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  • Tour & Design

  • Performance Features

  • Connectivity & Media

  • Controls, Menu & Remote

  • Conclusion

  • Tour & Design
  • Performance Features
  • Connectivity & Media
  • Controls, Menu & Remote
  • Conclusion

Tour & Design

The TC-P54Z1 has a silver matte bezel on the top and bottom and a glossy black bezel on the two sides. On the left and right side of the TV are speakers.

The front of the TV integrates the gray boarders, gray speakers, and black bezel to create an impressive look

**Back**

The back of the TC-P54Z1 is actually featureless other than the mounting holes. All of the ports are on a separate box that the TV connects to wirelessly. 

The back of the TC-P54Z1 is very plain.

**Sides**

The sides of the TC-P54Z1 are a mere 1-inch thick, which is impressive. Other than that impressive narrowness, however, there isn't anything noteworthy on the television's sides. 

This side view is of the TV

facing forward. It's the inch-thick stripe

that's the lighter shade of gray. 

 

**Stand/Mount**

The TC-P54Z1 can either be mounted or sit on a swivel stand. 

 

Aesthetics

The TC-P54Z1 is an impressive-looking set. From the front it looks like an attractive TV, but add the remarkably thin profile and only a single cord, and its aesthetic appeal gets quite a boost.

Performance Features

Display Size & Technology

The TC-P54Z1 has a 54-inch plasma screen, but what's really impressive about this display is the thickness, or lack of it.

The front of the TC-P54Z1 looks sleek and attractive.

Format & Resolution

The TC-P54Z1 runs 1080p, which means it has a resolution of 1920x1080 and an aspect ratio of 16:9. 

Brightness, Blacks & Contrast Ratio

The spec sheet lists the TC-P54Z1's contrast ratio as 40,000:1. The blacks and whites seemed to be very deep and bright respectively, the 40,000:1 ratio seems a bit high. Manufacturer-stated contrast is often unreliable, so check back here for our lab-tested, standardized contrast measurement when we get this TV in for review.

Refresh Rate & Motion

We didn't notice any jitteriness during motion, any ghosting, or any artifacting. Of course, this was a demo on the show floor, so you'll have to wait until we get the TC-P54Z1 into our lab before we can verify our observations.

Viewing Angle

The viewing angle of this TV seems to be ridiculously good. We didn't notice any significant degradation in picture quality or contrast, even as we approached the 90º mark. The contrast does take a very slight hit at around 60º, but nothing you would notice unless you were looking for it. Of course Plasma HDTVs are known for improved viewing angles compared to LCDs, but the TC-P54Z1 seems good even by those standards.

Color

Colors didn't change much as we moved across viewing angles, except for darkening very, very slightly as you approach a right angle. Colors seemed very even across the whole screen, and looked vibrant.

Connectivity & Media

Audio & Video Ports

The TV itself has no ports, and instead connects wirelessly to a separate box that handles all wired connections. The front side of the box, has a plastic panel, under which are its ports. The front side has an SD card slot, HDMI port, S-Video port, composite cable ports, and a PC input. The back of the box has many, many ports. From left to right, you'll find an ethernet cable port, HDMI AV out, component and composite video out, digital audio out, two component cable input ports, a composite input port, three HDMI inputs, an HDMI output, a digital audio input, a PC input port, VIERA Cast LAN input, and an antenna cable in port.

The front of the box contains an SD card slot, HDMI port, S Video port,

composite cable ports, and a PC input.

These are the ports on the back of the box, which are numerous.

Media & Other Connectivity

Since this TV has Panasonic's VIERA Image Viewer, it can play back digital stills. New this year is support for AVCHD videos stored on an SD card as well.

Placement

Due to its unique design, the TC-P54Z1 has to have some of the best placement out of any TV. The box can go anywhere in the room, allowing for you to put it in a place where you can easily access both its front and back ports.

Audio

No information on the Z1's audio capabilities are currently available. As we always recommend, however, if you care about audio at all you should go out and get a dedicated surround sound system.

Controls, Menu & Remote

Remote

Unfortunately, the remote was not available on the show floor.

Controls

There is only one button on the TV: the power button. Every other control is located on the separate box. The controls on the box are input, menu, volume up/down, and channel up/down.

Menu

We were unable to get a look at the menu.

Conclusion

Since there was no price for the TC-P54Z1, it's hard to talk about its value. We're assuming it's going to be crazy expensive though, that wireless features isn't going to come cheap. On the plus side the TC-P54Z1 can hang on your wall unimpeded by cords, like a priceless work of art, on which you can display images of art if you wish. Image quality looked good on the floor, but we'll have to get it into our labs to be sure about that.

Meet the tester

Mark Brezinski

Mark Brezinski

Senior Writer

@markbrezinski

Mark Brezinski works on the Home Team, reviewing refrigerators, minifridges, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, air purifiers, and fans.

See all of Mark Brezinski's reviews

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