I couldn't help myself.... now I own a 3D Panasonic plasma..

[Anthony1]

Last Sunday, I decided to buy the Panasonic TC-P50VT20 plasma. It's the 50-inch plasma that's exclusive to Best Buy. Best Buy was having a special on the TV. It was on sale at $2249.99, and it came with two additional pair of glasses for free, for a total of 3 pairs of glasses. Also, it comes with a mail-in-rebate to get Coraline and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs on 3D Blu Ray.

I definitely didn't want to pay the ridiculous amount of money that I had to pay to get this thing, but I just couldn't help myself. World Cup games in 3D, along with Playstation 3 games in 3D, caused me to run out and buy one of these. Originally, I was kinda thinking that I would take it on a test drive, and if it knocked my socks off, then I'd keep it. If it only impressed me a little bit, I was going to return it. That's just too much money to throw on something and not be 100 percent thrilled with it.

I can safely say that this puppy isn't going anywhere. After trying four different Playstation 3 game in true 3D, I'm a true believer. The PS3 games really blew me away. The 3D was absolutely outstanding. No ghosting whatsoever. This Panasonic is an absolute beauty when it comes to doing the 3D. Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, an offroad racing game, was easily the most impressive thing I've seen in 3D on this. After that, it's a tie between Super Stardust HD and Wipeout HD.

I've also watched a small amount of World Cup soccer in 3D, via the ESPN 3D channel on Direct TV. The soccer isn't as impressive to me. I think the big problem with soccer in 3D, is the fact that soccer requires a far-away camera angle to be able to see the game. The far away camera angle just doesn't give a very convincing 3D sensation. It's not that "This is obviously in 3D" feeling, if you know what I mean. You kinda wonder if the 3D is turned on, lol. Having said that... when they go to more close up views, and leave the camera at one spot for an extended period of time, the 3D sensation really does show up. Quick camera cuts, from one camera to another isn't very good for 3D. They need to focus more on leaving it on specific cameras for long durations of the game, and stick with on the field type camera views.

Well, so far that's about all I can report regarding this tv. The 2D quality is absolutely outstanding as well. You can basically just put the TV in THX mode, and everything is setup beautifully.

[cybereality]

Yeah, I've seen this set. Its very nice. Glad you're happy.

[Gae43]

Quick camera cuts, from one camera to another isn't very good for 3D

Totally agree. I for one will be happy if they start slowing down edits so that we can enjoy the 3D depth elelment more.

Gae43

[Damo3D]

No ghosting whatsoever? Yeah right! I don't know why people say this, this tv does ghost, and that's why its going back to the store. It's a step backwards for 3D if you ask me. I think everyone who bought this set may be kicking themselves soon enough when a real no ghosting TV comes out, that's what I'm waiting for.

That said, if your happy with the set that's great. I don't mean to sound harsh but I've been in this 3D game too long to suggest this TV to anyone. It ghosts, plain and simple. And not a subtle ghost either, I'm saying it's going to drive you crazy if your like me, having used and been spoiled by the true non ghosting solution of DLP, the real king of 3D.

[Anthony1]

No ghosting whatsoever? Yeah right! I don't know why people say this, this tv does ghost, and that's why its going back to the store. It's a step backwards for 3D if you ask me. I think everyone who bought this set may be kicking themselves soon enough when a real no ghosting TV comes out, that's what I'm waiting for.

That said, if your happy with the set that's great. I don't mean to sound harsh but I've been in this 3D game too long to suggest this TV to anyone. It ghosts, plain and simple. And not a subtle ghost either, I'm saying it's going to drive you crazy if your like me, having used and been spoiled by the true non ghosting solution of DLP, the real king of 3D.

I don't own this TV anymore, but when I did the ghosting was "virtually" non-existent. Now, having said that, you have to know what kind of media I was talking about. Mostly, I was talking about Playstation 3 games in 3D. I've owned Wipeout HD and Super Stardust HD for a very, very long time. Way before the whole 3D thing came about. I got Wipeout HD (the 2D version), when it first came out, a number of years ago. I also got Super Stardust HD a long time ago. So, I'm very familiar with those two games, and I know exactly how they are supposed to look. When I played them in 3D on the Panny VT20, there was "basically" ZERO GHOSTING. The reason I qualify it with the word "basically", is because there was this one scene during Wipeout HD, where you would see some "slight" ghosting, but it was only during this one replay, and it was extremely brief.

Now, as for 3D Blu Ray's, I never got a chance to try 3D Blu Ray's on the VT20. I didn't own a 3D Blu Ray player at the time. (I still don't, because I'm waiting for the PS3 update in October that will add 3D Blu Ray functionality) . However, I did watch about 20 minutes of Monsters vs. Aliens on a Panny VT25, and didn't really notice any significant ghosting. I'm sure I could have seen some slight ghosting here and there if I was really looking for it, but another thing that you need to understand is what causes ghosting. It's not always a fault of the display. Sometimes the material itself was filmed in a way in which ghosting is pretty much unavoidable.

An example of this, is some content that I watched on Direct TV's, n3D channel. I only had the VT20 for a couple of days when Direct TV first started up their n3D channel, but there was this African safari video that had tons of ghosting. It had nothing to do with the TV. It was the material.


The ghosting that I would be concerned about, is the fact that on some of the Samsungs, people would see ghosting in games like Super Stardust HD, a game that has zero ghosting on the Panasonic. This tells me that the ghosting was a fault of the particular Samsung and not the source material, because there is zero ghosting in Super Stardust HD. (when I say zero, I'm basically saying like 98 percent ghosting free, because I'm sure there is some goofball out there that would play Super Stardust, and never pay attention to what they are supposed to be paying attention to, and just scan the screen for any sign of ghosting, and then notice some very slight ghosting, but your normal human won't spot any)


Also, I'm not trying to disparage Samsung's displays, because I'm the owner of a new Samsung PN50C680 3D plasma. The C680 in my opinion has much less ghosting than any of the other Samsungs I've seen so far. It's the main reason I bought it.

[Damo3D]

Yeah Im bring back the Panasonic today, and Ill just wait until I hear more on what TV works perfect. Such a hassle buying 2 Tvs in one day, not to mention Im sure the store is none too pleased with me. I saw very minimal ghosting in SuperStardust HD as well, but Motorstorm was quite ghosty. Strange that some stuff does ghost worse than others. Like I said, its gonna be a waiting game now, cuz Ive been burned too many times with early adoption. If one likes the 3D they get from whatever medium, I cant argue with that. Im gonna look up the model your talking about.

I much prefer the Samsung only because of all the widgets and features, even 2D to 3D conversion is at least a bonus (even if its still kind of a joke)

Maybe Ill wait for another year and see what Samsung has then.

Happy 3D Gaming!

[Anthony1]

Yeah Im bring back the Panasonic today, and Ill just wait until I hear more on what TV works perfect. Such a hassle buying 2 Tvs in one day, not to mention Im sure the store is none too pleased with me. I saw very minimal ghosting in SuperStardust HD as well, but Motorstorm was quite ghosty. Strange that some stuff does ghost worse than others. Like I said, its gonna be a waiting game now, cuz Ive been burned too many times with early adoption. If one likes the 3D they get from whatever medium, I cant argue with that. Im gonna look up the model your talking about.

I much prefer the Samsung only because of all the widgets and features, even 2D to 3D conversion is at least a bonus (even if its still kind of a joke)

Maybe Ill wait for another year and see what Samsung has then.

Happy 3D Gaming!

I returned the VT20 that I owned, because ultimately, it was just too much damn money. I really liked the 3D, but it just wasn't worth all that cashola. At the time I bought it, the package deal was like $2,450 or something like that. It did include 3 pairs of glasses (one came in the box, and I got two free in the bundle) . Also, it had a mail in offer for Coraline and Ice Age on 3D Blu Ray.

The PN50C680 plasma, which has similar quality 3D abilities, cost me $1338, and it includes two pairs of glasses, and Monsters vs. Aliens. So, I ended up saving $1,112 . I'd still need to buy another pair of glasses, and one more 3D Blu Ray for it to basically be equivalent, but basically this current deal is costing me 1 grand less. I can live with 1 grand less. The 1 grand I've saved on this, is going to go towards a 3D projector.