Panasonic VIERA TC-P55VT30 55-inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV, Black
- Full HD 3D (1 Pair of Glasses Included)
- One Sheet of Glass Design
- Infinite Black Pro 2 Panel
- VIERA Connect Wi-Fi Ready
- THX 3D Certified Display
Panasonic VIERA TC-P55VT30 55-Inch 1080p 3D Plasma HDTV3D Technology ChecklistThis product is 3D-related. To help you get a great 3D experience, use the checklist below to ensure you have everything you need. 3D viewing requires:A Display
First, you’ll need a 3D-ready display–whether it’s a 3D HDTV, 3D projector, or 3D computer monitor. These displays have more processing power than standard 2D models for displaying 3D images in rapid succession. A Source
Your display may be ready for 3D
List Price: $ 2,799.95
Price: $ 2,799.95
Fantastic TV but it broke first day and glasses are not comfortable,
I just bought this so I only have a few hours on it. The good. Exceptional piture. Dark blacks of course. But I really bought this for the 3D. I had narrowed my choices down to the samsung pn59D8000 and the Panasonic p55VT30. The 3D on the samsung looked a little artificial to me, that is like the cardboard cut out books that you open and they have one flat image after another. The Panasonic however has a real nice graduation of 3D from front to back. I really liked the new Samsung glasses, the bluetooth connection, light weight, large lenses, and even balance. I still don’t like the feel of the Panasonic glasses but they say they are comming out with better ones mid summer. I don’t like that Panasonic is still using infared since anything in the path of the beam cuts the 3D. The feature that really wow’s me is the 2D to 3D conversion. Oh My God! the Panasonic is soooo much better than the Samsung in this respect. I’d swear the 2D movies I’ve been watching with this feature are 3D. It has minimum, medium, and maximum settings for this. I like the medium setting which gives a lot of 3D without distorting the 3D effect like the maximum setting does. My local dealer did a good job of matching internet prices and free delivery and set up. The spider stand on the D8000 was really flimsy in real life. So I like the Panasonics heavier but more solid pedestal better. I wanted to buy the VT25 from last year but was still disappointed in the amount of light loss when putting on the 3D glasses. This year the amount of light loss is much much less than last year, even tolerable. Sound is actually pretty good but I still run it through my Denon 7.1 surround system. Another thing that steered me away from the Samsung were all the reports of poor customer service on displays that went out. I wish Panasonic would slim the bezel down more, and go to a wireless glasses recharger.
I have both the Samsung BD-C6900 Blue-ray player and the Panasonic BDT350. Love the Samsung, hate the Panasonic. The Panasonic is not as user friendly, not as pretty, takes forever to load, and makes alot of clicking/humming/buzzing noises when playing a disk. It didn’t start out that way but it’s been less than a year and already it sounds like a five year old player. The quality of picture produced by each player is basically a wash for me. I really can’t tell any difference. I’ll try to update this as I get more experience with the TV. Oh by the way – I’m not a football fan but watching it in 3D is like being on the field, incredible. And I was just told buy my sales person that there has been a price drop on the current set of 3d glasses. They are now available for $49.99
UPDATE: 07/12/11 I’ve bought two additional 55″ ST30′s so I can put them side by side as part of an “eyefinity” setup on my computer. The ST30′s are suprisingly pretty good but I had to go through one return due to one looking grainy (a known not uncommon issue with panasonics in general and the ST30′s specifically). Now if they can only get rid of the bezel.
UPDATE: Well first day and already its gone bad. I got the vertical black bar that covers about an eighth of the screen about 3/4 of the way on the right side. In researching similar problems it might indicate the Plasma Display Panel (PDP) was defective. It appears I have a vertical block that is bad. Retailer is getting me another one tomorrow.
UPDATE: Ok new TV working well. On the standard picture setting its really too dark. So I increased the brightness by changing to game or cinema. I’ve been watching 2d movies with the 2d to 3d conversion with good results. I just watched my first real 3D movie “Tangled”. I have seen the 2D version of this movie about 5 times but watching it in 3D is like seeing it for the first time. WOW! I’ll never be able to watch it in 2D again. The details are amazing. You notice every blade of grass, every leaf on the trees, every strand of hair on people, all sorts of things I’ve never noticed before like birds flying in the fore and background, butterfies and pollen, textures on just about everything! The only negative I see in 3D is when somthing moves fast like a swinging arm. I don’t know if its motion blur or just me not being able to focus fast enough. The picture is brighter and clearer with better 3D than I’ve seen in the theaters. I have a 2009 Samsung 63″ plasma which I still like the 2D bright, clear, sharp picture of over this Panasonic. But for 3D I’m quite satisfied. I also use this set as my main computer monitor. It’s fun to watch online movie content with the 2D to 3D conversion active.
UPDATE: The way I see it the ST30, GT30, and VT30 are basically good, better, best. The best way for me to describe the picture quality difference is similar to watching a 60hz refresh rate and then watching an 80hz refresh rate. The picture just seems clearer, sharper, and more…
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|Panasonic TC-55VT30 WOW!!!,
I received my TV 3 weeks ago and all I can say in UNBELIEVABLE. The TV’s picture is so clear and bright. I have tried 3D bluray and it is fantastic. Avatar & under the sea were so clear and colorful, better than 3D movies in the theater by far. I have played 3D games on PS3 and I was blow away again (Mortal Kombat & stardust HD). I haven’t seen any cross talk & the glasses work great (It took me some time to get used to the 3D & glasses and your eyes will get tired). You can see clearly from any seat in the room. I showed friends a scene from under the sea where fish seem to be swimming in your living room and everyone was amazed. One point I want to make is that so many people are expecting the pop out 3D all the time but most 3D looks as though your looking into a window it has depth and this TV makes it so life like you have to see it to believe it. If your still deciding on 3D this is the TV to beat!! Don’t go with passive 3D you won’t get the same quality and make sure your getting full 1080p 3D in each eye as you do with active shutter glasses.
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|Nice television even though set received is defective,
NOTE: The rating given for this TV is NOT for Amazon’s service, the delivery company’s service, or Panasonic in general. The rating is just for the TV but I will include other comments below in order to help those planning to buy the TV from Amazon.
The TC-P55VT30 Television: I did some research and settled on this TV. It replaces an older Samsung Plasma which was good but had problems of its own. This new TV’s screen is about 4-5 inches larger than the Samsung, but thought that was manageable with my room size. Unfortunately, the Panasonic TV I received is defective and I am awaiting a replacement from Amazon. The defect is that part of the panel appears “turned off” — the very right side of the panel is black and has no picture. It covers around 10% of the very right side. The TV is out of stock right now but I’m hoping Amazon gets stock and can replace the set soon.
From what I’ve used of the TV, it’s pretty nice. Menus are laid out well and all my equipment works fine through HDMI so far (DVR, PS3, HTPC, Receiver, etc). I played around with the settings and have been able to get a fairly decent picture. Granted, I’m no video perfectionist and no expert in making those “ideal” settings but I like tinkering and finding the best picture for my eyes (not totally satisfied yet). There are a few quirks I’m still trying to work through, one being a strange black screen that appears sometimes when the screen goes completely black — almost looks like a lot of very light colored squiggly lines across the screen for a second. I’ve noticed it before a commercial break sometimes when screen goes black (DVR) or when a movie is starting up and movie studio logos are appearing on screen (PS3/blu ray). Could be HDMI cables, might try switching them out at some point. Also could be signal issues from the source, but I never noticed it on my Samsung. Daytime viewing is not too bad – but the TV is in a fairly bright room so there is some deterioration there.
I have not tested the 3D features yet. Have no desire to use it, but will eventually try it out and comment later.
I will include more comments as I use the TV and its other features, especially after the replacement TV arrives.
Delivery Company (Pilot): Not great. The set was due to be delivered between 12-2pm on a Tuesday. The time window went by, it never showed up so I called Pilot at 2:15. The service rep sounded very disorganized and didn’t seem to know what was going on. Turns out, the TV was never out for delivery, they simply forgot and she said it was likely due to young people working there and a new scanning system. I could do nothing but laugh. They said they’ll deliver it the next day and would call to confirm the time it would show up. Next day… no call. Decided to just wait it out and would call later if no one showed up. TV finally arrived around midday.
Panasonic in general: Even though I pretty much knew the TV was defective, I did call the Panasonic customer service line just to see if there was some wacky setting that was off making the TV look the way it did. Panasonic rep was not very knowledgeable and basically said it was defective. I didn’t want to waste time with them, so I ended the call. I’ve owned other Panasonic products in the past and it’s pretty hit and miss (as far as if I like them or not). My much older TV (before the Samsung) was a Panasonic LCD Projection set which was ok but developed a lot of dead pixels over the time I had it. That was one of the reasons I did not go with Panasonic with the next set.
Amazon in general: Amazon has been terrific through it all. They were helpful during the delivery fiasco. They gave me credits for my troubles and that was appreciated. When I called to set up the return, the Amazon rep was helpful. The only (minor) negative comment I have about Amazon right now is their inability to get a replacement set out due to stock issue. The TV appears to be available at many other online stores right now, but I’d rather not get a refund and order elsewhere due to Amazon’s good price and return policy.
Will update this review when replacement set finally arrives and write about how the return goes and how the new set looks/works.
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