Panasonic CT-36HX42 36" PureFlat HDTV-Ready TV
Good for what it is, but could be better.
I bought this TV as a replacement for an RCA 36&quot; HDTV that I had had some problems with....  While I don't have the same problems with this TV, I do have some other annoyances....<br />I have the RCA DTC100 hooked up through a VGA to component video adapter, and two problems appear:<BR>1.  The TV always defaults to a 16:9 aspect ratio, even though the TV, picture source (satellite or local broadcast), and satellite box are 4:3.  You can manually go into the menu and change this each time you turn the TV on, but it's a mess.  Panasonic told me there is nothing they can do to make sure the TV senses the right aspect ratio or that it &quot;remembers&quot; the aspect ratio that you entered when you turn the TV on the next time.  <br />I am thinking about buying a new HDTV box, but I'm not sure that would solve the problem.  The output of the DTC100 is a 1080i output, which is inherently 16:9, from my understanding.  Some of the other satellite boxes allow you to choose different outputs, such as 720P or 480P, but those should also be a 16:9 aspect ratio inherently as well - causing the TV to still default to the incorrect aspect ratio when watching standard definition TV.  The other concern I have with the TV is that I changed the DTC100 to the 16:9 aspect ratio, but the result was a 16:9 within a 16:9 (the resultant picture filled out the width of the TV, but was only 1/4 the height...).<br />2. The second problem I've had with the DTC100/Panasonic combo is that when viewing a HDTV picture that has a distinct line between a dark part of the picture and a bright part of the picture, such as a landscape/sky picture, the edges of the picture, right around the transition of the light/dark objects, starts waving around and shrinking from both sides of the TV edge by a couple of inches or more.  The rest of the picture looks fine, and the center part of the lines that are shrinking looks fine - it's just that one part of the picture that has a problem.<br />I've made all the recommended adjustments, and nothing has any affect on this wavy edge.  I have a service guy coming later this week to look at it, so I'll update this review if I have any luck.<br />I did a lot of research on these TV's before buying the Panasonic, so it's very frustrating that these minor problems exist.  The picture is outstanding, most of the time, but there are times where the wavy lines get really bad, and you can't focus on the story line of what you are watching.  And their service number is ridiculously slow - I waited over a month for them to research the issue #1 above, only to have them tell me I was SOL and it was my fault, not theirs...