Panasonic PT-50LC14 50" Widescreen HD-Ready Television

Rating:
Summary: Great purchase
Review: Had this now for 4 weeks. Standard cable looks great but DVDs are fantastic. Xbox HD is incredible. It brings old games to life and the kids can now see so much more when they play games in split screen mode. With the combination of this screen and my home theatre, movie night is always eagerly awaited.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry purchase
Review: I bought this television a week ago and I hate it! The picture is constantly blurry, both on cable TV and DVD's. Movement blurs something awful. Images are so often out of focus that everytime I watch it for a couple of hours my eyes are blurred up from trying so hard to focus on the screen. I've tried every adjustment there is and nothing improves it. Another negative fact that you learn as you are setting it up at home is that if the light bulb it uses to project the image onto the screen burns out within a year they will replace it. If it's after a year it is your problem - cost of the new light bulb? $299.99 plus shipping Not something to look forward to. I am so sorry I ever bought this thing!

Rating:
Summary: Nice picture, expensive to maintain, poor technical support
Review: I purchased the PT-40LC12 in late 2002 since then have had to replace the lamp twice at a cost of $300 each and the lamp ballast at $1,000. Panasonic claims life expectancy of the lamps to be 5,000 hours, but my experience has been about half that.

With the latest problem, Panasonic technical support was not helpful at all -- after a 30 minute wait for a technical representative, I was told to go to an authorized repair center (50 miles away). The tech. at the repair center knew immediately the problem (and also had two other Panasonic LCD sets in for the same type of repair). Subsequent calls to Panasonic technical support resulted in long waits on hold (25, 26 and 47 minutes respectively).

I have no complaints about the quality of the picture, but I am concerned about the lack of tech. support and the fact that Panasonic appears to be ignoring a known problem with reliability.

Perhaps they have improved quality and reliability with newer generation models like the PT-50LC14.

In general, however, I would be wary of purchasing a rear projection model that requires a costly high-intensity lamp that is not considered a warranty item and has a low life expectancy.

Rating:
Summary: Great picture in a small package
Review: Picked this up about a month ago and I'm lovin' it!
Pros: Worked great out of the box. Big, vivid picture. Small footprint. Reasonable price. True HD display. Tons of inputs. Analog tuner built-in. RGB inputs.
Cons: Replacement bulb lifespan is a worry & costs $299. Customer support is weak- overloaded on the phone (+1hr wait) & takes too long to reply via email. No true front input jacks. No HD tuner. Sound system is only average.

Rating:
Summary: very happy so far
Review: Regular TV looks so-so on Comcast here in the SW suburbs of Chicago, but HD looks great. This thing has a ton of inputs, including 2 RGB (computer monitor-type), 4 component, and an HDMI hookup. I hooked up my computer to it, and the image is so beautiful, my computer has now become a full-time Home Theater PC. The split screen is very cool, I have my cable split so 1 cable goes to Comcast's HD box which then goes component to the TV, and 1 cable goes to the TV. You can split screen HD from the box and regular TV and change the channels indepentdently and swap the pictures. Once you've watched HD content on this TV there is no going back.

Even though the TV is light for it's size it's kind of hard to carry.

The sound is quite good, probably the best TV sound I have ever heard.

Rating:
Summary: Avoid at all cost
Review: TV went out after six mos. Needed new lamp and ballast. Both parts are backordered and i've been out of TV for 2mos now. Not very happy...i've invested over 3,000 bucks for this and would expect it to last longer than six mos.On top of that i have to wait over two mos to get it repaired.

Bought from Best Buys and not very happy w/ cust service. They are making me wait 45 days before sending a replacement and wont even give me a loner. They suckered me into buying the extended warranty and for what!!