After extensive research on AVSForum, HiDefJunkies, and Flat Panel Reviews, I decided that I wanted the fantastic 2d picture quality, amazing black levels, and 3d without crosstalk for the future and this 55inch set was my choice since it was just a few hundred dollars more than the 50 inch. It arrived today and I could tell the shipping company Amazon used treated the box/set very well (no marks, dents, holes) and by myself I assembled the base and put the TV on it (I suggest you use 2 people for safety). I have a Pioneer Elite 36TX receiver and it doesn't have HDMI switching, so I thought that I was going to have to replace it. My sources are DirecTv (HR-20), Boxee, and LG BluRay. What I wasn't counting on, but LOVE (and it's saving me a lot of money) is that the Panasonic GT30 has an ARC (Audio Return Channel)via optical Toslink. That lets me connect HDMI from all my sources to the TV and have the audio output to the reciever for surround processing - AWESOME!
With only one day of watching, I think the picture quality is "all that". I previously had a Sony Grand Wega III Rear projection LCD HDTV, and it's hardly comparable because the display technology has progressed so far. Even major broadcasters like CBS/ABC/NBC in HD look suprisingly better.
It also comes with Wifi in the box which you connect via one of the two or three USB ports on the TV. That setup was painless. I don't really intend on using those features (like Netflix), so I can't speak to that. I *WILL* be using DLNA, and since both my Synology NAS and my Samsung phone support DLNA, I will see how well that works in the near future.
Setup was very easy. I'm a tech-guy and my wife could have done this. Date/Time/What source is on each HDMI port and walla.
What don't I like? The HDMI ports are horizontal on the side of the set and your HDMI cables will protrude from the back of the set.
I'll give an update when I have something interesting to report. Panasonic VIERA TC-P55GT30 55-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV
This review is only for the 2D picture quality only. I do not have the 3D glasses and I am not sure I will get them, 3d doesn't interest me that much. I primarily bought it because it was plasma and not LCD. I have had CRT projection, DLP projection and LCD. The LCD was a Samsung and a great TV but I did not like the soap opera visual effect it had on some content. The picture was clear but looked artificial. I believe I have read some other reviews on Amazon stating the same observations.
I purchased this TV based on online research and the positive reviews by professional review sites and user feedback. The off angle viewing, no lag or artifacts when viewing fast action content were the two most important aspects to me, researching all the different display types will find, plasma is the king of the hill on both counts. I would not hesitate to recommend this TV to anyone. If you do the research you will find it is the top of the game and amazon had a really good price coupled with the 2 year interest free amazon sore card purchase it was a no brainer. The form factor although not as slim as the slimmest LCD's is still under 2 inches and looks great hanging on the wall.
As many others, I've done my research before buying this TV. I've only had the GT30 for 4 days and am currently very happy with it.
- The 2D picture is beautiful. I have another 2 year old Samsung 1080P LCD and I can see a clear picture improvement with this Panasonic GT30. I was a little worried about the fluctuating brightness problems that people have been seeing. I am happy to report that I do not see ANY fluctuating brightness issues in any of the modes (thx, game, custom, etc...)
Out of the box the THX mode seemed to be the best, but I found some tunings that CNET posted for this TV and used those. CNET actually posted picture tunings for THX and Custom modes and mentioned that they believe their THX settings were better. My wife and I prefer like their Custom settings more than their THX settings. More realistic...
- I can also make a couple of comments on 3D. I've ordered a 3D blue ray player with a few movies, but have not received them yet. I do have ESPN 3D though and was able to check it out. I purchased the x103 3d glasses and used those. The 3d effect greatly depends on the content that you are watching on TV when its broadcast. College football was OK, Extreme winter games were good and Boxing looked great with 3D. I did not see any cross talk and the HD clarity was very good. Just make sure that you don't have a lot of extra outside light in the room or the glasses will appear to flicker a little. In a medium to dim environment, there were 0 issues. I can't wait for the 3D blue ray player to see what movies will look like on this TV.
Overall I am very happy with this TV.
I could not be more impressed with this TV. The picture is incredible, the set-up was very easy, it has tons of features, it is by far the best TV I have ever owned.
I mounted it to the wall using a VideoSecu Articulating TV mount which holds it securely to the wall. I did not feel comfortable having this TV rest on the stand it comes with because I have 4 boys, and the living room sometimes transforms into a wrestling arena. I would hate to have to put one or more of the boys up for adoption because they knocked over the TV. So mounting it to a wall helps ensure they will have a place to live for a few more years...
The TV comes with a wireless LAN adapter that plugs into one of the TV's USB ports. That saves the hassle of running a network cable to that room. So far I am very happy with the connectivity and have used it to watch instant movies from Netflix, shows from Amazon on-demand, and we also use it to check our weather reports. The TV has many other features that are Internet based like Facebook, but we have not tried that because we do not have a wireless keyboard, and because we have a PC in the same room, so we will probably never use that feature.
The only downside I have noticed so far is the sound quality. We have the TV in a pretty large, open room. When things are quiet the sound quality is great, but things get noisy around here sometimes and I am also a little hard of hearing (or so my wife says) so I need to crank up the volume on the loud side. I may have to hook this up to a home theater system, which is probably a good idea anyway. In a normal house the sound quality will probably be more than adequate.
Once again I will get back to the picture quality. It is very impressive, especially in HD. I have satellite TV and had to upgrade the receiver to an HD receiver. Watching the shows in HD is incredible. I cannot speak highly enough about the excellent picture quality. I am very happy with this purchase.
I did quite a bit of research on TVs before buying this one. This TV was very highly rated and I am happy and convinced that I made the right choice.
**While this is a 3D TV, I have not purchased 3D glasses so I cannot review that feature. Since 3D gives me a headache, I will probably never get a set of 3D glasses. Actually I should clarify the previous sentence, 3D on TV gives me a headache. Luckily I am ok with 3D in real life, or that would be a huge problem. - So Happy - Fantastic 55 Inch T V - My Life With A Medical Breakthro'
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