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Panasonic TX-P46VT20B Review
Benchmark Test Results
Dead pixels None
Screen uniformity Perfect
Overscanning on HDMI 0% with [16:9 Overscan] disabled
Blacker than black Passed
Calibrated black level (black screen) 0.013 cd/m2
Calibrated black level (ANSI checkerboard) 0.044 cd/m2
Black level retention Occasional subtle “floating blacks”
Primary chromaticity Excellent
Scaling Excellent
Video mode deinterlacing Excellent, very effective jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing Failed 3:2/ 2:2 cadences in all resolutions
Viewing angle Excellent (> 150°)
Motion resolution 1080, but with some fuzziness around motion areas
Digital noise reduction [P-NR] is a spatial filter, very little effect
Sharpness Defeatable edge enhancement
Image retention Virtually none in 2D, some in 3D
Posterization Mild, though worse with poor source
Phosphor trails Yes (reduced from 2D-only models); severity depends on individual susceptibility
Luma/Chroma bandwidth (Blu-ray) Full Luma, horizontally blurred Chroma (except in 3D)
1080p/24 capability No judder (2D), No judder with “3D 24p Film Display” on (3D)
Input lag 41ms (2D Game Mode), 16ms (3D Game Mode)
Full 4:4:4 reproduction No, input subsampled
Power Consumption
Default [Normal] mode (2D) 198 watts
Default [Normal] mode (3D) 263 watts
Calibrated [THX] mode (2D) 230 watts
Calibrated [Professional1] mode (3D) 310 watts
Standby 1 watt
Measurements taken with full 50% grey screen. Actual power consumption varies relative to luminance of video content.
Conclusion
Like the 42″ model, the Panasonic TX-P46VT20B 3D Plasma TV still doesn’t manage to be quite as recommendable as the wonderful TX-P50VT20 we reviewed back in May last year. Although its Stereoscopic 3D video output has the same involving 3D effect (thanks to its freedom from annoying crosstalk), its 3D pictures are slightly less clean and suffer from some jaggedness when compared to the 50″ version. And, unfortunately, this 46″ version isn’t quite as responsive with (2D) video gaming as most of the company’s HDTV lineup.
With those points out of the way, the 2D image quality is still as excellent as we’ve come to expect from Panasonic’s Plasma range. The killer combination of deep blacks and suitably bright whites, combined with accurate, lifelike Greyscale and colour rendering, all make for deep, involving images. If you must have a 3D TV right now, though, we highly recommend looking at the Panasonic TX-P50VT20. A look around online reveals that it can be had for nearly the same price as this 46″ model, but HDTVTest readers will now know that 4 inches of screen size is not the only difference between the 46″ and 50″ models – the 50″ version has superior performance.
If you can’t make room for the 50″ version, then the TX-P46VT20 is still one of the better 3D displays on the market, and certainly one of the better 2D displays, too. Right now, even with some quirks, Panasonic’s Plasma displays are in first place when it comes to 3D, thanks to the fact that the images they put out actually do look three dimensional (you’d think this would be a basic requirement for a 3D TV, but all of the LCD-based attempts we’ve seen have been worryingly crosstalk-ridden). We’ll be interested to see how the competition responds now that we’re in 2011, but most of all, we’re curious to see how Panasonic’s new 3-dimensional models can improve on the 2010 efforts.
Benchmark Test Results
Dead pixels None
Screen uniformity Perfect
Overscanning on HDMI 0% with [16:9 Overscan] disabled
Blacker than black Passed
Calibrated black level (black screen) 0.013 cd/m2
Calibrated black level (ANSI checkerboard) 0.044 cd/m2
Black level retention Occasional subtle “floating blacks”
Primary chromaticity Excellent
Scaling Excellent
Video mode deinterlacing Excellent, very effective jaggies reduction
Film mode deinterlacing Failed 3:2/ 2:2 cadences in all resolutions
Viewing angle Excellent (> 150°)
Motion resolution 1080, but with some fuzziness around motion areas
Digital noise reduction [P-NR] is a spatial filter, very little effect
Sharpness Defeatable edge enhancement
Image retention Virtually none in 2D, some in 3D
Posterization Mild, though worse with poor source
Phosphor trails Yes (reduced from 2D-only models); severity depends on individual susceptibility
Luma/Chroma bandwidth (Blu-ray) Full Luma, horizontally blurred Chroma (except in 3D)
1080p/24 capability No judder (2D), No judder with “3D 24p Film Display” on (3D)
Input lag 41ms (2D Game Mode), 16ms (3D Game Mode)
Full 4:4:4 reproduction No, input subsampled
Power Consumption
Default [Normal] mode (2D) 198 watts
Default [Normal] mode (3D) 263 watts
Calibrated [THX] mode (2D) 230 watts
Calibrated [Professional1] mode (3D) 310 watts
Standby 1 watt
Measurements taken with full 50% grey screen. Actual power consumption varies relative to luminance of video content.
Conclusion
Like the 42″ model, the Panasonic TX-P46VT20B 3D Plasma TV still doesn’t manage to be quite as recommendable as the wonderful TX-P50VT20 we reviewed back in May last year. Although its Stereoscopic 3D video output has the same involving 3D effect (thanks to its freedom from annoying crosstalk), its 3D pictures are slightly less clean and suffer from some jaggedness when compared to the 50″ version. And, unfortunately, this 46″ version isn’t quite as responsive with (2D) video gaming as most of the company’s HDTV lineup.
With those points out of the way, the 2D image quality is still as excellent as we’ve come to expect from Panasonic’s Plasma range. The killer combination of deep blacks and suitably bright whites, combined with accurate, lifelike Greyscale and colour rendering, all make for deep, involving images. If you must have a 3D TV right now, though, we highly recommend looking at the Panasonic TX-P50VT20. A look around online reveals that it can be had for nearly the same price as this 46″ model, but HDTVTest readers will now know that 4 inches of screen size is not the only difference between the 46″ and 50″ models – the 50″ version has superior performance.
If you can’t make room for the 50″ version, then the TX-P46VT20 is still one of the better 3D displays on the market, and certainly one of the better 2D displays, too. Right now, even with some quirks, Panasonic’s Plasma displays are in first place when it comes to 3D, thanks to the fact that the images they put out actually do look three dimensional (you’d think this would be a basic requirement for a 3D TV, but all of the LCD-based attempts we’ve seen have been worryingly crosstalk-ridden). We’ll be interested to see how the competition responds now that we’re in 2011, but most of all, we’re curious to see how Panasonic’s new 3-dimensional models can improve on the 2010 efforts.
