Customer Reviews

Panasonic TC-P54G25 54-Inch 1080p Plasma HDTV

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

After spending a couple of weeks seriously researching tv's, I decided I wanted to go plasma. I weighed the options of LCD, LED-LCD, Plasma and DLP, and concluded that all along I've wanted Plasma. Friends and acquaintances tried (hard) to convince me that LCD or even LED was the way to go...especially in my living room with 3 windows. I spent many hours trying to convince myself that LCD was what I wanted, but no matter what, I always came back to, "...but with Plasma, I can..." Thus, the search began for the Plasma that best suited our needs.

I considered LG (PK750/950), Samsung (C550/590) and Panasonic (S2/G25). I knew going in that Panasonic was the brand to have (some might argue) if you want Plasma. Given their purchase of Pioneer's Plasma tech in the last year, I figured they'd be a lot more expensive than the price I paid. LG's looked great, but although slimmer, were priced a little higher and had a major glare issue. Not for us. Samsung is leading the way in tv tech. Their LCD's are top-notch (from what I've seen), so I figured their Plasmas must be close behind. They looked good, had good specs, but 2 things kept me from Samsung - Glare (not as bad as LG, but not as good as Panasonic) and Buzz. So many people complain about their Samsung Plasmas making loud buzzing noises. I didn't want to take a chance and narrowed it down to Panasonic. There's about $400 price difference between the S2 and G25, and before yesterday, only 2 reviews existed on Amazon for this tv and both were not-so-good. But I made the decision to go with the G25 and I couldn't be happier. On to the review...

I purchased from Amazon for almost $250 less than Best Buy's "on sale" price, saved on tax (about $150) and got free shipping. Amazon contracted Pilot freight to deliver my tv and they did a great job...especially for free shipping. Wasn't white glove, but the delivery guy was well within the time frame, friendly and put the box exactly where I asked him. I opened the box and there stood the largest purchase I've made in quite a few years. I thought the tv stand I had would suffice for this, but it is a little larger than I thought, so we need to shop for a new tv stand. The pedestal the tv comes with is solid - wide base and has two posts on each end to support the tv. Eight screws later, the tv is mounted on the pedestal, sitting on my now-dwarfed tv stand. I didn't have any HDMI cables at that moment, so I hooked up my antenna and ran a quick setup and tuned in to the lcoal digital channels. WOW!!! I'm not sure I've ever seen a tv display look so good. I've always been in awe of my friends DLP and LCD tv's, but from a not-so-great antenna signal, our tv looked way better than theirs. I purchased HDMI cables last night and hooked up the satellite receiver and my PS3. WOW again!!!! I've never seen a movie, game or tv programming look so clear with so many colors and black blacks...not like the LCD we have upstairs in our room. I switched the tv to THX setting and to my untrained eye, it looked liked a well-calibrated tv. I softened the contrast, brightness, sharpness, etc down to 50, as Panasonic and other tech-ies recommend a 100 hour "break-in" of the tv. So I'm gonna be cool with it for a week or two and then modify the settings more to my liking. The frame of the tv is black, and one of my two least-favorite parts of the tv. It will definitely retain a lot of fingerprints and smudges, but I figure once the tv is on a new stand and placed where we want it, there will be no need to go touch the tv except to dust it off. There are 3 HDMI connections (2 back, 1 side), 2 component connections, SD card slot, USB ports and an ethernet port. Plenty of connections to do what you want...although my second least-favorite part of the tv is the fact that the Digital Optical out only sends out a PCM/Stereo signal to my audio receiver, not Dolby Digital 5.1. Only what is being pulled in from the OTA tuner will be sent DD/5.1 if available. From what I understand though, all tv's do this, not just the Panasonic. The remote is handy, has a "light" button and lights up almost all the buttons in red (helps in the dark). The menu is not too complicated to navigate through and use. The speakers a just ok, but I am running all sound through my reciever and speakers. The screen is large and does and excellent job blocking out glare. The display is crystal clear and like said earlier, the tv produces such rich, beautiful colors and some very black blacks...and all with very little glare. Very smooth motion for sports or action flicks to round it out.

Overall, the G25 is a top-notch tv with plenty of bells and whistles. One could go larger for the same price, but will sacrifice many features that this tv provides. And I'm conviced that no other retailer could beat the price that Amazon sells this for. For a plasma, or any tv for that matter, at the $1,600 price-point, this is the tv to have.

I purchased this TV on July 2 and it was delivered on time with no hassle on July 12 as requested.

I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable tech guy, as I have an extensive home theater set-up (Onkyo AVR, Polk Audio 5.1 surround, Blu Ray, XBOX 360, Audioquest cables, cheap HDMI cables, etc...) No, I do not have a $10,000 system, but it is a quality system that performs great. Research returns results!

Before my purchase, I researched this model and the Panasonic 3D VT25 for about 3 months on AVSForum, Home Theater mag, CNET, and other sites for price and reviews. The reviews overall were pretty good for this TV and the picture quality is unmatched by any 2010 model HDTV at this price point, PERIOD.

This is my first plasma, as my previous TV was a 5 yr old 46in Toshiba DLP, so I am not new to HD. Out of the box, the highly recommended THX mode is near perfect. If you are extra picky, you can check AVS Forum for the calibration settings for this model by doing a search for D-Nice (licensed pro calibrator), and his break in slides and settings. If you do not wish to pro calibrate this TV through the Service Menu (risky), don't worry about running the slides.

For best results out of this TV and to prevent Temporary Image Retention (IR), just keep it on THX (the best setting), and keep the brightness and contrast around 50 for the first 100 hrs of watching. Keeping these settings down while watching TV with static images like ESPNHD bottom ticker or playing games will help you out a great deal.

As for performance, my G25 is a May 2010 build (kinks worked out at the factory by this time) and the Picture was better than I'd even thought it would be. Blu Rays looked great and the black level is dark as ink. I am still "breaking in" the set of course, but I don't seem to have any of the issues from early builds like buzzing during bright lighted scenes. I tested Dark Knight, Book of Eli, and HD broadcasts during the 1st night without any issues.

Again, for this price point, there is no better value or quality 2010 HDTV to be had. LCD and LED black levels don't come close to this Panny plasma. Only the Panny 3D VT25 has better PQ, but only by a small margin.

If you are in the market for a new HDTV, look no further than the G25, and Amazon again has the best service, easy returns, and lowest prices you will find. I say go for it!

All the hype is true. This is one BADASS tv!! I did months of research before purchasing this unit. Picture is phenomenal. I've owned 5 HD LCD tv's but never a plasma. If you are an LCD/LED owner now, it takes a little while to get used to the this tv. LCD/LED is a brighter technology, however, plasma blows it away in deeper/richer colors and detail. Make sure you break the tv in for the first 100-200 hrs. In this time, do not put the tv in vivid mode and lower the contrast to 50% in whatever other mode you choose (standard, custom, etc, etc). Do not pause tv for long periods of time, play video games on it, or watch tv with bars on the side (stretch the picture if there are bars) during the break in. This will increase the longevity of the unit and increase image quality. Also, buy the Blu Ray calibration DVD on Amazon and calibrate the tv after 100 hrs of break in. The picture of this tv gets better with time. I would NOT recommend this tv (or any plasma) if you have a very bright room (ie tv next to large windows, etc). LCD/LED will suit you better if your room is very bright. For all others, this is the tv. Forget about the 3-D tv's for now--the technology is not there yet. No motion blur whatsoever which even the newest LCD/LED's cannot claim (they claim it but it's BS). If you watch HD sports, HD movies, HD tv, and Blu Ray, this is the BEST bang for your buck. The free standard delivery took a bit long (13 days) b/c Pilot needed two guys for the delivery. If you want the tv quickly, pay the extra shipping....I would have had I know it took 13 days. Pilot Freight was excellent other than that. One other note, get the 3 yr plasma tv service plan off of Amazon for around $100. 4x's cheaper than a Best Buy warranty and Sqauretrade is the real deal..had a LCD model replaced by them with NO hassle.

About 7 weeks ago I ordered a 54" panasonic G25 series Plasma HDTV through Amazon.com. It arrived on time in good shape and worked beautifully for a grand total of 5 days.On the 6th day it went down with the "blinking power light of death". Unfortunately I had been premature in recycling the packing box because it had been working so well."Big Mistake"!!!Because I'm now having to deal with the Panasonic Warranty Repair System.I really can't critique the TV because it worked such a short period of time.But I can give you my thoughts on the Panasonic Warranty Repair System.It's been one of the most frustrating experiences of my life.It has now been a few days short of one month since my case was opened up and it has been a period of woefully inept service .We are now on the ""5th circuit board" ordered[Each one of the previous 4 boards {with their delaying order and mailing time}was promised as the one that would repair the problem.NO such luck!!Wonder how many more boards there are in the TV]There have been at least two occasions where the "District Service Manager " was supposed to respond to the problem within 24to 48 hours but no phone calls were received.This is a big problem with quality and service with Panasonic and unfortunately it's not resolved yet........

I have only had the TV 2 days, so this review is based on what I have noticed so far. The TV was very easy to setup, so you should not really have any problems mounting the TV, and getting it working. Of course, mine was easy to mount because I mounted it on the stand above my audio equipment, so those mounting it on the wall will have more of a challenge. Right out of the box, the picture was rather dull on SD, but that is mostly because the colors are not perfectly set for every signal from the various broadcasting mediums, so you will need to adjust according to your taste. At this stage, I have reduced contrast to 50, and will leave it at that setting for at least 100 hrs (the picture is not bright enough at this setting for my taste, but I will leave it alone until burn-in is complete). I did try some small adjustments in SD and will note that once you tune the TV, I believe SD will be adequate -- but I returned it to the defaults afterward -- but not wonderful, but the issue is not the TV, but the capability of Standard TV to broadcast a clear signal. On high def is where the TV really shines, so if you have a high def signal coming to your home then you will notice very accurate colors with minor adjustments.

Next, I tried a blue ray (The Avatar) and the picture was stunning. It should be noted that both the blue ray player and TV are only a couple hours old, so I did not expect anything to be perfect at that point. What I noticed here is that as the movie continued to play the colors in the set became more defined, but I was absolutely stunned by the depth of colors and there clarity.

In one scene where they show a space ship in space, it looked so real that I just wanted to watch the scene over and over. No jaggies, or distortion of any kind, and the blacks in space were deep with no grayish tent - I mean really black blacks. The scene is stunning. In another scene, a guy has just been trough a work out, and you can see every detail of the sweat on his skin and the colors are very accurate -- breathtaking the accuracy of the scene. The movie was played in THX mode, and while it is good, it does need slight adjustments, which I will do after burn-in. In some scenes on the blue ray, the colors are wonderful, but on others, you see slightly too much green.

There have been some reviews that stated colors are over saturated, but I really do not believe that is the case. Color saturation is one of the adjustments that will need to be made to suit your taste, so it is really a non-issue. What I have always liked the most about Panny's is that you can get actually accurate skin colors, so that is very important to me.

For sound, I am an audiophile, so have over 40k worth of sound equipment and did not expect to much, but it is not all that bad for a TV and improves as the TV burns-in, so it can be lived with and is not all that awe full as some others claim. Remember it is a TV and not a sound system, so be realistic in your expectations. Once you hook it up to your sound system if that is your intent, or your blue ray player, the audio signal passed is good, and especially if you are using HDMI or digital output. I used the digital out routed to a Tag McLaren AV32R processor.

It takes sometime for the picture to settle in, but I have always been impressed by Panasonic TVs (I own another flat screen by them and the picture is beautiful and not over saturated, but it took a few days to get the colors adjusted just right, but I have not changed one setting since).

As far as a buzz, I have heard none and more then likely, if you are hearing a loud buzz then the TV is defective and should be replaced, but I have no sound on at the moment and hear no buzz whatsoever. As long as your ear is not directly next to the TV, you should here none either.

I don't believe you can go wrong purchasing this TV because of all the technologies and the advantages of Plasma over LCD/LED although they will eventually make strides while the Plasmas continue to improve in the areas of black depth, and that you can watch the set from any angle, and no blur in fast scenes. It is just part of the capabilities inherent with Plasmas, and the other TVs have to add technology to force a capability not native to the product.

Just remember these TVs are so adjustable that you can change the picture to your taste, but the real winner here are the native capabilities of Plasma, and that Panasonic is the only vendor that focuses on Plasmas while the others focus on LCD/LEDs because the mark-up is better, so stick with those strengths when purchasing a TV. LED/LCD are bright right out of the box, but Plasma' can be adjusted where they are just as bright, but there overall picture has deeper colors because of the excellent blacks, so are more accurate.

After looking at all technologies with the same detail, I look at and review audio equipment, Plasma is the way to go, and you simply cannot go wrong.

Wonderful TV and for those smart enough to see the value in Plasmas and Panasonic, you won't be disappointed, but have realistic expectations right out of the box, and don't expect perfect for your taste that is up to you with the adjustments you make.

Follow-up (September 11, 2010):

I have completed burn-in of the TV (more then 100 hours) and paid to have it and my blue ray IFS calibrated. What I noticed during the calibration is that many of the characteristics of the colors generated by the display and blue ray were off. What I mean by off is that the correct alignment of what the display uses to generate a proper color was off, so it becomes hard to attain an accurate depiction of the colors in a film as they were intended. One of the most important is the gray scale characteristics of the display, which was considerably off. While the calibration does not set the display say to your preferences, what it did do is give me a solid point to adjust the TV to a more accurate depiction of what the film creators intended.

What I also learned is that the manufacturers intentionally set the displays off, so that sellers can present the display any way they wish in their store. What they typically do is adjust the Plasma's so they can sell more LCD/LEDs because they have better markups, so they make them look terrible and set them next to a bright LCD/LED.

After the adjustment, I no longer use the THX setting because the custom settings that were calibrated produce a much more accurate picture and it looks beautiful on this display with rich colors and none of the bad characteristics of LCD/LED.

The calibrated settings for my plasma are (yours may be a little different but probably not far off from these. Get Avatar and try these, they are very accurate for that movie, but I have found that for different Blue rays, I sometime have to adjust color and nothing else. For example, for G.I. Joe, the color setting is +25):

HDMI (1080p) Custom

HDMI 1 (Blue ray - Panasonic DMP-BD85K) Reference Settings and my changes

Custom Mode

Contrast +61
Brightness +69 (my changes +75)
Color +41 (my changes +32)
Tint -2
Sharpness 0 (my change +75) -I want to talk a little about this change, but there is a lot of dispute about setting this high. However, if you look at all settings provided by Panasonic, Sharpness is always set at +75 or higher. It seems to me that if Panasonic sets this high on even their THX setting there is a reason for it, and I figured out what it changes when setting it to 0 or a low setting. What you loose is texture. When the number is low, you will not see the details in people's skin or the details in a flower or a scene. Everything becomes flat. Skin is not smooth and when this number is set to 0 that means show a smooth texture. When set to +75 or higher it means show a rough texture. What you see is the stubble on someone's beard or the texture of their skin with pores clearly visible. Everything else takes on a more three dimensional look where you can see raised surfaces. Do not set this to 0 or to low regardless of what you are told. Follow Panasonic's setting on this. Panasonic does not set this to 0, and I believe they know better then the proclaimed experts.

Color Temp. Normal
Color mgmt off
x.v Color off
C.A.T.S off
Video NR off
Blur Reduction off

Of all the settings the below are the most important because they correct the gray scale. Your other settings can vary and I change those quite often, but from a solid gray scale which the settings below fix. I have set many additional characteristics of my picture for different sources, but I always set these as set below.

Also, if you need your picture a little brighter set AGC (under pro settings panel 2) to 1. Anything after 1 really has no effect, but from 0 to 1, you will see quite a change in light output of the display and it actually makes the colors more accurate to me. Play with it and you will see what I mean. Find a scene you are familiar with and adjust AGC between 0 and 1 and see which you like the most. (See the notes that I placed on setting this in comments because you have to adjust the color output when you adjust AGC).

Under Pro Settings

W/B high R +3
W/B high B -22
W/B low R 0
W/B low B +4
Black extension 0
Gamma adjustment 2.2
Panel Brightness Mid


Aspect Adjustments

Screen Format FULL
HD Size Size 2

Advanced Picture

Mosquito NR Off
Black level Light
24p Direct In 60Hz

Hope this saves folks a little money because calibrations are a little expensive and yours may be a little different then mine because each display is unique in some aspects, but this is a start.

The Blue ray was also calibrated, but I will not post those because most will be using a different blue ray, so you will have to make adjustments there also.

As a final note, I do have to admit that I am cheating a little because I have my Blue ray player being feed by over 2k of pure electricity, and the TV is sitting on over 1k of clean power. While you may think this is pseudo science, most electricity is horrible, so cleaning it up makes a huge difference. If I purchased the best TV on the planet, and hooked it up without the conditioning I am doing to the electricity, it would not come close to the G25 with conditioning, so I believe at this price point for me there is no TV on the planet that will look better. This thing is AWESOME in my system.

Follow-up (September 23, 2010):

After 100 hours, I thought the picture had reached its maximum potential, but over 200 hours the detail of the picture is absolutely GOURGEOUS. Everything looks real like I am on the set watching the movie as it is filmed. It is so addictive watching this TV because the colors are phenomenal. It does not get better then this.

As a test, I took the Blue ray off my electrical conditioning (as I had mentioned above), and you would not believe the difference. For those wanting the best from this TV treat the current it is feed. Anything is better then nothing. Add some sort of decent power-conditioning strip, you purchased a rather expensive TV, so feed it well.

For and idea of what I am using:

In-wall: Wattgate 381 AG 20a Silver Plated Audio Grade Outlet

Blue Ray Player: PS Audio P300 Powerplant connected by a Shunyata Viper V2 Powersnake to the wall and PS Audio Power Ports in the P300.

TV: Monster Cable Power Pro 1000 Power Conditioner.

If you want to see what this TV can really do, treat the source of what drives it -- Electricity.


Enjoy!

Well, like many others I researched all the HD tv's. To the point of it being overkill. It became pretty obvious that under normal viewing and game playing, plasma was the best bang for your buck. I read all the expert reviews and was suprised that this tv was not rated above some of the other plasma sets I looked at. I guess because of the so called black fade that was reported from the 09 sets. Which depending on who you talk to was overstated. Anyhow, after reading all the customer reviews on the g25 I found quite quickly that the customer rating and satisfaction was the highest for the Panasonic 54 g25 over samsung and whoever else was rated higher by experts on certain sites.

The next issue on my decision was buying from an online source. I had never made a major purchase like this before online. I was always nervous about it until I recieved a weber grill for x-mas last year through Amazon. So, I set out looking for the best deal and low and behold it was amazon. The price was at least $300 cheaper than anywhere I could find it locally not to mention the free shipping and other perks. I ordered it and got it 10 days later. The shipping company called when they were in the area and I met them. They unloaded and brought the set in the house and set it up for me.. I had no idea it was included in the price. They were awesome..

Now, for the set.. Whoa.. I mean I think all I can say is wow.. This set rocks.. I really feel like I am at the movies. I am truly amazed how it well it looks. I am going through the 100 hr break in period that everyone talks about and man, even with the contrast levels down the picture still rocks! I am so glad I read all the customer reviews and went with the panasonic. For 50 inch or better I feel it really is the best tv for the buck. You have to see it to believe it.

So if you are nervous like I was about buying through this site, don't be.. Amazon did a great job. The site and delivery was great. Even the delivery driver said that Amason takes great care of taking care of their customers and gave me a number to call if I have any issues at all. Of course I had none..

I don't usually write reviews but thanks to the folks that did here and on other sites I have a great TV I will have for many years.. Thanks to you all...

I'll remark first on my delivery experience. I bought the P54G25 from Amazon after seeing the price waver as low as $1250. I paid $50 for delivery instead of accepting free shipping since I was a little worried about the box getting knocked around in transit for a week or two. The delivery process was not great. I got an e-mail notice from Amazon to call the carrier to arrange a delivery date and time but was told the TV was already en route and so I couldn't set up a time. Then I got a call out of the blue while I'm at work from a delivery guy saying he's at my house with the TV. So I run home and find out that it's just one guy with a mini-van, and the TV box is laying flat in the back of the van. This was not a great first impression since (A) I don't know how the guy expected the haul the TV inside if I was old or had a bad back and couldn't help, and (B) it clearly says on the side of the box not to lay or store the TV on its side. So, all in all, I can't give very high marks for Amazon's delivery process. But, once unpacked, the TV looked and operated fine, so everything ended well enough.

I've now had the TV for a month. The first 100+ hours, I ran it with brightness, contrast, etc. lowered to 50 to allow for the "break-in" period that many experts recommend. Since then I've restored the normal setting and done some calibrating and have been very happy overall with the TV. Here's what I've seen in terms of Pros and Cons:

Pros
- Nice-looking TV on or off. The screen is a dark gray color when off and the set is slim around the edges and with a simple look. Just avoid leaving fingerprints on glossy bezel.
- Runs very quiet. I've read about "buzzy" plasma sets, but this set makes no noise whatsoever, no matter how bright the picture on the screen.
- Gives off virtually no heat. In looking at Samsung plasmas in stores, I found them to be actually hot to the touch after hours of operation. The G25 runs cool. I don't know if this necessarily means low electrical output; will have to compare new electric bills to old ones yet.
- Easy hook-ups. I have a DVR, Blu-ray player, DVD player/sound system, Xbox 360, and VCR, and everything hooks up quick. Just get 2-3 inexpensive HDMI cables and figure out which accessories can use them. Maybe some people will need more than 3 HDMI ports, but for me, 3 is plenty.
- Wide viewing angles. The picture looks great from literally any angle. You can sit almost completely sideways from the screen and still be able to see what's going on with no loss of color or brightness.
- Bright picture. The consensus view is that LCDs have an advantage over plasmas in brightness, but the G25 puts out a bright picture even when you're watching a football game on a sunny afternoon. Just select a picture mode other than the THX (which runs dark) and you'll virtually always get a good, easy-to-see picture with colors that pop.
- Vivid colors. The most impressive thing about the G25 is how much contrast there is in colors and therefore how rich and vivid the colors seem. Especially for scenes that have bright, dark, and in between colors, the range of coloration is truly amazing.

Cons
- The anti-reflective screen is only moderately effective. If you have sunlight or a lamp or a ceiling light directly behind where you're sitting, you will see potentially annoying reflections off the screen. It's not a huge problem, as you can get used to it (or close blinds or shut off lights), but the screen is more reflective than the LCD set I had previously.
- I wish you could change the picture modes (custom, THX, vivid, etc.) with a single button push on the remote instead of having to open up the menu and then navigate from there. It's a minor inconvenience, but one that seems unnecessary.
- The blacks, while certainly very respectable, are not quite as life-changing as I had hoped for. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I had anticipated blacks that were so pitch black I wouldn't know if the TV was on or not. When viewing scenes in a darkened room in which everything on screen is either black or very muted in color, I was initially a little disappointed in the deepness of the blacks, which looked more like a very dark gray than pure black. That being said, the picture is still outstanding, since the range of coloration is so great, and the blacks have seemed a bit deeper the more I've used the TV and since I've tweaked the calibrations.

I did a lot of research before buying the G25 and was nearly scared away from Panasonic by the reports of how their 2009 plasmas had fading blacks. However, in consulting sources like CNET, it seems that the 2010 models are doing a better job of retaining blacks. Time will tell, but in the end I decided that Panasonic still had enough advantages over brands like Samsung and LG to go that route and take the chance.

One thing you quickly learn when doing research on HDTVs is that there's no such thing as the perfect TV. Depending upon the technology and brand, every TV has its strengths and weaknesses. I went for the G25 because I didn't care about the new 3-D technology and just wanted an affordable big screen 1080p with a picture that makes sports look good and with the deep blacks that make movies look good. The G25 may not be perfect, but it's very close in my opinion, and I have no regrets in buying it. I would rate it 4.5 out of 5 if half-stars were possible here.

I did a lot of research to find this TV that was to be my first big-screen plasma. It is the home theater anchor so it's got to be impressive. I didn't realize it was going to be great.

First, the shipper R&L brought it nearly perfect (gash in the box bothered me a bit but no problem inside) half-way across the country. It was surprisingly easy to get out of the box. But, to me, this TV weights more than 70 pounds. Closer to 70 kilograms. I was alone putting it up on a big Zline Sync TV stand (great too) and that was a special, a bit difficult, careful task. I think the tv weighs more like 110 lbs. So, be careful. Probably best to use two people, but even then you have to be very careful. The manual says you need a special wall mount but don't worry about that since it's not findable on the internet and if you have a mount for a 54+ inch tv, it will work. If you don't mount it on a stand you absolutely have to find the wall studs because this sweety will rip your drywall to shreds.

The techies are prudent about the idea of a 100 hour break-in which I did at low Bright and Contrast. You really should calibrate the TV and I used a AIX blue-ray and AVIA dvd disc and split the difference between various brightness and contrast tests. This is not too hard to do and may hold your interest for hours if you've never seen it before. The tv's default setting of generally 75 sharpness should be brought down to far lower, 20s or less, as this does not affect the picture of high def-TV ... 1080i or p is as sharp as it will get ... but over-sharp does have negative effects so check the Home Theater blogs for info on that.

THX looks great, but the actual calibration that I customized was slightly different. So, it's nice to compare the two and decide how to watch. Movies I usually go with the THX, but sports or news or etc I use the customized version. Depending on the light level of your room, your own calibration will be different. There are settings for vivid and game that are super-bright but unless you want a rapid panel burn-out don't put the tv in a place where the sun shines on it or run it at a hyper brightness level... you just don't need it!

One thing you do want to do is observe at a minimum 7 to 8 foot viewing distance and maximum about 10-15 feet. I like the "huge" effect so I'm set up for 8 feet and at that close range you will get banding effects for some old movies and DVDs. That's expected. In fact, if that didn't happen, I'd be a bit worried. Also, dvd motion will chop occasionally. But never a problem with HD sports or blue-ray. If you get this tv and don't have a blue-ray, it's like you're sitting in your car at the beach. You might think you're there, but you're not. I've not yet hooked up the computer to this tv but if you have a video card that will support it, then it's a possibility, and then internet capability too. It's nice to put SD cards and USB devices in the tv and have them read without a computer. Very nice indeed! This tv runs at about 3.875 amps so put a high-joule surge protector on it, the more the better, and use a clean-cable to your box and a HDMI to the TV (or reciever) and a clean ethernet and phone line connector because if you fry this jewel in a storm, it'll be a sad day. You'll need the HDMI to acually see the 1080p, in most cases.

All in all, I am totally pleased with the viewing experience.

UPDATED 3 FEB 2011: Had this set for a while now. Used the burn in slides for the first 100 hours (look up the set on avsforum for info and for adjustment info) and adjusted to Dnice offsets. Very nice picture, nice color and detail. Not long since Panasonic updated the firmware so that Netflix now works on it. You have to have a Netflix account and an internet connection. Simple to update the firmware over the internet connection and simple to get Netflix working on it.
Netflix ability is really nice! Set will load your saved instant favorites and also allow you to search through suggested movies to find other ones you might be interested in. There is not a type in keyboard type search, i.e. movie title, actors name etc. Just a search through suggested movies and categories. Still nice and better than I've seen on others. Gives a nice big picture of the box cover, gives info on the movie and also, if it is a series, you can jump to individual episodes. A nice feature is that on the ones I've done this with you also get a small text of what the episode is about.

Very pleased with this TV so far. Would have probably bought the G20 if the price and stock had been right instead of this one as I don't really need the Skype camera that came with the G25. Everything I see on the websites and forums says that the G20 and G25 are the same TV just the Skype thing is the difference. Could have maybe saved a bit there.

Hook up and useable features are very good. Would recommend the TV from what experience we have of it so far. Remote easy to use and TV pretty easy to get going without much bother. Hooked up a cheapo rabbit ear antenna and it pulls in HD stations no problem unlike the Samsung we have in the living room.

Tiny issues we noticed with it. Please keep in mind that these are just our thoughts and may be a zero issue for most people. Some are maybe mentioned already.

We have the TV mounted on the wall with an OmniMount. Works well.

1. Frame around the TV is a very reflective black. In a dark room I still get a reflections on the frame that are a bit distracting. Would have been nicer if it was somewhat matte finish to cut the reflections.

2. Factory speakers are okay. Certainly useable, but even using the onboard audio adjustments we found some programming difficult to hear the voices clearly due to soundtracks etc. We've since hooked it up to a home theatre and with the same viewing material the voices are much clearer now.

3. With extended viewing it does put out the heat. Not terrible, but it warms the room up pretty good and we'll often click on a fan (summer time) to get some circulation going. 20 x 15 room

4. For internet you need to hook either the cable in the back of the TV or have a wireless network. If you go wireless then you have to shell out for a Panasonic USB adaptor to get the wireless signal. For the money on this TV it should be built in or come with it. You can get them online for $60-70, but still it is the principal of it. Especially as we ended up shelling out $89 for the thing at BB!

5. When streaming Netflix, you cannot adjust the picture size to fill the screen. This sort of sucks as you don't get full screen viewing (lot of the stuff is 4:3) and you have the issue we worry about with it being a plasma. Also the info button does nothing so you can't quickly check the signal, time etc.

6. Changing picture from say THX to Custom is a bit cumbersome. Wish it had just a button to push to make quick changes on the fly. From what I can see you have to push menu, then hit enter for the adjustment screen, then left or right arrows to what you want and then hit the return key back. For doing quick compare of two modes to see which you like best this does not work very well. Picky I know, but just something that niggles a bit.

7. Wireless USB adaptor blocks the other USB port on the side unless you used the supplied USB cable extension that comes with the adaptor and then hide the thing around back.

8. May be in the adjustment (have seen people mention the 3:2 or some such pull down), but I have noticed on TV signal that panning or moving from one side to the other pictures can seem a bit jerky like they freeze and then all of a sudden fast forward on. Not noticed this on the Blue ray and don't believe I've seen it on the regular DVD hooked to it (but maybe) so not sure what to do there. I'm told that even the 240 LED sets can suffer from this. This issue can be very distracting and irritating while watching tv HD broadcasts especially and Netflix. This is not just this TV that does it as I've seen others (and other brands) do it.

Overall very pleased with the set so far. Great picture, color, ease of use etc.

I'VE EDITED AND ADJUSTED SOME OF THE ITEMS ABOVE (03 FEB) AND HAVE THIS NOTE TO ADD. I'VE DOWN GRADED MY SCORE ON THE SET DUE TO LONGEVITY. Six months almost to the day since we bought the set and it has gone out. There is a dotted, mostly green line across the lower centre of the screen and there is a red and blue band about 2 inches tall at the bottom of the screen now. Repair tech was singing the praises of Panasonic plasmas (has one himself supposedly), but you cannot help being a bit upset that it has already gone out with the little use we gave it (master bedroom TV). Now sitting waiting two weeks for the parts to arrive from Panasonic to repair it. Replacing the lower horizontal driver board and the "A" board which I guess does the video processing. Repair tech said how funny it was that he'd not had any issues with these sets and then he'd had two in two days go out. The other set needed the screen replaced at a similar age.

Anything electrical can go out, but not impressed with technology advances that only last this long. Did a search on the web and found a slew of posts about Panasonic plasma in the UK having multiples of the same issue. The Cnet site consumer reviews on this set are now not very encouraging either (no I have not posted there). They were glowing when I bought the set and I look today and they are very poor.

Bottom line, set is great and as reviewed above while it is working. Would I have another G25...maybe although I'm more inclined to go with the VT series for the perceived upgrade in processing quality it is supposed to have and according to the tech a better/different screen. Samsungs would not be considered only due to the buzzing scare at our elevation. So, there is our experience and our own views that I hope help others. You may get a G20 or G25 and never have an issue with it and as reviewed above it does have a great picture and colour when working. Cheers

Delivery from Pilot was excellent. Driver was right on time, helped remove the upper box and patiently waited while I checked the screen for hairline cracks and powered up the TV to assure it was operating.
G25 is a great compromise between cost and image quality. The VT series has deeper blacks, but is almost twice as much as the G25. The G25 blacks are just fantastic. THX mode has is a superb picture for both dark viewing and in an extremely light room. The AR coating on the screen does a great job of limiting reflections from windows etc during the day. Sound from the TV's speakers is just fine for normal viewing and the TV does an adequate job of upconverting SD channels although the Panasonic BD85 does a better job of upconverting DVDs. BluRay images are just stunning. I have not experienced any buzzing or floating blacks some users have reported. All in all more than very pleased with this HDTV.