In this Panasonic TC-P54V10 review we are going to take a look at what is the best plasma TV of 2009 in the 54 inch size class. This review applies to both TC-P54V10 (54 inch) as well as TC-P50V10 (50 inch) because both of them are part of Panasonic V10 series. There are other size variants available as well, however it is possible that those are slightly different (not much though). Excepting Panasonic Z1 which is probably going to be sold only through specialized dealers, TC-P54V10 is the top of the line plasma TV from Panasonic. It is at the top of their 2009 lineup both because of its exceptional picture quality, but also because of its rich feature set. This is a high-end TV, so naturally you will have to pay a relatively high price for it.

What Makes it the Best HDTV of 2009?

Pioneer Kuro Elite models have been and remain the best HDTVs of all times. However they are now discontinued since Pioneer is no longer manufacturing TVs. The gap left open by Pioneer's leave is now to be filled by Panasonic and Samsung, both having exceptionally good plasma TV-s in their high-end series. LG is also present on the plasma television market, however nobody seems to have reviewed their 2009 models. Though, Samsung came with visible improvements to their plasma TVs this year, especially in the black level department, Samsung is still visibly superior. The black levels of TC-P54V10 are simply fantastic. Though they are not able to surpass those seen in Pioneer Elite models, they come close and are visibly better than the black levels of any other HDTV out there. With deep blacks and excellent shadow detail the image on a TC-P54V10 is life-like. Combined with the accurate colors offered by THX mode, the result is superb. A delight to a viewer's eyes.

From Viera Cast to Picture Controls

Naturally, as one might expect from any high-end pricy HDTV, Panasonic TC-P54V10 has a very rich feature set. Though LG's PS80 series come with an integrated hard drive disk and NetFlix support, making it the most feature-rich model out there, the set of features present on Panasonic TC-P54V10 isn't small either. You get the old services that Viera Cast offered since 2008 (weather, stocks, news, etc) and on top of that, beginning with this year you have access to Amazon Video on Demand (VoD). Aside from these “exotic” features, you have access to a rich set of picture controls. Taking into consideration that though color accuracy is good in THX mode, one can complain about its default settings in other modes, the rich set of picture and color controls will come handy when calibrating the TV in non-THX modes.



Source by Jack A Smith