Panasonic Viera TC-L42U30

Black Level (5.10)

Because it is so difficult to optimize performance in terms of color settings, under the best possible calibration the Panasonic TC-L42U30 has an absolutely abysmal black level of 0.38 cd/m ², which makes it even worse than the older Panasonic TC-L42U25. It is possible to lower the backlight or contrast to improve this level, but you would hurt color performance significantly. Typically, black levels in Panasonic LCD TVs have been pretty poor, but this reading ranks among the worst. More on how we test black level.

Read Reviews of Comparison Products
Panasonic Viera TC-L42U25	Sony Bravia KDL-40EX400	Sharp LC-42SB48UT

Peak Brightness (8.61)

Unlike older Panasonic LCD TVs, the Panasonic TC-L42U30 has a much higher peak brightness, measuring in at 326.11 cd/m ². The LED backlighting seems to have dramatically improved the brightness of the display. This is a welcome surprise from Panasonic, whose LCD screens typically perform poorly in this area. More on how we test peak brightness.

Contrast (5.79)

Possibly due to its inconsistent black and white performance, the Panasonic TC-L42U30 has an unimpressive but passable contrast ratio of 858:1. This result is not surprising, considering the performance of the other Panasonic comparison model; neither is the fact that the advertised contrast ratio does not appear in either the manual or the advertised technical specifications for the Panasonic TC-L42U30 online. It is important to note that like the Panasonic TC-L42U25 before it, the Panasonic TC-L42U30 scored very well in greyscale gamma, meaning that it is capable of displaying detail in shadow very well. More on how we test contrast.

Tunnel Contrast (9.79)

The Panasonic TC-L42U30 had extremely few problems maintaining a consistent black level, which is to be expected from an LCD TV. More on how we test tunnel contrast.

White Falloff (9.87)

The Panasonic TC-L42U30 had even fewer troubles with maintaining a consistent brightness, again to be expected of an LCD TV. More on how we test white falloff.

Uniformity (7.63)

The Panasonic TC-L42U30 had a fairly decent screen uniformity, with only minor false coloration near the corners while displaying an all-white screen, and tiny flares on an all-black screen. There did not seem to be much blotchiness across the entirety of the screen, and any imperfection in the screen uniformity will be almost undetectable to the human eye, much less become a major distraction. The LED backlighting seems to have provided the Panasonic TC-L42U30 with the solution to many of the uniformity issues suffered by the Panasonic TC-L42U25. More on how we test white falloff.

Greyscale Gamma (9.10)

In terms of greyscale gamma, the Panasonic TC-L42U30 performed very well. Greyscale gamma measures how well a TV set transitions from black to white along a greyscale. While the transition from black to white had a minor hiccup near the beginning, which you can see as the jagged point on the line, the Panasonic TC-L42U30 displayed an even transition very close to ideal.

The slope of the line came very close to the ideal range of 2.1 to 2.2, measuring in at 2.35. This means that although some of the darker shades may not display properly due to the reasons discussed above, on the whole you will be able to see more shades along the greyscale, and more shades displayed accurately than on some other TVs. More on how we test greyscale gamma.

Other Models in the TC-LxxU30 Series
For more information on other models in this series, check our Series Comparison Page.
Panasonic Viera TC-L32U3 32 in.	Panasonic Viera TC-L37U3 37 in.