Panasonic DT60 (pictures)

Panasonic has been "kicking goals" for years with its plasma range but has struggled to produce competitive LED LCDs. While its performance is seemingly a bit better than the previous model, which put up one of the worst pictures of last year, the new DT60 still flounders against its 2013 peers.

The DT60 offers a striking design, probably one of the company's best ever, and nifty features such as voice search. Its picture quality is just mediocre though, for while color is better than last year, black levels are similarly poor -- and I simply expect much more at this price.

The DT60 is a case of "better, but not nearly good enough," and until proven otherwise, we'll continue to strongly recommend Panasonic's plasmas and just as strongly tell you to avoid its LED LCDs.

Black level is the single most important picture component, and the one we give the most credence to when assigning our picture quality score. While the Panasonic DT60 does reasonably well in other aspects -- color, 3D, bright lighting -- its the light black levels and poor uniformity that bring the TV's score way down. In a theater environment the TV lacks the punchiness of the other televisions on test, and its decent color doesn't make up the difference.