Extraordinary Quality of Picture, particularly DVDs, but also most regular TV signals

None detected, other than its is very heavy -175lbs.

Just wanted to underscore that my purchase was greatly influenced by the comments in this site from reviewers. I have little to add to the accolades. It would be good to hear recommendations from those who have connected the Decoder and also Reciever.

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tested the Samsung HDTV, and the Toshiba. No comparison.

lotsa of them, nice picture quality and so on... when it works !

started showing some horizontal lines on the second day of use ! some week contact inside, well, made in Mexico, what to expect !

check the made place ! don't go for "made in Mexico", Singapore or Malaisya is ok.
this is the last time i bought something from Panasonic!

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Sony - never had any problem !

Works like a dream

Pricey, picture is rather red until you tone it down

If you can afford it it's a great set.

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Compared to Toshiba and SharpVision units

Great HDTV-ready set for a small room
DVDs look stunning when played on progressive scan player
Lots of inputs, lots of menu adjustments possible
Overall picture clarity and sharpness is excellent, once adjusted away from awful factory pre-settings

Oversaturated and red-heavy colors (can be mostly compensated for)

The television we use for most casual and daytime viewing went out, so I decided to replace it with a 34-inch widescreen HDTV tube (direct view) set.

My partner and I already have a Toshiba 65-inch rear-projection widescreen HDTV-ready set (TW65X81) in a downstairs home theater setup, which we use for most but not all DVD viewing. It's a great setup but the downstairs can be chilly in the winter, and since there is a fireplace by the upstairs set sometimes we decide in favor of cozy and warm upstairs rather than big and surround sound chilly downstairs. The upstairs TV area is a fairly small nook, so we sit rather close to the set and don't want to see the scan lines.

After doing some internet research I concluded that the top two direct view 34-inch widescreen sets were probably SharpVision and Toshiba, with this Panasonic coming in at third. I was able to see all three in operation. I was unimpressed with the Toshiba. To be fair, it could have been terribly miscalibrated in the showroom. In any case, the picture looked mediocre at best, so I ruled it out.

I saw the SharpVision and this Panasonic side by side at Ultimate Electronics and was impressed with both. I preferred the SharpVision's black case to Panasonic's silver one, but was convinced to go with this Panasonic because the salesman told me their service department rarely has to fix Panasonic sets. As someone who has had past frustration with trying to deal with repairmen and their schedules this was the deciding factor for me.

Rear projection HDTV-ready sets provide a superior DVD picture (but an inferior DirecTV picture, because of the size) but require complete darkness or you get a washed out picture, and they also require more space. For daylight viewing in a tight space, and as a second HDTV-ready set, I chose the Panasonic. I would recommend a rear-projection set such as those in the Toshiba widescreen series (they come in 40-inch, 56-inch and 65-inch screen sizes) over this Panasonic or any direct view set if you can view it in a darkened area - preferably completely dark. Also, hooking up a progressive scan DVD player via Color Stream component video inputs will make a world of difference and provide a 3-D image in many scenes, particularly bright daylight scenes.

I hooked up this Panasonic to a progressive DVD player - the toshiba SD5109 - and also to DirecTV and to a Super VHS VCR, the JVC SD9600U.

As someone below said, there is no doubt that the Panasonic CT34WX50 is an excellent television set. With a progressive scan DVD player the image is stunning. DVDs provide the best source material, with excellent over-the-air signals next-best. DirecTV comes in third and videotape a close fourth.

DirecTV used to offer a dazzling digital picture but within the past year or so they have taken to compressing the digital information on their channels to fit the local channels onto the same amount of satellite bandwidth, and so all channels now suffer when viewed on TV sets above 25 inches (their target customer audience size). You will see pixillation and smearing, and oftentimes a "pasty" look. But this Panasonic does the best a set can do with it.

I don't have an HDTV receiver yet, so I can't comment on HDTV.

This Panasonic set likes RED (as Matt wrote below, in Panasonic's world EVERYBODY has a sunburn). In fact, I found Matt's review right on the money so I won't repeat it here. Just scroll below and read it. One different is that my set does not display the band of brightness Matt mentions at the end of his review, so that may just be a problem with his individual set.

The factory settings are terrible as is the case with almost all TV sets, so for what it's worth, here are my settings:

For DVD:
Picture 14
Brightness 8
Color -24
Tint 4
Sharpness -20
Color Temp Normal

For Antenna and DirecTV:
Picture -14
Brightness 21
Color -25
Tint 4
Sharpness 10
Color Temp Normal

Inputs are simple and easy to use, and so is the remote control. I had to turn off the Panasonic AUTO mode because the picture size would occasinally change while watching a show, which was distracting. Panasonic AUTO mode senses the picture area and maximizes it, but the downside is that if the picture has black at the top in some dark scene it will blow up the rest of the picture until the scene changes.

The JUST picture mode (which I'm guessing is short for ADJUST) works fine. It leaves the center of the picture unaltered but stretches out the sides to fill the 16:9 frame, under the assumption that the main action will always take place in the center. It's mostly a correct assumption, but not always - for example, on stock tickers, the information zips in on the right side, slows down, then zips out on the left. Also, when two people are sitting at a desk, one on each side of the screen, they look fatter than when one or the other is pictured in the center of the screen, because the sides of the picture are stretched.

If that bothers you, you can leave it on square screen (with black bars on the sides), or ZOOM (which leaves the picture ratio unaltered but will cut off a bit of the top and bottom of the screen and you will have more visible scan lines). The FULL setting will fatten the entire picture evenly because it's squishing down a square picture into a rectangle. (This mode is used mainly for widescreen anamorphic DVDs - the mode will trigger automatically - but can be selected manually if you have a reason to want to.)

The Panasonic CT34WX50 is not flawless but is excellent - even dazzling.

Better-than-average line doubler
Excellent build quality
Extensive adjustment options
Decent amount of connections

No 720p or VGA support
Reds are way too exaggerated
Comparable sets cost less and give you more

There's no doubt that the Panasonic CT34WX50 is an excellent television. On almost all material you throw at it, it rewards the viewer with an excellent picture. However, one has to wonder about the limited connectivity and future upgrade options that this set offers. With no support for 720p (all signs point to this being the next format of choice due to its non-interlaced nature and obvious advantages and improvements in comparison to 480p), and no support for any type of VGA format, I can't bring myself to recommend this set to anyone besides those who just want a Panasonic based on name and past experience.

Personally, I would purchase the Sampo SME34WHD5, which I have auditioned extensively along with the other units listed above. It costs less and while it's a bit no-frills, concentrates on connectivity options and an awesome direct-view picture.

My primary uses for HDTV are for movies and video games, and on movie material, I feel the Sampo runs right with the Panasonic, and 3/2-pulldown progressive DVD players such as the Pioneer DV-37 shine on this set. Granted, it looks fantastic on the Panasonic, but why spend more money for a TV that will be obsolete once 720p players hit mass market? You'll just have to go out and buy another TV or suffer with a downgraded picture.

As far as video game material is concerned, I'm running a Sony PlayStation 2 via component video, and the image is to die for. On 16:9-enhanced PlayStation 2 games such as "Beat Mania IIDX 3rd Style" or "Guitar Freaks 3rd Mix & Drum Mania 2nd Mix" (both available for import), I couldn't imagine playing these games any other way. I'm also running a Sega Dreamcast via VGA connection, and with the Sampo's high refresh rates, the image is again, amazing.

One bad thing about the Sampo is that there are no rear S-Video connections, and only has a single front S-Video jack. However, I don't think Sampo made this set for middle-of-the-road consumers, and are aiming this at people who will use primarily component and VGA connections. The only time I use S-Video is when I dust off old video game systems or connect a digital camcorder, so for those in a more S-Video demanding situation, you may want to take this into consideration.

At an average street cost of nearly $3500, the Panasonic is a waste of money. Seriously, take a look at the Sampo. You'll have a set that provides one of the best direct-view HDTV images, every connection you'll need, and you won't have to settle for a dumbed-down rear-projection unit. It'll save you headaches and frustration in the very cloudy future of HDTV.

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Sampo SME34WHD5
Sony KV36XBR400
Toshiba CW34X92

I don't own a 16:9 set yet, but I've noticed something very irritating about all those seen so far. Remember how we all hated l-boxed movies, even though we knew "it was what the director intended"? Remember how the 16:9 ratio was to be the salvation of us all? Well, on the 16:9 sets I've seen so far, only 16:9 movies fill the whole screen. If a wider screen ratio flick is shown, there's those damn black bars, top & bottom again - so here we are, RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED! And there's no way (at least Panasonic tells me re TAU-TV) to zoom the picture to fill the screen - at the minor cost of slight left & right edge loss. If I remember right, the only wide TV I saw that allowed this was the original RCA 34" "Cinemascreen". Does anyone know of others?

Another point: "stretching" a 4:3 image to fill the screen.
What a horrible idea! Would anyone in his/her right mind buy an audio amplifier that's flat 10-10kHz, but distorted audibly above & below those limits? Of course not! Yet Panasonic & other mfrs. say "stretch" is A-OK! To make matters worse, their TAU doesn't have gray bars alongside a 4:3 picture, so they actually encourage the user to use the "Stretch" mode to avoid tube burn! So here we spend megabucks to get razor-sharp definition, dead-nuts
color rendition etc. etc - and they expect us to watch a 4:3 image that's physically distorted! Looks like HDTV product design is still in its infancy. Guess I'll wait a couple of years.
Disregard my rating numbers; I had to enter something.

Beautiful picture, plays DVD's to the max. Fits in my living
without consuming it.

One antenna in, had to purchase a splitter to use pip. Lots of tweaking required, nice once done, needs a very sturdy component rack. Wish it was black!

Damn nice picture, once tweaked of course. I have owned many Panasonic products that have been very relaiable hopefully this 3K plus TV will be to....
This was my final purchase over the past year updating my Home AUdio/Video set up. Now I'm Broke......lol

HDTV is the way to go. No regular TV can produce the piture these TV's can,,Period..................

And my Mitsubishi was a 2400 dollar TV 5 years ago, and it made one hell of a picture, no comparison at all....

Course I'm not hooked up to braodcast as yet, so I'll add to my review when this takes place.

PS....All you buyers,,,shop the net

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Mitsubishi high resolutuon TV, to bad thay don't make tube TV's no more. Lots of studying the Sony and Toshiba HDTV's

Stunning DVD picture, Very watchable full screen digital stretch for regular OTA tv.

The picture will be disapointing if your cable input is poor.

This 34 inch direct view 16:9 HDTV is a beautiful set that will fit in any house or apartment. Your DVD with component cables will produce a FLAWLESS picture that is unmatched by any RPTV that I have ever seen. The picture is noticably better than the new Sony XBR400 and is widescreen as well. I have to agree with previous reviewers that this set produces a picture with too much red saturation but if you use AVIA to calibrate your picture you can compensate for that. I would recommend that you use a dish or digital cable for a viewable picture for broadcast TV. If you use analog cable, the picture seems a little soft, and you will not get a picture worthy of the 3 to 4 grand you spent on the TV. I've not yet seen any HDTV broadcast so I can't comment on that as of yet.

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None

DVDs look great. No distortion at off axis viewing.

The decoder box for HDTV is not out yet.
4:3 stretched setting has a bit of distortion at the edges.

I traded in my Sony 32 inch XBR for this gem. I've owned
Sony TVs for many years, so this was a big change for me.
This TV looks good on or off. I thought the color was just
fine on the Sony until I saw this TV. Out of the box the
settings are all too high. After some tweeking this set
has a stunning picture. Anamorphic DVDs are a joy to watch.
The line doubler makes over the air analog signals look
very clear and sharp. The P.I.P. is nice for watching two
football games a once. Even VHS and BETA tapes almost look
watchable. This TV can even set the aspect to 4:3 or 16:9
when the auto mode is set,by detecting the type of signal
coming through. When the HDTV decoder box gets here, I'll be on the sofa for a year or three.

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Sony XBR squared.

A 16x9 (1.85 to 1) DVD played from a Progressive Scan DVD is stunning. DirecTV with S-Video out is almost better then non-Progressive Scan DVD.

Too much red saturation, a "hot spot" in the middle of the TV, lack of memory for each individual input.

I took the plunge and bought mine off the Internet early in the summer. Initially was so impressed with difference in DVD quality - I also bought a Toshiba 5109 Progresive Scan DVD (over a regular set), that I overlooked some of the quirkiness.

I began noticing a very warm (red) feel to it, and a fairly noticable hot spot in the bottom middle of the set. However, I have been able to do pretty good with the adjustments.

Here are some suggestions - may not work for you, but has helped me tremendously.

1) Set the Geomagnetic correction to between 41-43 - this seems to work the best (I use 43). DEGAUSS FREQUENTLY - this is done by going into the Geomagnetic correction and exiting by hitting menu. I degauss once (after TV being on for about 15-20 minutes) every time I watch the TV.
2)The TV remembers setting for non-progressive images and progressive images separately. This is KEY, since the Progressive image requires slightly different adjustments.
2a) Progressive - Brightness: 23 or so
Picture: -24 or so
Color: -8 or so
Tint: 3-4 or so
Sharpness: -11 or so
Color Temp - Normal
Color Mode: HDTV (not SDTV)
-These are the major ones - the others you can adjust per liking.
2b) Non Progressive (DSS, or NTSC, or S-Video) - Start with above settings and work to the left or right. Since you can not adjust Color Mode in Non Progressive mode, set Color Temp to Cool.

Overall (as I am usually kind'a critical) though, for where HDTV is from a place in time perspective, this set is as good as I have seen. I have seen sets for $15K and up that were gorgeous but.....it's $15K and up!!! If one was to compare this set with $5K-$7K and under units it is clearly the best. If this could have been a 40" set, I would say it would probably be a category killer for a few years.

With all that, since there are these little quirks, I can not in good faith give it 5 stars - in my opinion, 5 stars is flawless out of the box!

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Looked at Toshiba (both direct view and projector), plasma, and the like