Since Pioneer stopped making their much loved but expensive Kuro’s, Panasonic have been regarded by many as the next best for Plasma screens, they even purchased the Pioneers technology in the field. TechRadar has spent some time with Panasonics latest offering the TX-P50G30B.

It is the most specified model in the 2D TV Panasonic range as well as being the largest. The screen despite being plasma is quite slim at 70mm at its widest point, and is pleasing to the eye. Build quality is what you can expect from a Panasonic set.

You get a built-in Freeview HD tuner and full HD resolution at 1920 x 1080 pixels. The screen has been THX and Image Science Foundation certified. It has Panasonic’s own Viera Connect portal which has plenty of apps available. BBC iPlayer with HD content is available along with Acetrax, CineTrailer, Eurosport, and YouTube.

There are plenty of connection options available with four HDMI inputs including one on the side, and you also have three USB inputs. When watching Blu-rays the Panasonic offers excellent picture quality, with great sharpness and natural color performance. As you would expect with plasma black levels are impressive, with no backlighting issues found on CCFL and LED based screens.

The review found the Panasonic to have some faults but is probably the best 2D set currently available. You can pick one up for around £1,000 with some Panasonic dealers offering a free 5 year Panasonic warranty currently. You can find out more at the official product page here.

What makes this TV so special is its 600Hz Sub-field Drive, so if you are into sports, then the 50-inch VIERA TC-P50U2 is the TV for you. Some of the main specs are as follows: 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 6,144 shades of gradation, JPEG compatibility, and much more.

One reviewer on Amazon said that they were happy with the purchase of this television. They do point to the fact that the TC-P50U2 does not have anti-glare, but says that it is no such problem when you have a dark room, which is when the TV comes into its own. Get more buyer reviews here.

While looking on the Dell website we can see that one reviewer has left a huge review for this aging TV. The first thing mentioned is just how heavy the TV is, as well as a fear that image burn still exists on Plasmas TVs. The first reaction to the image quality was not that good, but all it took was a few adjustments to the contrast setting and all was fine. As for that burn image issue, it does not happen with the Panasonic TC-P50U2. Get more details on this and other reviews on Dell.

We also had a look on the Consumer reports website, and looking at the average user reviews, the TV scored an impressive 5 stars. Read all of the reviews here.

Do you own the Panasonic 50-inch VIERA TC-P50U2, what do you think?