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  • Tour & Design

  • Performance Features

  • Connectivity & Media

  • Controls, Menu & Remote

  • Conclusion

  • Tour & Design
  • Performance Features
  • Connectivity & Media
  • Controls, Menu & Remote
  • Conclusion

Tour & Design

The front of the TC-P65V10's screen is surrounded by a glossy black bezel. At the bottom is a gray strip of plastic and the TV's power button. We caught a peek of one of the booth people flipping down the gray piece to reveal some on-TV controls, but we weren't able to get a good look at what they were.

The *TC-P65V10's facade is a bit plain.
*

**Sides**

There weren't any interesting features on the sides of the TC-P65V10. The sides are only two inches thick, so this is understandable.

**Stand/Mount**

The TC-P65V10 can be wall mounted or attached to a swiveling stand. 

 

Aesthetics

The TC-P65V10 looks a bit plain, at least from the front view. The glossy black plastic bezel makes it it look like any other understated TV. The large screen size coupled with a thin form factor does bump up the cool factor a bit, but overall, there isn't much to this TV that grabbed us. 

Performance Features

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.

Since this was a unit on the show floor, there's really no telling if this will be present in the final model. The unit we were looking at could very well have been pre-production. This being said, we certainly hope the issue is addressed before the TV ships.

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.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

Unfortunately, the TC-P65V10 was located pretty close to the wall, so we didn't get a great look at the ports. From what it looks like, the TV has 2 composite, 2 component, 4 analog audio in, vga, 3.5 audio in for computer. digital audio out, and 3 HDMI ports. Although we didn't see it anywhere, the TV probably has an ethernet port and an SD card slot somewhere, because it features VIERA Cast (streaming video) and VIERA Image Viewer.

These two pictures were taken around the right and left sides of the TV

respectively. The TV itself was only a few inches away from the wall,

so we were unable to get a proper shot of the ports.

Media & Other Connectivity

The TC-P65V10 has Panasonic's VIERA Image Viewer, which will let you play back stills and AVCHD video via the TV's SD card slot. The TV also has VIERA Cast, which lets users stream videos from services like Amazon Video and On Demand.

Placement

The placement of these ports seems to be bad. They're located in the middle of the back of the TV, in a slight recess. We don't think anyone could feasibly reach the ports without moving the TV at least a little bit. Fortunately, the TV can sit on a swivel mount, which helps. Overall, however, we would've liked to have seen better east of access, such as ports on the side of the device.

Audio

The device has two small speakers, located towards the left and right edges of the screen's back. Specs on their wattage were not avaiable.

Due to space constraints, we were unable to take

a picture providing either context or a sense of scale. The TV is about

three times as tall as what's displayed in the picture, and this is the middle third.

 

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

The TV's remote was not availble on the show floor.

Controls

We were unable to see the on-TV controls, since we only got a brief glance when a booth operator opened the front panel. It looked to be the standard set, however: volume, channel, menu, and input. There was also a power button on the front of the TV.

This was the only on-TV control we were able to photograph.

 

Menu

We weren't allowed to open the TV's menu.

Conclusion

Compared to the TC-P54Z1 and TC-P54G10, the TC-P65V10 seems unimpressive. It doesn't have the ease of access or picture quality (at least to our eyes) as the TC-P54G10, and it doesn't have the sleek, virtually cord-free design of the TC-P54Z1. It does have a bigger screen size, however. The TC-P65V10 features VIERA Cast and VIERA Image Viewer, which add a bit of functionality above and beyond other TVs. This being said – and until our lab tests prove otherwise – the TC-P65V10 seems to have a relatively lower image quality than the other Panasonic HDTVs we've seen at CES.

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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