"Advanced PDP Development Centre"
Okay, so now we know that at certain pan rates a test pattern remains clear.
How does this relate to real life footage, and how does it compare to everything else on the market?
With its high contrast Infinite Black Pro panel, net connected features and 3D compatibility Panasonic’s new GT30 plasma TV range clearly isn’t looking to shortchange buyers. The screens even come with both Freeview HD and Freesat HD tuners, to ensure maximum reception flexibility. If there’s a box, Panasonic appears to have …
What is not known however is what the test results given in the article mean. Notwithstanding the clear differences between panel technology families, how do you know whether this TV is better or worse than any other given TV based on that number alone?
............without *any* glasses bundled this is in practice, sold as is, a *2D* TV - and a rather pricey 42 inch 2D telly at that. Fortunately we upgraded to a 55 in Sammy just before the producers started this shell game with 3D tellys. We won't in all likelihood upgrade again until they get OLED fixed - ie a genuine advance in display tech that is actually worth paying for.
If I was British, the lack of glasses and ads in EPG would mean one thing to me: "Greedy UK management.".
If you won't bundle some cheap glasses, don't add 3d or add some 50 pounds to price and add them. These guys (whoever manages UK) makes Panasonic look like some el cheapo Taiwan no name manufacturer. Some hardware state of art which doesn't deserve it.
To that OLED fan: Plasma doesn't need OLED technology and it is affordable, even in such high end.
... none of these Panasonic Viera plasma TVs seem to be able to read AVCHD Standard structured video files from digital camera SD(HC) cards or H264 MOV files - at least not those from non-Panasonic devices. I've tried 25 and 60 fps 720 and 1080 footage from a Canon point&shoot, a Kodak budget camcorder and a Sony DSLR-interchangeable compact. All fail to be read. Annoying! HDMI, when available, does work though.
...and to a Panny plasma at that it would need to fix the following from the 2010 G30.
Floating blacks.
Image retention (don't believe the hype it still exists)
Phosphor lag
Rising blacks (after a few thousand hours your blacks will be greys).
50Hz PAL artefacts
Better and more configurable motion smoothing/interpolation algorithm when enabled. Right now you get artefacts on some broadcast material.
Better support for video playback from the SD and USB slots. Some crappy SD DIVX file is not what I call decent format support. x264 in MKV and h.264/VC1 support in other formats like MOV and MP4 is a MUST!
Crappy adverts in EPG
Lack of video window in EPG
Rubbish iPlayer support (No streaming HD)
No streaming Youtube in HD
For an HDTV it lacks so much HD anything other than the display it's attrocious.
Shame Panasonic have crippled their 2D version of this TV, last year's G20 had FreeSat but they've removed it (and a few other connectors) off this year's G30 model. Only leaving useful features on their most expensive sets and I'm sure not paying £1300 for a 2D TV and I have no desire or forseeable need for a 3D TV for the next few years.
I bought a g20 earlier this year. The picture was truly awesome. Had to take it back though as it was so noisy when turned on, like a high pitched squeal or whine. Even an hour after going to bed my ears were ringing. Also the flicker gave me a real headache. The motion issues were there too when watching 50 Hz stuff.
As mentioned above also, the damn thing recognises precious few file types. The hard drive recording is picture perfect, but would frequently note record things.
But to see that whale in the arctic under the ice was stunning in hd.
Oh finally there customer services were not the most receptive when I complained.