Panasonic TC-P50U1 Plasma HDTV Review - Blacks & Whites

Blacks & Whites Summary
Editorial Note: This is a review of the Panasonic TC-P50U1. Test results are for this model, but should indicate the general performance of other sizes in the TC-PxxU1 series. The TC-PxxU1 series includes the following models: TC-P42U1, TC-P46U1, and TC-P50U1.  Read here for more details on series differences.
• Excellent black levels • Very dim peak brightness • Adequate contrast ratio • Testing done using DisplayMate Software
	Tour & Design	Page 3 of 18	Color Accuracy

Black Level (9.99)

Like most plasma televisions, the Panasonic TC-P50U1 produced excellent black levels. This is because when a pixel is asked to appear black, that charge going to that pixel can be turned off entirely – black is black. LCD televisions, on the other hand, use a backlight that can never fully be turned off.

The Panasonic TC-P50U1 produced a black level of 0.04 c/m2. That's an excellent score, even among plasmas TVs. 

Black Level
Compare the Panasonic TC-P50U1 to other HDTVs
Samsung PN50B430 50 inches	Vizio SV471XVT 47 inches	Sony KDL-52XBR9 52 inches

Peak Brightness (0.95)

Ah, the downside of plasma TVs. While black levels look great, plasma TVs have a hard time producing very bright whites on par with LCDs. The issue is heat. Plasmas are quite literally using super-heated plasma gas, and producing the color white requires the strongest possible charge. If the TV really tried to light every pixel at the highest possible setting, it would melt. Therefore, the charge is limited and, hence, the brightness of the whites are reduced. This has the added effect of "white falloff," discussed further down this page.

Peak Brightness

At best, the Panasonic TC-P50U1 produced a very poor peak brightness of 36.02 cd/m². This is so far below the performance of an LCD TV it's laughable. 

Contrast (5.86)

While the black level performance on the Panasonic TC-P50U1 was impressive, the peak brightness was so low that the overall contrast is a modest 901:1. We've seen much worse from plasma TVs, so this is nothing to scoff at. However, the enormous contrast ratio on the competing Sony KDL-52XBR9 is rather overwhelming. 

Contrast

Tunnel Contrast (0.0)

Tunnel contrast measures the TV's ability to maintain deep blacks regardless of how much surrounding white is on the screen. Most TVs have no problem with this, and the Panasonic TC-P50U1 did just fine, as well. The black levels were rock steady. 

Tunnel Contrast

White Falloff (9.57)

White falloff measures how well a TV maintains its bright whites, regardless of how much white or black is on the screen. This is a problem area for many plasma TVs (see the Peak Brightness section above for more details). And while we were disappointed with the Panasonic TC-P50U1's peak brightness, it did manage to keep those whites even no matter what percentage of the screen was black or white. It's a small victory. 

White Falloff

Uniformity (9.75)

The screen uniformity on the Panasonic TC-P50U1 is great. It's no surprise, as most plasmas TV do well here. The blacks were completely even, as were the whites. 

Greyscale Gamma (7.52)

The greyscale measures the smoothness of transitions from black to white. You can see from the shape of the curve here that there is some unevenness in the darker areas, so expect banding in some shadows. However, as it transitions from mids to brights, the curve is nice and smooth.

Greyscale Gamma

Resolution Scaling (7.03)

The Panasonic TC-P50U1 is a native 1080p television. We wanted to see how the TV can handle video that's not in a 1080p format. 

480p
At 480p, the TC-P50U1 lost 2% of the image on all sides, an issue called overscanning. However, the image quality was quite good. 

720p
The 720p content also lost 2% of the image on each side. There was some minor issues with the appearance of Moire patterns in high frequency detail areas.

1080i
The 1080i video had no loss of image due to overscanning, but there was a huge problem with Moire patterns and false color appearing in high frequency areas. It's really terrible, and we've never see anything this bad before in this regard. See the image below, which is a photograph of the screen.

These high-frequency patterns would appear grey on most TVs. On the Panasonic TC-P50U1, certain patterns produced strong, false color.

All Models in the TC-PxxU1 Series
This is a review of the Panasonic TC-P50U1. The other sizes of HDTVs in this series should be similar in terms of performance and usability. For details about any differences, click on the image to jump to the Series Comparison page.
Panasonic TC-P42U1 42 inches	Panasonic TC-P46U1 46 inches	Panasonic TC-P50U1 50 inches