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"Great HDTV....but" on by TIMITH99
Pros: Cost...HD Picture....Inputs...
Cons: Analog Picture...Remote Controller...Sound
Summary: I bought my TV over many months of previewing and reviewing LCD, DPI, Plasma information. I read many articles on LCD, DPI, Plasma TV's on the interent and visit many stores to actually view these TV's in action.
Finally it came down to the big day and I chose the Panasonic LCD 50 inch. For starters...I blowen way by the remarkable amount of postive feedback from current users. But I'm a hard sell...I looked at prices, performance, inputs and of course feedback. So over the 4th of July holiday...I purchased this baby for a mere $1500.00 at Circuit City. Sam's Club and the Hawaii Military Post Exchanges had it for around $2500.00. I figured what the heck...I can run it for thirty days and really see if it's worth the long run. First off...the cost was great! Compare to the Panasonic 42 inch LCD with less inputs and costing $2200.00...This 50" caught my attention. When I brought it home, I had a DISH HDTV receiver ready to go...I ran it through the array of inputs the TV has...testing which could capture the best picture. The HDMI connector, by far is your best bet.
Now here is the downside...The Dish has about 6 HD channels in Hawaii, the picture output looks better than my $300.00 advanced progessive scan DVD player! But click to FOX News, CNN or the other 100 or more non-HD channels...and this picture drops to fair or decent picture quality...You find yourself in a struggle of just watching HD channels because of the amazing picture. The HD picture is "life-like"...it will blow you away! But beware...once you fall in love with these great HD channels then when you switch to analog or digital channels...your enjoyment lessens...
The remote is a typical square hard to operate...old style design.
And the sound needs to be cranked-up to maximum volume to really enjoy the BBE sound.
I have few more weeks to enjoy the set or return it...so i will keep everyone posted.Updated
OK Folks...I ran this Pansonic through the motions and udgraded my recent review to a "9"! A few things, I upgraded all my wiring from the satellite LPF to Dish HDTV Reciever with MONSTER Cables....then bought a Monster Home Theater PowerCenter™ HTS 850 with Clean Power™ Stage 1 v.2.0-----WOW!----What a increase in picture clarity and sound! This was the low-end Monster Power cleaner...I can only imagine when I up-grade to a high-end Monster Power Cleaner!This Cleaner helps to protects the precision bulbs in these LCD's too...Most on these complaints about this TV is the bulb or ballast burning out or breaking...Adding a "Quality" Power Cleaner will bring about an upgraded picture output and give you the peace of mind of protection!Updated
Still going strong...all my previous comments are worth the invest into this television. One bump in the road, the blub blew out at 6 months of use. I was covered by the one year Panasonic warranty. One note: replacing the bulb was very easy. Cross-head screw driver and in 10 minutes I was back in operation. Please purchase the extended warranty, the replacement bulb is about $300.00 ... I have the Circuit City extended warranty for 3 years...cost about $250.00. -
"Buyer Beware" on by weatherninja
Pros: Great HDTV picture...when it works
Cons: Projection light and ballast are a huge problem and Panasonic knows it.
Summary: I purchased this thing for nearly $3,000 back in November of 2003. In March of 2004 the projection lamp burned out. Panasonic says this lamp is supposed to last 10,000 hours. Ours didn't last 500. It was replaced under warranty. If you have to buy the lamp yourself it costs $288. Believe me, Panasonic knows you'll be buying the lamps because on page 68 of the manual they tell you how to buy lamps from them.
Now, in March of 2005 the lamp goes out again. This time the repair guy thinks it might be the ballast and the lamp. That's a $1,500 repair. I'll know for sure on Wednesday.
The repair guy, and this is an authorized Panasonic repair center, said these things are nothing but trouble. He said Panasonic knows it but counts on the fact that most people buy extended repair contracts. Because, if the buyers had to actually pay for the repairs Panasonic would be in court with a class action lawsuit on their hands.
Being a faithful reader of Consumer Reports, which recommends against extended warrantees, I did NOT buy the extended repair contract ($600 for 5 years from Circuit City).
So, if it's the bulb I get to pay $288 plus the $80 service fee. If it's the ballast, as the Panasonic repair center suspects, I'll throw the damn thing in a dumpster and cut my losses. Only an idiot would sink another $1,500 into something like this.
In conclusion, this TV has a great picture. If you decide to buy it just be warned.... Buy the longest extended warranty you can get and be sure, in advance, in writing, that the lamp and ballast are 100% covered. Remember, get it in writing, in plain English, that the lamp and ballast are covered or you'll be sorry. -
"Great TV for the Money" on by MadJoe
Pros: Picture, Panasonic, Price, weight, size (depth)
Cons: Speaker placement, input menu
Summary: I have owned this TV for almost 1 and a half years with no problems. The picture is great, the bulb has never burned out, and everyone comments on how nice it looks (the TV and picture). The only thing I don't like are the speakers being on the side of the screen, and you have to cycle through each input to get to the one you want, you can't just hit a single button on the remote to get there.
I would deffinitely recommend this TV to anyone looking for a beautiful, affordable, quality TV that will be pretty easy to move around (it's remarkably light). -
"I like this TV" on by jcr0911
Pros: Picture, Size, Weight, Price
Cons: Black Levels
Summary: I bought this TV a t=year ago, right before the Daytona 500. I bought the $400 extended warranty, the $130 monster power strip, and the $15 (yeah fifteen dollars) HDMI cable... The HDMI cable improved the sound by 500%, not much picture improvement... the power strip protects from surges... and the warranty protects the bulb and ballast issues...
I run this TV 4 to 6 hours a day... and longer on weekends... I have no problems with it. I paid a significant amount of money (over $2.5K) for this TV, but I did not pay the 3.5K to 5K that was being asked for the "high end" LCD's / DLP's... Hell I paid $1.5K for a 36" standard tube almost 10 years ago and thought it was a great deal (still have it by the way).
I just read something about a MONSTER power "cleaner" that I might follow up on, but I have large issues with MONSTER's pricing strategy.
I am very pleased with my purchase!!! -
"Poor lamp, otherwise great tv." on by somaamos
Pros: Vivid HD picture, lots of inputs of every kind.
Cons: Lamp life and price, some sync issues with HDMI (but not other inputs), lousy menus.
Summary: My lamp died after 5 months, then again after 4 months. If it doesn't get any worse, that would be $500/year maintainence!
Other than that (and that is enough to stop you from buying) the picture is great. HD looks fabulous, and it even seems to do a better job of displaying SD content than many HD monitors I've seen. Too bad about that lamp.
There are various opinions on this forum about the lamp issue. If you search google for "lc5014 lamp" you will see it's not a bunch of grumpy losers -- it's a real issue with this set (and possibly all Panasonic projection TVs -- who knows?).
It's enough to make me wish I could return it at this late date and not buy Panasonic *anything* ever again. So far I am not out any money (both failures in under 1 year warranty) but the hassle of having a $2500 blank screen in my living room for 2 weeks each time is ... frustrating. And my warranty expires soon.
I guess, during those blank screen times, I can comb the net for a class action suit...
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