 Knockout TV set |
| Review Date: August 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Just a photog, Loess Hills |
We replaced an 18 year old 27" CRT set with this one and it's a beauty. I am a TV news cameraman with thirty years in the business so I look at a lot of high end monitors at work.
When I went to the store I didn't expect to get a great set in this size and frankly 720P didn't excite me much either.
After looking at top tier sets from Sony, LG, Samsung, Toshiba and Mitsubishi I ended up on the Panasonic.
I was shocked at how good all the upper tier sets looked but the Panasonic seemed to have a little better detail down in the blacks and seemed to track highly detailed scenes with less digital noise than the others, but it was close accross the board.
The off air ATSC tuner is excellent and the set has all the inputs you could reasonably need. I do not intend to plug in an iPod so that wasn't a factor in my choice.
My DVD player is older and does not pass audio through the HDMI output so I connected it to the set via the component outs and I feel no need at all to upgrade to a BlueRay player. At this size this is a wonderful combination.
My general feeling is that if you watch a lot of HDTV that is live or tape such as sports then Panasonic flat screens just seem to pull a little more quality out of the signal. For movies it is more of a level playing field.
This is pretty subjective but it's how I see it.
It's amazing how far your money goes in this stuff anymore. |
Works Great, perfectly fits the budget!
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| Review Date: December 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Tony Thiel, Kauai, Hawaii |
We have a 50" Sony SXRD Projection TV in which we paid over $5,000 for including the stand! I love the TV but when your Electricity bill is over $300.00, you need to find ways of cutting down on the utilities. Besides that, this TV needs to have its projection lamp replaced once a year at the cost of over $300! Even at discount places, this lamp is still over $250! Think about replacing that lamp every year. In no time, you would have spent enough to purchase a brand new 40 - 50 inch LCD TV. This Panasonic TV is not only smaller but Star Energy rated, so that should save some on the energy cost.
In the bedroom was an old Toshiba 13" CRT type TV and watching movies on it wasn't much fun, so what better time to replace the bedroom TV. Since I'm retired and have a limited income, my budget was under $350 and this fits the budget perfectly.
I read somewhere that the size of the TV one should buy should be based on the distance (in inches) from the TV to where you'll be sitting; divided by 2.5. After measuring the distance, I came up with 80", divided by 2.5 and it comes out to 32 inches. A 32" TV would have been perfect but too big for the stand I wanted it to sit on, so I settled for this TV and I'm a happy camper! Besides, it would have been beyond my budget! I do wonder however if this is just another advertising ploy to sell you a larger unit? I think that dividing the distance by 3 works out just as well.
In comparison, the Sony has a softer smoother image while the picture on this TV is more vivid and has more contrast. Having worked at a large Electronic Store, I have noticed that most people prefer a brighter more contrasting image when it comes to TVs and monitors. I still prefer the Sony because the picture (to me) is a bit more realistic but that's just a minor complaint.
One concern was choosing between a 1080P and 720P monitor. But from what I've been told, it makes a difference on a larger TV (40" or more), but not so much with the smaller screens. I tend to agree with that since it's all about the number of pixels (dots), the distance between each pixel and their size. Have you ever noticed on the old CRT TV's that the smaller the TV, the better the picture quality? That's because (without getting too technical) there's a set number of pixels horizontally and vertically on a CRT, and the smaller and closer the pixels are, the better the image. On the smaller screen size, the pixels are smaller and closer together which makes the images clearer. The number of pixels does make a difference, but only to a certain extent. It depends on the area to be filled. On this size TV, the 720P works very well and you won't see a major difference if it had 1080P.
Another concern was whether to purchase a new DVD player. Hooking up an old standard DVD player to an HDTV didn't make any sense. So I had to consider a Blu Ray or an up-converting DVD player. That was an easy decision since we have about 2000 standard DVD's. Replacing all those with the Blu Ray equivalent would get costly (about 10-20 grand), so an up converting DVD player was the obvious choice
So I purchased the Sony HDMI DVP NS710H up-converting player, and combined with this TV, works great! The picture is stunning and I couldn't be happier. No, it's not quite as good as having Blu Ray, but it does improve the image of a standard DVD considerably. However, the up-conversion only works if you hook it up via an HDMI cable. So please be aware of that!
You can hook your PC video output to this T.V. via a 15 pin VGA cable and the image looks fairly decent, but you may have to adjust the Horizontal and the Vertical positions on the TV, and the resolution on your graphics card as well. The native resolution for this T.V. is 1366 x 768, but you can try the different resolutions that your graphics card has to offer and find one to your liking. The process is fairly simple if you have the right cables and a 15 pin VGA output plug on your PC. However some of the newer graphics cards only have DVI outputs, so you will have to get a DVI to VGA converter. Right now, I have this set up to output my Netflix movies to this T.V.
(Addendum as of Jan 16, 2010) I now have a Roku HD player for watching Netflix and Amazon movies and it works wonderful. Now I don't have to mess around with flipping back and forth from Computer monitor to the T.V. It was becoming a pain and the PC is unusable while it was being used to stream in the movies. The only thing you should be aware of is that you NEED some kind of a router for it to access the internet and use HDMI cable instead of the provided composite cable for best results.
In regards to the poor viewing angle; It IS disturbing that the description of this TV states that the wide 178 degree viewing angle ensures clear images even when viewed from an angle. This is clearly not the case as far as my TV is concerned. Well maybe to their point of view, having a clear image versus a washed out image are two different things. However again, it's a minor complaint because how often are you going to watch it from the sides?
Picture Quality (when hooked up to Cable, DSL, Antenna)?
Excellent IF you're getting good reception from your provider. But keep in mind that if your reception is poor, this TV will NOT improve the image quality. In the copy world it's referred to as "Garbage In, Garbage Out". That simply means that if you try and copy an illegible image or text, don't expect the copier to suddenly make it clearer and sharper. I am not aware of any TV that has what may be called an "Image Clarifier" but may be possible in the future. But as of now we know that NOT all channels will come in clear, and so this TV will only output what's coming in.
Sound Volume? It has plenty for a bedroom. In fact, I had it on a little over halfway and my wife who was in another room downstairs asked me to turn the volume down. However, audio output is only 10 Watts (5W +5W) and the speakers are located underneath: to the left and to the right of the stand. So this TV is meant for a bedroom or a similar environment. It is not meant to be the main TV in a large room connected to a surround sound system. That, I have on my 50" Sony TV. It is also not meant for a noisy environment such as a garage while you're working on your table saw or doing laundry, or in a Kitchen while you're running the garbage disposal or the dishwasher. No, it's not meant to compete with other surrounding noises. So please keep that in mind when making your purchasing decision.
Outputting TV sound to a sound system or Speakers: It DOESN'T have a Headphone Jack, and please be aware that this can only be done via an OPTICAL cable. So whatever you're connecting it into must have an OPTICAL (Toslink) input. You can purchase a third party converter such as the GENFEN but be aware that there are two versions (The cheaper model does NOT convert Hi-Def (5-1 Dolby Surround Sound) audio. Another option is to purchase one of the Behringer MS### Speakers which has an Optical input.
The SD card viewer: Would have been nicer if they had a USB port instead where you can plug in a flash drive or an SD card reader. There are so many different types and sizes of SD cards that if you don't have the right size, it won't work. As an example, I have a Nikon D200 (uses an SD card) and an Olympus C3040 Camedia Camera (uses a Smartmedia card) and neither one will fit into the TV's card reader. I could purchase the right size SD card, insert it into my SD card reader and transfer pictures into it, but why go through the extra expense and effort?
The IPOD Docking Station: I don't have an IPOD, but I'm willing to bet that it's a nifty little feature that a lot of people can use. Lots of people out there with IPODS! I have the less expensive Sandisk for listening to music while I work outside or walk and it serves me well.
The Controller: Easy to read with LARGE LEGIBLE buttons for Old tired eyes like mine! Two of my favorites are LAST (to flip back and forth from the last channel watched) and MUTE (for those annoying commercials!)
I know that this has been a lenghty review, but I hope that I've given you enough information for you to make an intelligent purchasing decision. I love this TV and would highly recommend it for it's picture quality, stylish look and it wasn't too long ago that you couldn't touch an LCD T.V. like this at this price! AWESOME! |
Fantastic TV
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| Review Date: May 29, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Love food, Cubstown |
I just received this TV yesterday and all I can say so far is WOW!!!!
It is in our bedroom and looks great (picture and aesthetics wise). The iPod dock is also very nice. The sound is excellent for a small (?) TV.
One thing to note. Unless you are a magician, be sure to use long needle nose pliers to get the screws started into the stand/base when attaching it to the TV. Very hard to do with just a screw driver.
My only complaint so far is that the sleeper timer does not have a dedicated button on the remote. You have to go into 2 different menu screens to get to it. My way around that was to set each of the 5 timers the TV has so that each one goes off at 11pm Sunday night through Thursday night. This obviously is not an issue if you are using it somewhere other than a bedroom.
P.S. - Don't be swayed by the talk about size of your TV and the viewing distance. This 26" is a perfect size for our bedroom (sits on 5 drawer dresser about 12ft from my pillow). The charts for LCD TVs had me at a 42" minimum, which is not true IMHO. |
Panasonic TC-L26X1 LCD
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| Review Date: May 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ken Blkaney, Oklahoma City |
| Very good 26" LCD television and is just the right size in our guest bedroom..... I believe that Panasonic beats them all hands down.... we replaced our very old CRT TV with this new light weight LCD and it does not take up as much space as the old unit did........ in my own opinion, this Panasonic LCD has the best picture and sound over the other brands, and I did a lot of comparing before buying ..... I really like the timer feature too...... the set-up menu and features are very user friendly. The remote is not lit... has no internal light... but I don't think any of them have an internal light..... not a complaint, but the remote has more stuff on it than I will ever use.... I have owned my 42" Plasma Panasonic for over 2 years now and I am very satisfied with it too.... The plasma has a little bit of a better picture, colors are more vivid, than a LCD has but a plasma also cost more money too.... and a plasma weighs more and uses more power than a LCD TV... This TV only comes in glossy black, the frame and base, which looks very nice but shows every speck of dust. I even called Panasonic and complained about that.....for not offering an alternate color like silver or gray.... I think that most all of the other brands, under 42", also come in only glossy black this year..... oh well.... my wife doesn't mind the glossy black..... Last month I purchased the TC-L32X1 for our bedroom and we liked it so well that we bought the TC-L26X1 LCD in the 26' size for the guest bedroom...... this TV also comes with a dock for plugging in your ipod but I'm not into any of that stuff so I can't say how well it works.... sorry... I have also posted a picture of our new TV here and that's my soda pop can next to the TV so you can get an idea of the size, etc.... and the President just happen to be on the news when I snapped the picture..... I recommend this Panasonic TC-L26X1 LCD TV...... they are very nice and well worth the little extra money over the other brands...... |
Setup hint for attaching stand
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| Review Date: December 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nahant Rocks, |
Great TV, a nice replacement for a recently deceased Sony Trinitron (RIP, old friend). Setup was straightforward, all went smoothly once we got it put together.
Thanks to previous reviewers, I expected some issues with attaching the stand to the TV itself and was not disappointed. There are 4 short bolts that you have to insert, that connect the stand to the TV frame. The threaded holes for each bolt are at the end of a 1- to 2-inch deep (or so) tunnel in the back of the TV frame, so you can't get them started by just screwing them in with your fingers and finishing up with a screwdriver. The manual suggests that you do this by laying the TV screen-down on a towel, but (unless you have a magnetized phillips head screwdriver, maybe - I don't) the bolts just fall sideways off the screwdriver, down into the bottom of the well, with no easy way to get the bolts started in their holes. I have needle-nose pliers but they weren't useful - tunnels too narrow.
Instead, I started with the TV screen-down on a towel on a table, slid the stand into position in its slot on the frame, then carefully rotated the TV and stand upright. That way, I could use my "fat" phillips-head screwdriver to balance the bolt on the end of the screwdriver, and carefully insert the bolt on the tip of the screwdriver, horizontally into the tunnel. Even though you can't see where you're aiming, it wasn't hard to find the holes and all 4 went it quickly doing it that way. |
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