Panasonic claims improved 24p plasma playback

David Katzmaier | Jan 09, 2009

The one-pane-of-glass design marks Panasonic's TC-P50V10.
(Credit: Panasonic)

The ability to properly deal with native 1080p24 content is a big deal to some videophiles, because it guarantees that a display can capture the correct cadence of film. Panasonic tried and failed to implement 24p with its plasmas last year, but, according to the company, it has improved its processing for this year with the V10 series.

The four-model V10 plasma lineup includes the 50-inch TC-P50V10 and the 54-inch TC-P54V10, both due in June in the US, as well as the 58-inch TC-P58V10 and the 59-inch TC-P65V10, due in August. As expected, prices were not announced.

Panasonic's V10 models are the company's only televisions for 2009--aside from the ultra-thin Z1 flagship--to feature so-called 24p Cinematic Playback. We spoke to a representative at the company's booth and he claimed that the improvement from last year's 480Hz subfield drive to this year's 600Hz version eliminates the flicker in 24p mode that we complained about last year in our reviews of the PZ800U and PZ850U models.

The other big step-up feature over the company's G10 series is Digital Cinema Color, which was featured on the PZ850U series from last year. It's designed to faithfully reproduce the Digital Cinema color space, which is wider then the Rec 709 color space of the HD standard. We prefer a color space that most closely matches the color of the original content, however, so we're pleased to see Panasonic has also added THX-display certification on the V10 series, which in our experience comes very close to Rec 709.

As you can see from the image above, the 50-inch and the 54-inch members of the series both feature the "one-pane-of-glass" design we liked so much on Panasonic and LG plasmas from last year. The larger models lack that design element, since their increased weight requires more support, according to Panasonic's rep.

The V10 models also incorporate all of the features of the step-down G10 series, including Viera Cast; the power-saving, high contrast, NEO PDP panel; "infinite black;" and the aforementioned 600Hz subfield drive.

Via CNET.com

Filed under: Home AV
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share