Panasonic Viera TC-P65V10

Display Size & Technology
The TC-P65V10 is a 65-inch plasma TV. The absence of a backlight means plasma TVs generally aren't as bright as LCD screens, but also means they can offer deeper blacks and a higher contrast ratio. Plasma TVs also have a higher risk of image burn-in.

The V10 series will also come in 58, 54, and 50-inch screen sizes. The 50-inch model will be available May 2009, while the remaining models will roll out this summer.

The contrast ratio on the TC-P65V10 seemed very good.

Format & Resolution
The TC-P65V10 runs 1080p, with a 1920x1080 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Brightness, Blacks & Contrast Ratio
Contrast ratios, as given out by the manufacturer, are typically unrealistic. Typical tricks include boosting settings that ruin the overall picture quality, or, for LCDs, turning off the backlight to measure the blacks. The TC-P65V10 has a manufacturer-stated contrast of 40,000:1, which seems high, although not as high as some of the millions to one contrast ratios we've seen. If you'd like a realistic contrast value based on standardized tests, check back here when we get the TV into our labs.

Refresh Rate & Motion
We were actually a bit unimpressed by the TC-P65V10 regarding motion and smoothness. Motion seemed a bit jittery, especially compared to the TC-P54G10, which was sitting right next to it and playing the same video loop. We didn't see any motion blurring. It does need to be noted, however, that the TVs we see on the floor of CES are often pre-production units, we don't know how well it will handle motion for sure until we see a final version in the lab.

Viewing Angle
Like all good plasmas, the TC-P65V10 has an impressive viewing angle. There was no point where we noticed the quality plummet in any significant sense. Once we got past the 70º mark the colors got slightly desaturated, but not by a significant amount.

One thing we did notice, however, was that there seemed to be a bit of a screen reflection once you weren't viewing the TV straight on. We only noticed this when there was a light foreground on top of a dark background.

Color
The TC-P65V10's color representation seemed to be about average. The colors didn't look as vibrant as they did on some of the surrounding TVs that were playing the same videos. As mentioned above, the viewing angle caused the colors to lose a bit of their vibrance, but not by a lot.  Viewing angle didn't change color quality significantly, although a bit of luster was lost at extreme angles. Bright colors did seem to bleed slightly around their edges, but only very slightly.