What Hi-Fi? Verdict
Impeccable big-screen performance at an eye-catching price
Pros
- +
Strong performance in every area bar sound
- +
the price/screen-size ratio is good
Cons
- -
Robust competition from within the family
- -
not the most handsome device
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After its supernatural show of strength in our 2011 Awards (particularly for the GT30 series), Panasonic is back with a more modestly priced, more modestly specified contender. And back with the same clarity of purpose it’s been exhibiting all year.
The savings (this ST30 is a couple of hundred pounds less expensive than its Award-winning TX-P50GT30 relative) are evident from the spec-sheet.
This set does without the Freesat tuner, THX certification, wireless streaming and USB recording of its pricier sibling.
The ST30’s an impressive across-the-board performer. 3D images, while inevitably a trifle dim, are solid, virtually immune from cross-talk and, for an active-shutter system, not at all fatiguing. 2D Blu-ray images are brighter, handle motion equally well and draw from an extensive and entirely believable colour palette.
Accomplished DVD upscaler
As an upscaler of DVDs the TV is just as accomplished as Panasonic’s Blu-ray players, and pictures from the analogue and the digital TV tuners are vivid, low-noise and stable.
