Panasonic 34" HDTV CT-34WX15 Review
I've now had this for a week & it looks better every day. Cosmetically its beautiful & its picture is great both for DVD's, HD & regular shows as well. Until I can fine tune this, the factory preset of Vivid is fine- it may take a day or 2 to get use too especially when I was use to seeing a 30" Samsung widescreen HDTV but I'm very happy. I ordered the Avia calibration disc and hopefully I can fine tune it (apparently the filters aren't included if you rent this from Netflix). I'm watching from my bed about 9 feet away. Before that I had a Samsung 30" HD there. That TV set was too small. I made the mistake of thinking a 30" widescreen HD would be more than equal to my 4:3 normal 27" set. It wasn't. Cam posted an actual conversion table at www.cavecreations.com/tv2.cgi?KeohiHDTV that I wish I used when I originally replaced my 27" set. It took about 3 days for my eyes to get use to the 34" widescreen from my 30" widescreen. The DVD picture is awesome on this. If a DVD movie wasn't filmed or converted to widescreen, you can use the 4:3 aspect on this TV and it looks great. This wasn't the case with my 30" Samsung. Regular 4:3 color TV shows on this set look very good compared to the grainy pictures I'm use to seeing on other HD Sets. The HD broadcasts are excellent. I still think I can fine tune the picture slightly better as it seems a tinge too dark. I can't comment on sound as I listen through my Denon Receiver, Orb Mod 1 speakers & Harmon Kardon 31 DVD player & so that isn't a factor. I got my set from Circuit City for $1200 plus I bought an extended 5 year warranty & delivery & installation was free & took just 2 days. My original budget was $1,000 but the reviews on this set were so unanamously positive compared to other 34" sets, I decided to spend the extra $200. I sold my Samsung for $475 & am quite happy with this set for my bedroom. It fits perfectly atop of my dresser. It weighs 160 pounds but that's not a factor as most dressers will support that & I didn't move it in. It's depth is around 23 1/2" which again wasn't a factor for me as I had more then enough room to put it on top of the dresser.