Panasonic CT-36HX42 36" PureFlat HDTV-Ready TV

by Panasonic

Product Details

Product Manual [2.37mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 24 x 36.9 x 29.4 inches ; 217 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 243 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B00006ANXJ
• Item model number: CT-36HX42
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #427,654 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The CT-36HX42 is loaded with features to make DVD and HDTV viewing as simple and as pristine as possible. The set's 36-inch PureFlat picture tube enhances contrast while reducing glare and reflections. Even better: its HDTV/EDTV display capability (1080i, 480p) lets you view high-definition or enhanced-definition TV programming from an external DTV set-top box with an ATSC receiver (not included; an external over-the-air antenna may be required).

Progressive Cinema Scan (3/2 pulldown) provides faithful reproduction of film-based materials. DVD mastering introduces a common distortion when adjusting 24 frames-per-second movies to 30 fps video; Progressive Cinema Scan digitally corrects this distortion, removing the redundant information to display a film-frame-accurate picture. Two-tuner picture-in-picture with split-screen display lets you view two programs at once by dividing the screen in half down the middle. Each program is shown at full height, with one program on the left side and the other on the right.

A motion-Adaptive 3D-Y/C digital comb filter displays bright colors and action scenes with incredible clarity by minimizing the "color rainbow effect" in closely spaced patterns, compensating for the motion that occurs between fields. Included 10-bit, 60 MHz analog-to-digital image processing boosts conventional grayscale from 256 to 1024, to deliver four times as many shades of black and white. Digital velocity-modulated scanning is advanced circuitry along the neck of the CRT that senses transitions from black to white in the video signal. The black and white portions of the signal are sped up and slowed down, respectively, resulting in sharp black-to-white transitions. For a more film-like picture when watching movies, you may want to selectively turn off this circuitry.

Other features include horizontal and vertical edge correction, three rear and one front-panel audio/video inputs, 15 watts per channel stereo sound, Artificial Intelligence Sound Control (prevents variances in sound level), BBE High-Definition Sound (improves speech intelligibility and restores musical dynamic range), and simulated stereo sound (which works with both stereo and monaural programs), and a lighted-disk universal remote control, which can be programmed to control many current video and audio devices.

Editor's note: Optional set-top receiver required to view DTV programming. Optional external over-the-air antenna may be required for ATSC reception with a set-top box. If your cable company "passes through" a DTV signal unchanged, an optional HDTV set-top receiver can decode and tune the program. However, standards for cable connectivity have not been finalized. Consequently, this product may not be compatible with your cable system.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't be better!!, November 4, 2002

By 

Drew Ament (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic CT-36HX42 36" PureFlat HDTV-Ready TV (Electronics)

After doing MONTHS of research, I went out and bought this unit.

Here are my main impressions:

1. The Picture quality is FANTASTIC. I have played both normal and progressive scan DVD players on this unit, as well as a XBOX, VCR, and Cable Box. The store "floor model" does not do this justice, you have to get it home and run through the "set-up screens". The only downside is if you are in a bright room (lots of windows, etc), as the brightness of the room will kill the picture. As most entertainment rooms are not bright this should not affect most people.

2. The remote needs some work. It does not have "full" control over my Cable Box like it should. It is not able to access the on-screen guide (SA3000 Model). I was told that that HL42 (The one with the sub-woofer) model has a higher grade remote and controls the cable box. Why they did not include this remote in this model TV is just stupid. The remote is also not "feel" friendly. It takes ALOT getting used to certain buttons. That said, get a "all-in-one" like I am going to.

3. As most channels are not in HD yet, don't expect to see that many. My cable company (COX) is coming out with HDTV in mid-Nov...so I should be able to see alot more. But, as the technology moves forward, I see almost ALL channels starting to have a HD option.

Closing....best buy for the money (and HD's are not cheap). But, this unit gives you all you need in a good home TV with HIGH QUALITY results!!

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good for what it is, but could be better., December 2, 2002

By 

remove profile - See all my reviews

This review is from: Panasonic CT-36HX42 36" PureFlat HDTV-Ready TV (Electronics)

I bought this TV as a replacement for an RCA 36" HDTV that I had had some problems with.... While I don't have the same problems with this TV, I do have some other annoyances....

I have the RCA DTC100 hooked up through a VGA to component video adapter, and two problems appear:
1. The TV always defaults to a 16:9 aspect ratio, even though the TV, picture source (satellite or local broadcast), and satellite box are 4:3. You can manually go into the menu and change this each time you turn the TV on, but it's a mess. Panasonic told me there is nothing they can do to make sure the TV senses the right aspect ratio or that it "remembers" the aspect ratio that you entered when you turn the TV on the next time.

I am thinking about buying a new HDTV box, but I'm not sure that would solve the problem. The output of the DTC100 is a 1080i output, which is inherently 16:9, from my understanding. Some of the other satellite boxes allow you to choose different outputs, such as 720P or 480P, but those should also be a 16:9 aspect ratio inherently as well - causing the TV to still default to the incorrect aspect ratio when watching standard definition TV. The other concern I have with the TV is that I changed the DTC100 to the 16:9 aspect ratio, but the result was a 16:9 within a 16:9 (the resultant picture filled out the width of the TV, but was only 1/4 the height...).

2. The second problem I've had with the DTC100/Panasonic combo is that when viewing a HDTV picture that has a distinct line between a dark part of the picture and a bright part of the picture, such as a landscape/sky picture, the edges of the picture, right around the transition of the light/dark objects, starts waving around and shrinking from both sides of the TV edge by a couple of inches or more. The rest of the picture looks fine, and the center part of the lines that are shrinking looks fine - it's just that one part of the picture that has a problem.

I've made all the recommended adjustments, and nothing has any affect on this wavy edge. I have a service guy coming later this week to look at it, so I'll update this review if I have any luck.

I did a lot of research on these TV's before buying the Panasonic, so it's very frustrating that these minor problems exist. The picture is outstanding, most of the time, but there are times where the wavy lines get really bad, and you can't focus on the story line of what you are watching. And their service number is ridiculously slow - I waited over a month for them to research the issue #1 above, only to have them tell me I was SOL and it was my fault, not theirs...

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great TV - Great Price, November 15, 2002

By 

Robert Eszlinger (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Panasonic CT-36HX42 36" PureFlat HDTV-Ready TV (Electronics)

I did a lot of research before buying this TV, and concluded that this Panasonic is the best 36" HDTV monitor for the money. It has great picture quality, more than enough A/V inputs, and the cosmetics of the cabinet is great too!
I was a little disappointed to find out that they offer a better remote with another similar model, one that operates more devices, but I wouldn't pass this TV up for that minor issue.
I totally recommend this TV to anybody!