Panasonic Tau 36" Flat Screen TV $899 free delivery Circuit City

[KJW]

I picked this set up Saturday morning right after I received the Sunday circulars, and they actually had a better deal going -- $950 for the set plus a $75 gift card. Pictures is nice, but it definitely needs some tweaking (no surprise -- manufacturers ship TVs with the settings calibrated so they look good in a showroom, not a home). Anyone know of a good website for calibrating video settings on a TV?

Also, I looked at component cables and they were something like $50 for the cheapest set. Is this right? Am I better off going to Radio Shack than a circuit city/BB?

Finally, the only bad thing I have noticed about this TV is that you cannot swap the PIP to fill screen if you are putting the signal through a cable box. Anyone know any way around this?

 

[kaborka]

Trickster2: If this set is like the 27", there is 1 combination component or composite input in the back, and an additional S-video/composite in the front and back -- total of three input selections.

re: Factory settings. When the deal on the 27" was posted in 2001, there was a big discussion of the proper brightness levels. A TV salesman pointed out the brightness is cranked way too high so they look bright in the showroom. This level can allegedly result in damage or premature failure of the tube. I believe there were some links to the proper adjustment procedure. If I have time later, I'll search the AT archives to see if I can find this thread.

 

[clarkmo]

I bought a 20" TAU recently and you can squeeze the picture but only in the setup menu. You would then have to unsqueeze it for regular viewing. The manual was fairly cheap $6.95 and could be ordered via email. Try audioreview.com for tv reviews..
Some Panasonitips

 

[THX]

Awesome deal, especially with free shipping. A 36" flat screen is a monster, good luck if you ever have to move that around yourself.

In comparison I bought my 32" Wega for $900 in Oct of 2001, but I'm glad a didn't wait over a year for this deal. Something the Wegas have over the Taus is switchable SVM (scan velocity modulation), a feature that is supposed to make the edges of the subjects on screen look sharper. It can work good for cable TV/OTA but for DVDs or videogames it looks crappy. Usually you have to go into the service menu to turn it off but Sony is nice and let's you do it in the menu (off, low, or high). And the anamorphic squeeze is very handy for better resolution in DVD watching and elimnatin scan lines, not sure if this Tau has it. It's not on Panasonic's site and CC.com doesn't make any menton of it.

Ermm, after checking out that set out at cc.com I read that it uses an invar shadow mask. :\ They don't get as bright as a standard aperture grille and don't have as good color definition. The tradeoff on this newer technology is it costs less to produce and sports a finer dot pitch. I still prefer aperture grilles.

PVC
Firing Squad

It would be a tough decision but in the end when quality is comparable I'd go for the bigger set. I'm sure the Tau is tweakable in the service menu.

Edit- I'd echo the adgvice on Keohi's TV tweaking site. I used it for my wega and most of the tweaks worked great.

KJW- Buy.com has excellent deals on Acoustic Research cables with free shipping. I have a budget theater too and buy all my cables from them. You can use the regular A/V cables for component which have the same shielding and quality jackets as the higher priced cables.

 

[Aztech]

Well, this was pretty much the kind of set I was looking for. 36", flat screen, and without HDTV. I purchased it 2nite, delivered 2morrow. Gonna be a great step up from my Samsung 27"! My living room was just too big for that little guy

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
.9 inches too wide for my entertainment center

The max my entertainment center will fix is a 32" otherwise I would have been all over this.

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
.9 inches too wide for my entertainment center

The max my entertainment center will fix is a 32" otherwise I would have been all over this.

As if we had any doubts

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Tallgeese

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
.9 inches too wide for my entertainment center

The max my entertainment center will fix is a 32" otherwise I would have been all over this.

As if we had any doubts

I love the Panasonic Tau series of TV and this isn't at all a bad price esp if you play BB against CC and get it for around $799

I love my 27" Toshiba Cinema Series but it is 2.5 years old, isn't flat and I want something bigger.

 

[partialwrtx]

Guys, I just bought a Toshiba 36" model # 36af42 flat-screen tv, and this thing has the best picture I've seen of any non-HD TV. Even the Wegas look inferior in picture quality to this Toshiba from what I've seen. Here's how I got it: At Sears, it costs $1200 or so. I found a manager that allowed me to PM the price to another store that sells it for $989. Sears has a 110% pricematch policy, and the manager gave me an extra $50 off because I didn't need it delivered because I have a Suburban. So I got this awesome TV for an effective price of $930 plus tax which made it $1000 exactly. Not a bad deal I consider.

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
I love the Panasonic Tau series of TV and this isn't at all a bad price esp if you play BB against CC and get it for around $799

I love my 27" Toshiba Cinema Series but it is 2.5 years old, isn't flat and I want something bigger.

No arguments here man...the Tau line IMHO is the best value for the money in televisions right now. And I think this is a particularly awesome deal!
If we weren't expecting Princess Part Deux in less than a month...I'd be ALL OVER this one!

 

[kantonburg]

I am SERIOUSLY considering this TV for my dad. He's in the market for a bigscreen but the only thing that will fit in his space is the Toshiba 42" W/S 42H82. I just don't thing he'll like the widescreen especially since he never watches DVDs. I'll be sure to bring this up to him tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip guys.

 

[RossMAN]

Damn a 3 year extended warranty is $119.99?

Is it just me or is that a lot?

 

[partialwrtx]

Originally posted by: kantonburg
I am SERIOUSLY considering this TV for my dad. He's in the market for a bigscreen but the only thing that will fit in his space is the Toshiba 42" W/S 42H82. I just don't thing he'll like the widescreen especially since he never watches DVDs. I'll be sure to bring this up to him tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip guys.

Surprise your old man. I did, and the reaction from my parents was classic and worth all the $$$ in the world.

 

[kantonburg]

I would love to but he's buying not me. I'm just the decision maker for him.

 

[partialwrtx]

Ahh, I see. But it so fun to see parents' response to you getting them cool things as presents. This week I got them the 36" Toshiba flat-screen, last summer got them the Nikon Coolpix 5700 digital camera, then I got them a DVD player, some infrared cameras, a new computer, etc. I LOVE the reaction, like I said previously it's worth all the $$$ in the world. A comment on the Toshiba (36af42) that I got: It's a great TV for the $1000 I paid that includes tax. Playing DVDs on a good DVD player or inputing other digital inputs such as that from the CP5700 yields superb picture quality and color contrast. One thing I can say I dislike a bit is that when you have sharp variations in black and white colors the area tends to flicker which I didn't expect from this class of TVs. Another thing: The 5W/speaker is quite weak. I was watching a movie the other day and I had to crank the volume up to 100% to hear the sound well. But overall, I can overlook the marginal sound quality for the awesome picture quality. Hope this helps somewhat.

 

[Tallgeese]

Originally posted by: partialwrtx
so fun to see parents' response to you getting them cool things as presents.

No doubt about that. My father LOVED the Dreamcast I bought for him the Christmas before last . He plays DaytonaUSA all the time, with the racing wheel I got for him.

What made it even better was that it was all from uber-cheap Hot Deals!

 

[RossMAN]

Alright my roommate says I can use his entertainment center since he bought a new one.

If I can get this for $799 I just might do it, damn Hot Deals!

I'm supposed to save up for a new house and payoff my car in 3 years!

How am I supposed to do that with these TVs, DVD Players, laptops, digicams, etc.?

How?

 

[masterxfob]

Originally posted by: Tallgeese

Originally posted by: partialwrtx
so fun to see parents' response to you getting them cool things as presents.

No doubt about that. My father LOVED the Dreamcast I bought for him the Christmas before last . He plays DaytonaUSA all the time, with the racing wheel I got for him.

What made it even better was that it was all from uber-cheap Hot Deals!

i wish my dad were a bit like your dad, my dad doesn't even like me playing video games. i'm only 22 and he says i'm to old

anyhow, my mom's been looking for a set and i think i'll go and grab this one for her

 

[Shrooms420]

i saw one of these at good guys and i was like "WOW!"

 

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Damn a 3 year extended warranty is $119.99?

Is it just me or is that a lot?

Yeah, that's a lot, but not as much as Circuit City wanted to charge me for it. Like I said I bought one, but I passed on the warranties which were quoted to me as $189 for 3-year or $349 for 5-year!

 

[Aztech]

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
.9 inches too wide for my entertainment center

So, are these nice entertainment centers or what? I mean a TV stand can be had for around $75.00 right?

 

[MemnochtheDevil]

Originally posted by: Aztech

Originally posted by: AU Tiger
.9 inches too wide for my entertainment center

So, are these nice entertainment centers or what? I mean a TV stand can be had for around $75.00 right?

But if your wife is very happy with the one she has now, getting a new tv stand could be more expensive than the actual TV......

And to clear up my earlier statement that seems, anything that outputs a progressive signal (like a progressive DVD player) will need a HDTV or a HD ready TV to accept that. If your like me and have a progressive scan DVD player and normal TV you set your player to output a 480i (interlaced) signal. Otherwise you won't get any picture...

The 16x9 squeeze trick is completely different and a very nice feature, my friend just got a 36" Wega and I can say it looks awesome.

 

[bbkat]

Any idea how much this beast weighs?

 

[kantonburg]

230lbs!!!

There is a stand that goes with it. Cheapest I've found it is $150 for the stand. We need to find a deal on the stand.

 

[MemnochtheDevil]

217 lbs shipping weight on amazon, couldn't find it on panasonic's site... Seems a bit light compared to the 36" wega I moved so I'm not sure if that number is accurate....