Panasonic VIERA 42-inch E30S LCD TV - Overzealous Luminosity

Silver & Black Surfer

Panasonic may have turned a head or two when the purplish  landed here last year. For their recent 2011 line-up, Panasonic has since shed the purple outfit for something a little classier. As an immediate successor to the LED-flavored D-series, the E30S is dressed in a black bezel which fades to silver where the brand's logo resides. In our opinion, we do prefer this color scheme since it conforms better to diverse hues found in living spaces. Despite its E-LED lighting (Panasonic's term for edge-LED lighting), this unit is still relatively thick at 75mm compared to some of its competition. For instance, the Samsung Series 6 flaunts a slimmer depth of 29.9mm. For rack installations, the E30S features a rectangular pedestal base coated with a matte treatment, but do note that it doesn't swivel. Elsewhere, the E30S does not include touch-sensitive controls but offers hardware buttons on its right flank instead. Panasonic is also marketing their IPS Alpha panel with high contrast benefits, although its reflective surface is one trade-off you'll have to contend with. Here with us today is a mainstream sized 42-inch E30S model for our detailed scrutiny.

AV Ports & Remote

Like most of Panasonic's recent displays, you won't find a shortage of AV ports on the E30S. By its side, the TV has a collection of HDMI, USB, Composite, Headphone and SD Card ports. The latter even supports SDXC format based cards. The SD Card function (and the VIERA Image Viewer), enables you to read various photo, audio and video files. Besides Panasonic's favored AVCHD format, the refreshed Image Viewer also supports DivX HD Plus and Full-HD MKV clips as well. As usual, the back panel is where the real AV meat is. Apart from the usual offerings, what's notable is the E30S' bevy of HDMI and USB slots. There are four HDMI and three USB ports in all, if you include those by the side panel as well. As for the remote's design, almost nothing has changed since we last handled the VIERA D25S. The wand still offers a fair grip with concise labels and relatively large buttons. However, the Blu-ray and TV toggle switch (VIERA Link) is noticeably missing on this model's stick.

Features

Before we get to VIERA Connect, it's worthwhile to note Panasonic has spruced up their user interface as well. Gone is the nondescript blue and yellow UI. Instead, we now have an attractive and functional menu system in its place, thanks to the addition of colored icons that makes the text-based interface a little more interesting. The Main Menu features selections such as Picture, Sound, Timer and Setup on the leftmost column. More importantly, it's nice to know Panasonic has taken constructive measures by consolidating all of its display adjustments under the Picture option this time. Previously the settings were divided between Picture and Setup, which caused confusion. Presets wise, the E30S features Cinema and True Cinema modes on top of other selections like Dynamic, Normal, Game and Photo. If you prefer warmer tones, you can give True Cinema a try since it was designed to replicate close to cinema-like quality out of the box. As for video files playback, WMV and MPEG4 files we've tested were rendered without a hitch. However, Panasonic's claim of 1080p MKV hangs in the balance for it stuttered more than it should. On another note, this model's DLNA support is also part of its features arsenal.   

VIERA Connect

Given the recent proliferation of Internet-enabled TVs and Smart TVs, it would be fairly odd if Panasonic has nothing to offer in the same vein. What we have in the E30S is a rejuvenated VIERA Cast platform, now christened as VIERA Connect. Essentially, the home page features eight "windows" for installed apps, but they're currently limited to four pages in all. While the design may be appealing, the interface could have been more effective if the windows were a tad smaller to accommodate more icons. You can download more applets from the VIERA Connect Market although content is still relatively sparse for now. For video streams, there are sites such as YouTube, uStream and WoWTV to leech from, but note that the latter requires a paid subscription. Besides news and weather services from the likes of Associated Press and AccuWeather, social media junkies can also exploit the E30S' Facebook and Twitter widgets. To enjoy these services, however, you'll need to create a Panasonic username to connect to these accounts.

Performance Testing

Calibration - Spyder3TV Report

To maintain a standard across our review units, we calibrated the VIERA E30S with Datacolor's Spyder3TV Home Theater Color Calibration kit prior to our visual tests. This is to ensure we assess the HDTV based on optimal display settings, and not on visual estimation alone. Using the TV's Standard preset, we've also disabled all the necessary boosters such as color and dynamic lighting enhancement features.

After calibration, optimized values were as recorded as:- Brightness at 6, Contrast at 96, Color at 79 and Tint at 0. Since our Spyder kit does not allow us to calibrate the TV's backlights, we have set the backlight's intensity to 50, or its neutral value. Black and white luminance were measured at 0.088 and 212.100 cd/m2 respectively. Compared to rival edge-lit models, the VIERA's luminance range was fair but what's worth a mention is its low black luminance values. That said, let's see how the TV handles shadow details when we throw a handful of HD and SD movies at it later.

DisplayMate Tests

DisplayMate is an application which generates a sequence of test patterns to determine the capabilities of imaging devices, like color and gray-scale accuracies for example. For our tests, we've hooked up the VIERA to our display test-bed PC using an HDMI connection. To be fair across the board, we have also disabled all visual enhancements on the TV in order to reduce the variables involved. Here are some findings based on the relevant and critical test patterns:-

Screen Uniformity

There were a number of user complaints (on Amazon UK) on the unacceptable backlight bleeds from the equivalent VIERA E30B European model. Our analysis of the E30S was less severe, but we have to admit bleeding was apparent along the top and bottom edges of the panel.  

Dark Gray Scale

Has the potential for uniform grays if its consistency wasn't derailed by the aggressive backlighting as noted along the top and bottom edges. This blemish may result in murky blacks or a loss of details around the said area. 

Color Scales

Viewing angles are exemplary, although the IPS panel did not handle color gradients very well. Brighter hues appeared muted and uneven darkening was apparent at the other end of the scale. On the other hand, the E30S is capable of rich and vivid colors. 

256-Intensity Level Color Ramp

Minor banding was detected around mid and darker zones of the 4-color ramp. This won't affect video or broadcast playback too much but the compression defect could affect static images. 

IDT HQV Tests

IDT's HQV Tests are designed to assess image quality of digital displays through a variety of video signal processing tasks which includes decoding, de-interlacing, motion correction, noise reduction and film cadence detection. We've programmed the Blu-ray player to playback in 1080i in order to stress the TV's video processor. This compels the TV's processor to convert interlaced signals into progressive to accommodate the HDTV's panel. Here are the results we noted on a few of the more crucial tests:-

Digital Noise Filtering

You'll find Panasonic's noise filter under the P-NR guise. Sadly, the TV's noise reduction qualities isn't as cool as it sounds. Noise grains persisted even with P-NR tuned to the max.  

Diagonal Filter Test

Panasonic's video processor was up there with the best of LCD TVs when it came to de-interlacing and video reconstruction. The rotating bar was mostly free of "jaggies" or feathering artifacts, which also suggests the E30S is not afraid of interlaced content.

Film Resolution Loss Test

Ironically, strobing on the SMTPE pattern intensified when the TV's Film Cadence Detection selection was enabled. We cannot explain its odd behavior but it is likely due to incorrect inverse cadence algorithms applied. In the real world, this might translate to flickering with 24p content.

Blu-ray High Definition Tests

Panasonic's E30S did not clinch the best results on DisplayMate and HQV. Now let's see how it fared with actual High-Def Blu-ray movies. These HD titles can be more forgiving than static tests, but the added motion component is another trial altogether. On Corpse Bride, picture details were nicely crisp. In fact, every crusty detail on the gothic animation was sweetly defined. We'd also like to stress that color temperature appears closer to the warmer range on the calibrated Normal preset. Moving on, you may have heard of Panasonic's 100Hz Motion Picture Pro designed to reduce motion blur with up to 900 lines of moving picture resolution. We did not observe a marked difference between the Off and Mid values although motion tearing was palpable with the full-blown option. We'd advise Off or Mid at best. Image details along the panel's edges do suffer from a loss of shadow details, and as expected, this can be credited to Panasonic's 'leaky' backlights.

Vantage Point was highly watchable on the VIERA given its striking visuals and candid detailing. The natural, but slightly warm color tone is a plus too. On the other other hand, a recurring problem with its E-LED bleeds may cause AV purists to cringe. For example, letterbox bars appear as dark grey strips rather than solid black. Motion artifacts were also apparent on Vantage Point despite positive video reconstruction results garnered from HQV and Corpse Bride. As noted on Tim Burton's animated title, pushing Motion Picture Pro to the max isn't a good idea. If you notice any unhealthy motion artifacts, don't hesitate in disabling this feature. Also, we noticed this model's vertical viewing angle is rather tight and prone to contrast shifts. For its audio department, the downfiring speakers offer an expansive soundstage with V-Audio ProSurround, but does not deliver quite as much punch and clarity as LG's LV5500.  

DVD Standard Definition Tests

As usual, our DVD of choice is the "X-Men: The Last Stand" by Twentieth Century Fox. Here are a few takeaways after watching the mutants thrash it out for the umpteenth time. First up, the VIERA did comfortably well in preserving the aspect of standard-def images. However, noise and aliasing artifacts persisted on the "upsized" screen and it didn't help when these flaws were amplified by camera pans as well. As a simple workaround, you can increase your viewing distance if these shortfalls prove to be unpalatable. Panasonic also has a Resolution Enhancer feature designed to improve picture details on SD sources. Our verdict? Some areas were enhanced subtly, while other characteristics such as outlines around subjects appear as if someone has drawn over them with a thick invisible marker. A slightly smudged-looking picture is the result, and it's best to do without this enhancement if this occurs on your DVD material.

Conclusion

Panasonic has obviously taken great pains to create a worthy successor to its D25 LED offering. On paper, the E30S has decent specs to shout about such as a 10-bit panel plus analog and digital tuners. In practice, however, the VIERA Connect platform isn't the "smartest" given its clunky interface, and there's the question of content. Rather, will Panasonic be able to rope in more VOD providers for instance? On the plus side, its combination of VIERA Image Viewer and DLNA credentials may just swing the odds in its favor. That is, if you could discount playback issues such as the stuttering 1080p MKV container when we took a potshot at it. Aesthetically, we love the E30S' silver and black blend with the exception of a non-swiveling spine. Likewise, there's nothing to complain about the plethora of AV ports it carries as well.

Unfortunately, the aggressive edge LED lighting has irrevocably dented the TV's overall visual performance, such as muddied picture details along the panel's edges. It's quite a pity, in fact, considering that the VIERA LCD TV has the potential for punchy and realistic visuals. Furthermore, Panasonic should also consider fine-tuning their video engine since some of the enhancements were either ineffectual or debilitating to the final picture quality. Priced at S$1,799, the 42-inch VIERA  E30S is marginally costlier than rival screens with similar features. For instance, Samsung's Series 5 and are both tagged at S$1,599. In summary, the E30S could well be a hard sell for Panasonic despite its formidable array of ports and multimedia features.

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