Pros: Great blacks, excellent color accuracy in the THX mode, and a good value for the dollar.

Cons: Very limited light output (Brightness) in the THX mode.

To Buy or Not To Buy? If you are a movie enthusiast, and looking for color accuracy, this panel is currently the best plasma money can buy.  
 

Panasonic's TH-58V10, the 58-inch version of the acclaimed THX certified V10 series, is an awesome panel with very accurate color provided you are in the THX mode. It is definitely Panasonic's best plasma from an accuracy standpoint, but it is not its company's brightest panel. This issue can be corrected during the calibration process by effectively creating a Day mode calibration with the Custom Mode, and using the THX mode for the Night mode for critical movie viewing. The one thing that is sacrificed when not in the THX mode is the accuracy of the primary and secondary colors.  

Contrast Ratio:  While the Contrast Ratio on the TC-P58V10 is quite good thanks to its excellent blacks, it could be improved in THX mode if the light output were not so limited. I typically can only get between 28 to 30 fTL of peak light output from this panel, when I would like to have about 40. If you look at the CalMan Pro file you will see that the gamma curve is a nearly perfect 2.2. I hope Panasonic will take notice of the many consumers complaining about this issue, and addressing it with their next generation models. 

Color Accuracy: Overall color accuracy on the 58V10 is superb, but only in the THX mode. This mode delivers nearly dead nuts on accurate primary and secondary colors, which is something few panels can claim. However, the grayscale in the Warm 2 Color temperature is distinctly minus blue, which gives skin tones and dark grays a particularly reddish look.  Calibrating the grayscale in the Service Menu takes care of the issue completely. 

Video processing: Panasonic has finally solved their video processing problems with 1080p/24fps content on Blu-ray. Earlier models with the 48Hz option exhibited extremely unstable performance with 24p making the feature unusable. Now, with their new 96Hz version it works very well to eliminate the jutter artifacts without introducing any other types of artifacts.     

Wrapping up: Since the demise of Pioneer's plasma business, and the fact that their top rated Elite panels are no longer available, Panasonic's V10 series is, as of now, the best plasma money can buy. The V10 panels come in 50, 54, 58, and 65-inch screen sizes.

The Data: Panasonic TC-P58V10 Calibration Report

TweakTV Suggested Settings: Panasonic Suggested Settings

 Keywords: Panasonic TC-P58V10, Panasonic plasma, Panasonic THX plasma, THX certfited HDTV, Panasonic plasma picture quality, Panasonic 1080p, Panasonic blu ray, Panasonic calibration settings

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