Product Description

The Panasonic PT-52LCX66 52" Diagonal LCD Projection HDTV is more than just a high-definition TV -- it allows for Web browsing and PC gaming, too. The PC inputs on this LCD projection TV makes it capable of being used for Web surfing, gaming, and even DVD playback using a large, crisp, high-resolution display. A single HDMI cable carries high-quality audio and video. Share your JPEG photos by inserting an SD Card. Enjoy Web browsing & online gaming, along with fantastic HDTV-quality television. It's the one LCD TV that does it all. BBE Sound System HDMI

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95184 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: PT-52LCX66
• Display size: 52

Features

• 52" WideScreen LCD Projection TV
• Connect a PC and experience web surfing- gaming- and even DVD playback using a large- crisp- high-resolution display.
• Artificial Intelligence Sound - Controls the sound level to prevent wide variations in volume among different TV channels and types of programming
• 3D-Y/C Digital Comb Filter
• ENERGY STAR® Qualified

Customer Reviews

Excellent entry-level BIG-screen HDTV
I bought this set at Circuit city about a month ago, when they had a special. I paid $899. My rating for this product takes into account this spectacular price.

I had little trouble getting this TV home in my own car- a 2-door Scion Tc hatchback (!!!) That's how small the depth of the set is. Only about 16 inches. It was easy to manuever and install thanks to its weight- only 65 pounds. I find this very nice when you get a new device and have to swivel the TV around to connect inputs.

It has a nice black/silver bezel around the screen, which I think compliments it highly. It's fairly thin, which I like. Built in speakers are on the bottom. I do not use them (I use the optical audio output to a home theatre reciever), but have read that they are not the best quality. I tested them once, and they were OK, but certainly nothing to call home about. There is a nice folding front panel access area which has an additional set of composite inputs, plus all the controls you need if you lose the remote. This is also where the SD card (picture viewer) slot is.

Picture quality is excellent in my opinion. It's only 720, but at my viewing distance of about 10 feet, I've read that 720 resolution is about all the eye can discern on a 52 inch set. I'm using a motorola 3416 set top box to supply my HD content, and also use a tivo for SD content. The HD content picture quality is stunning. We broke the TV's cherry by having a super bowl party, and every single person at the party was in love with the set. It has a fantastic viewing angle. You won't see a full brightness picture at every angle, but it's pretty damn good. There wasn't a seat in my living room that had a diminished quality viewing spot.

A plus with the LCD rear-projection technology is that even in a room with lots of light, the screen is still very bright. My set sits next to a wall with 12 feet of ceiling to floor windows that let in a lot of light. Despite this, the picture quality is still very, very nice in the daytime. I've never even thought it was too dim or whatnot.

Standard definition content is pretty good. It depends on the quality of the feed, obviously. Basic quality recordings through a tivo series 2 don't look too good. High quality recordings are decent. With the motorola box, SD content is good - definitely very watchable, but you can easily see the difference when switching to a HD channel. The TV has a very nice mode called "JUST" which stretches 4:3 content to 16:9 with very minimal distortion and lost viewing area.

The menus are pretty good, easy to navigate, although there are plenty of options which I don't know what to do with (haven't read the whole manual!) The remote is OK, but I don't use it much as I have a universal remote to handle all my equipment.

That's about all I can think of. For $899, this TV is the steal of the year. If you are paying more, then take it's features into account vs other sets. It only has one HDMI input (I wish it had two). Overall, 5 stars as I'm very happy.


Edit: 2 years and 2 months later, I had to finally replace the bulb. I guess you could say I use the TV pretty heavily, as I had over 11,000 hours and 1600 turn on cycles. (I often fall asleep watching it.) About 2 years into it, I noticed the TV was really dim, and I had trouble seeing the picture when there was ambient light. When the lamp warning light went on, I bought a replacement bulb for about $210 through Amazon's marketplace. The TV was instantly new again! The original brightness returned, and my wife and I were stunned at the picture quality. I guess it had degraded over time, and we just had not noticed the full effect of it. I still fully recommend this TV to anyone, though I'm sure it's not sold new anymore.