Panasonic PT-50DL54 50-Inch Rear-Projection DLP HDTV
Opinion after one week of owning
Like some \\"big screen\\" buyers, I looked for a couple of weeks at most all the models. I mostly looked in the 50\\" size. I did not consider plasma because of the price. I boiled it down to DLP. Then down to Toshiba or Panasonic. In DLP Toshiba has the 46 or 52 and the 52 was a couple of hundred dollars higher than the Panasonic 50. My viewing area is exactly 10 feet back from the TV. They say 10' away is best for the 50\\" screen, 11 or 12 feet for a 52\\". Amazon beat the \\"big\\" stores price, plus no sales tax. And nobody was pushing the extended warranty at 3 or 4 hundred bucks. The salesmen make a nice commission on the extended warranty and tell you all kinds of horror stories to get you to buy it. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I don't buy extended warranties and haven't regretted it yet (knock on wood). Shipping only took 4 days. After owning for a week, I am happy with the purchase. HD is great. Regular (non-HD)TV on the set is OK, but not as good as my 32\\" CRT TV. That's why I kept my Toshiba 32\\" CRT-TV and put it in another room. But I think all big screen HD-TV's have this same problem of a so-so picture with standard TV reception. Maybe they will fix that someday, but I can't wait forever. DVD movies are great, but I recommend getting a DVD player with an HDMI connection (Toshiba SD-5970 or better). I have Brighthouse cable and went and got the HD cable box myself. Easy to hook-up and they supplied the cables. No need to pay big bucks for the fancy cables they try to sell you at the major electronics stores. Also, in reference to the \\"fan noise\\" people are mentioning, forget it. They must have some fantastic hearing, because I don't notice any at all except when I shut the TV off and the fan is cooling down the lamp. Even then, it's barely noticeable. Like I said, I've only had it for a week, but so far I'm happy with the Panasonic 50DL54.