Panasonic Panasonic TC-32LX60 32

Panasonic TC-32LX60

Panasonic TC-32LX60 32 Review, by Greg Adler January 30, 2007

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• Reviewed by: anilgumla

  Strengths: Nice Picture and sound, Powerful Built in tuner, Remote can operate DVD,VCR as well, beautiful look and finish. It does best what it's equipped to do.

  Weaknesses: It doesn't have some nice to have features. No Clock, No Freeze picture function, No PIP, No PC input.

  Overall: I was looking for a good 32" TV for last one month. My search zeroed in on this beautiful TC-32LX60 model based on it's reasonable pricing and overall performance. There are so many options available at 32" size in LCD market. At first I bought Sceptre from COSTCO but returned it within a month as I continued to look for a good brand TV. My final shortlist included Samsung S3251D, panasonic and Sony 32s2010 with panasonic being the cheapest among these. I looked at these sets in CC, Fry's and BB and picture quality seemed comparable to me. Reviews on various websites suggested that sound quality is definetely better on panasonic. I ordered it online and got it below $900. After having it for a week I feel, I made the right choice. SD pictures are great. It's definately better than my old Sanyo CRT. HDTV is excellent. Colors are very natural. So many setting options to customize. I am watching DVD movies on it via OPPO 970 upconverting player. I could not be more happier with the combination of 32lx60 and OPPO. Manual operation on TV set is conveniently located on top for easy operation. The swivel stand is a nice useful feature. Design of the set is better than most of the other 32" sets. My only gripe with the set is lack of PC input. Overall this set is worth the money you spend. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for 32" LCD.

• Reviewed by: DBS1965

  Strengths: THIS LCD TV LOOKS NICE,AND HAS A GREAT PICTURE.I JUST HAD HOUSE WIRED FOR HDTV AND THE PICTURE IS UNBELIVIBLE.ESPN AND OTHERS ARE CLEAR AND CRISP.I EVEN SOMETIMES HAVE TO ADJUST MY EYES.GREAT TV.

  Weaknesses: NO CLOCK,UNLESS I HAVEN'T FOUND IT YET.NOT THAT I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH CLOCKS IN THE HOUSE NOW.NO BIG DEAL.

  Overall: THE BOTTOM LINE IS I LOOKED AND LOOKED AND FINALLY FOUND A GREAT TV-THIS TV TOOK THE PLACE OF A 9 OR 10 YEAR OLD XBR SONY.NOT THAT THE SONY DID NOT SERVE US WELL,JUST PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE.GREAT PICK.CLEAR PICTURE.NICE LOOK.HDTV IS AWSOME,CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE CHANNELS.ESPN,DISCOVERY ESPECIALLY SPECTACULAR.

• Reviewed by: bennybenz10

  Strengths: Beautiful modern look, ATSC tuner, variety of aspect ratio settings, direct control located on top of TV,

  Weaknesses: Terrible remote control, favorites feature is useless, only one HDMI, manual is lacking,

  Overall: I purchased this television after extensive research of perhaps every LCD TV on the market (and I'm not kidding). I first became intrigued by an article in Consumers Reports magazine which listed this TV as a good buy. I payed $892-even for the product, and was pleasantly surprised. I hope the following review will save you some of the initial frustrations and questions I had: TUNERS Upon researching the TV, I looked into the capability of using the ATSC tuner and QAM tuner to my advantage. I looked into lots of forums, called Panasonic, spoke to some electronic stores, and read a great amount of articles about these tuners and whether or not I would receive anything "special." For those of you who aren't quite sure or are fuzzy about the definition of an ATSC tuner, here's my best explanation. If you've ever plugged a TV into the wall without connecting it to cable, you probably know that you can receive your basic channels (i.e. CBS, FOX) by tuning into their antenna channels. All of these signals that you're picking up are analog antenna signals. As well as broadcasting their signals in this analog format, many local channels also broadcast their programming in a digital format. The Panasonic TC-32LX60 has a built-in DIGITAL antenna tuner, which means that you can pick up some of these signals using your TV (and no cable). Additionally, most of the night-time programming (i.e. CSI, Desperate Housewives) is broadcasted in HDTV on that digital channel. What does this mean? It means you can, if your local stations support it, receive FREE HDTV channels with your TV. Check with antennaweb.com to see if you're channels support any of this new tech. Should you consider this in your buying equation? Yes. All local cable channels will be REQUIRED to produce this signal very soon, so if your local channel doesn't already broadcast them, they WILL. If you've checked with antennaweb.com, realize that your channels won't necessarily line up with those of your TV. For example, antennaweb.com tells me that I can receive ABC on channel 10-1 (the strange number including the dash is what tunes your antenna), but I actually receive it on channel 88-1. So, for me, I had to check every single possible channel in order to find ABC's digital broadcast. Even if you find ABC on one of those funky numbers with a dash, you may not have found the HDTV signal. To check, press the RECALL button on your remote. If you see either 780p or 1080I (two different kinds of HDTV broadcasts), you've found the channel that broadcasts SOME programs in HDTV. If you don't you've found a DIFFERENT channel which only broadcasts non-HDTV programs. Don't give up if you don't find any channels. It took me several hours to find all of the channels, but I eventually found ABC, FOX, CBS, and NBC in HD (as well as some other non-HD digital channels). Remember that digital channels have dashes (i.e. 88-1, 88-2, 89-1, 89-2) The QAM tuner that is said to be a feature of this TV is virtually useless. The purpose of a QAM tuner is to pickup non-compressed digital channels that are broadcasted over your cable connection. The reality is that virtually NO cable companies broadcast any such channels. Don't even try calling them--they don't know what a QAM tuner is. REMOTE The remote is no reason to not buy the TV, but keep in mind that the remote control buttons are difficult to press and badly positioned. Don't worry, though--you can always purchase a universal remote. Due to the capability of the TV to accept 4 numbers for a channel, you'll have to use enter (press 6, then enter) or use zeros (0-0-0-6). LOOK Let's face it--we buy things because they look really cool. The Panasonic is no exception. If you don't particularly like the photo of the TV, take a look at it at a local electronics store. I checked with Best Buy to see what it was like and how big it was before I ordered it online (high recommended procedure). It makes a big statement when we have company over. HDMI HDMI is a high-definition digital interface which connects your TV to all sorts of products (i.e. DVD player, HD cable) and can trasmit high-def. Just like a coaxial cable to the wall can trasmit audio and video, an HDMI connection transmits audio AND video. This means that the cord from your DVD player to your TV doesn't have to be those annoying RED-YELLOW-WHITE cords (component), you can use an HDMI cable if your player supports it. The TV has only one HDMI port, so if you've got more than one HDMI-compatible product, you've got to decide who you love more! No worries, though. You can use the component (colored) inputs for everything else. The TV lets you label what each component is in the menu so that when you change inputs, you can select between 'DVD,' 'Cable', and 'Camera' and not Input 1, 2, and 3. THEY ARE NOW cutting me off from any more writing, but I was about to that the audio quality is very good and the cable depends on your connection. limit reached

• Reviewed by: CrazySteve

  Strengths: Picture clarity is among the best in its class.Attractive cabinet design looks impressive even when the TV is turned off.A good value, considering its moderate price.

  Weaknesses: Excellent wide horizontal viewing angle, but rather narrow vertical viewing angle.The owner's manual does not adequately explain what each of the controls is for, or how to adjust them.

  Overall: I shopped for LCD televisions off and on for several months before buying. The model that originally caught my eye was last year?s model TC-26LX50, that I saw at a closeout price at a local dealer. It had a very clear picture, compared to other, more expensive sets. I didn?t buy that one, because it didn?t have a built-in ATSC tuner, while the current TC-26LX60 model does. Eventually, I decided that the 26? set was too small, and opted for this 32? model, which didn?t cost all that much more, and still fit in the space I wanted to put it in.The TC-32LX60 is the middle-priced 32? LCD set in Panasonic?s line. The low-end one is the TC-32LE60 and the high-end one is the TC-32LX600. You can view the differences on Panasonic?s website, although the webpages do a rather poor job of explaining what the advantages are of the more expensive models. No store in my area carried more than one of the models, so I couldn?t do a side-by-side comparison on audio and video quality.My choice of the LX60 was based on price, and the look of the silver cabinet and black bezel. The LE60 has a silver cabinet and gray bezel, and the LX600 has a black cabinet and black bezel.The picture is far better than other less expensive brands, and as good, or nearly as good, as more expensive brands. Some of the more expensive brands do have more features though, like more than one HDMI input.The sound through the hidden internal stereo speakers is impressive, though it cannot compare to a quality surround sound system with subwoofer. It is fine for casual television watching though.Under weaknesses, I mentioned it has a wide horizontal viewing angle, but a rather narrow vertical viewing angle. This means you can sit to the far left or right, and still have good viewing, but if the TV is higher or lower than your head, and not tilted to directly face you, the picture quality will be reduced. If you want to mount the television up high, make sure you get a wall mount or ceiling mount that lets you tilt the screen down.A small bulge in the back of the cabinet makes it difficult to wall mount it using some universal TV mounts, without buying longer screws and extra spacer washers or custom brackets.The owner?s manual inexplicably jumps from English in the first 23 pages, then to Spanish for the next 12 pages, then back to English. It does not explain in enough detail how to adjust the set properly.The default settings do not come close to producing the best picture. Even worse, it is too easy to accidentally reset all settings to the default with one wrong button press on the remote.Has only one HDMI input and one component video input. Has only composite video output.

• Reviewed by: jpurins

  Strengths: Easy set-upVivid pictureBuilt-in HD tuner that pulls in even weaker stationsReasonable priceSwivel baseNon-glare screenCompact design (no side "wing" speakers)Rich sound

  Weaknesses: No PC inputSluggish channel changes

  Overall: I bought this at Best Buy as an "Open Box" item - sale price was $1099, plus a $300 Gift Card due to the "open box." The user's manual was missing, but setup was very user-friendly, and I had programmed the stations and was enjoying the TV 15 minutes after bringing it home. The big surprise was how many HDTV stations I was able to pick up with a strong signal from my rooftop antenna. Several channels, especially PBS, appeared less compressed and with less pixilation coming from the antenna than the same stations from the Time Warner Cable connection. I have a Toshiba LCD with an external Magnavox tuner, which only gets half the HD stations that I get with this Panasonic TV - both feeding from the same rooftop antenna. I downloaded the user's manual from the Panasonic website, so now I can take full advantage of the features. There are limited features, but that makes setup and operations a breeze.