Panasonic VIERA TC-L42E30 42-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV

Clever Designs      Panasonic moves into their second season of LED-based HDTVs with the introduction of the VIERA E30 unveiled this month. Aesthetically, the E30 is derssed in stylish silver and black The E30 rectangular pedestal stand is also furnished in chome to complement the TV's Beautiful silver and black theme. However, swivelling function not part of its design plan. The VIERA's panel is visibly thicker due to a pronounced side the bar also provides quick access to an SD card slot, HDMI, USB, composite port and headphone jack. There are more goodies located behind the 42-inch screen as well, including two additional USB and three HDMI slots. Comparatively, the VIERA pack the widest selection of A/V offerings amongst the four candidates. IPS Alpha panel as with most mid-range LCD offerings from Panasonic. Intelligent Features      Two years ago, Panasonic entered the Internet TV scene with their VIERA Cast feature. Given the competition, we weren't surpried Panasonic has since updated their platform to the oper-source VIERA Connect. Essentially, the revamped VIERA Connect Palette consists of eight app windows on one page. Out of the box, we found titles such as YouTube, Facebook, Skype and Accuweather on its dashboard. Although it is visually appealing on the whole, the VIERA Connect interface offered a sluggish experience as we navigated from window to window.      With VIERA Connect, also comes a new VIERA Market site to download free and payable apps from. A quick check with the Market portal also revealed the selection of apps to be relatively meagre at the time of writing. For instance, video streaming selections are limited to portals such as uStream and WOWtv, where the latter requires a paid subscription. Hopefully, we'll see more apps begin to populate the VIERA Market for users to download and use. Panasonic has alos give its dull menu interface a minor facelift, plus a True Cinema picture preset for truthful display qualities out of the box. Codecs such as DivX and Xvid did not present any issues on the MPEG4 format. Unfortunately, MKV files stuttered rather significantly while MOV files failed to play. DisplayMate and HQV Benchmarks DisplayMate Color Ramp Test: Compression in the mid and darker areas was more obvious on the VIERA then LG's display. White levels had a fair tinge of grey in them. DisplayMate: Consistent greys are one of Panasonic's strongholds. Brighter steps appeared muted on the Color Scales test, while darker colors showed minor signs of compression. Subtle light bleeds were also evident along the upper and lower edges of the panel. HQV: Noise persisted even after the VIERA's noise filters were pumped to the max Similarly, 24p decoding wasn't quite up to par despite Panasonic's new Film Cadence Detection feature. On the bright side, the E30 interpolation skills were noticeably more confident when taking on moving interlaced images. Blu-ray Audtion Corpse Bride: We'll give the thumbs up to the E30 for its lively images and vivid textures. Picture augementation such as Panasonic's Resolution Enhancer also increased the image's sharpness, although naturalists might find the puffed up sharpness to be mildly overstated. Vantage Point: The E30 talents lie with its broad viewing angles and attention to detail. While its IPS-Alpha panel produces striking pictures, there were also instances of motion tearing, especially in scenes with moving subjects. To add, these visual errors were magnified with the Motion Picture Pro feature in particular. For its audio performance, we' d rank its pair of 10W speakers and V-Audio ProSurround algorithms second to LG. REMOTES AT A GLANCE      Panasonic's concave D-pad design is a charm, although the lower placement of the volumn and channel keys meant that they were less accessible with our thumbs. The VIERA Connect platform can be accessed using the dedicated key or VIERA Tools button. SPECIAL OFFER FEATURES 1080p Full HD Resolution Clear Panel Game Mode DLNA VIERA Link 4 HDMI 2 USB PC Input 24p Smooth Film

Source : hardware magazine.