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A big screen doesn't have to mean big money. And Panasonic's 53-inch PT-53X54 projection television offers not just outstanding picture quality but a wealth of inputs and picture-enhancing features. The set's huge, high-definition screen (1080i, 540p capable) lets you view HD or enhanced-definition (ED) TV programming from an optional DTV set-top box or a progressive-scan DVD player or digital video recorder. The set's broad, 0.52 mm fine-pitch screen is configured in a 16:9 aspect ratio, the standard for HDTV broadcasts and for most widescreen DVD movies.
Two-tuner picture-in-picture with split-screen display lets you view 2 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.
Progressive scanning, referred to as 480p for the number of horizontal lines that compose the video image, creates a picture using twice the scan lines of a conventional video picture, giving you higher resolution and sharper images while eliminating nearly all motion artifacts. Panasonic's Progressive Cinema Scan (3:2 pulldown reversal) 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.
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. Digital velocity-modulated scanning improves definition at picture edges, creating sharper images by slowing the CRT (cathode-ray tube) beam's horizontal scanning during demanding work--say, when rendering transitions from light to dark parts of an image--and speeding it up when scanning easily rendered sections, like broad dark areas.
The set sports an external shelf mounted on top, a great place to position an HDTV receiver, a satellite receiver, a cable box, a DVD player, a VCR or a center-channel speaker. (Whatever you put there, its weight must not exceed 25 pounds.)
For connections, the set offers 4 composite-video inputs, including 1 in front for easy hookup of a camcorder or gaming console. There are 3 S-video inputs (including 1 in front) and 2 sets of high-definition/progressive-scan component-video inputs. The TV is also equipped with a direct digital HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) with HDCP copy protection.
HDMI is a lossless, uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface to link the set with any AV source (such as a set-top box, DVD player, or A/V receiver). HDMI supports standard-definition (SD), enhanced definition (ED), or high-definition (HD) video, plus multichannel digital audio--all using a single cable. It transmits all ATSC HDTV standards and supports up to 8-channel digital audio, with bandwidth to spare to accommodate future enhancements and requirements.
Other TV features include horizontal and vertical edge correction, Artificial Intelligence Sound (minimizes variances in sound level), video noise reduction (compares individual pixels of two consecutive fields, then removes noise), BBE High Definition Sound (improves speech intelligibility and restores musical dynamic range), 9-point user convergence capability, and a light-disk remote control. An easy-to-clean screen shield protects the screen from nicks, scratches, and fingerprints.
What's in the Box
TV, a remote control, remote batteries, and a user's manual.
