Ideal 32 or 37 inch LCD for OTA signals

panasonic is a solid choice. i own a sony 32xbr6 and will also recommend it as its in your price range if you can still find one, one big plus to the 32xbr6 is its TV Guide that will work with OTA stations as well as cable

You don't need a 1080p source to take advantage of a 1080p set. Usually the 1080p models have better processing and colors and an overall more natural image than their 768p counterparts when watching HD and even SD. But at your budget, it'll have to be a 768p set.



The Panasonics use the excellent IPS-Alpha panel. My local news ran a story where Consumer Reports recently tested about a dozen small LCDs and rated the Panasonic LX series on top. I've played with a few of em and i am impressed.



Toshiba makes some nice LCDs too. I have a 19" AV500U and it looks great. SD looks good which surprised me. Toshiba has the best stretch modes too. Owner reviews are usually very good.

on his budget he can easily get a 1080p

32xbr6 (discontinued) is at the upper end of that budget
32S5100 is at the budget
toshy i'm pretty sure has a 1080p model in his budget

you will most likely need to go with 32" to get a 1080p at your price point though 1080p 37" start at 800-900 usually

720p vs 1080p isnt such a big deal but the 1080p are generally better just because they are not bottom of the line in most cases and stay away from budget brands besides maybe vizio, they are ok TV's according to most owners

I'm very satisfied with the TC-L32S1 I purchased a coule weeks ago. The PQ is exceptional.

I'm not familiar with the previous generation Panasonic series. To my eyes colors look well saturated and true. My only direct basis of comparison is a 42" Pioneer plasma I have in another room.

hi m.a.c.

Is there any way for you to give us the pros and the cons of that particular TV, since you own it?

I am looking forward to purchase a 32" LCD 1080p, and so far the best option I can find is that Panasonic TC-L32S1, my only concern is I've read some people complaining about low sound. Unfortunatelly over the web I just could find 4 user reviews, but not even a pro review.

Thanx in advance,

Steve

Sorry, I'm not m.a.c. . . . and I don't have the 32S1 . . . . but I did grab the 37S1 last week, and have been quite pleased so far. Now to be fair, this is a bedroom TV, so while volume for me hasn't been a problem, I don't know if it compares to what everyone needs. But in a week of DirecTV viewing in the evening, I've been very pleased. I just hooked my Blu-ray to it today, so I hope to give that some thorough testing in the next week or so.

I'll chime in on the sound quality as well. I've got two Panasonic lcds (2009 models) and the sound is quite adequate. The volume goes from 0 to 100 and I usually listen to it at between 30 and 50 in the evenings or for movies. Its nice and clear, could use more bass but I think for lcd speakers they're pretty good.

@ piketech and gtlodger00:

appreciate your comments, thanx!

I still would like to hear from someone who owns that model specific, since some mentioned the sound is muffled, which sounds possible because it is a 32" cabinet and the speakers are hidden.

I'm waiting on the price of the Panasonic G1 to drop a bit before my parents bite on it. Seems like a solid choice but a bit overpriced due to being a new release without the market penetration of the Sony V5100s at 40"

They can't fit anything that big into their cabinet, it seems the Pannys are the 'shortest' on stands out there, otherwise they'd have jumped on that Sony, if you don't have that consideration you might look in that direction.

I have the 32x1 and I was concerned about sound, but it is not a problem. I hve a 26 LX85 in the living room (since it's very close to the sofa we wanted a smaller set there) and the sound is usually set in the 30 - 40/ of 100 range. So when I got this larger , newer model, I was surprised that the sound seems even better - it's generally comfortable for a small room at about 15 -20 . THe volume coming from HDMI input (DVD player) seemed muffled and it had to be boosted up to almost 90 in order to hear the disc --- until I discovered that I had inadvertently set something incorrectly in the menu. As soon as I disabled the setting (can't recall, it was in the audio menu -- I can check if useful) the sound of the peripheral video was fine.

Picture quality from both cable box, DVD with upconversion, AND over the air (direct antenna input using a DB2 antenna in the window sill) brings in about 24 stations that are crystal clear. I was going to keep the antenna hooked up, but decided to let it go and just use the cable feed (over the air on some channels was slightly better than the cable feed) but I didn't like to have to jump over the TV input to get to the cable stations on the HDMI port. I set the channels, anyway, and if/ when the cable goes out (we know it will) I can reactivate the OTA, which is an excellent alternative. Also, via antenna it picks up stations from a neighboring city that Comcast has discontinued carrying here so ... it's a pretty good tuner.

The best way to improve your OTA reception is with a good antenna - the tuner in the tv is fine and I can't imagine you'd have any issues with it.

if you have any other questions about the x1 (32inch) I'd be happy to try to answer. I know how hard it is to get info on this model.

I actually got a Panasonic TC-L32S1, and in regards with the sound, may be because these are downfiring speakers, but the sound is not loud. It is on my living room, and we can use it normally with volume at 20 or sometimes even less, but if it rains (I live in a tropical country) we have to raise it almost all the way up to 100.

But it is actually just a small issue, nothing that would make me regret. It shines in pretty much the rest of aspects. And for the price, cannot complain