Should You Buy the Panasonic Viera TC - P65S1?

Although not one of the best Viera models out there, the Panasonic Viera TC-P65S1 offers a lot for its price. Thinking about getting one? Read this first.

One of the best things about the Panasonic Viera TC-P65S1 is its black level performance. Indeed, the breakthrough Neo PDP panel of the TC-P65S1 allows it to produce not just outstanding black levels but infinite ones that they make the entire picture look sharper and more eye-popping. The other colors are also very saturated and generally accurate, with the greenish tinge only discernible to HDTV experts.

Another good thing about the TC-P65S1 is its wide viewing angle. This may be nothing new for a Plasma HDTV - after all, Plasmas are well-known for having wider viewing angles than its rival LCD sets. Still, this guarantees that you will get breathtaking images wherever you are seated in the room, not just when you are directly in front of it.

You won't have to worry about blurring or any other motion artifacts on this set either, since it comes with a 600Hz Sub-field drive and a revolutionary image-analysis technology that deliver excellent motion resolution, ensuring that images stay crisp and clear when watching sports and suspense movies. Overall, video processing is excellent, since every line of 1080p content is delivered while video-based sources are properly de-interlaced.

Aside from enhancing its contrast ratio, the Neo PDP panel that comes with this particular Viera model also improves screen brightness - an area LCD HDTVs are known to reign in - and more importantly, cuts down energy consumption to about half. This makes the TC-P65S1 a very energy-efficient Plasma, although it could still use a few power-saving options since it still consumes more energy than LCD HDTVs, which are widening the gap even further with their LED lighting.

Connectivity is adequate, too, though by no means extensive. While three HDMI inputs - two at the back and one at the side - and two component video inputs are provided, the analog audio output and VGA-style PC input commonly found on HDTVs are absent, which means you'll have to figure out a harder way to connect your computer to your HDTV. There is no ethernet port for connecting to the internet, either, and no USB port, but there is an SD card slot that allows you to share photos and videos from your phone and digital camera.

Another thing you'll find lacking in the Panasonic Viera TC-P65S1 is interactive features, like the internet widgets you find on many HDTVs, or online video streaming capability. After all, it has no ethernet port. Although four adjustable picture modes are provided, the picture controls are also pretty limited, without gamma control or color management settings and the game mode is just another picture mode, which does not disable video processing or eliminate game controller delay.

Then again, you have to keep in mind that the TC-P65S1 is relatively inexpensive, priced at less than $2500 compared to the almost $4000 Viera TC-P65V10 or smaller-sized high-end models from other brands like Samsung and Sony. Therefore, the Panasonic Viera TC-P65S1 lives up to its price - which is more than you can say for some HDTVs, making it still a worthy, if not great, consideration for someone looking for excellent picture quality but on a rather tight budget.

Edward McKellen is an electronics expert who writes HDTV reviews. To learn more about the Panasonic Viera TC-P65S1, visit HDTVReviewLab.com.