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Duels: Battle of the Five Star Products >

3D TV: Samsung C7000 vs Panasonic VT20

Pierre-Jean Alzieu
Updated: June 7, 2010

On the left, we have the Samsung UE46C700, with its 3D LCD display and lateral LED backlighting.  Along with the Sony Bravia 40EX503, one of most popular TV reviews of the moment. |
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| 		On the right, the Panasonic Viera TX-P50VT20, a plasma 3D TV, with Infinite Black Pro for incredible contrast and very wide viewing angles.

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MARCHANDS €
 
 
Very  1999.00 
Compare prices
LCD with active 3D technology
 | Plasma with active 3D technology
1920 x 1080 pixels | 1920 x 1080 pixels
Available as 40'', 46'' and 55''
 | Available as 55'' and 65''
HDMI (x4), SCART (x2), Component (x2), Composite, VGA | HDMI (x4), SCART (x2), Component, Composite, VGA
16.8 kg at 46'' without stand
 | 27.5 kg at 50'' without stand
Ships without 3D glasses
 | Comes with two pairs of 3D glasses
Glasses: around £60 a pair
 | Glasses: from £140 a pair


BACKGROUND

The C7000 was the first 3D TV we ever reviewed, and comes with Edge LED backlighting, Motion Plus 200 Hz to make fast movements in films appear smoother and, most importantly, 2D-to-3D conversion, so you can make the most of your new investment despite the current scarcity of 3D content. |
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 		The VT20's 3D display uses plasma, instead of LCD.  It comes in 50'' and 65'' and has Panasonic's Infinite Black Pro technology which promises incredible contrast ratios.  The bad news is that Panasonic didn't include 2D-to-3D conversion on its first 3D TV ...

It's hardly the first time we've looked at the rivalry between LCD and plasma TVs, but is one technology perhaps more suited to 3D than the other?  To find out, we've put two heavyweights from either side of the divide up against each other.

 

HARDWARE: SAMSUNG WINS


Our two TVs both received an excellent final score in our reviews, but Samsung did better in this section: the VT20 came out with four stars, but the C7000 had four.

Multimedia player: the C7000 can access content on external peripherals formatted using both NTFS and FAT32, meaning you can access files larger than 2 GB.  The majority of the HD videos we tried that we'd encoded as AVC (x264) files encapsulated in MKV worked without a problem.  On the other hand, M2TS and MTS aren't supported.  And as long as your subtitles are included in a different file to the video itself, they'll work fine.  Next to such an impressive performance, the VT20's media player is less appealing.  It can only work with devices formatted as FAT32 and offers support for a very small range of formats.

Design: like most LED-backlit TVs, Samsung's is incredibly thin at under 3 cm from front to back.  It's one of the slimmest we've seen so far.  The 50'' version of the VT20 is three times thicker at 9 cm.  Its bezel is bigger than we like and the whole thing perches on a rather basic round stand.  All in all, we had a hard time convincing ourserlves that the VT20 is at the top of Panasonic's range.		 |
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 		Remote Control: once again, Samsung takes the lead.  The new remote has undergone a thorough redesign and is now more refined and backlit, with glossy black plastic making way for a finish that does a good job of looking like brushed aluminium.  The buttons have also been updated, and now sit flush with the surface, making the remote easier to clean.  Panasonic, meanwhile, hasn't updated its remotes for years.  We would have been more impressed with backlighting and a more classy finish.

Panel: both of these TVs share the same weakness in having a glossy panel.  It might look good, but as soon as a window or other light source falls in line with the screen, the effect is ruined.  Any dark areas are instantly transformed into mirrors.

3D DISPLAY: A DRAW

3D Display: both TVs do a good job of displaying 3D, and the effect is just as impressive as it is at the cinema.  Objects appear to fly out of the screen and there's a real sense of depth of field.  However, these new 3D TVs still have some problems.  We noticed some crosstalk during our tests, with Samsung's suffering slightly more.  This interference between the frames destined for the left and right eye results in some objects appearing twice.

Fortunately, though, very few of our test clips suffered this problem, and our tests revealed that both TVs are more susceptible to crosstalk with light objects against a dark background than with dark objects on a light background, where the problem is much less visible.

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 2D-to-3D Conversion: it's still too early for there to be a lot of 3D content readily available.  Unlike Panasonic, Samsung gives you the option of watching television, DVDs or standard Blu-ray discs in 3D, and the results are stunning.  The experience is great, even if it isn't as good as a genuine 3D source.  Be careful, though, as we noticed a couple of problems with this feature.  Some details from the background accidentally make it into the foreground, while other parts of the frame are much deeper than they should be, and the effect looks very odd.

Although most people like this 'alternative' to 3D, some viewers will prefer to stick to 2D for 2D sources.

PICTURE QUALITY: PANASONIC WINS

Incredible picture quality: this time, it's Panasonic that's out in front.  The VT20 offers unrivalled deep blacks, natural colours and a detailed picture.  The whole thing is absolutely faultless.  Samsung, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have solved some of the problems encountered on its earlier TVs from the B6000, B7000 and B8000 families, including the fact that the dynamic backlighting stays on the whole time, whether you like it or not.  Demanding viewers always prefer to have more control over their screen.  For most people, though, this problem is barely noticeable, and can even be a plus in some cases, depending on taste.



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 Narrow viewing angles: if Panasonic was just a notch ahead of Sony in our general picture quality tests, then the former's lead was confirmed by its wide open viewing angles.  Samsung's TV suffers from very narrow viewing angles because of its PVA LCD display, which, unlike plasma, negatively affects the quality as you move away from its centre line.

AUDIO QUALITY: PANASONIC WINS

Quality: thinner TVs usually produce worse sound than thicker ones, and the Samsung C7000 is no exception to the rule.  The sound lacks detail, with bass practically inexistent and high sounds few and far between.  Panasonic's audio is better than we've come to expect, though.  Despite that though, we recommend a dedicated Home Cinema audio system for use with both TVs if you want your ears to have as much fun as your eyes.
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ENERGY CONSUMPTION: SAMSUNG WINS


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 		Energy Consumption, a plasma problem? Plasma TVs are often criticised for using a lot of energy, and the VT20 is a perfect illustration of this.  Our equipment showed consumption of 302 W, but with just 126 W from its 46'' version, the Samsung is much more efficient.

VERDICT:
PANASONIC FOR DEMANDING VIEWERS,
SAMSUNG FOR THE MEDIA PLAYER

We are happy to recommend the VT20 for anybody who wants the very best quality picture.  It's an excellent television that produces incredible results in both 2D and 3D.

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 But the C7000 has a great design and a perfectly good picture, and we found it to be a better all-rounder than its rival.  Avid gamers or anybody else who likes connecting their computer up to their TV will prefer it, despite the progress made by recent plasma panels against the problems of screen burn.

Samsung's media player also worked with the majority of the video we tried, which we can't say of Panasonic, and 2D-to-3D conversion is very handy while there aren't many native 3D sources.

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