Panasonic VIERA TC-P42G25 42-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this plasma from a local electronics store [...]. This is the second flat screen I have purchased in as many days.
I first bought a Samsung LN40C650 LCD but returned it the next day because of a few issues that I couldn't get past. It had very light vertical banding in some spots (It's possible that I just got a bad one on this count), the image washed out when viewing from anywhere other than straight on, and I didn't like the way the tv dealt with motion (whether the auto-motion was turned on or not). Also, the colors didn't seem very natural although it's possible that after adjustment this would have improved.
So I decided to try the Panasonic TC-P42G25, a Plasma tv, which supposedly has none of these issues (but maybe its own inherent issue, read on). I brought it home, unboxed it, attached the stand and hooked everything up. I was able to accomplish this myself but I would recommend getting some help to do this step. The stand does swivel which is a nice feature to have. I turned it on and after a short setup wizard everything was ready to go. I live in Chicago and the tv had no problem finding all the digital channels from my indoor/outdoor antenna which you can see here - [...]

At first this tv looks a bit dim, but this is because by default the tv is set to standard brightness mode which is the least vibrant of the settings. I flipped through some of the other picture modes and THX seems to be bright and accurate, though I decided to leave it in standard mode for the first few days during the plasma "break in" period.
I popped the dvd Ashes of American Flags (concert film, rock band Wilco) into a bluray player that I borrowed from someone. This film has a lot dark areas in the concert scenes which allowed me to check out the black levels. The tv automatically recognized that I was playing something and switched the source to receive video from the bluray player.
If I had to describe the picture quality on this tv in one word it would be "amazing". Screen uniformity is perfect, no light or dark places anywhere. Colors appear natural and realistic to me. The black levels are very deep on this tv when you dim the lights a bit or close the shades in the room. Motion appears fine to me (I found the motion looked better with the blur reduction in settings turned off).
The default setting for this tv is to have C.A.T.S. turned on in the settings. This adjusts the brightness of the picture depending on how much ambient light is in the room. Some people may like this feature but I turned it off.
The sound is good for normal tv viewing. It sounded better to me when I turned on bass boost in the sound settings; It is possible to adjust the treble and bass also.

One issue that this tv has (as well as Plasma's in general from what I've read) that LCD's don't is that the black levels don't look their best in a brightly lit room. This is not a problem for me as I prefer watching in a dim, but not pitch black, environment. To my eyes the black levels look deeper than I've ever seen on an LCD.
I have not tried the network feature on this tv yet. An earlier reviewer said some of the network features may not be available yet. It won't really matter to me if this is still the case. I just want a flatscreen that does what it is supposed to do, and does it very well; This plasma delivers that.
This is a polished product from Panasonic. Please Panasonic, don't ever stop making Plasma's!
****Quick update**** 4/26. When I said that the TV automatically switched the source to receive video from the bluray player, It may have done this because the bluray player that I borrowed also happened to be a Panasonic product. As to whether or not it will automatically switch the source for another brand of bluray player, you'll have to find that out for yourself.
****Second update**** 6/20/10. Someone had their G25 professionally calibrated and posted the settings on avsforum. I used these settings (except for the service menu offsets which are not available in the normal picture menu and I would not recommend trying) as a good starting point for THX and Custom modes. Everything below this sentence is copied and pasted from that website:
TC-PxxG20/25 Reference Settings
Picture:
Picture Mode: THX
Contrast: 57
Brightness: 56
Color: 49
Tint: 0
Sharpness: 10
Color Temp: Warm2
Color Management: Off
x.v. Color: Off
Photo Enhancement: Off
C.A.T.S: Off
Video NR: Off
Blur Reduction: Off
Advance Options
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: On
Service Menu Offsets
WB-ADJ MENU
R-DRV: -1
G-DRV: -8
B-DRV: +4
R-CUT: -8
G-CUT: 0
B-CUT: +3
Note: These offsets must be entered for both Color matrixes. You access the different matrixes by using a 1080i/p signal for the HD matrix and 480i/p signal for the SD matrix. The WB Method Select option should be set to 00 instead of 03.Picture:
Picture Mode: Custom
Contrast: 87
Brightness: 68
Color: 35
Tint: -3
Sharpness: 11
Color Temp: Warm2
Color Management: Off
x.v. Color: Off
Photo Enhancement: Off
C.A.T.S: Off
Video NR: Off
Blur Reduction: Off
Pro Settings:
W/B High R: 0
W/B High B: +2
W/B Low R: +2
W/B Low B: -4
Black Extension: 0
Gamma Adjustment: 2.2
Panel Brightness: Mid
Contour Emphasis: Off
AGC: 0
Advance Options
Block NR: Off
Mosquito NR: Off
Black Level: Light
3:2 Pulldown: On
Note: These settings must be used with the offsets listed for THX mode


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Building on its award-winning 2009 Plasma line, Panasonic's 42-inch VIERA TC-P42G25 Plasma HDTV features a new panel with NeoPDP technologies that provide the best balance of black and white under brighter environments while also offering higher energy efficiency. The new NeoPDP Plasma panel also further reduces reflections and creates sharper pictures with higher contrast in brighter environments. This G25 series model provides 1080p resolution, full-time 1080 TV lines of moving picture resolution, and 600Hz Sub-field Drive for superb motion clarity.



Key Specifications


What's in the Box Panasonic G25 series Plasma HDTV, removable stand, remote control (with batteries), operating instructions

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