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Product Description 58-Inch Plasma, 1080p, NEO PDP Panel which is brighter, Full-time 1080p TV lines of moving picture resolution, 3 HDMI, Native contrast ratio 40,000:1, Dynamic contrast infinite black 2,000,000:1, Game Mode, Anti Reflective Filter, 600 Hz Subfield Drive… More >>
I’ve been looking for a TV around 60 inch, Plasma or LCD. I’m leaning toward the plasma because of the wider viewing angle. I want to build a home theater with this tv, so I want a good one. I found this one at Best Buy for about $1000 less than the ones I had picked out. I read the reviews on [...] and the professional reviews said that the screen had an overall green cast to it that can’t be adjusted out. The personal reviews said that the picture quality is exceptional. So I decided to do my own comparison. It would have been better if I could do a side by side comparison, but this wasn’t possible at the time. What I did was take a copy of Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix and watched the first 20 minutes of it on the Panasonic TC-P58S1, then I took it home and rewatched the same 20 minutes on a smaller Samsung LCD.
Here’s what I noticed: During the episode under the bridge near the beginning, with the artificial lights, the Panasonic cast a light green light on everything, with the Samsung, it was a light shade of yellow. During the walk home from there, the Panasonic and Samsung both was an overall green color, but more pronounced on the Panasonic. The same thing inside the house with the curtains behind Harry. Now, at Sirius Black’s house, whenever Harry walked through the dark hallways, the Panasonic showed overall different shades of green only, and with the Samsung, it was different shades of brown, grey and some blue. Inside the Ministry of Magic, immediately upon entry, the Samsung showed the greens as more magnificent shades of green than the Panasonic.
Overall, that’s a deal breaker for me for this particular tv. I hope the TC-P58V10 is much better, but I haven’t got to compare it yet.
Rating: 2 / 5
Most TV’s in this series have a rapidly rising black level right around the time when the 30 day return period is up, between 250-500 hours of use. The blacks fade to a level similar to a mid level LCD from 2006, and “Most affected users report that Image Retention and Phosphorescence become significantly worse post-elevation.” Follow this link to read up on it. [...]
After doing much research and finally pulling the trigger and buying Panasonic’s V10 plasma model, I was shocked to recently find many widespread reputable reports that black levels on Panasonic 2008 and 2009 model plasmas may double or in some cases triple after approximately 1000 hours of use.
At this point I can only wish I had found this information before I made my purchase, so I’m passing it on to anyone else who may be considering any of these models.
My V10 picture is fantastic at the moment, but I can only wait in fear that I may have spent $2K dollars on something that will lose one of it’s best qualities after only months of normal use.
The issue is described and commented in detail here:
Panasonic is undergoing litigation over Plasma Black levels. The CNET website conducted their own test and concluded the black level prematurely highten or become grayer in a very short amount of time. What does this mean to the average Joe. Those gorgeous dark scenes on a movie such as “The Dark Knight” will gradually go away and one will be left with a picture that is no better and than your average LCD TV.
The problem involves Plasma TVs having premature heightening of black levels. These heightened black levels will cause an effected Plasma model to gradually loose its inky blacks and in just a 600 to 1000 plus hours of viewing to produce grayer pictures instead of the inky blacks that Panasonic advertises on it’s TV and print media.
Panasonic has tried to sweep this whole thing under the carpet. Their strategy is not unlike Toyota. If few enough people complain, then maybe they can just ignore the issue. They feel that the average person will not be able to see the difference in black level. However, pictures of effected sets have been posted on the internet and the difference is obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes. This however is no consolation for the thousands of Home Theater enthusiast who plumped down an average of $1500 or more for these sets because they felt they were getting Plasma with superior picture quality including black levels for the majority of ownership.
Most intelligent purchasers of plasma TV’s’ understand that over time picture brightness along with black levels will heighten / diminish. Right now Plasmas are being rated at 60,000 hours. This is around 6 to 7 years or roughly 2500 days (based on average household viewing). You expect that the Black levels on plasmas will diminish over time, BUT NOT AFTER 600 – 1500 hours worth of use. And for those of you who are saying that you own different / older model plasmas, these are the models at issue… NeoPDP (S1/G10/G15/V10 – again purchased from mid 2008 to present.
Some people may notice the change sooner than others, but this increae will occur. Until Panasonic comes out with a fix to remedy this increase, I can longer recommend this set. Major news outlets and internet forums have picked up on this story…This firt broke on AVSforum and CNET took the story mainstream. [...], Engadget, HDguru Gizmodo are reporting. CNET will revise previous reviews and Consumer reports may be reporting soon. The folks at THX are even conducting further investigation.
The plasma models in question include models that use the NEO-PDP (panel display). Purchase dates from mid 2008 to present could be affected. From reading various forums, these are the possible affected models S1/G10/G15/V10.
Panasonic first admitted there was an issue about a month ago. Now that this has gone to litigation, they are refusing to make further comment to print media. They have stated that their sets are functioning as intended and there is no plan in the works for a fix. Too bad for those customers who have already plunked down their $1500 plus on these sets.
Many purchasers of these Panasonic Plasma sets did so because they wanted superior blacks. Whether inky blacks are inferred is just splitting hairs. Purchasers expect these superior blacks to be present for many years, NOT JUST A FEW THOUSAND HOURS!
Because I am past the 30 day return period, I am pretty much stuck with this set when I start to loose my blacks and so are the rest of you. Panasonic would either have to A. fix the problem with some sort of software firmware; B replace a board on the set; or C provide me with a replacement set. This apparently is not going to happen. BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK! You have been warned.
I bought this set based on Panasonic’s reputation and excellent reviews in Consumer Reports and on-line sites. Have had it a month and it works fine. And then I stumbled on the CNET link below…
[...]
…which basically tells how Panasonic screwed up the stability of black levels and image retention on their 2009 plasma line and they are not going to do a thing about it since they designed the sets to get worse in use, so they are doing what they are supposed to do.
This totally kills Panasonic for me as a reputable company and I feel bad having caused at least four additional purchases of 2009 Panasonic plasmas by friends due to me recommending the brand.
Do not buy a 2009 Panasonic plasma and think twice before buying a 2010 “improved” model. Do you really want to support such a sleazy company that tells their customers to just live with design defects?
Bye, bye Panasonic. You are losing influential customers due to your sloppy design and arrogance.
I just hope Consumer Reports picks up on this as that will force Panasonic to fix their mess.
Rating: 2 / 5
March 17, 2010 | Posted by admin 
Categories: Panasonic LCD HDTV | 
Tags: 1080p, 58Inch, Black, HDTV, PANASONIC, Plasma, Series, TCP58S1, VIERA | 
5 Comments »
I’ve been looking for a TV around 60 inch, Plasma or LCD. I’m leaning toward the plasma because of the wider viewing angle. I want to build a home theater with this tv, so I want a good one. I found this one at Best Buy for about $1000 less than the ones I had picked out. I read the reviews on [...] and the professional reviews said that the screen had an overall green cast to it that can’t be adjusted out. The personal reviews said that the picture quality is exceptional. So I decided to do my own comparison. It would have been better if I could do a side by side comparison, but this wasn’t possible at the time. What I did was take a copy of Harry Potter, The Order of the Phoenix and watched the first 20 minutes of it on the Panasonic TC-P58S1, then I took it home and rewatched the same 20 minutes on a smaller Samsung LCD.
Here’s what I noticed: During the episode under the bridge near the beginning, with the artificial lights, the Panasonic cast a light green light on everything, with the Samsung, it was a light shade of yellow. During the walk home from there, the Panasonic and Samsung both was an overall green color, but more pronounced on the Panasonic. The same thing inside the house with the curtains behind Harry. Now, at Sirius Black’s house, whenever Harry walked through the dark hallways, the Panasonic showed overall different shades of green only, and with the Samsung, it was different shades of brown, grey and some blue. Inside the Ministry of Magic, immediately upon entry, the Samsung showed the greens as more magnificent shades of green than the Panasonic.
Overall, that’s a deal breaker for me for this particular tv. I hope the TC-P58V10 is much better, but I haven’t got to compare it yet.
Rating: 2 / 5
Most TV’s in this series have a rapidly rising black level right around the time when the 30 day return period is up, between 250-500 hours of use. The blacks fade to a level similar to a mid level LCD from 2006, and “Most affected users report that Image Retention and Phosphorescence become significantly worse post-elevation.” Follow this link to read up on it. [...]
Rating: 1 / 5
After doing much research and finally pulling the trigger and buying Panasonic’s V10 plasma model, I was shocked to recently find many widespread reputable reports that black levels on Panasonic 2008 and 2009 model plasmas may double or in some cases triple after approximately 1000 hours of use.
At this point I can only wish I had found this information before I made my purchase, so I’m passing it on to anyone else who may be considering any of these models.
My V10 picture is fantastic at the moment, but I can only wait in fear that I may have spent $2K dollars on something that will lose one of it’s best qualities after only months of normal use.
The issue is described and commented in detail here:
[....]
[....]
Good Luck!!!!
Rating: 3 / 5
Urgent Update: March 9th
Panasonic is undergoing litigation over Plasma Black levels. The CNET website conducted their own test and concluded the black level prematurely highten or become grayer in a very short amount of time. What does this mean to the average Joe. Those gorgeous dark scenes on a movie such as “The Dark Knight” will gradually go away and one will be left with a picture that is no better and than your average LCD TV.
The problem involves Plasma TVs having premature heightening of black levels. These heightened black levels will cause an effected Plasma model to gradually loose its inky blacks and in just a 600 to 1000 plus hours of viewing to produce grayer pictures instead of the inky blacks that Panasonic advertises on it’s TV and print media.
Panasonic has tried to sweep this whole thing under the carpet. Their strategy is not unlike Toyota. If few enough people complain, then maybe they can just ignore the issue. They feel that the average person will not be able to see the difference in black level. However, pictures of effected sets have been posted on the internet and the difference is obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes. This however is no consolation for the thousands of Home Theater enthusiast who plumped down an average of $1500 or more for these sets because they felt they were getting Plasma with superior picture quality including black levels for the majority of ownership.
Most intelligent purchasers of plasma TV’s’ understand that over time picture brightness along with black levels will heighten / diminish. Right now Plasmas are being rated at 60,000 hours. This is around 6 to 7 years or roughly 2500 days (based on average household viewing). You expect that the Black levels on plasmas will diminish over time, BUT NOT AFTER 600 – 1500 hours worth of use. And for those of you who are saying that you own different / older model plasmas, these are the models at issue… NeoPDP (S1/G10/G15/V10 – again purchased from mid 2008 to present.
Some people may notice the change sooner than others, but this increae will occur. Until Panasonic comes out with a fix to remedy this increase, I can longer recommend this set. Major news outlets and internet forums have picked up on this story…This firt broke on AVSforum and CNET took the story mainstream. [...], Engadget, HDguru Gizmodo are reporting. CNET will revise previous reviews and Consumer reports may be reporting soon. The folks at THX are even conducting further investigation.
The plasma models in question include models that use the NEO-PDP (panel display). Purchase dates from mid 2008 to present could be affected. From reading various forums, these are the possible affected models S1/G10/G15/V10.
Panasonic first admitted there was an issue about a month ago. Now that this has gone to litigation, they are refusing to make further comment to print media. They have stated that their sets are functioning as intended and there is no plan in the works for a fix. Too bad for those customers who have already plunked down their $1500 plus on these sets.
Many purchasers of these Panasonic Plasma sets did so because they wanted superior blacks. Whether inky blacks are inferred is just splitting hairs. Purchasers expect these superior blacks to be present for many years, NOT JUST A FEW THOUSAND HOURS!
Because I am past the 30 day return period, I am pretty much stuck with this set when I start to loose my blacks and so are the rest of you. Panasonic would either have to A. fix the problem with some sort of software firmware; B replace a board on the set; or C provide me with a replacement set. This apparently is not going to happen. BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK! You have been warned.
Rating: 1 / 5
I bought this set based on Panasonic’s reputation and excellent reviews in Consumer Reports and on-line sites. Have had it a month and it works fine. And then I stumbled on the CNET link below…
[...]
…which basically tells how Panasonic screwed up the stability of black levels and image retention on their 2009 plasma line and they are not going to do a thing about it since they designed the sets to get worse in use, so they are doing what they are supposed to do.
This totally kills Panasonic for me as a reputable company and I feel bad having caused at least four additional purchases of 2009 Panasonic plasmas by friends due to me recommending the brand.
Do not buy a 2009 Panasonic plasma and think twice before buying a 2010 “improved” model. Do you really want to support such a sleazy company that tells their customers to just live with design defects?
Bye, bye Panasonic. You are losing influential customers due to your sloppy design and arrogance.
I just hope Consumer Reports picks up on this as that will force Panasonic to fix their mess.
Rating: 2 / 5