I am looking for some help into starting my home theater. I would like to buy a TV first because my old TV is just horrible. Obviously, as most people are, I'm stuck between 2 choices. They are the Toshiba 27AF61 and the Panasonic CT-27SX32. Now I have read plenty about that the Panasonic's are a solid TV. I don't really need PIP but it is offered at the same price of $499 as comparable sets without it so I might as well take it. My question comes down to all your opinion. This may be stupid, but set up side by side they looked the same as far as picture. Only differences were color(Tosh/silver, Pan/gray) and the size because the Tosh has speakers on the side. I have also heard that Toshiba is more reliable. I am a little partial to the silver box, some find it tacky, I like it so that is where I'm leaning. Any help from the board would be much appreciated
Welcome to HTF, Jon. I tend to favor Toshiba's direct-view sets over Panasonic's. The color decoding tends to be more accurate, with the "Warm" color temp setting being fairly close to the D6,500 standard. Most Pannies I've seen run at severely hot color temps in my experience: Their pictures seem so blue. But when the picture is tamed from the service menu, Panasonic delivers a solid picture. (Question is, do you want to spend money on an ISF-level calibration for a $500 direct-view, NTSC-only set.) However, you will soon hear from Panasonic partisans who will tell you that what I said is a load of crap! (Just speaking from personal experience here, vis. direct-view models from these companies.)
FFI for what it's worth; Toshiba's in almost all reviews I have read usually top out Panasonic's when it comes to picture quality.
