Gadgetory

hi I'm David Katz Maya from CNET standing next to me is the Panasonic TCP 50s 62 50-inch plasma TV in 2013 it's the second cheapest that Panasonic makes this series also comes in a 40 to 55 60 and 65 inch size so nice breath in the s60 series this basic 1080p plasma series includes a little bit of Smart TV but the real benefit here is the picture quality the picture quality TV is excellent for the price one of the best pictures you can possibly get for the money we'll get to that in a little bit but first let's take a look at the styling Panasonic didn't try to do too much with the exterior they're set it's a pretty basic black all around the bezel is relatively thin this glossy black there's also a little bit of accent mark above and below the stand is not swivel but it is pretty low profile so all in all a very understated design feature set on the s60 is bare-bones the top of the list is this Smart TV suite it's really not like this Smart TV Suites of the step ups Panasonic's or even the Samsung's and LG's of the world however it's extremely basic you really only get six apps Netflix Amazon Instant boudu Hulu Plus cinema now and YouTube that's really all most people are going to want however most people don't really utilize all those bumpty and other apps found on a lot of those Smart TVs Suites so and that way if you like simple this is pretty good Panasonic also has built-in Wi-Fi so that's a nice touch on the flipside you're not going to find 3d or any of the other fancy features found on some of the step-up sets the real downside to that stripped down feature set is the back panel there's only two HDMI inputs available on this set we really feel like three is kind of the minimum these days with the amount of things that you want to connect of course you can always buy an external switch or something like that we do really nice Panasonic included that third HDMI input other connectivity includes a pair of USB ports and a component video port this set is also missing the SD card slot found in its step up brethren picture adjustments on the s6 you're actually pretty extensively going to the newly redesigned and much better menu system and find things like a color management system as well as five different picture presets there's also a few settings that address image retention which with a plasma TV like this if you use it normally isn't a big deal at all I mentioned the real story here is picture quality for the money the s60 isn't quite as good as the ST 60 we reviewed a little bit earlier but it is spectacular the real strength is deep black levels when you get into a door room that blacks on this-tv or as in keys and you'll see the downside happens when you turn up the lights however under bright lighting this TVs image does wash out because it doesn't have the same kind of dark screen finish found on more expensive plasmas so for extremely bright rooms I think this TVs not the best choice but if you do have pretty good control over ambient lighting it's an excellent deal that's a quick look at Panasonic's TCP s60 series I'm David Katz my resina