Panasonic PT-50LC13 50 in. HDTV LCD TV
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- Digital TV Standard: HDTV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 4:3 Enhanced 14:9
- Weight: 83 lb.
- Projector Technology: LCD
- Built-in Tuner: ATSC NTSC
- Screen Size: 50 inch
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Fantastic picture, no reliability issues at all.
Pros
Fantastic Picture, great up-conversion from S-Video.
Cons
Zoom mode clips most widescreen TV shows top and bottom.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Picture is better than my previous DLP, and especially good when up-converting non-digital cable channels. No reliability issues so far....(3 months in).
I bought my PT-50LC13 on ebay, refurbished; I was a little nervous, having read the other reviews here on the ballast problems, but I went ahead anyhow with a low bid, and am glad I did.
I've waited 3 months before posting to give the TV time to fail, but I have had no problems at all so far.
Before this TV, I had an Optoma RD50 (see my other review) 50" DLP. I though that had a great picture, but the PT-50LC13 picture is even better !
The TV came without a remote control, but I had no problem downloading the controls to my Harmony Universal, so that problem was quickly overcome. The manual was available online from Panasonic, so I printed that out - some of the controls are slightly non-intuitive especially when not using the "real" remote. I could have bought a replacement remote control for $30, but the Harmony is working out just fine so I haven't bothered.
I use the TV with a ReplayTV (see my other review) and Momitsu DVD player with DVI output. For the replayTV I use the S-Video connection, and for the DVD player I use DVI. The upconversion from S-Video is much better then on the DLP when in Zoom mode (watching widescreen TV shows full screen). The improvement over the DLP is particularly noticable when watching non-digital cable channels; there was always some "noise" noticable on the DLP (same on a friends Samsung DLP) when zoomed to full screen, but not on the Panasonic. The DVD picture is stunning through DVI - but it was on the DLP. I do not currently have any HD sources, and will probably not upgrade to HD cable while I own this TV, and the HD Set-top boxes now all have HDCP, which is not compatible with DVI (you can get a DVI-HDMI cable, but the content protection in the STBs requires HDCP in the TV to work).
I do not use the speakers on the PT-50LC13 except when replaying camcorder movies; the sound seems fine, but I run TV/DVD sound through my Onkyo TX-NR801 (see my other review), so normally have no need for TV speakers. There are S-Video, composite and VGA inputs on the side of the TV, which works well for connecting a camcorder or laptop; I've played a couple of PC games from the laptop through this port, which worked very well considering the vertical resolution.
The only criticism I have of the TV is that there is only 1 level of zoom; this means that many widescreen TV shows are slightly clipped at the top and bottom; I'd rather have the option of having small black bars on either side and have the whole picture displayed than lose an inch or two from the top and bottom of the picture. It does have an innovative stretch feature, where the middle of the picture isn't stretched, but the ouside of the picture is heavily stretched; this avoids distorting the main action, but I still don't like the stretch effect on the peripheral portion. This is a better compromise than the typical "full" screen stretch, but I don't like seeing the picture distorted at all - I'd rather put up with the black bars on either side on regular 4:3 TV shows.
To conclude then, this is a great TV, with a fantastic picture; I picked it up for ~$400 refurb, and consider it a bargain. Given the reliability issues reported by many other reviewers, I wonder if Panasonic have now finally fixed the ballast problem, and that my refurb set has that fix in the refurb.
UPDATE
Almost a year on, and the TV is still working perfectly. The kids have a habit of leaving it on, so it has had a LOT of use - well over 1000 hours.
I've waited 3 months before posting to give the TV time to fail, but I have had no problems at all so far.
Before this TV, I had an Optoma RD50 (see my other review) 50" DLP. I though that had a great picture, but the PT-50LC13 picture is even better !
The TV came without a remote control, but I had no problem downloading the controls to my Harmony Universal, so that problem was quickly overcome. The manual was available online from Panasonic, so I printed that out - some of the controls are slightly non-intuitive especially when not using the "real" remote. I could have bought a replacement remote control for $30, but the Harmony is working out just fine so I haven't bothered.
I use the TV with a ReplayTV (see my other review) and Momitsu DVD player with DVI output. For the replayTV I use the S-Video connection, and for the DVD player I use DVI. The upconversion from S-Video is much better then on the DLP when in Zoom mode (watching widescreen TV shows full screen). The improvement over the DLP is particularly noticable when watching non-digital cable channels; there was always some "noise" noticable on the DLP (same on a friends Samsung DLP) when zoomed to full screen, but not on the Panasonic. The DVD picture is stunning through DVI - but it was on the DLP. I do not currently have any HD sources, and will probably not upgrade to HD cable while I own this TV, and the HD Set-top boxes now all have HDCP, which is not compatible with DVI (you can get a DVI-HDMI cable, but the content protection in the STBs requires HDCP in the TV to work).
I do not use the speakers on the PT-50LC13 except when replaying camcorder movies; the sound seems fine, but I run TV/DVD sound through my Onkyo TX-NR801 (see my other review), so normally have no need for TV speakers. There are S-Video, composite and VGA inputs on the side of the TV, which works well for connecting a camcorder or laptop; I've played a couple of PC games from the laptop through this port, which worked very well considering the vertical resolution.
The only criticism I have of the TV is that there is only 1 level of zoom; this means that many widescreen TV shows are slightly clipped at the top and bottom; I'd rather have the option of having small black bars on either side and have the whole picture displayed than lose an inch or two from the top and bottom of the picture. It does have an innovative stretch feature, where the middle of the picture isn't stretched, but the ouside of the picture is heavily stretched; this avoids distorting the main action, but I still don't like the stretch effect on the peripheral portion. This is a better compromise than the typical "full" screen stretch, but I don't like seeing the picture distorted at all - I'd rather put up with the black bars on either side on regular 4:3 TV shows.
To conclude then, this is a great TV, with a fantastic picture; I picked it up for ~$400 refurb, and consider it a bargain. Given the reliability issues reported by many other reviewers, I wonder if Panasonic have now finally fixed the ballast problem, and that my refurb set has that fix in the refurb.
UPDATE
Almost a year on, and the TV is still working perfectly. The kids have a habit of leaving it on, so it has had a LOT of use - well over 1000 hours.
