Buy Panasonic PT-53WX53 53-Inch Widescreen HD-Ready Projection TVPanasonic PT-53WX53 53-Inch Widescreen HD-Ready Projection TV Product Description:
- 53-inch widescreen projection television with 1080i/480p resolution; 49.1 x 51.4 x 25 inches (W x H x D)
- DVI-HDTV input; 2-tuner PIP with 8-bit PIP image processing, PIP scaling, and multiformat PIP (HDTV compatible)
- Progressive Cinema Scan (3:2 pulldown) provides faithful reproduction of film-based programs
- Motion-adaptive 3D-Y/C digital comb filter enhances resolution by removing blurred edges between colors and reducing dot crawl
- Digital velocity-modulated scanning improves the definition at picture edges
Product Description
This Panasonic 53" Widescreen HDTV includes a DVI input for the best possible pure-digital audio and video signals. The 16:9 aspect ratio and 30-watt sound system will help you bring the movie theater experience into your home. Features: 2-tuner multi-format PIP with split screen display and scalable image size; 53" projection display; CRT rear projector; 3D menu system; 9-point convergence; 1080i & 480p HD display; progressive scan doubler; dual HD component inputs; progressive cinema scan with 3:2 pulldown; horizontal and vertical edge correction; digital velocity-modulated scan; 3D-Y/C digital comb filter; color temperature control; built-in stereo amplifier with 15 watts RMS per channel and 4-speakers; 3 S-video inputs; 4 audio/video inputs; 2 programmable on/off timers; screen shield; and an illuminated universal remote control. View larger image for cable hook-up guidelines. $99.99 freight provides "White Glove" in-home truck delivery ($300 value), positioning of TV and optional discarding of the original packaging. Please note that returns can only be accepted with original packaging (see return policy for details). 53" 16:9 widescreen HDTV. Total dimensions: 25-3/10Lx49-1/10Wx51-2/5H". Weight: 233-1/10 lbs.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
You may want to know more than what the manual tells you...
By A Customer
I really like the TV. I like the way the picture looks, considering that I spent $1500, and not $5000. I've had my TV a few days, so I can't tell you how it holds up over time (I'll be back). This review is a "tell you what you may want to know from day one" as much as it is a review. I hope I can help prevent you from damaging your projection TV by telling things not mentioned in the manual.
An earlier review (different website) gave the TV one star out of five because he said after eight months he had side bars permanently burned into his screen, and he felt the manual's "don't use 4:3 mode more than 15% of the time" wasn't enough information. Keeping this in mind, I never use 4:3 with gray side bars (I can live with the "Just" stretch.)
The manual says nothing about a break in period (it didn't say "this TV has new technology and doesn't need a "break-in" either). I've read several internet articles that recommend special treatment the first 100 hours--have the contrast turned down. This TV doesn't list "contrast" but I'm assuming "picture" is the same thing. One said 250 hours (most said one hundred). Everyone said turn down the contrast (or in our case, I think `picture'). One said to turn down other things (well, you need some brightness, or else no light gets to the screen and that can't be a good break-in either J. Several articles on projection TVs said "Wow, after the breakin the picture became really great!" My second day I thought it was looking better than the first. One site said "don't just turn on your TV for 100 hours and say `I'm done!'", that the turning the TV on and turning it off (so that the components warm up, then cool down, etc.) was a part of the conditioning.
As delivered, the TV setting was on "vivid" which has the highest picture. I turned that all the way down. I hooked a computer LCD monitor up to my DVD player through an S-video, and ran component cables (red, green, blue) from the DVD player into the TV so I could compare the pictures. The TV seemed to error on too much red (people skin color), so I changed color temperature to cool, and there was too much color, so I turned down the tint. This gave people a more natural looking skin color. This isn't a criticism of this particular model--one website named three TV brands and said they all give you a TV with the contrast (or picture) turned high and probably too much red. For comic relief, one guy mentioned that the stores put the most expensive TV's in a category on "vivid" so they look better than the less expensive TVs.
One site said that the large the projection TV, the more likelihood of problems like burn in . I'm paranoid about the TV logos in the lower right corner if the logo is solid white (I sent ABC an email pleading with them to change to something half transparent so the colors underneath come through.) News channels with a running ticker at the bottom of the screen-never!
Right now while I'm breaking the TV, I'm not playing any cartoons. My understanding of the break in is to run the circuitry without a heavy load on the lamps (like driving your new car 50 miles an hour on the highway). To me, the cartoons are very very colorful, equivalent to playing a normal movie on vivid. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the break-in? I hope to find something about this on the internet.
Biggest complaint- I've already seen with two of my widescreen DVDs that they don't quite fill the screen from top to bottom (slight slivers of blackness at top and bottom) and none of the zoom modes will fix this. Those DVD's are now banned from the TV(I'll play them on my computer). One review site said the problem was that this TV only has four Zoom options, and other TVs have more. Maybe later I'll get a new DVD player that can send out a signal with various zooms and then I would just put the TV on standard aspect (no zooming) to accept it. Perhaps this is my biggest complaint against the TV, that the basic "zoom" can't make it zoom all the way in each direction. From reading the manual, I would have thought it would zoom completely.
TV gets 4 of 5 stars for excellent price to performance ratio. I wanted to give 5, but if all this stuff I found on the internet is true, then when I bought the TV, I could have read the manual, turned it on, and misused/abused it during the first few weeks of use. I don't know how much new lamps cost, or what I would pay for the labor. The guy with the problem of the burned in side bars said that one would cost $500 total (parts and labor).
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Gorgeous image
By E. Cove
Since I just got this, I can't comment on its reliability, but mine looks and works great. First off, the PT-53WX53 seems to be pretty lightweight - relatively speaking - compared to other 53" HDTV's. The image was pretty good right out of the box. It has some brightness presets, and mine was set to "Vivid" which is probably too bright for most situations. I changed that, and also brought down the color saturation. Once I did all this, the image looked very good. All I have right now is analog cable, which looks grainy on many channels. But DVD's are crystal-clear: sharp, gorgeous color and contrast. I did a little homework, and a couple of other RPTV brands (Hitachi and Mitsubishi) consistently came up as having superior images, but I think the differences are negligible - only hardcore videophiles could have a problem with the PT-53WX53's image. I highly recommend this television.
Added: I've since upgraded to digital cable with HD. The regular digital cable images are fine. But HD on this set is fantastic! Crystal-clear, great definition and color. I'm very satisfied with this set.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.Big Clear Picture--Small(ish) Price
By A Customer
I've had my Panasonic PT-53WX53 for about two weeks. The unit's picture quality is excellent, and the sound is decent even using only the built-in speakers. For optimum picture quality, you'll likely need some set-up. Fortunately, the cable guy who installed my HD box loves his work, and spent about 30-45 minutes tinkering with various controls. When he was done, I was left with a sparkling, amazingly clear picture. The one drawback: once you've seen HD, you can't go back.
This unit is an excellent value. Why spend several times more for a plasma, unless you *really* need that extra 21 inches of space (this unit is about 25 inches deep, versus 4 or so for a plasma).
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