Best 3D TV Panasonic Viera TX-P50VT20
Panasonic's flagship 3D TV - the Viera TX-P50VT20
• Type: active shutter
• Size: 50-inch
• Price: £2300
• Extra glasses: £100 a pair
3D Pros: Superb depth, detail, sharpness and motion combine to deliver a cracking 3D effect, no ghosting
3D Cons: The hefty glasses are uncomfortable and the comparatively dim picture doesn’t cope well in bright conditions
Panasonic’s flagship VT20 puts in a great 3D performance and just, but only just, delivered the best 3D picture in our tests. Its picture is smooth and solid, without the ghosting glitches we found on rival models from Samsung, LG and especially Philips. On the downside, the picture is a bit dim and the 3D glasses are heavy and uncomfortable. Full test results for the VT20.
3D Picture
This TV’s 3D effect is superb. Move from side to side of the picture and the perspective seems to change, a cracking effect not quite matched on the other 3D TVs we tested.
Its detailed and sharp picture looks natural and our football, rugby and tennis sequences didn’t cause it too many problems.
Motion and panning are generally smooth and the faster response time of the Panasonic plasma screen means the ghosting we spotted on the Samsung, LG and Sony models isn’t a big issue here.
However, plasma displays don’t tend to be as bright as LCD screens – and it shows here. Put the 3D glasses on and the brightness and colour of the picture are immediately dulled - and with the lights turned up the picture becomes even darker.
Thankfully you can fiddle with the picture settings while in 3D mode to fix this.
Some slight picture noise in darker sequences is the only other minor flaw we found, elevating the VT20 to top slot for 3D picture quality.
3D Glasses
On the downside the frankly awful active-shutter glasses muddy the 3D experience. Heavy and uncomfortable to wear, they give you the appearance of a deep-sea diver (with or without the optional nose clip attached).
External light can leak into view, causing noticeable flickers and reflections in the periphery of vision.
This TV uses active shutter glasses which synchronise the TV via an infra-red signal and rapidly blink on and off, playing back full 1080p images to the right eye and left eye at a rate of 50 frames per second.
However, we wouldn't recommend buying on 3D performance alone. Our full test results reveal the full 2D picture performance.
