Panasonic Viera TX-P46G20B review

When it comes to TV, you’ve got plenty of choice with analogue, Freeview HD and Freesat tuners to choose from. HD channels over Freeview and Freesat look fantastic. Standard definition digital channels are handled well and are upscaled neatly with few artefacts or jaggies. There’s an eight-day EPG, although it’s slightly annoying that it has no preview window, so you can’t continue to watch TV while you work out what’s on. Instead, there’s a window that’s used to serve advertising.

Sound in all cases is excellent. The TV’s loud enough to be heard in even the largest of rooms and produces clear audio and thumping bass.

One of the neatest features of this model is that you can plug in a USB hard disk and use it to record TV shows and pause live TV. You can set recordings through the guide, although you don’t get all the options you’d expect on a PVR – the biggest omission is series link. You also can’t switch to a different tuner (such as Freesat from Freeview) to watch a different show while you’re recording another. Still, it’s a neat option to have.

As with other Panasonic TVs we’ve seen recently, you can play movies, music and images stored on a USB hard disk or SD card. Alternatively, you can plug the TV into your network (there’s a 10/100 Ethernet port and an optional wireless adaptor will be available in April for £80) and stream the content from a UPnP media server. The interface is neat and simple to follow, with thumbnails for photos and video, while music can be browsed by genre, artist and album.

Internet media is handled by Viera Cast. This lets you view YouTube videos, Picasa Web Albums, the current weather, EuroSport and few other foreign channels. You’ll also be able to make and receive Skype video calls from this summer, provided you buy the optional webcam.

As you’d expect from a modern TV, there are plenty of inputs for all of your devices, including four HDMI and component. There’s also a VGA input for a computer, although this will only support a maximum resolution of 1,366×768, not the screen’s maximum 1,920×1,080.

There are a few things that could put some people off buying this TV. First, the screen draws a lot of power compared to an equivalently-sized LCD. In normal use, we saw an average of 220W, but get a scene where the screen’s mostly white and power consumption can jump as high as 350W, although this will only be for a short period of time. Secondly, although the panel can technically support a 3D image, this TV doesn’t, so you may want to hold off buying until 3D TVs are more commonly available.

If none of the above bothers you, the Viera TX-P46G20B is an absolutely stunning TV with the best image quality that we’ve ever seen and it wins our Ultimate award.