New TV Advice - Panasonic G30 vs ST30 ranges

[tigetspill]

Hi,

I hope some can help in advising me on a new TV.

I have pretty much settles on a Panasonic Plasma of either 42" or 50" and am tied between the G30 and ST30 ranges. I don't need 3D at all. Sound quality is also not important as I have an AV amp and Monitor Audio speakers.

I generally sit about 7 feet from the screen so in reality I think a 42" would be plenty big (this is what I have now). I am going to move my 3 year old Panny into another room and buy this as my new main TV.

At this viewing distance, is considering a 50" TV nuts? I find the current 42" fine and the reason I am looking at 50" is that the P50G30B is £549 which seems like a great price.

But would I be better with a 42" P42ST30?

There seem to be some differences that I don’t really understand.

1. "Infinite Black" on the G30 vs "Infinite Black Pro" for the contrast on the ST

2. The G30 has a couple of additional "Picture Modes" - THX / Pro1 / Pro2 / ISFccc

3. The G30 has what is called ISF Mode and THX Mode

4. G30 has USB Recording - Is this only available from the internal tuner; or can it be used from say a Sky box connected to the TV?

5. I don’t think the ST has DLNA - not sure what this is other than maybe streaming across a network??

6. The ST30 has

It seems to me that the only advantage of the ST is the "Infinite Black Pro" contrast. The G30 seems to have a lot of other features (If I only knew what they really were)

The next model up seems to be the GT30 which seems to add in all the G30 and ST features. It also adds "S2 (MPEG4-AVC [H.264])", but again I don’t know what this is and If it is useful to me. And the GT seems to add significantly to the cost.

Sorry for so many questions, but I am hoping the knowledgeable people on here can help. I am leaning towards the P50G30B based on the price/value.

Some sample prices are -

P50G30B £549

P42ST30B £520

P42GT30B £750

P42VT30B £953

P50ST30B £699

P50GT30B £1059

P50VT30B £1450

 

[Haleem123]

Hi there,

I currently have the Panasonic TXP50G30B bought it last May, have to say it is absoluteley stunning picture wise especially for movies as well as freeview, from what i know is that the ST30 is just a S30 but in 3D, if 3D is not your thing (like me) then definateley go for the G30, bare in mind it will take about 200-300 hours of usage in order for it to burn in, my mate currently has the S30 42" screen, stunning tv still, but when he comes to my place to watch a movie he is utterly gobsmacked with the clarity and attention to detail to picture. Now THX mode i have to say is awesome, watched Aliens, Terminator 2, starwars (these discs are thx certified) so you select the THX pic mode on telly and it is brill. I am lost for words just to describe how good this unit is, i would highly recommend you to check both panels side by side and see for yourself what your eyes tell you.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Panasonic TXP50G30B, Panasonic BD310 (Bluray player), Sky+ HD, PS3,Yamaha RXV1067 AV Reciever, Bang & Olufsen beolab 8000(front speakers), Bang & Olufsen beolab 6000 (rears) Beolab 4000 (Centre), Beolab 2 (Sub) (Awesome speakers even though people slate B&O to my ears they are sublime, had them 20+ years and still blow many top end speakers away with pure clarity sound. (Proper home cinema)

 

[Haleem123]

Hi there,

I currently have the Panasonic TXP50G30B bought it last May, have to say it is absoluteley stunning picture wise especially for movies as well as freeview, from what i know is that the ST30 is just a S30 but in 3D, if 3D is not your thing (like me) then definateley go for the G30, bare in mind it will take about 200-300 hours of usage in order for it to burn in, my mate currently has the S30 42" screen, stunning tv still, but when he comes to my place to watch a movie he is utterly gobsmacked with the clarity and attention to detail to picture. Now THX mode i have to say is awesome, watched Aliens, Terminator 2, starwars (these discs are thx certified) so you select the THX pic mode on telly and it is brill. I am lost for words just to describe how good this unit is, i would highly recommend you to check both panels side by side and see for yourself what your eyes tell you.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Panasonic TXP50G30B, Panasonic BD310 (Bluray player), Sky+ HD, PS3,Yamaha RXV1067 AV Reciever, Bang & Olufsen beolab 8000(front speakers), Bang & Olufsen beolab 6000 (rears) Beolab 4000 (Centre), Beolab 2 (Sub) (Awesome speakers even though people slate B&O to my ears they are sublime, had them 20+ years and still blow many top end speakers away with pure clarity sound. (Proper home cinema)

 

[Paul.]

I have been asking this same question for a while now. I decided against buying a new set for the time being, but will share my thoughts with you.

I was looking in to the Panasonic 42G30 and 42ST30. The 50G30 would be too big for my lounge, I have a viewing distance of about 2.5m.

Firstly, I too am a little confused on the THX mode. Many say it is green tinged, but apparently it is tuned for mid panel life when the tv has settled down a bit. So don’t use the THX mode for a few months 🙂

The G30 and ST30 are based on similar panel designs but the ST does have the better coating giving better blacks. It really does come down to the toys, will you use DLNA and the PVR functionality? Are you likely to buy some screen calibration tools so you can make use of the professional calibration settings on the G? I chose no.

I found my self leaning towards the ST (or spending extra on the GT for safety) . My thinking on the subject is that as I have a full Apple Airplay setup of Laptop, iOS devices and Atv2, I'm never realistically going to use DLNA. (you may want to). My content is all through purchased media or streamed content such as Netflix and Love Film, so I have no need for the PVR functionality of the G. Also I thought the ST display looked pretty good out of the box, I’m not much of a tinkerer when it comes to screens so don’t think I would bother with the calibration tools.

I am leaning towards the ST because of the 3D even though I am not a fan. I dislike 3D very much, and want it to go away. But I worry 'something' will come along to change my mind. For instance Werner Hertzog has had a punt at a 3D documentary. Since it now costs practically nothing extra to have a 3D panel I think it would be wise to prepare for a film maker with skill changing my mind on 3D, rather than risk buying a new panel a year down the line.

 

[tigetspill]

I was looking in to the Panasonic 42G30 and 42ST30. The 50G30 would be too big for my lounge, I have a viewing distance of about 2.5m.

Viewing distances was one of the things I was thinking about. I too am about 2.5m from the screen.

But the THX guidelined at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimum_HDTV_viewing_distance siggest a viewing distance of 1.5m to 2.2m for a 50" screen. So I think a 50" at 2.5m would be fine.

Decisions, Decisions!

 

[Anonymous]

i have a panny 37" plasma which is superb. i too wanted to upgrade to the 42" plasma range.

bought the g30b from amazon and returned it due to chronic picture performance.

the model i received was so dark i couldn't keep it. tried tweeking settings for 3 weeks and still couldnt find a a decent picture.

also had brightness fluctuation issues - firmware upgrade did not resolve this.

i'm looking at the st30 as the above set is floored in my opinion.

maybe i got a dud set but still want the st .

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest the 50G30 if you don't require 3D as it has deeper blacks, more calibration options and better aesthetics IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

I would suggest the 50G30 if you don't require 3D as it has deeper blacks...

It is actually the ST30 that has the better black levels when compared to the G30 series.

 

[tigetspill]

Well, I went for the P50G30 in the end. It arrived this morning as promised from Currys.

The only word I can use is fantastic!!

I moved my 4 year old Panny (full HD) to the other room.

The main difference I can see is the darks are so much darker. And it is much lighter to carry even though it is a much bigger set.

I know many people sad the GT model has the better filter for "blacks". Well, the G model has amazing blacks (and that is in a fairly bright room). Maybe the *T models are better, but I wonder if you would only notice them on an A-B comparison with them sitting beside each other.

At £549, if you dont need 3D, I cant see how the extra cost is justified.

The only thing I realised is that my Denon 1910 amp doesnt have ARC allowing the TV audio to be fed back to the amp over the HDMI. No big deal - just used the optical output from the TV to the AMP.

Have to set up the DLNA server on my QNAP and we are good to go. Maybe a bit of picture tweaking to see what happen.

Anyway - very happy.