Panasonic ST50 used for gaming?

I heard Ryan and Brad talk on TNT about how they have purchased Panasonic ST50 (and ST60 for Ryan) for use at home. I've been looking to replace my old TV for a while and this model sounds pretty promising. However, I wondered if anyone here on the forum have experience using this TV for gaming in general and also in conjunction with their computer? I know that Brad hooks his computer up to his TV at home but I thought that plasma TV's are generally bad for use with a lot static elements like desktop computing or gaming (health bar, icons etc)? Aren't LCD (or maybe LED, OLED) preferable if you're gonna use your TV as a alternative PC monitor some of the time?

There is no quality problem with plasma TVs anymore, the only real issue is that they use 4x the electricity to power. Seeing how a TV should last 10+ years that power draw will become a fairly significant factor in the overall cost of the TV.

Plasma screens may have a slower response time than LED's (good ones, not $500 Walmart/Target ones), which matters in rhythm games like Rock Band, and slightly with competitive shooters online where you must get a perfectly accurate snipe. But plasmas compensate with a game-mode picture setting that speeds it up at the cost of perfect color/contrast. The series is St50, so Ryan's 60" is called a TCP60-ST50. The next step up is GT50, which has THX settings for better calibration if you take the time, plus faster apps, and a touchpad remote. The further step up is VT50, but that is $2300 at 55", a whole grand more than the ST at 55", and the only advantage I see is that it has a better glass screen for viewing in bright rooms without reflections, and some smoother action sequence processing.

I got the ST50 this week. It starts at $1099 for 50", but I recommend spending the extra $200 for 55". Anyways, you're most likely better off spending nearly $2000 on the biggest ST model, 65", than the same money on a 50" GT or 55" VT. Those upper models are for serious homeowners that install speakers in their ceilings and shit. If you can afford $400 for a pro calibrator to come to your house and measure red/green/blue accuracy in your TV, then VT50 is your TV. Otherwise, the modestly huge $1300 TCP55-ST50 is good enough.

So yeah, got one this week, movies look great, you have to toy with settings a bit to know what works, and because plasma phosphors break in, you'll have to redo settings like color/brightness after a month or two of use. But in the right position in your room, and with it properly adjusted, it gives deep blacks, vivid colors, a sharp & yet warm picture. It's like a vinyl record for TVs. Plasmas don't get washed out in gray in night scenes or have the weird glowing of bulbs underneath the edges of the screen. A good buy.

I bought a Panasonic G15 about 2 1/2 years ago and I've had nothing but problems. Terrible burn-in after of anything that stays on the screen for over a few minutes. There was also an issue with 2011 Panasonics with decreasing black levels and picture quality that my set was pretty severely affected by. I don't know if their new models have ironed out these problems, but if they haven't I'd recommend you stay away from Panasonic plasmas for gaming.

I'm pretty certain that actual burn-in is a non-issue these days. Most people seem to confuse burn-in and image retention; the former is permanent and the latter is temporary. Unfortunately image retention still seems to be an issue on a lot of modern plasma screens but once you realise that it won't be on your screen forever you stop noticing it.

When I played a bunch (50 or so hours in a week) of Dark Souls on my 2010 Samsung plasma I had bits of the HUD on my screen for a while after that. Same thing happened with Dragon's Dogma and I thought it was permanent but it eventually went away in both cases. If 50 hours isn't enough to actually burn an image into my screen then I'm quite sure that burn-in doesn't exist anymore. Image retention is certainly real but burn-in is a myth at this point.

@boocreepyfootdoctor said:

Plasma screens may have a slower response time than LED's (good ones, not $500 Walmart/Target ones), which matters in rhythm games like Rock Band, and slightly with competitive shooters online where you must get a perfectly accurate snipe. But plasmas compensate with a game-mode picture setting that speeds it up at the cost of perfect color/contrast. The series is St50, so Ryan's 60" is called a TCP60-ST50. The next step up is GT50, which has THX settings for better calibration if you take the time, plus faster apps, and a touchpad remote. The further step up is VT50, but that is $2300 at 55", a whole grand more than the ST at 55", and the only advantage I see is that it has a better glass screen for viewing in bright rooms without reflections, and some smoother action sequence processing.

I got the ST50 this week. It starts at $1099 for 50", but I recommend spending the extra $200 for 55". Anyways, you're most likely better off spending nearly $2000 on the biggest ST model, 65", than the same money on a 50" GT or 55" VT. Those upper models are for serious homeowners that install speakers in their ceilings and shit. If you can afford $400 for a pro calibrator to come to your house and measure red/green/blue accuracy in your TV, then VT50 is your TV. Otherwise, the modestly huge $1300 TCP55-ST50 is good enough.

So yeah, got one this week, movies look great, you have to toy with settings a bit to know what works, and because plasma phosphors break in, you'll have to redo settings like color/brightness after a month or two of use. But in the right position in your room, and with it properly adjusted, it gives deep blacks, vivid colors, a sharp & yet warm picture. It's like a vinyl record for TVs. Plasmas don't get washed out in gray in night scenes or have the weird glowing of bulbs underneath the edges of the screen. A good buy.

Plasmas have the best response times. I thought that was pretty well known.

A quick Google backs that up tenfold.

Edit: I don't use game mode either, it makes no difference at all on my Panasonic when playing fighting games (which I'd notice lag on), game mode just limits some of the picture settings I can alter making it pretty pointless.

@RubberFactory said:

I bought a Panasonic G15 about 2 1/2 years ago and I've had nothing but problems. Terrible burn-in after of anything that stays on the screen for over a few minutes. There was also an issue with 2011 Panasonics with decreasing black levels and picture quality that my set was pretty severely affected by. I don't know if their new models have ironed out these problems, but if they haven't I'd recommend you stay away from Panasonic plasmas for gaming.

Sounds like you got a faulty set. My Panasonic plasma is perfect and my parents have had one for around 5 years with no issues.

Recommending to stay away from Panasonic is basically saying don't get a plasma because they, along with Pioneer make the best plasmas out there. (well not Pioneer, they killed the Kuro)

I have a 2010 G25, and I wouldn't hesitate to do Panasonic plasma again in the future. All my non-gaming happens on an HTPC doing DisplayPort->HDMI, and this serves as my PC gaming rig, too. Burn-in is non-existent in my experience, and I've fallen asleep in front of it more times than I can count.