Progressive, Progressive, Progressive (480p)!
Digital Input

None (I do not have cable)

I am the proud owner of this TV set since 5 months.
My main criteria when buying a new TV was own good it was with DVDs. To my knowledge, this TV provides the best picture for under $2000us! Try it out in store. Furthermore, you may select from the main setup the 16x9 mode for anamorphic DVD movies... the picture is OUTSTANDING! Everyone who is coming to my place are amazed by the quality.

Also, a friend of mine brought his Nintendo 64 to see if the line doubler (since progressive) would improve the image quality... and it does! My friend find it hard to play his game on his 32" Sony Trinitron.

Only small drawback is that it must be adjusted by a professional. I got that from free from Good Guys.

If you want a good TV for your DVD (or DTV), a suggest that you take a lot at this set!

I bought my TV as open box at Good Guys for $1000us. Very good price for a TV that had been in the showroom for 2 months!

Similar Products Used:

Sony Wega

Spectacular picture, 16:9 emulation via component video input, smaller size allows for coexistance in my cabinet with a Boston Accoustics VR-12 on top of it.

Expensive, problems with the 16:9 emulation. Makes a poor signal look very poor.

I thought my recently purchased Sony WEGA looked good. Wow. This set is significantly better and curiously enough is easier on my eyes. I'm guessing the progressive scan is the reason, but I don't know of course.

What sold me on the set is its ability to emulate 29.37 inch 16:9 screen via the component video input. A high quality anamorphic 1:85 DVD looks stunningly good on this set. I'm using a low-end Toshiba 2109. I'm saving my pennies to eventually upgrade to a progressive scanning model like the Toshiba 5109 and would very much appreciate hearing from anyone who has tried both 480i and 480p with this set.

The two problems that I have notices in the 16:9 mode are:

1. Horizontal, white lines immediately above the letter box. These are stable lines that appear and disappear depending on how dark the image is. Non-anamorphic 2:35 images have more dashed lines that are not stable but move and are more distracting. I find myself ignoring them after a while, however.

2. On anamorphic sources (I have yet to try a 1:85 non-anamorphic source) the top one inch of the viewing area is sometimes vertically compressed. This is most noticeable when the end credits are scrolling on the screen. At the top they appear to be on a cylinder that is moving up and away from the viewer.

Panasonic supports response has been twofold. They have said:

1. The set wasn't designed to support 480i mode in 16:9 mode.

2. The set wasn't designed to support anything but their digital tuner in 16:9 mode.

The engineers who designed this set may not have had 16:9, 480i from a DVD in mind, but it certainly looks fantastic and I have a lot more choices to choose from than if I had a digital tuner but no DVD. I think Panasonic is limiting their market but making these claims. Their progressive scanning DVD has a list price of $3000.00. The digital tuner has a street price of around $1000.00. That's a bit more than the $228.00 I paid for my 2109.

I suspect the weird lines that I'm seeing are caused by "stuff" in the 525 lines of resolution that all TV signals can have that's outside the 480 lines of resolution that the set is "supposed" to support. I'm guessing that in 4:3 mode the "stuff" outside of the 480 lines is "overscanned" off the screen. However, in 16x9 "squeeze" mode the extra lines are shown outside of the 480 resolution area into the "overscan" region which in this case is still on the screen.

I am "lucky" enough to have Time-Warner "digital" cable. In general the picture looks good even through a single able, composite video connector (the Warner box doesn't support S-Video or component video). If it's a true digital signal and a decent source, the picture looks at times incredibly good and puts my Sony WEGA to shame. The progressive doubler seems to do a great job if the signal is decent. Low resolution, poor quality video is noticeably worse than when viewed on my Sony WEGA. If all you have are poor quality sources, you probably won't want this set.

I'll post something, if and when I learn anything more about they 16:9 anomalies that I've discussed. If it weren't for the weird problems in 16:9 mode, I'd give this set a 5.

I was lucky enough to buy this set as a demo model from Best Buy for $1140.00. Given it's leading edge features like progressive scanning capabilities and the 16:9 emulation but the fact that it coexists will with 4:3 sources probably makes this a decent value for the year 2000 and will hold me over until more real (as in 720p and 1080i) HDTV programming comes on line, HD-DVD comes out, and the cost of HDTV sets and tuners come way, way down in price.

I am pleased that I bought this set and recommend that you give it a look if you are in the market for a set in this price range or higher.

Similar Products Used:

Sony WEGA

Well laid out backlit remote; Superb DTV and DVD picture after calibration; Plays anamorphic DVDs in full resolution; Value

Grainy cable TV picture; Bad picture settings out of the box

I think the poster below is being a bit harsh on the Panasonic.

Basically, saying Panasonic should have ditched the speakers and save the customer some dough... Good suggestion, but not all people use external speakers. My brother used the set at his home and he did not have external speakers, so the subwoofer and other speakers on the set came in handy. I could do without them though (my Legacy Audio speakers handle the task much better)... But let's face it, almost all TVs come with speakers.

As for the grainy picture on cable... this is very true. Of course, this TV should not be used with cable anyway! At the very least a sattelite dish should be used, and DTV would be optimal. The picture is grainy with low quality video sources like cable, because the TV's picture quality is *super* detailed. This is a *good* thing. For cable TV users, I suggest using a much cheaper set...

The TV does need professional calibration, but all sets in the above $1000 price range should be calibrated, IMO.

The bottom line is that when all is said and done... and the set is properly calibrated, with a good signal inputed into it like DTV or a progressive scan DVD (I use Toshiba's excellent value 5109 progressive scan DVD player)... you will be hard pressed to find a set with even close to the Panasonic's picture quality anywhere near its approximately $1200 price tag (I paid $1199 at my local A/V store).

Also, if you are choosing between the Panasonic and the Sony Wega... Besides the Panasonic being much cheaper, the Wega has no line doubler and can't be used with DTV or progressive scan DVD players... To me, that made the choice even easier...

Similar Products Used:

Sony Wega XBR250

Great picture on quality signal feeds.

Wish Panasonic offered the same tv in a 36''.

I purchased this unit after several months of careful consideration between it and the Wega. I am happy with my decision, but I don't think you can really go wrong either way. I had an ISF tech come out and calibrate my set to give it better geometry. After calibration it definitly looked much better! I decided to order the Canare component video cables that so many Wega owners reccomend in the Wega reviews to replace my Monsters. Ohh man this is the ticket! My picture which was already damn good is even better than before. These cables are the best improvement I've made to my entire A/V system to date. Colors are more saturated, the picture is cleaner, and I can see more little details now. I can't be happier with this tv now. I highly reccomend giving these cables a try if you really want pure video bliss. I got my cables from custom audio video here in Texas 830-625-6745. The only thing that could be better would to have this set in a 36" model.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Wega

Excellent inputs (1 component, 2 S video/video, 2 video)
Line doubler,
back light remote
remote liked my Express-Vu (Canadian DSS)

like the $1600 (Canadian) price

colour off on component input (required technicial adjustment) and ALL input modes
remote backlighting only on for less that two seconds
bad picture with anything outputting less that 400 lines of resolution (ie CABLE)
no seperate selection buttons on remote to select input mode
wasted sub woofer & other audio speakers! (meant to use seperate home theater if you are offering a line doubler drop the quasi amp!!! and save us a few $$$$$)
remote didn't like my Yamaha DSP-A1 amp
bad video dischage on power off

Panasonic would have been better off to drop their useless subwoofer and 10 amp speakers and reduce the price!

Upon setting this up with a Yamaha DSP-A1 amp, Panasonic A320 DVD player and Sony 998 vcr, I found the DTV input to be almost purple! If you adjusted the colour all other modes were way off. The other input modes were way too white.

The TV shows standard cable as a completely grainy image! Tough to read any text on the screen.

The remote, when you push the 'light' button only stays backlight for TWO seconds!! I couldn't find the correct button in less than three presses!

I am seriously considering returning this unit, after being so sold on it! The only saving grace was the warranty firms fine tuning this unit's colour settings!!!!

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Sony 27"

This is by far the most inpressive 32" set for the money out there, and I've seen a few. It incorporates all of the features that makes it perfect for the casual viewer and the videophile alike: Component Video inputs for DVD hook-up and DTV upgrades, scan line doubler, 16x9 mode for anamorphic DVD's, backlit home theater remote, a punchy sound system, and so on. The most impressive feature, to me, is the scan line doubler. When this feature is active the set really shines. Playing a DVD through the component video inputs gives you a picture that's almost 3 dimensional with no visible scan lines. The 16x9 mode really makes good use of anamorphic DVD's. I was fortunate to see it connected to one of Panasonics DTV decoders where it displays any HDTV signal into 480P and the picture was phenominal to say the least. Simply put, this 32 incher is the BEST T.V. out there for the dough!! A+++

plenty of inputs/outputs including color components

none so far

I originally wasn't going to purchase this TV because
it looks bad on regular cable. But then I found out that
they just installed DTV in my neighbourhood. With DTV,
I decided to give it a try. WOW! is all I could say.
The progressive scan is sooo nice, the picture is so
clear. The movie channels are a blast now.
All I can say is that when I walk by a Sony Wega or any
other interlaced scan television, it hurts my eyes to see
all those lines. The Wega is especially bad.
There is no going back.

Bottom line, I got an incredibly nice picture for
$1680 canadian which is quite impressive.
This TV is ahead of it's time.
Good job Panasonic.

Similar Products Used:

Sony Wega