Picture quality, number of inputs, ability to be used as center channel

menu system, remote doesn't control satellite totally, automatic volume control only available on cable

Bought this set because my wife and I thought the picture was better than the Sony's. I like the dark tube versus the Sony tube. DVD's look incredible with tv even though I don't have a progressive scan. It has many inputs on the rear of the set along with the hook up let the tv be the center channel in the ht system. This was a nice feature because I don't have room to set a dedicated center channel after putting the tv in the media center.

I don't like that the remote controls only certain functions of the sastellite receiver. I can change channels up and down and access the menu, but I can't use the enter button. It controls the rest of my components, but since I can't use the enter button I use my remote from the satellite receiver.

Overall, I have been very satisfied with this purchase.

Similar Products Used:

None

Overall nice picture. Less expensive than comparable Sony. Smaller cabinet size.

Geometry. Picture not level.

Follow-up to my previous review. To recap I actually have the CT36HX40 but the issues are the same. This is primarily just a warning for other consumers. First I want to say that I like this set and if it weren't for the geometry problems I would highly recommend it to anyone. My complaint is not due to any type of hysteria and I am certainly not a Sony salesman. I'm just trying to help others avoid my mistake.
After complaining to Panasonic they arranged for a tech to work on my picture using an algorithm they provided. The work was performed at their shop. I got my set back 6 weeks later. At best the picture is the same. My wife who was not particularly bothered before believes its worse. Picture still runs downhill from left to right. Most noticeable with text, widescreen DVD ie letterboxed, and on channels with banners like CNN's news ticker. On my set there is 3/4 inch gap between the bottom of the ticker in the left corner and the bottom of the screen. In the right bottom corner it is apparently flat. If that doesn't sound like much to you run a string from one side to the other from a corner to 3/4 inch up on the opposite side. Its huge on a TV and its very distracting.
Using the AVIA disc's grid pattern makes it very obvious as you can see what are supposed to be level horizontal lines slowly disappear below the bottom of the screen.
Anyway I've spent the last 2 months with Panny customer support trying to get this resolved. Very frustrating. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from buying this set. Apparently not all sets are affected. Just check your set out close. Look at widescreen DVDs, news tickers, and if you have it use the AVIA grid patterns to see if you have the problem. If its there don't let anyone sucker you into thinking it can be fixed. Return it for a new set, different set, or your money. Whatever floats your boat. Be vigilant. Also consider the RPTV. Much easier to adjust than direct view.

Nice picture overall. Cheaper than comparable Sony and it fit in my (wife's) entertainment armoir.

Geometry problems that you all know and love. Big and heavy (duh!).

I wanted a projection TV but my wife didn't. Keep your comments to yourself, especially if your single. So I wanted to get the biggest TV that I could fit in our "armoir." In retrospect I should have been stronger(I make all the money). I could have gotten an awesome RPTV for what I paid for the armoir and the tube TV. I actually have the CT36HX40 and I am writing to share my experiences so that future buyers can learn from my mistakes and make an informed decision. I have no knowledge of the "41" that isn't written here. It does sound as if people are having similar problems with the newer set so I hope people looking at the Panasonic(or any large directview TV for that matter) find this helpful.
As the last reviewer stated I was lookin' fer trouble from the get-go and I found it. Picture was bent downward as you approached right lower corner- not subtle at all. I live in a relatively speaking "small town" so a "factory authorized" tech came out and leveled the yoke. Big improvement.
Upon further inspection there were more picture problems. Most noticeable on graphics i.e. network logos, sports score banners, stock tickers, menus, TV guide, etc.. Also on non-fullscreen presentations i.e. widescreen DVDs and even movies on cable.
Problem most noticeable as you get closer to corners, mine in left lower corner. Remember these distortions are not noticeable on fullscreen moving pictures but are really distracting in the modern TV world of graphics and widescreen DVD.Of course once you know they are there it can be ahrd to get past them. I measured a 6-7mm(1/4 inch) difference in the picture from the middle of the screen to the corner. It may not sound like alot but on a 36" TV it is glaring. Tech took set back to his shop, brought back after a week and said he had done all he could. Problem still there maybe even worse.
I emailed Panasonic and voiced my displeasure over purchasing a TV that MSRPs for almost $2500. I realize that it won't be "perfect" but this was ridiculous. Once people got over how nice the picture is they quickly noticed the problems. The customer support guy provided the local tech with a new 17 page algorithm for leveling the picture. I haven't gotten the set back but I will write again when I do.
Don't get me wrong. I like the set and I am very pleased with the overall picture quality. DVD looks great. Cable looks as good or bad as the signal. I didn't realize how bad my cable signal was until I got this set.
My recs for buying any large TV are:
1.Read alot of reviews so you know what to look for.
2.Actually look for problems..hard. Be picky. Use a ruler and a level if you have to. I did. Be sure to use all sources you might eventually use i.e DVD, cable, VHS.
3.Ask others if they see problems but don't point them out first. Just to make sure you're not crazy.
4.Don't tell yourself you can live with it. Report it and get them working on it before its too late.
5.Strongly consider buying locally so that you can talk face-to-face with someone if there is a problem. If you have to ship this set somewhere for repair$$$$ouch!Find out how long you have to return it. Jeeez, your buying a >$2000 dollar TV is it really worth saving $200 to get it off the net? It won't be if you have problems.
6.If its real bad or they can't fix it in a reasonable time take that sucker back and demand a refund or a replacement. Be mindful of return policy.
7.Send the customer support people a long email but don't be rude.
8.Strongly consider a rear projection TV. The tech that is hopefully fixing my set says they are infinitely easier to adjust than tubes. Generally you get more inches per dollar too.
9.Don't let your wife who can't change the channel without a remote decide what you buy. Take her to the store and show her the difference in sets and that rear projection sets look a whole lot better than the one her uncle bought 15 years ago
10.Write reviews to help out the rest of the poor souls who are losing sleep over major purchases.

Great picture with digital feed. Price and size

Original calibration not correct out of the box

After a long time researching which set to get for my home theater, I decided to go with the Panasonic 36". Instead of settling for a 32" Sony, I could get a 36" which would fit in my entertainment center. I luckily saw that there were problems with the hx40 and I waited to get the 41.
After reading all the reviews and seeing how some were complaining about red push and geometry issues, I was extremely anal when the set first arrived. I spent most of the time looking for problems rather than enjoying the set and seeing its stong points.
I first saw a problem where a horizontal straight line within a 1/2" of the top would bend upwards towards the right. I immediately called Sears and set up having a repairman come and check the set. The only appointment was for three weeks away, I decided to go with that rather than just send the TV back.
The other problem was the color on the set. I set the TV up using Video Essentials and immediately saw a vast difference. As it is with most TV's, it was set to wow people in the showroom out of the box, not to look the best in your den. After fiddling around with the set, I found that I got the best picture by turning off the natural color setting as well as a few other settings for the 3D filter, etc...
DVD's looked fantastic. Some cable programs did not look that great. I was concerned about this. At first my wife said that she would rather send back this TV and go back to the 27" RCA we had been using.
I called the cable company and had them send a technician. It turns out the cable signal in my area was very low. If the TV is fed a crappy signal, it will give you that right back. With analog cable signal, the set would vary among channels. The best analog would be a 3.5 out of 5, the worst probably a 2.5 out of 5. However, the digital cable chanels like HBO and pay per view are 4.5 out of 5. The cable technician stated that they were working on adding another transformer to the area which would boost the signal of the cable. They must have done so because I am now having far less problems with analog cable channels, and they are now averaging 4 out of 5.
When the Sears technician came I showed him the problem with the TV and he identified it as a problem with the yoke. We had to take the TV out and spin it 180 degrees so he could get the back off the TV and calibrate it. We did so and used a grid in VE to align the yoke. We did so and then he put the back on again and spun the TV. At this time my DVD player acted up and I could not check the set with the VE pattern we were using. I looked at cable sources and was not sure. The technician stated that I was looking too hard for problems and that I should enjoy the set. I said that is ridiculous as I paid a good deal for a set to "settle." Unable to find any material to check the settings, the tech left saying that if there are more problems to call.
As soon as he left I was able to get VE to work and found that the problems were worse than before. I immediately called Sears and had the technician come right back. He saw the problem and we spun the TV and reset it again. Once again when spun, the problem still existed. As it turns out, we were calibrating the yoke when the TV was at 180 degrees of the intended viewing angle. It turns out there is a funky magnetic field that we needed to compensate for. We needed to spin the TV to get the back cover off, then respin in to have it face the intended position. He then calibrated the set, spun it backwards, put the rear cover back on then finally spun it to the proper position. When we checked the set after all that and the problems were gone. Finally! Woo Hoo!
After that calibration, the set looks great. Even the technician said that Sonys are the best TV's but that this TV really surprised him and he feels it bridged the gap with the Sony XBR's.
The remote may not be as good as the Sony's and there may not be as many menus or independant settings for inputs, but I could not justify spending $500+ more than I spent to have a TV that would likely not fit in my entertainment center. I decided to go with the Panasonic and I am happy I have done so. I am not paying for the name as you are with a lot of Sony products. In some aspects the Sony may be better, but does it justify the large markup in price? I don't think so.
After looking for problems for so long, now that the set is calibrated I am enjoying the best television picture I have ever had.

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Sony Wega

Price, Picture Quality, features

Poorly calibrated from the factory, picture on poor quality signals

WOW! This TV is awesome! With a digital cable signal or DVD, it looks near-HDTV quality. Unfortunately, the TV has the quality picture tube to amplify the worst aspects of a bad picture, so analog cable (which I discovered is channels 1-99 even on my digital box) looks kind of fuzzy.. Once calibrated with Avia, the picture is hands-down better than the XBR Wega and for $500 less. I can't reccomend it enough.

The only other problem I am having is getting my digital cable box remote to run the power and volume. I would alos like the remote to be a learner but it only does preset codes.

LGB

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Sony

I have been trying to decided between the Panasonic 36HX41 and Sony 36XBR450 for a few weeks now. I have seen both TVs on display severial times. From what I have seen, the XBR450 has some strong points over the HX41. First, there was little to no geometric issues. I saw the HX41 playing Cast Away on DVD. The bottom left of the picture was lower than the bottom right, making it look tilted. There was no way to adjust this in the menu. Second, the picture looked too dark. I turned up the brightnes which did help, but it make any white areas booming which is very eye-hurting over periods of time. Third, the picture looked too pixalated. It was hooked up to the sony n700p progressive dvd player. The image did look best having the TV do the progressive line doubling instead of the DVD player. When watching a cable/sat tv, the image was much worse. Images looked blotchy and square and looked much worse than a standard Panasonic analog TV set next to it.

I then looked at the XBR450 playing the same sceen from Cast Away. The picture had a much better color balance to it. It did however look a wee bit muted, but turning up the 'picture' setting a few notches made an improvement. DVD picture looked to have more detail than the HX41 and not as pixalated looking. Again the image was best having the TV do the progressive line doubling than having it done in the Sony DVP-N700P DVD player. I guess that DVD player isn't that good as far as progressive goes. When watching cable/sat chanels the picture was noticably better than the HX41. It had a more natural and smoth look; not so blotchy. As far as the Sony DCR (digital reality circuitry), I think having it display at 480P looks better than at 980i. Image detail looks the same, but the 480P has a more stable 'flicker-free' image.

Lastly are the remotes. The HX41 remote is slighty better than last years HX40. However the remote for the XBR450 is beautiful. Charcol-Gray/Silver which matches the TV color. There is a joystick device on the bottom which makes it very easy to navagate menus. The top flips open to reveal controls for other devices (dvd, cable/sat box, vcr). The XBR450 is a slighty darker silver than the XBR400. Also the on-screen menu on the XBR450 is more user friendly and has more color/picture/sound adjustments than the HX41. One thing is that I can't believe that the XBR450 has a 'tilt' adjustment where the HX41 does not. Even my 5 year old 32" Sharp TV has that.

Overall I still think the Panasonic is a good TV despite its short comings. I had seen the HX40 earlier this year and had hoped that the HX41 was going to be a better set. Sorry to say that it's only slightly better. Yes the HX41 picture is better than the HX40, but not as good as the XBR450. Even though the HX41 has the geomety issue and darker picture, it may not bother some people, and at $250 less than the XBR450 it's a good buy.

I ended up buying the 36xbr450 to be delivered next week. I think that I may purchase the Pioneer Elete DV-37 DVD player as well. I have heard wonderful things about it, and it probably provides a better picture compaired to the sony n700p dvd player. I shall have to see. I will have a review of the TV after it is delivered and I've had some time to test it out.

Similar Products Used:

Sony KV-36XBR450

Price and picture

Geometry and picture in picture.

This is an additional posting since my original. The first posting was the day I received it and it now has been three weeks. I should have waited a few weeks before I posted and I apologize. The unit that I purchased has a model number of CT-36HX41 and i originally said that it has the capability to remember different settings for different inputs, but it does not. It does not seem to have a red push but has geometry problems which causes the picture to bend or curve downwards on the left side of the picture tube. Also the color saturation on the picture in picture is way heavier than the main picture with no way to adjust one without effecting the other. A technician came to my house a couple of days ago and acknowledged my problems but could not fix them. The picture was also out of center but he corrected that. It seems that Panasonic's quality or quality control may be suspect. My unit will be replaced soon but I have no idea at this time if the second unit will be any better. I will say that nearly all of the units that I have looked at in the last 2 weeks have some amount of geometry problem but not to the extent of the Panasonic that I purchased.

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None

Great Picture
Nice features
Plenty of connections

Pricey
Diffcult to adjust if you are a first time high-end user.

Pauls delivered the set and set-up the T.V for free. This was a good start, the sales people were good at helping me understand this great new television. Well as soon as they left, I hooked it up to a sony DVP-7000 and used the component output and put in Gone in 60 seconds. I was amazed at the picture quality this set has. I was comparing it to the Sony XBR sets, and none of the Sonys matched the picture quality this television has from a DVD player. Now when looking at regular television, with no cable and no satelite, I was suprised at just how good the picture looked, as many televisions seem to amplify some of the weeker distortion signals from the antanna and make the large screen look rough or sometimes snowy. All said and done I love this set and I highly recommend it. All the features this set has makes you just want to go out and buy more movies!

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None