new HDTV owner - initial impressions (1 Viewer)

[NatL]

ChrisNev - about your cable setup - I used to live in Boston and what I did was route my cable through a couple of splitters and A/B switches to make sure I got A and B cable going to the right places.

I found that bypassing the cable box for B I was able to get a couple of channels for free. I seem to recall getting IFC and TMC. That may not work anymore, I don't know.

N

 

[Jan Strnad]

ChrisNev,
I don't know, man. Sounds like you just don't like the set. In that case, it doesn't matter that a lot of other people love it...it isn't the set for you.
Maybe it'll grow on you, but the clock is ticking.
I agree that a set shouldn't have to be ISFed to be satisfactory. If people want to spend the money for tiptop performance, that's great; but the picture should be pretty decent out of the box, IMO. I know there are practical limits to how much tweaking can be done at the factory, but other brands don't seem to have the OOTB problems the Panasonics reportedly have.
I think that if you spent $1500 or so on a TV set and don't fall in love, you're right to consider returning it.
Jan

 

[ChrisNev]

Well I ended up going back to BestBuy (and 2 hours later) ended up exchanging it for the Toshiba 50H82. Figured I'd give the RP's one more shot. I ended up talking to the manager of the store who was really helpful and knocked $300 off the price of the Tosh and waived all return and shipping charges. They also weren't convinced that there was nothing wrong with the set either.

BestBuy is weird. There are people there that definitely know what they are talking about. The key is just finding them I guess. Anyway, I hope the panny I got was an anomoly and this new Tosh will be much better.

 

[Leif Wall]

I also have the 53" Panny. I knew that it would have to be tweaked somewhat to get it looking good. When I first got it, I had a crappy Apex player going to it. Looked pretty bad. Later got a Panasonic rp82 and a good set of component cables. Did some of the tweaks on the panny.tv site. Looks fairly decent now. Hoping to get it ISFd soon though.

I'm happy though. I only use it for DVDs and for HD in the future. It really is a good set.

 

[Josh Lowe]

Gregg Loewen calibrated my Panny 53WX42 yesterday and it's significantly improved over what it was. The difference in sharpness and in color is great..