Posts: 21,859
Threads: 1,734
Joined: May 2025
Reputation:
0
Tomorrow I may just pull the trigger on a new TV. I'm looking at the Panasonic P50S2. I just looked at it at three stores and it didn't look that great. The guy a best buy tried to tell me it was because of the ambient light sensor... that it's picture quality was indeed better than the panasonic LCD next to it.
At all three stores the whites weren't white, the blacks weren't black and the colors seemed a bit off. I played with the settings at best buy and couldn't fix any of these issues.
The S2 series gets great reviews. Plasmas are supposed to have blacker blacks than LCDs. Are the problems I saw due to bad feeds, inconsistent feeds, ambient light...?
Posts: 32,462
Threads: 3,127
Joined: Apr 2025
Reputation:
0
You may be in a tough spot here to see it at its best, because if you rough-adjust it to where it's more accurate it may look even worse in the stores' lighting. Not that I like feeling paranoid, but what if LCDs can be cranked up easier and look better in stores?
I don't truly believe that from my own shopping, but nor would I pretend you shouldn't trust your eyes. On the other hand you might just take it home and look at it there instead. That'll always be the ultimate test anyway.
Posts: 4,575
Threads: 371
Joined: Jan 2016
I wouldn't have been able to judge picture quality of TVs I looked at in B&M stores based on how they were set up for display when I was shopping this past summer. Aren't they all blaring their brightest, most saturated and contrasty settings in stores? Everything looked crappy to me in the stores I visited. I found user reviews on websites like Amazon to be much more useful in making a decision, but looking in stores was useful in judging the actual size, design and ergonomic details of TVs.
Picture quality can be adjusted with the remote and whatever on-screen menus it invokes--it took a bit of exploration to get my Samsung tweaked to my liking. I would examine the comments here about this Panasonic model
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0036VO7WM and elsewhere on the web if you need reassurance about picture quality and other details.
Posts: 32,462
Threads: 3,127
Joined: Apr 2025
Reputation:
0
I'd be very surprised if any LCD in that price range could render skin tones as naturally, motion as accurately as the plasma, regardless of how white the whites can get or how black the blacks can get on them---which I don't doubt necessarily.
Just keep in mind it's the overall picture that'll seep into your experience, not a picking-apart each element within it hopefully that will reveal the best choice.
Posts: 21,452
Threads: 243
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation:
0
Bright lights will cause an ambient light sensor to crank up the brightness. It will back off the brightness when there is less ambient light. Did any of the places happen to have that set on display in their "theatre room"?
Posts: 21,452
Threads: 243
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation:
0
Wait a second, does the P50S2 have an ambient light sensor?
Posts: 21,452
Threads: 243
Joined: Sep 2016
Reputation:
0
For a comparison, check out the Samsung 8000 edge lit LED LCD. See how it stacks up to the Panasonic plasma in the same environment. The 8000 is one of the best TVs on the market, if it also looks bad in the same showroom, that should help alleviate your fear because there is no way the 8000 is less than spectacular.
Nathan
