Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(108)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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

Although I have been working in the AV industry for many years I have been holding back - seen a lot of feature hype and hoopla go by but this is the first flat screen plasma I liked with a price that was reasonable.
For a couple of years now I have been looking for an HDTV with wide viewing angels - worked well in dark or well lit room without too much reflection - rich accurate color reproduction - Works well with games or sports motion - works well with over the air/cable SD signals or SD DVD play back - ease of use - easy break in - Minimal chance of image retention - Multiple input/outputs - reasonable price.
We have had our 42G25 now for several weeks and have been very pleased with our choice - did have to buy the component cables for our Wii which improved the picture quality fairly well for an SD video game. We also purchased a Panasonic Bluray player with the TV it works nicely with SD or Bluray playback - The TV's THX certified picture setting is very pleasing and color accurate for movies - I use the Custom setting for over the air and cable TV watching with a few minor adjustment tweaks I got excellent results. Both the TV and player have internet abilities - I have used utube so far works fine. Also I was easily able to updated the firmware for both TV and player. Bought a Mini DVI to HDMI adapter to use my 2 yr. old MacBook computer works fine @ 1920x1080p resolution streaming Hulu etc. There is an RGB port on the TV but only lower resolutions work - since RGB is limited anyway I would use the HDMI port if your computer is 1080p capable. The sound is a little on the tinny side for me but my wife doesn't seem to mind it personally I usually use the AV amplifier when watching TV or Movies. The TV remote is easy to use and lights up. The BR player remote is also easy use but does not light up not sure I get that - it makes it very awkward to use in the dark. So I just put everything on our Sony universal 2100 remote and the wife was happy controlling all sources with one touch screen remote that lights up.
One last thing - I'm keeping an eye on the alleged "rising black levels" but I have not notice anything yet. I'll repost if anything comes up. However I do recommend this TV to all it's a good value, sharp accurate picture and a great product.


UPDATE 11/17/10 I promised to give an update if I noticed any alleged "rising black levels" Well I must have a couple of thousand hours on the set now and have not been able to detect anything significant. The black levels now look the same as the day I purchased the TV. I ran a few simple tests the day I bought the set and just the other day (won't bore you with details) so far the black level tests when compared are the same. I do expect there will eventually be some minor rise in black levels but this is true of most plasma sets anyway because of phospher life and built in bios adjustments - yawn - yawn etc. etc. -- but were talking thousands of hours here and years of viewing time. Yet at the same time if there are any changes I expect them to be very minor not so noticeable by the naked eye when viewing TV or Movie content.

I already have a Panasonic 58" since 2006, and it is in my opinion one of the best TVs on the market. I wanted to replace -in the second smaller family area upstairs - a TV replacing our old 32". I bought first a Samsung 46" LCD (not LED) and the screen seemed too big for the area. Maybe this was a subjective impression, because the view from sides was full of spots tainting the picture. They disappeared only if one sits right in front of the TV. I returned the TV next day.

I looked at all Panasonic plasma. The large electronics store and Costco sell cheaper 720p versions. Even the model S2, one step below G25, although it is a 1080p, it does not have the "infinite black" feature. I located the Panasonic G25 42" in another electronic store. The difference between S2 and G25 was day and night for me. The sound is more than good for me. One feature G25 has and S2 doesn't is the swivel from the base. Little detail, but significant in smaller rooms.

The price on Amazon was good. The reputation of Amazon is re-assuring even when buying a large item like a TV. However the G25 is sold by an Amazon third party. In the remote possibility that I need to return the item, I know from experience, Amazon policy is to redirect the buyer to the seller, and only if the authorized seller does not solve the problem, the Amazon will return the money. The process works, but it may take months.

This is the reason I purchased the Panasonic G25 locally. I highly recommend to anyone considering a TV.

Added June 18, 2010: Amazon offers this TV directly. This gives most buyers a reason to purchase from Amazon.

I purchased the Panasonic 42" plasma (TC-P42S2) from a local chain retail outlet. It was their top-of-the-line 42" plasma in my price range. I had no particular problem with the TV, but after weighing the reviews against the Panasonic TC-P42G25 (with THX) I felt I needed to make the switch before the return window closed. The popular retailer didn't carry the G25. In fact, I could only find it online.

I now have the G25, and all I can say is that the exchange was certainly worthwhile. Actually, it was night-and-day! The THX setting produced a picture quality that you just can't get with the S2. And the network features are awesome.

When I returned the S2 the associate asked me if there was a problem. I told him that I really wanted the THX feature. He said (with a smile) "good luck finding that". (Obviously, that was in reference to the fact that THX is only available on the G25, which they didn't carry).

I would suggest that if you're thinking of buying the 42" S2, think again. The G25 is definitely a cut way above! And it was roughly the same price as the S2.

As a sidebar: I thought I would like a LED/LCD. The picture was so temptingly clear at the store. Actually, it was the first TV I bought before I returned it for the plasma. The problem is that it made everything look like it was filmed on video tape. The movies were drained of their silver screen magic. Films that were made for the big screen looked like soap operas. All I could say was "Yuck!!" (Some things are just not meant to be that clear). For those who would appreciate those kinds of subtleties, the plasma is much better!

I wanted TV that would fit in a small room. Anything over 42 would have been too big. I also wanted a TV with all the connections (USB, Flashcard, Computer, HDMI,etc). I wanted a high refresh rate. I wanted a TV that made my Blu-ray movies look amazing and my old VHS tapes tolerable (and I wanted standard broadcasts to look good). I wanted a TV with a good viewing angle. I wanted to be able to connect to the internet. This TV does all those things very well. I'm so glad I bought it. But I had my doubts. Frankly I was worried. I'd never bought a TV online. Another issue: I bought plasma. I've never owned plasma. I've never owned LCD, but whenever I went to Best Buy or other stores, the Samsung LCD LED seemed to have the best picture than anything else and the plasma's always looked worse the LCD's. But I did a little research and learned that companies push LCD in the stores because they make more money off the LCD's. I also learned that LCD's have a brighter picture which shows better in store lighting. I really liked the advantages that the plasma seemed to offer (the best refresh rate, true blacks, no picture loss from viewing the screen off center, accurate color reproduction, amazing picture at near half the price of comparable LCD's). I love this TV. I've had no problems. Delivery went smoothly. The picture quality is amazing. I have no regrets. Only one thing to be aware of--this TV needs a wireless USB adapter to connect to the internet. It costs an extra 85$. Didn't know that until after I set it up and realized it wasn't really internet ready out of the box. Luckily I bought the Panasonic Blu Ray player that includes the required USB wireless adapter. Also, sound is acceptable, but I've got this TV hooked up to a surround sound system, so I wasn't worried about sound quality all that much.

Simply put don't hesitate and buy it, I can't see how this could disappoint anyone.

I give all areas 5 stars because it beats all others in its size and most bigger than this one and is extremely well priced even at suggested retail. I have had this for about three weeks as of this writing.

Picture - USE THE SETTINGS IN THE NUMBER ONE REVIEW!!!!! The factory settings do not do this set justice. I own a 52" Samsung B750 (18 mo old), had compared that to the Samsung LED versions side by side at the time (they were slightly better in black levels and had been waiting to see the 9000 as it's predecessor 900 model still was the best I had ever seen. But this set really gives the 9000 a run for the money. I cannot say it is a better picture than the 9000. I saw both recently in the same store and compared pictures; the Samsung still wins but that may have been based on factory settings. BUT you can not get a 9000 in a 42 inch and the 46 inch 9000 is three times the price. The black levels are VERY comparable the samsung seemed to pop more in the store. The 600hz is great for sports and shows the difference between it and Samsungs 240hz models; at least to me (no one else sees the detail unless I point it out to them). THX certified and state of the art 3D capable with more preset picture settings than my Samsung and all of them are customizable. The biggest negative usually leveled at plasmas is glare issues. The matte screen does a great job of ending this issue in my opinion and with a little basic placemant planning I have no issues with a big picture window next to my set (TV at 45 degress to 10 degrees). Buy a swing arm mount if you must (I must for other than glare issues). I do not see this unit as having any more glare issues than my LED unit and far less than the laptop I am writing this on.

Sound - 20 watt speakers very adequate and has easy settings to accommodate your tastes. It fills my living room and kitchen area (30' X 40') nicely. I have put off adding surround speakers to my media center computer for this station until later...

Ease of use - Set up was very easy and had the basics down within the first day. It tuned and listed all the channels easily (comcast cable without a set top box) and I could easily remove the SD channels from the list where it saw duplicate HD channels. Allowing me to skip from channel to channel while man surfing more easily if using the built in TV tuner. Manual could be a little better written but whose couldn't. I adapted easily to the remote, the TV set up functions and integrated a computer. My home network saw the TV and added it instantly. The built in network features beat Samsung hands down. Customized the weather page easily and had my Netflix account tied in within moments of logging into Netflix on my computer. My computer automatically adapted to the Panasonic and media center works well. No out of sync sound/video issues. Still need to run a link from the TV to a surround sytem or off the computer to double check any other possible sync issues. Added an xBox with Kinect last week and use that as an expander from my main media center computer downstairs and can simultaneously play the same TV station in sync on both TV's and tune the HD set top box! Sweet!!! Oh yes it plays games very well though I am not a high tech gamer the Kinect system has me as giddy as when I got my Commodore 64 way back when.

Bonuses - very low energy usage for any type of TV! You can add network security cameras to this thing!

I can see where having only three HDMI inputs might be an issue to some but I am having a hard time figuring out why someone would need more. I use HDMI for my computer (built in 3D Blue ray player) and xBox. That sill leaves room for a dedicated HD set top box.

So it isn't a trendy one inch thick and cannot be easily carried by one person. Maybe that will keep somebody from breaking in and stealing it... cause if they knew what to steal this would be gone.

(I am using a hard wired home network and would recommend this even if you need to use a Broadband over powerline adaptor over wireless networking if you cannot run wires.)

Got the TV yesterday. Bought this one from Vann's. They delivered the TV a day late.

I went by the instructions provided and let the tv lay around to warm up to room temperature for about 4 hours.

Started her up; connected it to the LAN cable first cos I was excited to watch Netflix and Skype on it. The main reason I bought this TV was because it was the next gen release of the famous G10 series TV's with THX. The TV started up and asked me "A software update is available, proceed?" I never had my TV ask me that before :o)

15 minutes later.....Started the VieraCast feature (this is where all the widgets for Youtube, Netflix, Skype, Fox Sports, Pandora, Twitter reside...) and guess what ?

Skype - Coming Soon....
Twitter - Coming Soon....
Fox Sports - Coming Soon...
Netflix - Wait... where did it go?? Huh? Spoke the the Panasonic CSR and they told me Netflix will be available by late summer. So what does that make Netflix? Coming Soon.....


1)Youtube Videos - Available and working. Saw a couple of videos too.
2)Amazon Video on Demand - Working - starts buffering sometimes and not as smooth in delivery as Netflix. Quality is good though. If you register with Amazon before May 31st - u get a 5$ credit. So I signed up and watched a free movie - 2012 on HD.

3)Weather Update - Nice, works.

The TV is by far the best I've seen. No doubt about it. I've been patiently researching the Panasonic P42G10 for over 6 months before they launched this and I pounced right on the new release for the price. Absolutley no regrets on picture quality, looks and product capability.

Im giving this 4 Stars cos Panasonic claimed they have features that work.... they dont. Well, not yet they dont. They are "Coming Soon".....

So until the next round of software updates. I guess I'll just connect my laptop and watch netflix.

Will update more soon.

Finally, all the app widgets Panasonic claimed are now here!! Netflix was available for download as of last night (I got this info thanx to one of the buyers here)

Ran Netflix; and all I can say is - wow! the quality of the videos are way better than that of a typical laptop or an iphone video.

I did find issues with animations though... this could be a bandwidth issue though... your experience may vary.

Skype is still on BETA mode... so expect a few updates there.

One final comment that really disappoints me about my purchase - the price I Paid for this TV was about 1200$....and thats ok. What I find extremely unfair is that this TV is now being offered at a much cheaper price WITH the network camera for free. And I just bought this a couple of months ago.

Sorry, but I have to bring my ratings down of Amazon for this.

Ok, quick update - I have been receiving comments from some readers on how "unfair" it is to downgrade a rating. Let me make this as clear as I can - My review is based on my "complete experience" with my purchase. I agree that all electronics drop in value over a period of time, but good brands and products do hold their value over a period of time as well. I Wish I could give separate ratings for the purchase experience, product experience to make it clear. So here goes.

Product - 5 Stars - HD Videos, Blu - Ray Movie Quality (Outstanding), Netflix HD streaming (Outstanding)

Seller - 4 Stars - Package arrived a day late, carton had a few nicks and scratches

Amazon + Seller experience - 3 stars - I stand by my earlier statement - A buyer pays a price for a good brand/product because they believe its worth the investment. It just doesn't go down well when u see that its gone down by almost 500$ with freebies in just 4 months after purchase. Panasonic offers the camera free of cost TODAY cos the Skype app is available NOW. What about customers like us who bought this 4 months thinking it was available on VieraCast???? Neither Amazon nor Vann's made an effort to let us know. Its not a fair practice. That's all Im saying.

The reviews I post are to help people. Those who think I'm being unfair; please feel free to read other reviews that my be more helpful.

I bought this last year and am now just getting around to the review. The screen quality is great, but I was told in a small room 720p is fine and you don't need 1080p. Salesman was right, so for the bigger room we went with the 1080.

The hookup is easy to do if you are familiar with the different types of cords, svideo vs hdmi. I wasn't but I figured it out as the instructions were simple. I HIGHLY advised an HDMI cable if you are going to stream movies like Netflix as you won't get as good quality without it.

The instructions don't cover Viera hook up to wireless too well..in other words I kept doing it over and over, only to discover by internet search that my wireless modem was way out of date so the TV didn't recognize it. Hmmm...think they could have listed in the instructions which ones work with their system??

Basically you need a wireless system that is an N system for streaming and I am by no means an internet or computer expert so I didn't know that. Most of the ones in the last few years are just that. So I had to buy a new Cisco wireless to get it to work. Now it works great, the TV/blueray combo reconized the wireless right away.

I have seen comments that this system doesn't work unless the wireless is practically in the room..I think that is based on the age of the wireless system. With a new one (under $100), mine is at the end of the house, TV in the front and no problems.

About the sound...occasionally I will hear a humming with the sound, but I have localized it to old movies so I think the original sound quality was not too good. Does not happen with newer movies, TV shows or DVDs.

*Edit 01/10/11*
Thanks to Amazon's Excellent Customer Service, I have exchanged the TV without problem. I will update my review once the new TV arrives. If the buzzing is gone, it should be a great one.

I bought this TV based on an excellent personal review from a friend of mine and also the reviews here on Amazon. I read the negative reviews about the buzzing noise, but most said that it wasn't a problem once you had the volume up so I decided to order anyway.

The picture is excellent. Games look incredible compared to LCD. Xbox 360 and Blu Ray are both far superior on this TV compared to the LG LED LCD that I purchased last week. It's so sad that I have to return the TV because of the horrible buzzing noise it produces. I can't for the life of me figure out how so many of you are able to ignore this problem. I mean, it's not just a noise, it's a high pitched squeal that rattles your brains. I've read that many people lose the ability to hear higher frequencies of sound with age and I can only imagine this is why some people can ignore this TV's flaw. It is a very high frequency pitch. Sitting 6 feet away, I can here it clearly. It only gets worse with Game or Vivid setting. I really wanted to try and get around this, because this TV is truly a beautiful picture, but after 3 days, it's too much for me to bear. I feel relieved every time I turn off the set. Perhaps Panasonic can market it as a way to get people to watch less TV.

One other thing of note, I called Panasonic's support to ask for some help with the buzzing issue. They informed me at that time that the 42" TV only qualifies for "Walk in" warranty, meaning that you have to physically bring the 50lb TV to a local repair center. This may be difficult if you're like me and don't own a car. Just a heads up.


edit: I just found this youtube video that explains the buzzing problem. [...]. It's caused by a loose screw on the circuit board. I just got mine, so I'll just ship for a replacement but it might help those of you out of warranty.

We originally started shopping for Sharp LED TVs since those are the latest & greatest thing, and while there are some advantages, we were directed by a saleperson at HHGreg to the plasmas for truly "black" blacks and clarity of picture. Glare can be a problem with plasmas, and that was a concern, but this model has an anti-glare filter that does make a difference. We do get a little reflection from lamps but if you place them properly, you can easily work around it.

We've been very happy with our choice. The picture is so clear, and so far there's been no problems with the TV. We got a PS3 with it for blue-ray and games, and it's been a great combo (you'll just want to get a separate remote if you do that, since using the PS3 controller isn't the best). Do note that you're supposed to keep the contrast low on the TV for the first 100 hours or so to avoid burnout, before you crank it up, when you're doing your initial adjustments. And you really can tweak/calibrate the TV to your preference. The only thing we might have done is get the 46" but there wasn't one available at the time.

The shipping service was wonderful. We were nervous about it for lots of reasons, but it was easy to schedule, I received an e-mail confirmation AND the shipper called to confirm, then a couple days later they even called back to say they were in the area and could deliver it early. The guy showed up exactly when he said he would--unheard of--and was very professional. So, our overall experience was great and we'd do it again.