We’ve assigned “Reference Level” ratings to no less than three of Panasonic’s 2013 plasma ranges, starting from the GT60 and up. Each one is marginally better than the last, but the ratings reflect the fact that we were completely satisfied with all of them, and couldn’t see any areas that had been degraded by human error or pointless misfeatures (minor luma and chroma frequency response quirks notwithstanding, but denying a rating based on these would be needlessly punitive).
As is typically the case with high-end AV, the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65′s outstanding performance comes at a high price tag (especially in Europe compared to other markets). That means that buyers will pay a large premium for access to the unique Air Gapless Filter feature, which does away with internal reflections (which we didn’t find to be a problem on the VT65 series), and also appears to increase contrast performance gradually.
It’s a shame Panasonic didn’t see fit to bring the 65-inch version of the ZT65/ZT60 to Europe. We imagine that for interested buyers, this will result in many hours of deliberation in an attempt to pick between a cheaper, bigger 65in VT, or spending more cash to get a better quality 60-inch ZT. (America gets 65″ versions of both, but in Europe we were treated to the affordable and outstanding GT60 series, which that territory didn’t get in any size).
We’re a little disappointed that a 3DTV of the 60ZT65B’s calibre is still using single-scan 3D, which perversely means that it’s beaten by considerably cheaper displays when it comes to outright 3-dimensional resolution. This method seems to provide other benefits for 3D playback, however, and it’s a minor point which is overshadowed many times by the 2D performance.
And it’s really the 2D performance which is of most interest to us and most of our readers, which is what we award the “Reference Level” rating based on. The Viera TX-P60ZT65B exhibits all of the typical Panasonic plasma qualities (and the very minor downsides), and new for 2013, does so with higher light output and higher levels of gradation than before – and provides both of these characteristics simultaneously without brightness tradeoffs. It also improves on last year’s black-level performance both during dark-room and bright-room viewing.
We’ve analysed several outstanding HDTVs in our time, and that has especially been the case in the last few months, where we’ve been treated to an onslaught of plasma televisions that are all phenomenal in one way or another. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but weighed up subjectively, the strengths of the TXP60ZT65B arguably do make it the best HDTV we’ve ever tested. Of course that doesn’t mean it’s perfect: if you don’t like Panasonic’s approach to panel driving (which, in our opinion, is a great balance between smooth, clean images and sufficient, but not total suppression of false contouring during motion) then you still won’t like the ZT. The same goes if you just flat out do not like plasma displays. We believe that the vast majority of viewers will be wowed by the picture quality of a calibrated TXP60ZT65, though.
Is it worth spending such a large sum of money on a television that “only” provides 1920×1080 resolution, when we know that Ultra-HD displays (3840×2160) are coming? Yes. Currently, we are in a very, very good spot for high quality image reproduction in the home. We have swathes of 1920×1080 Blu-ray Disc content that is best viewed 1:1 on a high quality 1920×1080 display. It is unlikely that consumer Plasma TVs in a higher resolution will be released due to the implementation challenges, meaning that the first wave of Ultra HD 4K TVs are all LCD-based. The Panasonic ZT65 will eventually be bettered by Ultra-HD OLED televisions, which are some way off and, resolution aside, are honestly unlikely to significantly improve on the outstanding picture quality that the best plasmas are offering right now.
So, there you have it. Panasonic have hardly set a foot wrong with their 2013 plasma range (and given the intensifying competition, that’s just as well), and the Viera ZT is the very best product that they have to offer. If you want lucid, emotive images that are of the highest quality available in your home today from a flat-screen TV, then there’s no better choice than the Panasonic TX-P60ZT65B.