Panasonic HC-X1

Relatively inexpensive; excellent black-level performance; solid connectivity with three HDMI and two component-video inputs.

Inaccurate primary colors of green and red; faint diagonal lines visible in lighter areas; sparse picture controls; less efficient than similar LCDs.

Although it requires more than a few picture quality trade-offs, the Panasonic TC-P50X1 delivers the best black-levels-to-dollars ratio of any HDTV we've tested.