Panasonic Viera TX-P37X10 37in Plasma TV Review

I own both models (37px80 and 37x10). I know my stuff and work as a professional with displays, colors etc.
Last week I tested them both, side by side with the same sources to get the most accurate comparison. Because I too was a little suprised to see the lower marks for the newer model 37x10.
The bottom line so far :
37x10 is a bit better in displaying contour lines around subjects, has better (deeper) blacks). Brightness is more or less the same compared to the 37px80 ( eco mode off ).
The 37x10 is by no means worse than it's predecessor 37px80. It's even slightly better!

The 37x10 got "only" an 8 for picture quality. The 37px80 a year ago an 9.
I think this is correct,if we look at the changing times : blue ray and a the over-hyped demand for a lott of resolution. Last year, the 37px80 was the best choice due to "worser" other models. The 9 for picture quality is correct.

This year there are enough high quality displays which have beter pixel-per-pixel resolution ( full hd). And if someone want high resolution, the 37x10 will not be totally satisfying. So if you have to decide = honestly = what to give for picture qualitiy, I would give the 37x10 a 9 for sd ( broadcating / dvd ) and an 8 for blu-ray because blu-ray will reveal more detail at a full hd plasma. So....

For the normal crowd - broadcasting & dvd's - the 37x10 is a perfect machine which will give you deep blacks, no noise, no backlight bleeding, good motion and good contrast and will be satisfying you till the Amoled tv's are mature and affordable.

I will post my side-by-side review later and will explain the differences technically.

Hopefully it will clear up some things for some people.

If anyone is interested..some figures between the x10 en px80 :

First.
There is indeed a difference in brightness when using test patterns.
White (relative)
px80 = 100
x10 = 75
Grey (relative)
px80 = 100
x10 = 70
Indeed the px80 seems brighter and it really is...Only at test patterns and large white areas.

Now this is a bummer. Or not ?

In my previous post I stated that I saw almost none difference in picture quality side by side.
The second measurements whre done on real life pictures, dvd and sd-broadcasting.
Of course, this is a whole other matter while the "translation" of the movie is very - very- important. For example : grey. Is the translation lighter or darker.
To be short, I measured a lot : faces, white areas (clouds, etc), grey jackets etc.etc.
Conclusion : no difference in light-output...same figures, same picture. And that's a rather strange conclusion, regarding the lower light output of the 3710 on the test patterns.
It looks like that the 37x10 has limited it's power supply when displaying large white areas. If that's a good thing, I don't know, but explaining the lower power needs. In real life picture it ios not a big thing. Only advertisements have often large white areas.

Last note :
The colors seemed to improve over time. I know find the colors of the 37x10 better than the px80. Also contrast and blacks are a little better. Out of the box ( first days ) it is not so good, and I reaaly hope reviewers have judged this display after a good amount of hours playing.

Conclusion so far : both tv's are ok and almost identical in displaying real life pictures.

More to come.
( blacks, contrast )

Final verdict

It is actually almost a hypothetically question : should I by an 37px80 or the newer 37x10. The old px80 is very hard to find these days.
But for the record, here it goes.

I watched hours and hours dvd's and tv at 576p, 1080p etc.
I even callibrated the two displays.

To be short :
Blacks : 100% x10 , 98% px80
Contrast : 100 % x10 , 98% px80
Colors : cinema warm, same except for some dynamic approach of the newer x10. Px80 has more natural colors.
Noise : slightly better on the x10, logically due to lack of brightness
Brightness : depending on the signal (567p or 1080p) : px80 is clearly the winner.

The Panasonic technician told me after some pressure, that teh x10 had a different coating and the z10 should have better "contours".

Brightness : there is the problem for the x10
x10
The x10 has a more dynamic approach. Mode normal shows far more "pop" than the px80 in mode normal. To be honest, the dynamic-mode of the px80 came close to the normal-mode of the x10.
Interesting is that peak-brightness can be very high, even higher than the px80.
But when the total amount of white areas ( or better , lighter areas needing power) are over - say - 30 %, the x10 shows a muted picture. Like if it lacks power to catch up with the needed Amp's.

px80
The px80 can display a good white area without muting the picture. The difference is striking at scenes like beaches, nature movies, landscape sceneries etc.

My conclusion is that the px80 is the better display, compared to the x10. The difference in blacks, contrast, noise is almost non-excisting. But lack of brightness is almost unforgiving, especially in these days when plasma must compete with the very bright lcd displays.
In my opinion the x10 is still a very good display but panasonic should not have lowered the power consumption, at the cost of brightness. I happyly would have paid some more money to keep the brightness. Now it's almost they crippled the x10 to save some bucks at he power supply.
In my case : I will keep the px80.

Last note : applaus for John Archer !
The review was spot-on. Excellent balcks and contrast, but lack of brightness in some scenes ! Therefore the 8 for image quality is correct and the px80 is the better allrounder for the living room.

Thank you for your very informative review.It sounds like you had great time doing your review.A near labour of love experience I think.Thanks again JP ! .May I just ask who you are as you do seem to have a great deal of indepth knowledge. Thanks again JP.
All the best Greg.