HDTV Reviews

I bought Panasonic PT52DL on October 10, 2003. It worked fine for a while then all of sudden, on January 10, 2004, there was no picture. I called the company and they directed me to a local facility. They came and picked up the TV. First they told me the light bulb was out and it was backordered. After three weeks they got the light bulb and now they are telling me it is not the bulb, it is some other part that is still backordered. As of March 2, 2004 they have no idea when they will get my TV fixed. DO NOT BUY till Panasonic has fixed its problems with service.

Features:

HDTV monitor with 16:9 aspect ratio
Two-tuner picture-in-picture with split-screen display
1,280 x 720 resolution
Extra-wide viewing angle
Ultra-compact, lightweight, and elegant design
Very awesome tv,just got it today. I couldn't believe my eyes.
I hooked up a ps2 to it it was incredibale. I also watched the goonies dvd movie on it it was like going to the movies.As a matter of fact I'm not going to go to the movies any more,I got my very own theater at home AAAAHHHHH.........

The progressive scan input has no aspect ratio control and so MOST DVDs are incorrectly STRETCHED across the frame. Letterboxed DVDs will still have black bars and the image will be unacceptably distorted. Only ANAMORPHIC or "enhanced for 16:9" DVDs will display properly!

The Widescreen Modes (Auto Wide, Zoom 14:9, Zoom 16:9, WideScreen, Picture Tilt, Subtitle Zoom, Conventional 4:3) listed in the specs are NOT available when watching via progressive scan. So the user has NO widescreen options to fix this problem.

Consequently, I have NOT been able to watch 90% of my DVDs in progressive scan mode. This is supremely frustrating.

this is a response to the previous review about poor perfomance.

1. you got the wrong TV for 90% of your DVD in letterbox ratio. this TV is meant for widescreen, 16.9 or anamorphic movies. for letter box ratios, get a normal tv.

2. with normal non progressive input, you can get progressive quality by having the tv do progressive mode on its own. this means you need not have a progressive DVD player to enjoy progressive quality video. this is really your best option for your letter box ratio dvds.

After much hassle, finally got this TV today. Looked great for about an hour, then I tested the VGA input. Apparently, this set absolutely cannot handle anything over 800x600 without damage. It does state that the maximum resolution of the set is 800x600 in the manual....

Technically this T.V. I believe is the best of it's class. It is the same or more accurate than others in its class. Test Labs have proved this. Even though it does not have a line doubler or any anomorphic modes, it preforms more applications than any other HDTV's. Who cares if it's only 800x600 res. it's alot better than a crappy S-Video from a video card which eats up more system&grapics ram. It will be your fault for not realizing that Plug and Play can be set higher than the T.V. Max. It's Like using Linux, where you can alter just about any graphics setting and damage your monitor, because it's set beyond it's mean. Just be careful how you use the VGA 1 input, and don't use VGA 2 for the use of a computer, for it is only for High Definition input only! Logically all users must keep 800x600@60hz or 640x480@60/72hz only at all times with this Work of Art. I'm using the Creative Labs PC DVD Encore Dxr3 with extended high res. up to 1600x1200, and just think what that would look like through this T.V. at 800x600. Better than any other dvd player I can think of. I don't even use my receiver for video switching, because a direct video line is better than a switched video line. I run all my 2ch sources through my RCA to my SB Live! 5.1 and just think what you can do with that! My gosh there are too many things to do with this T.V, it is forever Endless. I will brag and recommend this Hi Res T.V. to anyone for years to come.
Have fun!

For starters RCA lies about it having progressive scan, I just bought this tv and rca refuses to take it back. You need a special connecter to hook up a composite to svga(which doesnt exist), with this tv you can only get progressive scan threw svga. Therefore this tv is usless! RCA doesnt make the connecter or anybody else in the world.

You cannot get a better TV nowadays. LCD and plasma technology is advancing, but nothing is quite as clear as direct-view (yet). This is as big as direct-view gets, and it is crystal clear. It is perfect if you are into video games. It only has one component input, but with a splitter, you can have your Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2 all in beautiful high resolutions. The biggest downfall is that it is not widescreen, but that will not be as much of a factor until HDTV is the norm. And, as far as gaming goes, 4:3 is still where it's at. Not to mention that it functions as a PC monitor and USB hub. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse and do all my computing from the comfort of my couch -- with a 36" monitor! This TV does so many things and does them so well. If you like the idea of gaming in hi-res, get this TV. If you want widescreen, progressive scan HDTV, get this TV... then get your HDTV when it's more useful.

This product comes with great features, but the unit does not hold up with quality components. I purchased this TV in Nov 2001 and 3 weeks later the TV would shut off by itself. After a short period you could turn on again but the same problem would occur a few minutes later. After being in for warranty repair for seven weeks and several new parts the unit was declared unrepairable. Maybe I got a lemon but I would not recommend.

We recently purchased this RCA 61" "Monster" and love it. Everything is so easy to use. The picture quality is super even without digital television. We have it in our living room where the "ideal" setup is not possible and still the viewing angles are great no matter which chair/couch you are sitting on. You have to move all the way to the side of the TV before you really notice a loss of picture. We shopped around for a year before making the purchase and found that this TV had everything we wanted plus lots of convenient extras for a low price compared to it's competitors. The front jacks are great and make hooking up video camera/video game consoles so easy. We are very happy with our purchase and expect to enjoy this TV for a long time.

Funny thing that I have found this same sentence "The picture is not to be believed. HDTV at its best. DVD viewing sensational. I am impressed. " in many reviews.

I think that the Samsung marketing guys are working hard tryng to impress us.

The picture is not to be believed. HDTV at its best. DVD viewing sensational. I am impressed.

So I bought this item at a Tweeter - it was both used, on the sale rack, and I had a close friend who worked at the store. In end the item cost 200 dollars. I thought GREAT! Home entertainment - isn't that what this whole Televised viewing thing is all about? A couple nights a week, the family and I can gather around and enjoy some wholesome programming?

My God Almighty - it was the biggest mistake I have ever made.

My son... he watches no less than 10 hours a day now, and my husband - he watches more. Last week I caught my little boy touching himself in the Devil's way to the MTV television station to some hoochie girls!! The TV is the devil and I curse the man who invented it! It makes zombies of us all! Someone do something!

On the plus side though it has excellent pixel quality and the surround sound will blow you away like nobody's business.

Okay, I think Amazon is well past the point where they need to hire someone to look over these reviews. This Sony product get's 1 star because the owner can't control how many hours his children watch TV.

Really, let's find a way to keep the teenagers from posting reviews on products they don't own. Or at least a way to keep the loonies from trashing an item because they have a problem with something unrelated to that item.

The "PC Connectivity" of this monitor is a joke. I wanted to get an immediate refund. Windows XP is NOT compatible with this sleek hi tech monster. All I could eventually get was HUGE type that was still blurry. BUY A TV MONITOR, NOT THIS MESS.
It would make a nice TV as it is portable and seems to pick up vibrant and bright color. Frankly, the Sharp Aquos series is far better--it's a really beautiful set and picture. It does NOT claim any PC ability. At least Sharp is honest.

I've gotten this as a gift and am using it as a computer/tv in my bedroom. The picture quality first off is amazing. I didnt set up the HDTV yet but on new dvd's the picture is awesome. With its widescreen format i can use the computer and and set up a web page or any application on the left side and have the tv PiP mode on the right side with plenty of room. the PiP can be either 6 or 12 inches in diagonal, and sound source can be from the tv as well, so you can watch espn while surfin the net or writing a paper. When in regular full TV mode the picture is set right in the middle with two black lines to fill up the screen. if your watching a wideformat film on TV you can press the WIDE button and it zooms in the screen to make it fuller, although it doesnt get it perfect, but its still helpfull. After pressing the WIDE button 3 times it become a 4x zoom mode. The sound quality is pretty good, the only thing that is it doesnt really get too low,it goes from zero to 50, but when i'm at 1 or 2 it sounds just like its at 5, but thats no big deal. Currently i have my cable, computer and PS2 hooked up to it, all within a touch of a button i switch in between either three. Oh yea, and all my friend looovvveeee it, i dont want to say they are jealous, but they get this look in their face like ooooooohhh.

After only 3 weeks of infrequent use, this TV failed. All of a sudden there was no picture upon powering up. Prior to this I found that the clock setting feature didn't work. Obtaining service has been a nightmare. Zenith sent me to the closest service center, 30 miles away. A few hours after dropping off the TV, the service center called to inform me that Zenith told them it could only be serviced by the factory! Zenith refused to replace it with a new one. I've been given no idea of an estimated return date. Other than that, the picture was very nice, programming was easy and the set's attractive. Plugging in cables was difficult. There's only a headphone audio out, not left & right channels. Switching between input devices was slow as was changing channels. Setting favorite channels was very slow. Update: received TV-picture OK but clock still not working. Service Dept. said clock chip a known defect, but no date for fix. Why didn't they send me a new set with a good clock? After several calls to Service & Customer Service, Zenith agreed to refund the full purchase price upon return (again) of the set. Could've been much worse, I guess. Contacting Zenith was easy & the staff were pleasant and helpful, but I still wasted much time on this. Can anybody suggest a TV to replace this one?

Our review is based on the fact our unit has not broken down in the month we've had it (unlike the other 1 review currently published here). We love this set. The picture quality is superb, even with SDTV via Time Warner digital cable. HDTV output is fabulous. Nice bright images with good contrast without the usual "noise" which was our primary criteria for choosing this unit. Sound quality is good for a bedroom but there are no audio outs for those wanting to add additional speakers (we didn't). It is VESA compliant and is under $1K usually. It also has PIP with an additional tuner (VCR) and can be used as a computer monitor. What more can you ask for a thousand bucks.

It is a piece of junk, not only ugly in appearance, but the picture quality is worse than our 20 year old 27 inch model. My wife and I would love to throw it out, but since we just bought it, we are stuck with it for awhile. We have been letting it sit while we go to watch the older,smaller model. If anyone wants a good deal, please let me know by e-mail @ hutchgolfs@aol.com.

This unit is not only a great looking HDTV but the features are great. The HD Digital Auto Convergence is easy to use and saves the time of manually trying to set it. PIP has great options, the Aspect ratio options a also great. The menu and remote are very intuative to a beginner. Overall great product!!!