I have the PT50DL54. I could have gotten the Panny LCD at a lower price, however I prefer DLP. DLP has better blacks and less screen door effect to me. I think that I could have been just as satisfied with LCD, although if I had chosen LCD it would have been Sony xs955 series.
Thx, so everything is OK with the DLP? I've seen it in the stores and I really like it but it seems not too many people have actually bought one and that's kind of scary.
KT, Are you saying that you have read negative reports about the Panny DLP or just the LCD?
"Thx, so everything is OK with the DLP? I've seen it in the stores and I really like it but it seems not too many people have actually bought one and that's kind of scary."
Not sure how many have bought one. Just remember that most people will post if they are having problems and the ones without problems post the least. Maybe most Panasonic owners have been without problems. Read all of the problems with the others if you want to become more confused on which brand to purchase.
True, most brands outsell Panasonic. Panasonic is not available or pushed in as many stores. Most buyers seem to be brand biased with Sony, Samsumg and Hitachi being the favored ones. Most all brands have a lot to offer. None are perfect. You just have to decide which is closer to being perfect for you. Best of luck with your decision.
I owned a panny 50LC14 for a few days and want to put in my $.02
Good picture in HD. Mediocre picture in SD. Amount and variety of inputs - outstanding. Sound quality and volume - outstanding. Some noticable "screen door" effect. Very noticable creases in the screen at the top where the screen is joined to the frame. More obvious when the set is off and the screen is dark. Unacceptable for a 2K-3K TV.
Took it back and got a Sony 50" 655 series LCD projection.
The Sony looks slighty better in HD and looks 100% better in SD than the Panny.
Sound quality is ok, not quite as good as the Panny.
Build quality is excellent. Not as many inputs as the Panny.
Got my box, been running the PT-60DL54 for a week.
Running component for both HD and DVD, I'll maybe upgrade to HDMI for DVD but wil probably wait for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to come out, anybody know if it's worth it?
Anyways, I'm totally, totally happy with this box. High Definition is outstanding, perhaps the best image I've ever seen on any TV at any time. Fan noise is non-existent when the sound is actually up to a even low level. SD varies from pretty good (Amazing Race for example is quite good) to fair...
DVD's vary, the Lord of the Rings looks like it's almost HD quality, others are good to very good.
An amazing TV, I recommend it 100% (as long as my lamp doesn't give out!)
I recently added a Toshiba V592 upconverting DVD. The PQ using HDMI connection is definitely the way to go with DVD on Panasonics. Most DVD's are almost like HD.
Tweaking the settings is critical to getting the best PQ with both HD and SD.
KT, I believe that the Panny upconverts to 720P and not 1080i. I do not know all of the reasons why but I can say that an upconverting DVD player using HDMI produces a very noticable improvement over component on these TVs.
Estatic that I went with DLP and not the LCD which seems to have major issues with the bulb. HD is the best of any unit I investigated in the same price range. SD is average but you have to consider that SD will eventually be phased out so the TV actually improves over time.
HVD/HD-DVD/Blu-Ray will all look amazing I'm sure, High-quality DVD's look close to HD now...(not using the upconvert). HDMI input is a nice feature.
I really have no complaints other then I'm little worried about the bulb life but I have found nothing to indicate the DLP is as bad as the LCD.