Customer Reviews

Panasonic CT-26WX15 26 Inch HDtv

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This 26" Panasonic is one great tv. I've been looking at all manner of tv technologies over the past two years, including lcd, plasma, dlp etc. I probably read a hundred reviews and each new technology seems to have its own problems. Long term reliability is a serious consideration with each of these new tv's.
The one thing I kept coming back to was the good old crt, the technology that's been around for 50 plus years. Not only is it more reliable and cheaper but picture quality still beats any of the others. On the downside, they still tend to be somewhat bulky and heavy.
I finally settled on the Panasonic CT-26WX15 HDTV after much reading and checking it out at the local brick and mortar store. It was the smallest in overall size compared to the 26"-27" Sony and Samsung and just the right size for my room. It is roughly 20" deep, 28" wide, 19 1/2" tall and weighs about 80 lbs, and at $500.00 it can't be beat.
I am extremely happy with my choice. Even though I don't have an HD Tuner yet, I've got it hooked up to a good surround sound receiver with upconversion from s-video to component video (I just ordered some component video cables). DVD's look just awesome. Standard cable channels look great too.
If you don't sit any further than 8-10 feet from your tv set, you don't really need anything bigger than 26-27", maybe 30" at the most. In my experience, larger screens tend to lose fine definition.
Maybe some day, when the technology has been improved, I'll check out the flat panel lcd's again, until then I'm extremely happy with my Panny.

Been shopping for a widescreen TV for a few months and after giving up on a reasonably priced LCD I picked this one up for a good price of $350. Set has nice sound, tons of inputs, and has a better picture than any LCD you can buy. I do not have the HD box yet but picture looks pretty good without it (looked better in the store with HD box set up.) Widescreen programs and DVDs Look great but I dont know if I can get used to the "Strechy look" you are pretty much forced to deal with if you dont want burn in on regular 4:3 TV shows (manual gives a warning about this.) Guess this is a problem with any widescreen (at least the streatchy short and fat thing.)

Black levels are nice on this set but the color is a little funky to me but I will probably find some good settings eventually. Seem to have to be tweaked quite a bit. All in all, its a good tv if you can get it for $300-$400 or less. I would not pay the $599 retail price for it. I think it would be worth that price if the HD tuner was included.

A good solid performer. Got mine from CC for $400. Picture is good, crisp and clear on standard def broadcasts. "Zoom" setting seems to work best for those unless the signal is weak; "Zoom" cuts off the top and bottom to make the 4:3 picture fit the widescreen; there's also "Just" which stretches the edges; "4:3" which puts black bars on the sides; and "Full", which stretches the entire picture. Lots of inputs (1 HDMI, 2 component, 3 composite on the back and 1 nicely hidden composite on the front) and none of them are "shared" with each other and/or use the same audio jacks, which is very unusual in this price range, and a great feature. Sound is OK, about par for a medium-sized tube set. Remote is usable but some of the controls are funky or oddly placed. The HD picture is fantastic, and is where this set really shines. Every time I watch football in HD, I'm amazed--the picture is razor sharp, bright, and clear. Much better than any of the sub-$1500 LCD TVs I've seen. The biggest complaint I have so far is that the color in standard def isn't completely stable, and tends to wander into the reds or purples, depending on the set's mood or something. But as it's aging, this problem is slowly getting better. Oddly, it does not have this problem at all in HD, where the colors are dead on. At $400, I figure that if the set lasts two or three years, good enough, and I'll spend the big bucks and replace it with one of the newer tech sets, once they've a better value.

Really like the screen and feature. Best model for the price.

I got this TV as a gift from my brother back in January of 2004 and it has a great picture on both standard and high definition programming. There is no pixelation on standard definition programming which unfortunately is a given on any LCD on the market today and the HD is crisp and clear with no noticeable artifacts. The sound is great too and it has a sufficient amount of inputs including component and HDMI. The front composite AV input is great for camcorder playback or for monitoring a DVD recorder. My only small gripe is that I am starting to see a little green on the right and left edges of the screen during HD programming with bright whites, which could have been avoided had I stretched my standard definition channels. Panansonic notes in the manual that viewing 4:3 in its native resolution for extended periods of time can cause burn in. My other small gripe is that it does not have QAM or an ATSC tuner, so a set top box is required unless you have a DVD player or recorder that has a tuner. Overall though, I am very happy with this TV and would recommend any CRT HDTV up until 2009 when all programming will be digital.

Just put one of these out to the trash after only 15 months of ownership. Unit would no longer turn on, cost of shipping for repair not worth it. Rather expensive to be worthless after 15 months. I won't be buying Panasonic again.

The picture on this TV is very sharp and clear, exactly what you'd expect from an HDTV. CRT HDTV's are much sharper than LCD equivalents, especially at a variety of viewing angles. I prefer CRT HDTV's over the new technologies such as LCD or Plasma (except for their size and weight). The bonus feature with this TV is that it has really good sound/speakers.

Setup is very easy and the TV has a good number of inputs of several types including an HDMI input. (Update 2009-01-25 HDMI is a video only interface on this set, one still needs to hookup analog audio cables to a separate input to get sound through HDMI. Odd since HDMI is capable of carrying both video/audio signals).

The screen format is 16:9 which is great for movies. The 16:9 form factor is 'smaller' than 4:3 for the same diagonal inch measurement of the tube due to it being much wider than tall. So be sure to replace a 4:3 TV with a larger 'size' 16:9 TV otherwise it will look too small.

The remote is easy enough to use, and the TV accepts universal remotes as well if that's your preference. The menus are easy to understand and navigate, no need to read the manual to figure things out.

Unfortunately this model does not come with a built in digital tuner, just an analog one, which means to enjoy over the air HDTV one will have to buy a separate HD digital converter box which run about $200. The standard converter boxes only output 480i so a high def version is required to take advantage of the high def capability of the TV. (If you have cable or dish then you won't need a converter box). The TV displays 1080i OTA broadcasts very well, once you have experienced high def you can't go back and will want to upgrade all the TV's in your house!!

Panasonic make good CRT TV's, we have an old Panasonic from 1991 that still works,so they are well engineered. This TV is now discontinued, so you can't buy it new, but if you have the chance to pick it up second hand I can thoroughly recommend it.

Judging this TV on its general merits, I think it rocks. Speaking as a guy with the conflicting traits of being both a perfectionist and bargain hunter, I was drawn to this model because it's the best way to get a high-definition picture, widescreen profile, and good sound, in the 26" size, on the cheap ($40 on Craigslist, w00t). Sony never went below 30", and hours of research revealed that the only other brand name 26" HD CRTs came from Toshiba, which Consumer Reports said were mediocre, and which the Internet masses reported to break often. So that pointed to this 2005-era CT-26WX15, the only 26-incher Panasonic ever made (the entire electronics world dropped the CRT on its fat ass once 2006 rolled around).

According to both Consumer Reports and me, this TV has probably the second-greatest CRT picture next to the apparently unbeatable Sonys. Sound quality is satisfying -- fuller and richer than any LCD TV in 2011 (and free of delay). While there's only one HDMI connection, it's got 2 component video inputs and 4 more old school ones for a grand total of 7 AV inputs (plus an output). As long as you don't mind the 85-pound weight (not that heavy), the boxy body (which I find useful for stacking a receiver & speakers on top of), or its lack of 720p support (1080i only), this TV's only real drawback is that it's classified as "HD ready." That means if you get your TV for free over the air rather than through cable, getting an HD picture entails buying an expensive HD converter box, which are rarely sold anymore (most of the converters sold since the great analog-to-digital frenzy of 2009 have been low-definition). But hey, back in the day you couldn't really hold that omission against it.

Basically, I'd be giving this TV at least 4 stars except for one thing: like a lot Panasonic's stuff, it just DROPS DEAD after a couple years. Luckily, I found a discussion thread at AVSForum pointing to the common culprit: a single tiny fuse that has a tendency to blow up, thereby taking down the whole system. So if you find this TV not turning on one day, just pick up a 6.3A, 125V, 20mm slow-blow fuse somewhere on the Internet for 3 bucks, open up the back of the TV, look for the dead fuse on the circuit board that houses the power cord, replace it and BAM, you're back in business.

Yes it's an easy fix, but the average person wouldn't know that, so stars must be docked for Panasonic's low quality standards.

I picked it up for 399 from circuit city... great picture.. great color.. great TV for the money...

Two weeks after this HDTV was purchased the color matrix setting locked into the HD mode and cannot be reset eventhough the broadcasts are standard definition.The 3D Y/C filter has locked in the OFF adversely affecting the picture.Aspect ratio locked into the Full mode and about a week later on its own, locked into the 4:3 aspect for all broadcasts.I cannot use the TV for fear of burn in. Attempts to telephone consumer support have been unsuccessfull as their line is continually busy.Instead,a letter was written to Panasonic and I'm awaiting a reply. If I could,true rating would be ZERO stars but you can't rate this low.