What's the Best Plasma TV?

You can't just assume that a good LCD TV manufacturer can make the best plasma TV; plasma televisions are a whole different ballgame, with different players and stats. Who makes the best plasma TV? Pioneer's Kuro is a great high-end choice, Panasonic's Viera provides an excellent balance between stunning quality and price, and Samsung's PNA550 series gives budget-strapped consumers a quality option to enter into the plasma television marketplace.

Black Levels and Color Accuracy
Plasma televisions are very much in vogue with the videophile crowd for their superior black values and color reproduction. No other television stacks up to Pioneer's Kuro for impressive black levels. It delivers one of the best pictures among plasma televisions  despite  an inaccurate green hue in its color performance. Panasonic's Viera produces impressive black levels, too, albeit not as deep as the Kuro, but compensates by delivering more accurate color reproduction. The Samsung PNA550 produces disappointing black values, but the most accurate color reproduction of the three top plasma televisions. Ultimately, the Kuro is the best choice in terms of black levels if you've got a big budget, while the Viera is the best compromise between good blacks and color accuracy.

1080i Deinterlacing and Noise Reduction
One of the draws of these three plasma televisions is that they all support 1080i content, although they don't all perform equally well with it. The Samsung does the best job of deinterlacing 1080i content, while the Panasonic does the worst job. Pioneer's Kuro delivers adequate deinterlacing, although the difference in picture quality between the three is slight, in spite of the differences in ability to handle deinterlacing.

Noise reduction stacks up much the same way, with Samsung leading the pack, followed by Kuro and Viera. The Viera's noise reduction mode doesn't seem to be particularly effective, although it demonstrates significantly less noise when operated in THX mode.

Screen Quality and Reflections
One big problem with some plasma televisions is the reflectivity of the screen. Some plasma TVs have a glossy or highly reflective screen, which can be distracting if you're watching a dark movie in a bright room. Out of the three, the Pioneer Kuro has the least reflective screen, making it easy to watch in any lighting conditions, while Panasonic's Viera and the Samsung PNA550 perform poorly in bright lighting.

Standard-definition Performance
Each of the three big plasma televisions has its own shortfalls when it comes to standard-definition performance. The Pioneer Kuro delivers the best overall quality standard-def performance, while the Samsung does the best job of noise reduction. Panasonic's Viera is underwhelming at standard-def reproduction, although its performance is about average for the plasma television market.