Panasonic’s 50 inch TC-P50VT20 1080p Full HD, 3D plasma HDTV has a near identical specification to the flagship, award winning Panasonic VT25 series. CNET Editors awarded the VT25 series both the “Best of Show” and “Best in Television” awards at the CES 2010. Panasonic has also named the 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its outstanding contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by manufacturing energy-efficient products. Panasonic has quadrupled the luminous efficiency of it’s plasma panels compared to 2007 models effectively reducing energy consumption by a truly significant 75%.

Pioneer’s 2010 models are the first to benefit from design input from plasma HDTV engineers previously with Pioneer. The quality of this HDTV speaks for how well the collaboration is working. Color rendering is accurate, black levels are very deep and the dynamic contrast ratio is 5,000,000:1.

The specification differences compared to VT25 are minor with the VT20 model missing out on;

• 24p playback for more realistic playback of 24 fps video (movie) source material
• ISFccc options allowing professional calibration of ISF Day and ISF Night modes for best image quality in different lighting conditions.
• RS232C port for remote home cinema control

For full details of other features of the Panasonic TC-P50VT20 read our recent review of the Panasonic VT25 3D LED LCD HDTV series.