Panasonic TC-22LH1 22-Inch LCD Flat-Panel TV
Very early impressions + some words after 18 months
24 December 2003...<br /><br />These are very early impressions of the Panasonic, as I've had it less than 12 hours as of this writing.<br /><br />The TV seemed to look bigger in the store.  My entertainment center dwarfs it.  But otherwise it's a good fit for my viewing environment, as my couch is less than 6 feet away.<br /><br />It has an ample supply of video inputs:  two composite/S-Video (each can be one or the other, but not both simultaneously), two component video, and one HDMI.  All five can be called up independently.  There is also a built-in over-the-air tuner, but it is non-HDTV.<br /><br />There are four viewing modes named \\"normal\\", \\"just\\", \\"zoom\\", and \\"full\\".  \\"Full\\" expands the frame to the full width of the 16:9 display.  \\"Normal\\" is the traditional 4:3 frame ratio shrunk to fit the display top-to-bottom with black bars on either side (there is a setting to tweak the width of this shrunken frame, by the way).  \\"Zoom\\" is 4:3 enlarged to take up the full width, with the top and bottom of the frame cropped out.<br /><br />\\"Just\\" mode deserves its own paragraph.  It's similar to \\"full\\" but is designed to make a 4:3 frame look more agreeable when stretched.  Basically, the middle part of the frame is stretched out less than the extremities.  It's a very subtle difference, but it does indeed make it more pleasant to watch a 4:3 image stretched in this manner.<br /><br />The picture is very sharp and clear--so sharp and clear, in fact, that the most minor imperfections in the signal will jump right out, whether they be noise in a broadcast signal, digital artifacts from something like a TiVo, etc.  This is what made me waffle the most between giving this thing 3 or 4 stars.  I may modify my rating later when I update this to a more complete review.<br /><br />18 June 2005...<br /><br />It's a year and a half later.  The TV has grown on me, and I remain happy with it, maybe even a little happier than before.  Its quality has not diminished in the least in this time.  I give it 4 stars now.<br /><br />One feature that I forgot to mention that I've since really grown to appreciate is the picture settings: brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.  These settings can be tweaked and stored in three banks: \\"normal,\\" \\"vivid,\\" and \\"cinema.\\"  This enables you to make different settings for different viewing situations and switch between them quickly. Indeed, you may not have to switch between them at all, since the TV always remembers which mode you last used for each input (for example, \\"cinema\\" for your DVD player and \\"normal\\" for your cable box).<br /><br />The only thing that remains an annoyance to me is switching between all of the video inputs.  There is but a single button for doing this, which rotates through all seven inputs.  The on-screen display always tells you which input you've chosen, but the screen always takes a little time to come back whenever you switch, meaning you have to wait a bit to see which input you're on now.  So switching inputs becomes a bit tedious, unless you happen to have a really good memory for what order they come up in the rotation.<br /><br />I think that's all for now. I think this TV is an even better value now that the prices have come down further from the $2000 when I bought it!to mention that I've since really grown to appreciate is the picture settings: brightness, contrast, sharpness, etc.  These settings can be tweaked and stored in three banks: \\"normal,\\" \\"vivid,\\" and \\"cinema.\\"  This enables you to make different settings for different viewing situations and switch between them quickly. Indeed, you may not have to switch between them at all, since the TV always remembers which mode you last used for each input (for example, \\"cinema\\" for your DVD player and \\"normal\\" for your cable box).    The only thing that remains an annoyance to me is switching between all of the video inputs.  There is but a single button for doing this, which rotates through all seven inputs.  The on-screen display always tells you which input you've chosen, but the screen always takes a little time to come back whenever you switch, meaning you have to wait a bit to see which input you're on now.  So switching inputs becomes a bit tedious, unless you happen to have a really good memory for what order they come up in the rotation.    I think that's all for now. I think this TV is an even better value now that the prices have come down further from the $2000 when I bought it!