TV Reviews

Price: $1,300 At A Glance: Excellent blacks and shadow detail • Superb off-axis performance • Performs best in subdued lighting

Deep Impact

Plasmas have gotten a bum rap in the market for all sorts of nutty reasons. They break when shaken? No, not unless you’re talking about dropping them off the delivery truck, or them falling off the wall in an 8.0 trembler. In either case, you can kiss any flat-panel set goodbye. They leak plasma gas and need to be recharged frequently? A big-box retailer reportedly started this rumor several years ago, apparently in an effort to sell a special power conditioner that was said to eliminate the need for regular plasma transfusions.

Walking the 3D Talk

You might think that reviewing—and reading about—one flat panel after another would get boring, if not downright numbing. And it would, if the technology were static. Fee-fie-ho-hum, a new flat panel joins the scrum.

2D Performance
3D Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

Last year, the number-one TV I recommended to friends, family, and anyone else who would listen was Panasonic’s ST50 series plasma. Although a serious enthusiast might have appreciated the superior black levels and more extensive picture controls of the company’s then top-line VT models, 2012’s ST50, like the ST30 models of the year before, delivered most of the VT’s performance and easily beat out all but the most expensive LED LCDs. It was simply an incredible value and was recognized as such in Home Theater’s Top Picks of the Year.

Much of the R&D effort for Panasonic’s TVs gets funneled into plasma technology — with excellent results. (Check out the TC-P55VT30 in our Editors’ Choice Awards here.) But as we found out this time last year upon reviewing the company’s TC-L42D2, it also makes sets of the LCD persuasion. Quite a few of them, in fact.

While 3D movies haven’t totally taken over the multiplex, the format remains a force to be reckoned with. Michael Bay just released a new Transformers installment in 3D (Transformers: Dark of the Moon), James Cameron is at work on Avatar sequels, and the entire Star Wars saga is being formatted for 3D release.

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Bright SDR and HDR peak luminance
Low input lag and new Game Bar
Attractive design, narrow bezel border
Attractive and snappy smart TV interface
Minus
Glossy screen shows reflections from room lights
Some noticeable blooming and shadow detail loss
No Dolby Vision support

THE VERDICT
The QN95D delivers solid performance, whether you're watching movies or live sports, especially in darker rooms. This is due in part to its glossy screen surface, which while effective does produce visible reflections from room lights. The backlight performance, in terms of brightness and dark scene presentation, is similar to that of last year's QN95C. The QN65QN95D is likely to represent a good value in the coming weeks and months as promotions begin. It is a particularly solid choice for gamers.

The QN95D is one of two televisions we went hands-on with on a recent trip to Samsung's New Jersey QA Lab, the other being the S95D quantum-dot OLED. We discovered an attractively thin 4K LCD display screen that produces an HDR picture as bright as last year's QN95C, with wide and accurate coverage of the professional DCI-P3 color space.