Panasonic Plasma 2011 Models Energy Consumption/Rising Black Levels

[sound10]

Hi everyone, as the title of this thread suggests, is it now much of an issue as it used to be please. I have just read another glowing Panasonic Plasma review in the latest WHF magazine and it seems that the 2011 range is getting excellent reviews all round. Has any member swapped from say a LCD to a large Pansonic Plasma and noticed higher bills ? With energy prices going up all the time and the fact that the tv will be used quite a lot, just have to ask the question. Also, with regards to rising black levels, have they now been sorted or do they still rise, but at a slower rate. Thanks, your help is much appreciated

 

[Oldboy]

I found going from a Sony lcd to a Panasonic G20 from last year showed very little increase in power consumption and when i got the GT30 this year the power consumption is a bit better than the G20 so for me at least the difference in power consumption is very minor between the two technologies when measured with my household power meter.

Of course i can't compare with lcd/led tvs from the past two years so they may well have got even better with regards power consumption but the gap is not large, you will barely notice any difference to your annual bill when owning a plasma tv, i certainly can't say my electricity bill has increased by much atall since i switched to plasma and i keep a very close eye on my consumption.

As for the rising black levels for this years tvs i haven't seen any figures for that yet but from what i have read elsewhere it does seem like far less of an issue when compared to last year but i guess only time will tell with regard to this but the lack of articles or forum discussion on the subject does bode well...so far.

 

[sound10]

Hi Oldboy, many thanks for your reply. Looks like Plasma technology has significantly improved which is good to hear. Rumour is that at CES 2012, Panasonic will be launching bigger size LCD TV's that overlap in size with their Plasma range. If Pansonic can make large screen LCD TV'using high quality S-PVA/S-IPS Panels with minimal backlight bleed, deep contrast and fast response times, then I may go down the LCD route. What worries me about Plasma is that if I spend a decent amount on one say 2k, then it will always be at the back of my mind that everytime it is on, the picture is getting worse very slowly over time. Also, there seem to be issues with Panasonic 2011 models re green tinge. Let's hope everything is sorted with their 2012 models. I did speak to somebody who has a VT30. The person told me that it's an excellent TV, however, for 3D, need to close the curtains. I have a bright room and I don't want to be having to watch TV in the dark lol. Will see what is launched by Panasonic at CES 2012 and take it from there. Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

Have to disagree about the excellent reviews all round. I have been very disappointed with them and returned mine to exchange for an panasonic LED which outperformed the plasma in several areas. Which? magazine which is very well respected and who are usually quite fond of panasonic tv's were also highly critical of this years range as a step backwards compared to previous years. It's just my opinion but What hi fi seem to have a blind spot for panny plasmas. Re power use, the panasonic 42 inch led's use approx 67watts and the G range panny plasmas approx 215 watts pre optimised. If in THX mode ( which is the only way to get a picture that is bright enough to watch on a g range plasma imo) it jumps to nearly 300 watts, which is a lot of watts for a tv! How that translates into your bill i don't know.

 

[Oldboy]

What you have to bear in mind is that all tvs regardless of technology have a lifespan, it's true that some plasma tvs have black degradation over time but not all suffer from this and those that do seem to be at the budget end of the market. So far i have not read one single article or forum subject stating that this years GT and VT plasmas suffer like last years G20 and V20 did and normally the subject is quick to arise and the figures out there for all to see.

The problem for me with any lcd or led tv is backlight bleed and when i auditioned all the contenders this year to the Panasonic plasmas it was a problem that was widespread and a complete lottery, you were either lucky and got one that had no issues or you got one with the dreaded torches pearing out of the corners of the screen. Most retailers and indeed the manufacturers themselves don't even regard it is a fault so if you get one that suffers then you are stuck with it and that, for me personally, was enough to push me to plasma even though the same situation is there when it comes to image retention or burn on plasma tvs.

As for the green tinge you mention there is a thread on this subject on these very forums about it and it's a widely reported issue with the VT30 model which Panasonic have yet to comment on or address and there are videos of it on youtube that you can view. The issue doesn't seem to affect the GT30 range like it does the VT30 for some reason and my tv shows absolutely no sign of it although i'm on my 3rd GT30 as the first two had unrelated faults, the first one i had did show signs of it but the others didn't which i found strange.

Of course not every VT30 tv seems to suffer from the problem and of course the web will be awash with the negatives instead of the positives...the only way to know is to judge with your own eyes and audition the tv for yourself.

As for closing the curtains for 3D, i don't have that issue but it's a case of just how much light gets into your room and it's true that if you get alot of light into the room then the 3D is more comfortable and better viewed with the curtains drawn. High light levels also affect the black levels on a plasma tv too and you can find blacks going slightly grey in colour in a bright room which is something to consider, Panasonics range this year are better at coping with this due to new screen filters but it does still happen.

As for the comments from Fraz he had an issue with a G30 tv he purchased which imo was faulty but take his comments on board as everyone has a differing opinion on plasma tvs but from what i have seen and indeed exerienced for myself this years Panasonic plasmas are excellent but then that's just my opinion.

Hope next years efforts tempt you