Panasonic PT-50LC13 50 in. HDTV LCD TV

I spent many months researching the alternatives – Plasma, Standalone LCD Projector, DLP and LCD projection finally settling on LCD projection and in particular the PT-50LC13. We looked at the Sony Wega LCD projection which was a little more expensive, had fewer features and not quite as impressive (though I remember thinking think the Wega had a better sound). We bought a floor-sample version of the Panasonic PT-50LC13 from the local Andersons paying a mere $2400 which we pushed back up by $200 by adding the +5 year in-house warranty but still not a bad price. Getting the furniture to fit it and contain all of our audio gear was another challenge which we settled with a nice credenza

So why did I settle on LCD projection? My concern on DLP was the restricted horizontal viewing angle, while they were perfectly set up for showing at the video store if you were to sit on the floor, the picture would fade to black. Plasma displays while impressive to look at they are still a high price, generate a lot of heat, unknown quantity with regard to long-term burnout and not significantly slimmer once a 10" stabilizing base was added. Another concern with plasma is with regards to the "acceptable" dead-pixel ratio before a replacement is made under warranty – it seems that you may have a noticeably blemished screen before the manufacturer is obliged to replace it. The LCD based standalone projectors were slick but require specialized wiring/mounting along with a separate screen (although a white wall works too) but the fan can be quite noisy. Even with LCD projection, there is a little noticeable fan noise but once there is any sound at all, it quickly vanishes into white-noise. The bottom line to me was that the LCD projection appeared to offer an affordable lightweight (less than 80 pounds) relatively slim (16 inches) big-screen providing impressive viewing.

We have not purchased an HDTV receiver as of yet but viewing component connected DVDs with a crystal clear rock-steady cinema quality from about 10 feet away is a delight to behold. While a DTS surround sound receiver makes the experience even more spectacular, just using the built-in sound is OK though hard to compare when you have a reasonable home-theater system handy. Overall, the audio is about what you would expect for "HiFi" TV-audio.

There is an embedded HDTV-tuner version of this TV (slightly different model number) for several hundred dollars more – as many of the upcoming HDTV services appear to be bundling a tuner with DVI/Component output unless you are lucky enough to get numerous HDTV signals directly via an antenna I would not waste money on this option.

I am particularly impressed with the myriad of A/V connections especially the plentiful component inputs, TWO XGA/RGB (one in the back and one in the side) inputs for your PC (though don't expect to see more than 1280x1024 in this mode) sadly there is only ONE DVI input which I hooked up to my small game-box PC which has an ATI Radeon ATI card onboard. Many HDTV receivers also provide a DVI so there may be some contention here.

I didn't get a DVI cable as listed in the manual – but that may have been a feature of the "open box" status. Amazingly with a DVI cable (borrowed from my PC monitor) hooked up I was able to pump the display to a whopping 1920x1080. Unfortunately without binoculars, I had to peer at the screen from about 4 feet away to read anything and the interlacing made the shimmer quite apparent - still not bad at all for a TV. In addition setting the mode up using the ATI control panel was confusing at best as it kept thinking there were two monitors (640x480 and 1920x1080) – of course it always "selected" the 640x480 one until I managed to convince it the higher resolution one was the primary. With a little effort you can modify your windows desktop style/settings and select 'large icons' and large text which will allow you to stay seated and read the screen when attached to a PC.

There is a noticeable over-scan in DVI-PC mode in that you appear to lose about 5% of the surrounding display (all my leftmost icons and the "Start" button were off the screen)! I can't seem to find any drivers to correct this. In addition, several games will NOT like this resolution (or are unable to switch to a "normal" aspect setting of 1280x1024) and will frequently crash. Don't bother with the optional companion stand unless you like minimalist functionality.

With these minor issues aside, this is one heck of a great TV for the money, very versatile and great as the primary box for a LAN party (selected game compatibility permitting).

Pros:

WOW – what a picture
Elegant styling
Nice controls and easy to operate remote (love the way the buttons illuminate)
Plenty of connections for everything but the kitchen sink
Lightweight and slim at 16"
Easy to operate

Cons:

Noticeable fan noise in a quiet room
Overscan issue when used as a PC monitor via the DVI connector
Replacement bulbs are expensive
Companion stand has limited capacity and function for the price

Recommended:
Most Definitely