Panasonic PT-53WX42

[Aristo]

The best TV I've ever owned is the 32" Sony WEGA WRX (errr.... I think that's car but I couldn't remember its name). This HDTV ready TV posted in the deal section looks pretty attractive to me since I'm thinking of upgrading my home entertainment center.

Since I'm a newbie on this home theater field, what should I look for a quality TV? If this question has been asked many times, could you please direct me to the thread?


$1700 shipped for a 53" HDTV sounds too good to be true. I think my WEGA cost like $1800.

Thanks a lot.

[Tommy Boomfiger]

thats xbr, not wrx and thats a sweet tv

[Aristo]

Since I'm using normal cable (not digital), can I still connect it to this HDTV or I need a converter? If I use the converter, will the pic quality suffer (I heard that from a friend)?

[Apex]

You can connect normal cable directly to this TV, no problem. As with any 480i picture blown up to 53" though, the quality is questionable. However, this generation (the WX42 and WX52, which only differ with a shield) of Panny's definitely have better line doublers which will help the picture quality.

In terms of a converter, you may be thinking of an external scaler, something that takes the normal NTSC signal and upscales it to a higher resolution. This greatly improves the picture quality, but tends to be expensive.

If you're not thinking of this, you may be thinking of a rf converter, which is something that absolutely sucks, but you would not need in this case.

[Aristo]

Apex,

Thank you for your information. I will check out this TV at Best Buy, CC, and Good Guys and ask their opinions also.

[Apex]

Take a look at it there, but be aware, that those places will have it tuned absolutely horrifically. All RPTV's benefit from calibration and proper tuning, and Panny's are known to especially excel with the proper adjustments.

[ufcrusher]

You do realize that your Sony is HDTV ready dont you? All you need to do is buy the HDTV tuner. Its the reason why it was so expensive. I cant think of a single year that there was a wega XBR that it wasnt HDTV capable. Check your manual and you might save yourself a bunch of money.