Panasonic VIERA TH-P50VT30S - Prince of Darkness
Can Panasonic top the plasma race once again with its latest successor to the Viera VT20? Bestowed with a new Infinite Black Pro 2 panel and the now familiar Viera Connect platform for internet lovers, we took the VT30 out for a good spin to see if it's able to retain its crown as king of the PDPs.
Black On Black
The Viera VT30S made its first appearance during last year's CES if you recall. Despite Panasonic's early announcement, the highly anticipated Full-HD 3D set did not find its way to our shores till the latter half of 2011. That said, there's still some confusion surrounding their recent plasma line-up which we hope to clarify. Panasonic has two main 3D series under their 2011 PDP range. The flagship VT30S will feature the new Infinite Black Pro 2 panel, a THX-certified 3D display, and ISF picture presets for full-scale professional calibration. The ST30S will feature the same panel type as the VT30, but will not carry any THX certification or ISF presets. Noticeably, Panasonic has another 3D-capable G-series which isn't available in Singapore unfortunately. Moving on, the U-series and X-series are essentially non-3D models under Panny's wing. The U30S is a Full-HD set, while the X30S is only an HD-Ready model with a native resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels.
We will be reviewing the top of the line VT30S model through its 50-inch panel in particular, though this model is also available in 42-inch and 65-inch fittings as well.
Panasonic's VT30S appears to have it all. Besides 3D, this 50-inch PDP touts a revitalized NeoPlasma panel with brighter and faster phosphors, while electrical pre-discharge is minimized to enhance black gradation. This ought to translate to enhanced black levels, but we'll leave it to our tests to determine if this is true grit from Panasonic or pure marketing hoopla.
So, what does the VT30S bring to the table? For starters, the new V, S, and U series will feature Panasonic's 14th-generation (G14) plasma panels. The VT20S was using a G13 installment. Formerly known as "NeoPDP", the G14 panels have been given a new lease of life with a fresh "NeoPlasma" moniker for 2011's releases. If you care not for the technical specifics, what NeoPlasma simply denotes is a more responsive plasma screen with faster switching phosphors. There are no changes to last year's sub-field drive rate of 600Hz though. Another prominent upgrade with the VT30S is Panasonic's newly earned THX accreditation for its 2D and 3D modes. The earlier VT20S was similarly certified but only for its 2D selection.
In a nutshell, THX presets are tuned by THX engineers to recreate color-accurate images with smoother motion processing and optimized video scaling. Think of it as snagging a "cinematic experience" with reduced artifacts within the confines of your own living room. THX presets are also a good way to achieve a neutral picture quality if you are unable to calibrate the set. That said, it's time to meet the 50-inch VT30S in the flesh.
Body And Soul
Panasonic is one who prefers to play it safe in the design department. And by that, we mean a tried-and-tested formula of simple outlines and less flamboyant looks. The VT30S continues that tradition with a black bezel covered by a single sheet of toughened of glass. There's a silver lining, literally, which lines the panel's edges to help break the monotony of the set's all-black frame. And as one might expect from a full glass surface, the glossy screen is significantly reflective under brighter conditions. Panasonic has yet to top Samsung's slim records, but the 37mm-deep panel is visibly thinner than the VT20S. Unfortunately, the TV's relative thinness is marred by the bulky speaker housing below. Given the VT30S' expensive looks, Panasonic's choice of a plastic base instead of a glass-top stand is rather baffling too. The VT30S swivels but is restricted by a small swiveling angle of 15 degrees in both directions. Terrestrial and digital broadcasts are also nicely catered for by this set's analog and DVB-T tuners.
Panasonic continues with their straitlaced implementations for the VT30S. Clean lines and a plain frame are complemented by a single glass sheet. Panasonic's latest G14 panel also incorporates reformulated phosphor materials and an improved filter to enhance black levels and viewing angles.
Silver trimmings help to break the monotony of an otherwise all-black dress code. And as you can tell by the label on the TV, Panasonic has incorporated RealD's active-shutter eyewear for their 3D Viera displays. Note that the rectangular stand is made of plastic, and not glass.
Instead of touch-sensitive controls, Panasonic is still relying on hardware buttons such as a rocker switch for volume levels as well as TV and AV buttons planted behind the panel. The display's slim 37mm depth is offset substantially by the speakers' housing below.
For connectivity, Panasonic seems to have taken the Koreans' cue in that all AV ports are now either orientated downwards or sideways. Observably, the previous VT20S model had back-facing slots which wasn't conducive for wall-mounts. The VT30S owns four HDMI 1.4 inputs, three USB slots, and an SD card slot which is almost like a customary item for Panasonic. Supported playback formats and CODECs via the SD card and USB include MPEG4, MKV, DivX Plus HD and WMV. All HDMI slots are aligned by the side, which is a plus, with ARC integrated on the second input. Besides storage drives, this Viera's versatile USB ports can also be used in tandem with a keyboard, Skype camera or the bundled Wi-Fi adapter. At the analog end, we found two composite ports and a single component input. However, they will require a breakout cable, much like Samsung's recent HDTV offerings. We didn't notice any changes with the bundled remote. Panasonic has retained the same bulky wand design with a dedicated number pad, plus additional controls for connected Viera Link equipment over HDMI. The Internet button launches Viera Connect, but don't ask us why it wasn't labelled accordingly (it's a mystery perhaps only Panasonic can solve).
Rear-facing ports are a thing of the past with the VT30S. The side panel includes an SD card slot, four HDMI 1.4 inputs, two USB ports, a headphone jack, and an optical audio output. Breakout cables are required for the component and composite inlets.
A lone USB port is located at the back panel. Given its vertical alignment, we reckon Panasonic placed it in such a manner to make it convenient for users to access it when the display is resting on its stand. To add, it's probably reserved for the Wi-Fi adapter as well.
The VT30S' remote comes with clearly labelled inputs although that doesn't make it any less confounding in some aspects. For example, the Option button activates Volume Correction, while the Menu button is the one which leads you to the actual bulk of the TV's picture and audio selections.
Viera Connect and More
Panasonic might have changed the name of their Smart TV platform from "Viera Cast" to "Viera Connect", but we observed that its interface remains practically untouched. The same eight large app windows still surround a central "screen", one which displays content from the active channel or AV source. To navigate from page to page, you'll have to select the More or Back arrows. This can be an annoyance if you have numerous apps to contend with. We did notice, however, that more apps are now available on its once-sparse Viera Market app store. Categories include Featured, Video and Movie, Music, Games, Social Networking, News and Lifestyle, plus Health and Fitness. We were unable to load the Facebook app for some reason, although we'll give Panasonic's YouTube application the thumbs up for its usability and responsiveness. There are a couple of interesting entries as well, such as Red Karaoke which offers a mix of free and payable songs. One of our favorite selections is the free Internet radio service, ShoutCast. With an impressive collection of music genres from numerous stations, this was an app we'd typically leave on when we are busy with other tasks.
In terms of picture presets, the VT30S has eight to select from, and that includes Dynamic, Normal, THX, Cinema, Game, Photo, Professional1, and Professional2. The Pro1 and Pro2 selections are advanced ISFccc modes, but you might want to note that the TV's screen-burn prevention feature, Pixel Orbiter, is unavailable in THX mode.
Viera Connect: We appreciate Panasonic's big app windows and uncluttered design, However, it'll be ideal if they could make the windows a tad smaller to accommodate more icons. Scrolling from page to page to locate an application isn't cool.
Viera Market has been given a minor face lift by Panasonic. Besides brandishing a prettier layout, the app store also encompasses more apps to tickle your fancy. Those little red circles with a white star indicate a newly added item.
Internet radio services such as ShoutCast are handy to have around. With a wide selection of music genres and a multitude of radio stations, they are one of the easiest ways to stream your favorite tunes into your living room.
Calibration - Spyder3TV Report
We calibrated the VT30S 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 picture enhancement features to avoid any discrepancies. Our calibrated results are indicated in the diagram below. The VT30S also allows for advanced calibration such as white balance and color management adjustments when either of the Professional1 or Professional2 presets is selected. For white balance tuning, the Viera's RGB IRE option caters for individual red, green and blue gain management as well.
Panasonic's VT30S' Spyder3TV calibration results are as follows: Brightness: 6, Contrast: 81, Color: 71 and Tint:-1. Black and white luminance are recorded as 0.116cd/m2 and 108.830cd/m2 respectively. The VT30S has a comparable black luminance levels as the LG PZ950, although the Panasonic has a marginally higher white luminance result.
DisplayMate Tests
DisplayMate is an application which generates a sequence of test patterns to determine the capabilities of imaging devices, like color, uniformity, and gray-scale accuracies for example. For our tests, we've hooked up the VT30S to our display test-bed PC via a HDMI connection. Similar to our calibration setup, we have also disabled all visual enhancements on the TV to reduce the variables involved. Here are some of our findings.
25-step Color Scales Test: Some panels have a tendency to bleed the brighter red and orange tones, but that is not the case here. The red and orange hues remain discrete.The gradients darkened a notch too quickly but we wouldn't put this down as a major color discrepancy.
Screen Uniformity | Excellent screen uniformity. There were no signs of blotchiness or irregularities on the brightest and darkest test screens. |
Dark Gray Scale | Apart from minor noise grains, the VT30s delivered consistent grey tones and crisp black depths. No contrast or color shifts were spotted with extreme viewing angles. |
Color Scales | The color scales faded to black too quickly on the last three steps. Other than that, the VT30s exhibited rich and accurate colors. |
256-Intensity Level Color Ramp | Smooth gradients with little traces of compression artifacts. As with the previous test, the only caveat with the NeoPlasma is its average handling of darker tones. |
IDT HQV Tests
IDT's HQV Tests are designed to assess image quality and handling 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 to test the TV's de-interlacing capabilities. Here are the results we noted on a few of the most crucial tests:-
HQV Digital Noise Filtering Test: Although the Viera VT30S' video processor proved its de-interlacing and 24p processing worth, its noise filters still leaves much to be desired.
Digital Noise Filtering | Panasonic’s P-NR noise reduction algorithms were less than ideal. Noise grains persisted even with the filters running in top gear. |
Diagonal Filter Test | Nonexistent jaggies on the rotating bar. Resultsuggests a stable de-interlacer, capable of effective diagonal interpolation devoid of field misalignments. |
Film Resolution Loss Test | Confident native inverse telecine on the SMPTE pattern (1080i60 sourced from 1080p24). Ironically, results deteriorated after enabling the set's Film Cadence Detection feature. |
Standard-Definition Tests
X-Men: The Last Stand (DVD)
No HDTV is capable of reproducing a native Full-HD resolution from an 480i source, but the VT30S sure comes close. Notably, SD content on the generally "noisy" X-Men disc was nicely up-converted to fill the Viera's 1080p estate with minimal loss in detail. Motion artifacts and mosquito noise were also effectively reduced despite the VIERA’s shoddy noise filters as observed during the HQV tests. This was evident even before the film began as we could tell from the animated sequence on the DVD's menu. For instance, grainy dots and artifacts which typically surround the moving 'tentacle' were less prominent. The CG 'tentacle' also appeared more defined than usual. Findings were applicable to the film’s contents as well, which showed improved richness in fidelity compared to its rivals, such as LG's PZ950 for example. Panasonic has a Resolution Enhancer which sharpens images by enhancing the source's resolution. Depending on the quality and bit-rate of your DVD source, this feature can help sharpen less detailed picture definition when needed.
Contrary to popular belief, we begin our visual tests even before the film actually starts. In the case of the X-Men DVD, its animated sequence on the menu page gives us a gauge of the TV's up-conversion, de-interlacing, and noise reduction capabilities.
This scene with Cyclops whizzing by on his bike gives us a good indication of the TV's motion processing prowess and attention to detail. Besides it decent scaling capabilities, the VT30S also showed minimal mosquito noise and a lack of re-sampling blurs.
High-Definition Tests
Corpse Bride (Blu-ray)
It was pure bliss to behold Tim Burton’s gothic animation on the VT30S. The NeoPlasma display was able to retain black depths, while punching out vibrant and crisp details without batting an eyelid. Our experience tells us that darker image details, such as those in scene 0:12 for example, are typically obscured in LCD TVs with poor contrast rates or inconsistent backlight distribution. This wasn't something the VT30S had to contend with, for it managed to highlight as well as differentiate the darker shades from the blacks very well. It may be cliché to say the VT30S is capable of eye-popping images, but that’s what it is able to deliver in reality. We also noted that this set is able to deliver razor sharp results with moving 1080i images on Corpse Bride. Best of all, the VIERA does not depend on too many of its visual enhancements to impress. Minor contour artifacts can be resolved by enabling Intelligent Frame Creation, but we won't advise you to push this feature to the max, not unless unnaturally smooth pictures are your cup of tea.
Small details, such as the fabric of Victoria's dress and the fine nuances of her hair, were proudly displayed by the VT30S. The Viera also handled a direct 24p source with confidence after we switched the Blu-ray player's output to 1080p24.
It's a pity our camera wasn't able to pick out the finer background specifics here. But for what it's worth, the Viera reproduced all 1920 by 1080 pixels with pinpoint accuracy. Both image details and black depths were carefully and accurately preserved.
Function | Recommended Settings |
Intelligent Frame Creation | Off (enable if judder is an issue) |
Film Cadence Detection | Off |
Resolution Enhancer | Low or Mid |
Side Panel | Off (enable for 4:3 content) |
16:9 Overscan | Off |
Pixel Orbiter | On |
Monsters vs Aliens (3D Blu-ray)
Panasonic's 3D eyewear is a little less goggle-like than last year's effort, but it is still relatively bulky compared to Samsung's. That aside, Panasonic has made a number of engineering changes on the silver and black TY-EW3D2MA glasses. For starters, you don't have to worry about batteries running out of juice with its rechargeable feature (via USB). You also don't have to second-guess the glasses' power status with its 'slider' on/off switch. This is a common annoyance with some 3D glasses which tout a button instead of a switch. While the EW3D2MA might appear heavy at the onset, they are actually quite light and comfortable.
Panasonic's 3D eyewear has been given the slimming treatment as seen in the silver and black TY-EW3D2MA. Though they appear to be bulky and heavy, compared to LG's and Samsung's for example, this pair of active-shutter glasses is actually quite light and comfortable.
Little things can go a long way, such as Panasonic's 'slider' power switch and a mini-USB port. In other words, you don't have to play the guessing game to find out if the glasses are on or off, and you get to recharge the EW3D2MA whenever it runs out of juice.
Let's look at the VT30S 3D performance. We’ve been impressed by the VT30S’ performance so far, and it seems like it is going to continue that stellar track record in the 3D arena. Since the panel doesn’t automatically brighten in 3D mode, we’d recommend increasing the contrast and brightness levels by a couple of notches to compensate for the active-shutter glasses’ dimming effect. Stereoscopic images were nicely defined on the VT30S with plucky 3D depths. More importantly, crosstalk was almost nonexistent throughout the movie. Unlike some rival sets, the VIERA enables you to tweak its display settings whilst in 3D mode. We noticed a couple of new options. One of them is 24p Smooth Film, which we reckon the TV would apply its own cadence processing to ensure optimal frame rates. The other tweak, known as 3D Refresh Rate, allows you to playback the 3D movie at either 100Hz or 120Hz rates.
Panasonic's constant drumming of their crosstalk-free performances isn't overstated with the VT30S. This specific scene from Monsters vs Aliens has downed a number of 3D LCD sets in the past, but ghosting was visibly a non-issue with the VT30S here.
The VT30S is also devoid of any motion judder in 3D mode. And we'll give it bonus points as well for the exemplary stereoscopic depths it's able to achieve. For optimal picture quality, switch to THX mode if you are viewing it in the dark.
The Final Word
Let's put the VT30S in perspective. Apart from the HD-Ready X-series, Panasonic has fitted the V, S and U series with their latest G14 panels. So, what you are really getting out of your money is a dependable THX preset and Professional presets which the other models lack. Of course, there's the Infinite Black Pro 2 panel enhancement too. Looks-wise, the VT30S is visibly less swanky than its upcoming 'Glass & Metal' VT50 sibling, but the VT30S' single-glass design and slim profile will not appear out of place in any living room. The ports are now aligned to be more conducive for wall mounts and easy accessibility, and that's always a plus. Viera Connect's interface might not have changed much, but we can take heart in that Panasonic's Viera Market app store which has a larger number of social media, news, and entertainment apps now to rival the rest of the Smart TV makers. Besides offering a comprehensive range of digital and analog ports, the VT30S also allows for video playback via USB and SD card with healthy support for common video formats and CODECs.
Panasonic has built upon the VT20S to create a worthy successor in the VT30S. We won't surmise that it is a major technological leap forward by Panasonic, but the VT30S' exemplary performance in almost every picture aspect ought to earn it a place among the higher echelons.
Comparing the Viera VT30S with the LG PZ950, it is clear that the Viera has the edge with its superior black level performance and motion processing capabilities, thanks to its video processor's SD and HD aptitude. Image retention didn't bother the VT30S as well, given that Panasonic has taken great care in avoiding this common ailment associated with plasma panels. And should we consider picture attributes such as color accuracy, contrasts, cadence detection, and response time, there is really little we can complain in those departments given the positive results gathered during our tests. To add, picture enhancements such as Resolution Enhancer and Intelligent Frame Creation have proven to be practical additives in the case of the VT30S. However, it is true that Panasonic will have to work on their noise filtering algorithms as things stand. Panasonic's 3D performance is also hard to beat after witnessing its crosstalk-free and punchy 3D depths.
Ironically, however, it'll be hard for the 50-inch VT30S to compete with LG's 60-inch PZ950 for the same price point. But in truth, you know as well as we do which PDP actually gives you a greater performance bang for 3,999 bucks. All hail the prince.
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