The Panasonic Insider Crew is a community of tech enthusiasts who get involved in sharing their product feedback and ideas, receiving sneak-peeks and are invited to events. Justin Martin, an Insider Crew member, won the opportunity to product test the Panasonic TH-P50ST50A TV. Here is his review:
I’ve had the pleasure testing the Panasonic TH-P50ST50A Viera plasma TV and putting it through its paces. I was also given a lovely Panasonic DMP-BDT320 3D Blu-ray player to ensure I could give it the works.
As a product tester and part of the Panasonic insider Crew, I wanted to be sure to take everything out of it and test every feature I could find.
As soon as I opened the box I was impressed with the design and how much lighter it was than my older plasma (It’s a lot more energy efficient as well.)
We already had most of the toys to test it out, tablets, server, wifi, consoles. But the 3D Blu-ray allowed us to see Viera link and the smart TV features, such as knowing when you insert a Blu-ray and switching the TV over for you.
So how did it go you ask? Well the display was crisp, bright and worked very well even in a brightly lit room with sunlight streaming in (something that is meant to be an issue for plasmas.) The refresh rate watching fast paced sport and games was everything you would expect in a quality TV. And it had all the usual colour/brightness adjustments, true cinema, dynamic etc. for those that like to tinker.
We had lots of family and friends over to try out the 2D-3D and 3D features in particular, and all agreed the 2D-3D worked surprisingly well. It’s been great for the Olympics as we can’t get the 3D feed in rural areas and other sport like the footy really came alive. The 3D was what really grabbed people’s attention though. Blu-rays popped and showed great depth while gaming added a layer of immersion that drew you in and really enhanced the overall experience. The 3D gaming for me was the feature that really grabbed my attention and I have so far devoted the most time to ‘testing’.
Panasonic have added some great little extras that should help this TV stand out from the rest. The photo slideshow comes with a set of tunes that can be played in the background. Mood music if you will. Featuring beachy, party or jazzy tunes to suit your photo album selection, it was an unexpected surprise. The addition of an external hardrive turns the TV into a personal video recorder and you can also play video, music and photos from a usb stick.
The wifi and net connection allow for a number of your favourite services to be delivered via the TV such as Youtube, Skype and Quickflix. While it also allowed simple connection to any server you may have to share your movies, music or photos around the house. The internet, Viera tools and media player are all accessed quickly and easily from the remote.
The app for tablets works fine as a remote but still needs some work for the other features. Hopefully this is just a firmware/app update and they can really show off the uses that integration with your tablet can bring. At the moment it is full of potential. You can see what CAN be achieved but Panasonic will need to tweak it to get it shining.
Final verdict? For its price it would be hard to beat the new Panasonic TH-P50ST50A. It’s sleek, has a huge number of extra features, interacts well with a large range of other products and above all is a great display. I had great fun testing it, so thank you Panasonic.
I like the 2d 3 d conversion aspect. I have seen it on Tv’s recently and the Pop is what everyone talks about. Should be interesting to see where they take this in the future.
Nice to see such a thourough and honest review of a product – very refreshing to have believable reviews.
But its not on the shelves of the retailers and hasn’t been for a few months.
Panasonic undoubtably has the best plasma technology but its useless unless you can actually see it! Also the after market is awful especially the 2011 glasses which don’t fit caucasians. 2012 are slightly better but no use to anyone who’s bought a 2011 set which is why I want my own set but can’t get one!
Do Panasonic make money perfroming in this way?
I ordered this model in early June and after nearly 3 months of being given the run-around *still* no EDA from Panasonic!
Their customer service line refuse to investigate without the order number from the retailer, the retailers refuse to provide it! What the hell?!
Finally gave up in disgust and cancelled the order today. I would’ve preferred to buy a Pana plasma, but WHERE ARE THEY?
What a poor show, Panasonic!
Hi Frago, so sorry to hear you’re experiencing issues. So that we can further investigate this for you, can you please let us know what Plasma model you ordered and from which retailer you ordered it from? Cheers.
The model I wanted was the TH-P50ST50A. As I’ve already mentioned, it is the same model as in this Insider Review article! The retailer was the Good Guys.
I’m not prepared to give any more specifics on a public site.
You have my email address – email me.
@ panasonicau
The model I wanted was the TH-P50ST50A. As I’ve already mentioned, it is the same model as in this Insider Review article!
The retailer was the Good Guys.
I’m not prepared to give any more specifics on a public site.
You have my email address – please email me.
(Sorry abouyt the double-post – my bad)
Still no callback, still no email, still no Care from Panasonic.
No worries I’m willing to play the game. I’ll come here and post a message every few days just to show how LITTLE Panasonic cares about Australian customers.
Let me make it easy for you:
Model TH-P50ST50A. is it available in Sydney? Where? Which retailers?
There, that’s all I need to know. Can ANYONE in Panasonic answer this simple question?
Still no callback, still no email, still no Care from Panasonic.
Model TH-P50ST50A. is it available in Sydney? Where? Which retailers?
There, that’s all I need to know. Can ANYONE in Panasonic answer this simple question?
Just to provide a conclusion to this whole sorry saga:
I finally got a return call from a Panasonic ‘customer care’ person. And let me tell you fellow consumers, it was way too little, WAY TOO LATE. He was polite enough, but really, REALLY not helpful. He could not or would not answer my simple question:
“WHEN will the ST50A be available to buy in Sydney?”
I was given a bunch of excuses, such as Panasonic was overwhelmed by the response, they underestimated the interest, etc, etc, all very useless and unhelpful.
As a result, I’ve given-up on Panasonic, with much sadness and disappointment.
I’ve ended up buying an LG Smart TV LM7600 after much hand-wringing and research. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised! It is actually a VERY good TV, with an excellent picture, and some innovative smart features and extras.
I tried and tried to remain a loyal Pana customer, but unfortunately that loyalty was not returned.
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