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Good Buy in LCD Projection TVs
Pros
input flexibility, HD picture, overall quality
Cons
"screen-door" effect
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I recommend this set based on picture quality, pricing, and input flexibility. Compares favorably with Sony and Samsung.
I've owned this set for about 3 weeks now. The Panasonic site says this is an entry-level set, however it has plenty of inputs (3 component, 2 composite with S-video), an optical out to get Dolby Digital broadast audio to your AV receiver, and convenient front panel access to basic control functions and another set of inputs (including SD memory card for JPG viewing). I purchased this at Sears while on sale (they price-matched with a local AV/Appliance store) putting the final price with rebate at $1689 (cheaper than the Panasonic 44" version). A good deal.
I had compared this set with the Sony 50" LCD RP and the Samsung 42" to 50" DLP units. The Sonys and Samsungs have great pictures but the Panasonic is very close in picture quality (very good) and the price and feature set clinched the deal.
As I just noted, the number of inputs was one of the deciding factors, almost as important as picture quality for me. I particularly like being able to select (via the remote) the input I want directly rather than having to scroll through all inputs. All inputs can be custom labelled. The POP (picture-outside-of-picture) is nice and doesn't require an external tuner/source to feed it as the Panasonic has dual tuner capability. Sound quality is very good coming right out of the set. Excellent picture in HD (and it was able to tune the local HD channels from my basic analog cable setup, no HD service add-on necessary.) DVDs look great via the composite input, although I haven't yet tried out the progressive scan inputs for that yet. Note that analog cable service tends to looks as bad as others have noted, however, some channels are a bit better that others (this doesn't indicate a weakness or strength of the set.)
The 52" screen makes for a nice theater-like experience. The picture can be view in several modes (vivid, standard, theater.)
Typical of most RP LCD sets, the "screen-door" effect is noticeable but dependent, somewhat, on the material being viewed at the time. On this set, it wouldn't be a deciding factor.
I had compared this set with the Sony 50" LCD RP and the Samsung 42" to 50" DLP units. The Sonys and Samsungs have great pictures but the Panasonic is very close in picture quality (very good) and the price and feature set clinched the deal.
As I just noted, the number of inputs was one of the deciding factors, almost as important as picture quality for me. I particularly like being able to select (via the remote) the input I want directly rather than having to scroll through all inputs. All inputs can be custom labelled. The POP (picture-outside-of-picture) is nice and doesn't require an external tuner/source to feed it as the Panasonic has dual tuner capability. Sound quality is very good coming right out of the set. Excellent picture in HD (and it was able to tune the local HD channels from my basic analog cable setup, no HD service add-on necessary.) DVDs look great via the composite input, although I haven't yet tried out the progressive scan inputs for that yet. Note that analog cable service tends to looks as bad as others have noted, however, some channels are a bit better that others (this doesn't indicate a weakness or strength of the set.)
The 52" screen makes for a nice theater-like experience. The picture can be view in several modes (vivid, standard, theater.)
Typical of most RP LCD sets, the "screen-door" effect is noticeable but dependent, somewhat, on the material being viewed at the time. On this set, it wouldn't be a deciding factor.
