Panasonic LT-61LCX65 61" TV - HDTV Performance

(5 star rating)

Watching HDTV
WOW! . That is the response I get every time I switch from a regular TV station to an HDTV station. It is also the response that I get from people who have never seen HDTV (or they have only seen it at electronics stores). It is an amazing picture and the quality difference between regular TV and HDTV is like night and day. It is not possible to adequately convey the difference in quality between regular TV and HDTV, although I will give it my best shot.

The level of detail is absolutely stunning. When watching the National Geographic HD channel, for example, you can see the tiniest of bumps on a lizard's skin. You can see the tiny lines that run across a leaf as the lizard sits in a tree. This level of detail really gives you an appreciation for the depth of the images you are seeing.

The colors are amazingly vibrant. They almost seem to jump out at you while you are watching. When you watch a football game, for example, you can see the whiteness in the players uniforms as they are first coming out onto the field and you can tell that the uniforms are freshly washed. As the game progresses, you can see the dirt and grass strains accumulate on the player's uniforms. This really adds to the intensity of the viewing experience and makes it more lifelike.

Watching DVDs
Viewing DVD movies on the PT-61LCX65 is nearly as impressive as the HD channels. The level of detail is nearly as good as HD, but not quite as clear. There are some details that just don't come through as crystal-clear as they do with HDTV. The colors are vivid, but not quite as lifelike. I should point out, however, that I do not have a DVD player with upconversion. I would expect that a DVD player with upconversion would result in a picture that is closer to the quality of HD source signals.

One nice feature of the TV is the black colored edging around the screen. It makes the picture appear to "float" when you watch movies in a dark room. Also, the large screen allows 6-8 people to watch the movie from a good viewing angle (depending on how your room is set up).

With this TV, the overall DVD viewing experience allows you to become immersed in the movie and I am extremely pleased with the results.

Use of the TV as a PC Monitor
I have had mixed results with using this TV as a PC monitor. I was able to get my computer hooked up, but it took some fiddling with my PC settings in order to get the correct resolution to be displayed. Once I did, the images displayed on the TV looked fantastic. All of the applications and games I tried were projected without any issues. The videos, however, were not displayed correctly. There was some problem playing back videos, and the brightness and contrast of the videos became distorted. I didn' t spend much time trying to fix this, so I am not sure what the root cause was. I am betting it was a problem with either my video card settings or my video player settings, since all of the other applications and games worked fine.

Use of the TV to Play Video Games
I have had good results using this TV to play video games. I hooked up my PS2 to it using both the included regular yellow, white, red cable and also a component cable (I borrowed it from a friend). Again, I found that source signal imperfections are amplified by this TV. I saw jaggedness in the images and, in general, a lackluster level of detail. Switching to the component cable connection was helpful, and moving myself back to the proper viewing distance was also helpful. I should add that I experienced no delay or lag when playing March Madness 2005, Killzone or Fight Night Round 2. So far, my gaming experience has been even more fun while using this big screen TV.

Use of the Remote Control
There is nothing extraordinary about this remote control. It is shiny, silver colored with all of the standard buttons of a home theater remote. It allows you to program the remote to operate your DVD player, VCR, cable box, etc. using codes found in the user manual. This is somewhat useful if you want to consolidate your remote controls into one. I tried this with my DVD player and my audio receiver, and it worked fine (both are Pioneer brand components). One other useful feature of this remote is the 'light' button. It is a feature that allows you to turn on or turn off the lighting of each of the buttons. This is useful if you need to use the remote in the dark (while watching a movie, for example), but it also allows you to turn off the lighting to conserve battery power. Another feature, which is really handy, is the ability to switch directly to a different input source or favorite channel without having to cycle through all of the other inputs. So, for example, I only need to press 2 buttons to switch to the input for my DVD player - one button press for TV / Video , and then it displays all of the available input sources with a number next to each, and then one button press for the number next to Input 2. If I want to switch to my PS2, it is still only 2 button presses since I can switch directly to "Input 3" . The same is true for switching to my favorite channels. I just press the "Favorite" button, and then press the number corresponding to the channel I want to watch.

Use of the On-Screen Menus
The available on-screen menus are similar to the on-screen menus of other TV's I have owned - they are pretty standard. They allow you to adjust or set up the picture, audio, timer, channel lock and memory card input. The user-interface is fairly intuitive, and you do not really need to refer to the user manual in order to get the hang of the navigation. I won't go into details for each menu, but I will mention that most menus have sub-menus that allow you to customize a wide array of settings for the TV. This is useful if you have the desire to adjust the various picture settings or sound setting of the TV. Also, the channel lock menu also allows you to lock out certain channels from your children (or perhaps from your spouse? ;-)).

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