Best Buy HDTVs Reviews

Panasonic TC-P42S2

I got this TV because it looked like the perfect fit for a price / performance ratio. Overall I’m pleased with my purchase, although there are a few things that Panasonic can improve on. I have seen and had lots of experience with the 2009 S1 model, as well as the 2009 G10. The 2010 S2 is better than the S1 but doesn’t quite have the picture quality to match the G10. Its close though. So if you can find a G10 at the same price you may want to go with the G10. The reason I didn’t go with the G10 is because Panasonic has had problems with some of their TV’s losing a significant amount of their black levels in previous year’s models. They said that they have addressed these issues in the 2010 model lineup. So to get a few more years out of my plasma, and sacrifice a slight loss in picture quality I decided to go for the S2.

Picture Quality

As far as black levels go, I have no quarrels with this TV. It has excellent black levels, and honestly I think this feature is a little over hyped in the industry. I do appreciate black levels but when TV’s are this black, I much prefer color accuracy, which is where this TV has a few problems. Most colors look great and the red’s specifically pop very well. Skin tones are also very accurate for the most part. But the greens don’t look as good as other high end models and you can tell in a side by side comparison. Some of the HD sources I used to distinguish the picture quality of the TV are: Planet Earth, The Dark Knight (which is the best HD source that I’ve ever seen).Food Network (to accurately judge color), about a dozen video games, and a few other Blu-Ray movies. The fluid motion of action scenes is very good, and I couldn’t really see any flaws as far as motion quality goes. The detail of the content that I viewed is pretty good, but you may notice a few flaws if you sit really close. Another complaint that I have about the picture quality is that sometimes the video processor doesn’t handle older HD sources and doesn’t do SD sources very well at all. SD sources, at times, look downright terrible, and the TV doesn’t seem to clean up HD sources that were made four or five years ago as well as higher end models. This TV also seems to handle video games very well. There were only a few occurrences where I saw a difference in picture quality and they were minute. Overall, very good picture quality.

Sound

No one is going to mistake this for a good home theater setup, but to sound is pretty good for a TV. If you’re serious about your audio, then you’ll definitely want to get a home theater system to compliment this TV.

Features / Menus

It would have been nice to have an Ethernet port to get firmware updates, and have a few internet applications, but these apps are usually slow and I much prefer to use a set top box or gaming console. The Ethernet port is the feature that is any concern for me. As far as the menu goes, Panasonic has almost gotten it right. You’ll have to go into the settings, and change a few things because the default settings are a little strange. They’re also missing a few things like gamma, and an option to just turn up the brightness of the panel (not the picture). Mostly everyone will turn it on Vivid which may be a little to bright for some, but the alternative, Standard, is much to dim. It would have been nice to fine tune everything the way you like. The menus do a descent job of explaining what each setting does, which is a welcomed addition. They have also disabled some of the settings which is also a little strange. The remote is nothing special. They could have moved around a few buttons to make it easier to navigate but, I`ve seen much worse. The Viera Link feature (for me) is completely useless, and I can’t imagine anyone using it very much. There is also a slot where you can put an SD card and show off photos. This is useful, but it is very slow going from image to image. It’s also worth mentioning that this TV does have the ability to heat up a room.

Overall

This TV does what I want it to do. It has solid picture quality, and enough features to keep me satisfied. The fact is that technology changes so fast that it doesn’t make sense to spend top dollar on hardware when that hardware will be trailing edge in a year or two. So, while I would love a higher end model, I am very satisfied with my purchase. With proper calibration it’s hard to see the difference between this TV and higher end models unless you sit really close, so I do recommend this TV.

Reviewed by : Carl M. Coleman JR,   April 29, 2010

Panasonic TC-P42S2

I’ve owned this for 3 days now, and wanted to wait until I fully tested it to write a review. After seeing how it performs with videogames, blu-ray movies and basic cable, I feel I know the television enough to offer my thoughts.

Picture quality: Incredible. Blacks are as deep as the bezel surrounding the TV. Colors are bold – everything you’d expect from a top of the line plasma. I own a 62″ DLP, a 26″ LCD, a 50″ panasonic 720p plasma and this plasma, and the plasmas are the only sets that really “pop.” This model is head and shoulders above even the 50″ 3-year-old model I own.

Video game play: There’s a game mode, which bumps up the brightness and sharpness. It’s great for PS3 games. I’ve played Demon’s Souls and Wolfenstein on it so far, and both look amazing. The system touts “1080 lines of moving picture resolution” to help with motion blur. Honestly, I never felt plasmas had an issue with motion blur to begin with, so I’m not sure how much of a difference this feature is making, but from what I understand in doing research it helps to have it.

Cable: HD looks good – even the reds aren’t blown out. Basic cable is standard definition – a thing on it’s way out anyway, lol.

Aesthetics/connections: The TV is very sharp looking, and the anti-glare feature on the S model (as opposed to the U model) actually makes a difference. I rolled my eyes when I read the feature, but I’m watching it in the daytime in a well-lit room and the glare is really minimal. The only minor dissapointment is no VGA connection, but I’ll figure out a way around that. Was going to use VGA to hook up my 360 (since I’m using computer speakers for audio at the moment), but will go the component route now. By the way, a TON of controls and an HDMI input are on the side of the tv, making it very easy to get to.

Burn-in/image retention/ghosting: Haven’t experienced any signs of even ghosting yet. Had my game on pause for a few minutes a couple times to test it.

Audio: Haven’t tested the TV’s speakers, just using an external set of logitech speakers with subwoofer at the moment.

Overall: For the price, I highly recommend the set. Like I said, I own 4 televisions of 3 different technologies and this one shows off the best picture. I have a collection of almost 800 blu-rays, and stay up to date on all the high-def news, etc… I do extensive research before purchasing a product, and actually went into this thinking I was going to give in and get an LED. I don’t want to get into an LED vs. Plasma thing here, but the LED’s are simply LCD with different lighting, and it brings all the inherent LCD problems with it. They make catch your eye in the store, but once you get home and get into your environment, it’s a different story. That said, this plasma in game mode gets the picture as close to LED as I’ve seen but with much better blacks.

Reviewed by : Joshua Pearl,   Mar 13, 2010