Plasma Displays

Black: 0.010
White: 33.9
Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 3,390:1

All of the measurements were taken in the Cinema mode, adjusted for the most accurate picture.

As the average picture brightness level increases, the peak white level decreases to 18.76 foot-lamberts with a full-white screen. All plasmas dim their output in this way to remain within the capabilities of their power supplies, which is why the full-screen white output is always lower than the white-window output. This dimming is not apparent to the eye.

The TH-50PZ85U calibrated reasonably well. The color-tracking charts show how closely a display adheres to the D65 standard. The tighter the colors overlap in this chart, the closer the result is to the D65 standard. The pre-calibration result shown here is for the Warm color-temperature setting. It’s respectable, but it was improved after calibration. We’ve seen better from a purely technical standpoint, but the deviations in the post-calibration results should be largely invisible to the eye with normal program material.

The white triangle in the pie-shaped CIE chart shows the set’s measured color space. The ATSC color standard is shown in the black triangle. There are no user-selectable alternate color space options on the Panasonic, nor any color management system that might offer the opportunity to move the color points (with appropriate test tools). While the Panasonic’s red and green are oversaturated, that’s the case with most consumer HDTVs. Turning down the Color control cannot move the color points and alter the color space, but it does reduce the visibility of these deviations.

The Panasonic’s luma (black-and-white) resolution is superb in 1080i/p up to the limit of our resolution test patterns. The chroma (color) resolution was a bit more limited but still satisfactory. The resolution was good at 720p, fair at 480i, and excellent again at 480p (within the limits of the 480i/p formats).—TJN