Plasmas as way too dark. HOWEVER, I took a leap of faith and took his advice and purchased the G15 anyway. And wow, upon hooking it up and turning the power on there was no doubt I made the right decision. The settings in the store do not in any way do the G15 justice. It was like a different tv in my living room. I fired up a Blu-Ray disc that had nothing but HD landscapes on it and it was simply stunning. I had viewed this disc on my old Sony LCD projection set and it pretty good on that, but this was something else. On the G15 the blacks are black, and the whites are white. Many LCD's I have seen the whites are really tan, and the blacks are more like charcoal. I have become almost obsessive about adjusting the settings on the color to be perfect and recently came up with a great configuration. Watching season one of LOST in Blu-Ray is unbelievable on this TV.

I have played games on this set as well, and let me tell you my X-Box 360 has never so good. To quote my wife, "I never realized how bad our old TV really was--until I saw this new one." It is that good. The Viera Cast feature is very cool, however I wish there were more you could do with it. I would expect more over time with firmware updates though. The Youtube feature is probably the most useful and fun to play with.

On the down side, there could have been more color settings in the adjustment menus. Also the THX feature was very disappointing as the screen is way too dark in this mode.

In conclusion, don't be fooled by showroom displays of this TV, its a different game in your living room. I would challenge anybody to find a better picture than the G15 right now.

Panasonic TC-P50G15 Got it a few days ago

I looked forever for a new TV that 1.did not pixilate 2. fairly inexpensive, looked decent. I looked forever at lcd, leds, and plasma- I finally picked this one becuse a friend just got a LG plasma and it looked awesome. I took this one because it WAS on sale and had free shipping- plus the reviews were tops everywhere I looked. It shipped a little slower than I had hoped,(it was free so....) but arrived in one piece- he box was not damaged at all. Got it set up on the wall and hooked up. It looks great! The picture is fantastic. Of coure standard tv does not look great- but show me a lcd/led/plasma that does. HD looks super. I have had only the SLIGHTEST pixilation- by that I mean watching a football game with super fast pan- but that was over the air signal and the pixles were much smaller than and lcd I have seen. It just seems it does not do it nearly like a lcd. It does have a "partialy" matte screen. It is NOT shiny glass- but still have some reflection- mine is in a room with many windows/lights and I have had no issue- I DO think its lightly matte screen does help alot.
Cons: these are my isues with it- not enough to keep me from buying it again. The sound- good god, what the he11 was panasonic thinking, the sound is terrible. Down firing hollow/tinny speakers- obviously, most people use their own surround and this completley fixes the issue, but I am not set up for that yet so am stuck with crap for sound. Maybe its just me- it is OK, and very watch/listenable, but should be much better than it is. This may be better if it was on its stand and the sound reflected more than I am doing a it- its on the wall shooting down into a 24x24 room (our chairs are near the TV).
It does kick off some heat, but not as much as I expected. I think this one is rated somehow more efficient than previous ones
I give this TV a 4 ONLY for the sound- everything else is 5-star