Panasonic TC20LA1 20inch Flat Panel Heaven?
Written: Jan 10 '04
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Pros: Small footprint, tons of inputs, built-in analog tuner, full screen setup not widescreen, built-in speakers
Cons: Price, little difficult to tilt, imperfections in picture quality noted with standard cable wire.
The Bottom Line: If you have the cash, this is a quality LCD TV with minor shortcomings. Note that a much heavier but much, much cheaper CRT TV are always available!
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| yusakugo's Full Review: Panasonic TC-20LA1 20 in. EDTV-Ready TV |
Purchased from CostCo at $999 before sales tax, my 2% CostCo executive member discount, and my pending $107 dollar AmEx Best Value Guarantee pricematch, the Panasonic TA20LA1 20 inch LCD TV has so many points going for it... well except for the price though. It's small, light, and stylish while providing good to excellent picture quality especially through the component inputs on the "side" of the unit. The high price tag is very likely to discourage most people from buying one or any other LCD TV in the size range for the time being.
You can read my article The Art of Buying... Getting Your Money's Worth! to see if you can find a better price.
The Short Take
The Panasonic model is sweet to look at and awesome to watch... it sports an attractive yet somewhat minimalist design. It has the look of a regular TV when you look straight at it since it sports a 4:3 aspect ratio (standard ratio instead of a widescreen). Pictures are vivid and crisp and cables that attach to the unit are hidden beneath panels to maintain the neat look.
However, price is a major issue. With most stores charging anywhere from $999 to $1299, this TV is by no means cheap... it is on the average of quality LCD TV units with built-in tuners. The other problem is the inability to remove the base stand to hang the unit on the wall.
Overall, if you're willing to spend the money, the Panasonic 20inch LCD TV is a quality buy that won't disappoint... as long as you don't miss the money in your wallet.
Pros:
1) Excellent picture quality, sharpness, and color vibrancy
2) Small footprint!
3) Decent Stereo Speakers
4) 4:3 aspect (standard)
5) Stand included
6) Headphone port
7) 2 composite A/V inputs
8) 1 component A/V input
9) 2 S-Video inputs linked with composite A/V inputs
10) 480p widescreen capable
11) 181-channel analog NTSC tuner
12) Remote control included
13) Lightweight at under 14 lbs
14) 16ms response time
Cons:
1) Price around $1000 on average
2) No real widescreen aspect (16:9) relatively speaking
3) No HDTV tuner
4) HDTV resolution maxes out at 480p... no 1080i
5) Max resolution is 640x480 (fine for progressive scan DVD players however)
6) No built-in antenna
7) Not wall mountable and stand not removable
Specs...
Well, this is a LCD monitor... so for 20 inches of TV goodness, you don't have to deal with a big, bulky, energy wasting CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TV (the current form of affordable TVs). The dimensions are 16.6" x 19.4" x 3.1" with a weight of 13.7 lbs (remember the stand is not removable). The display is capable of resolutions of 480p (EDTV) or in other terms 640x480 pixels. Panasonic rates the monitor as having 400:1 contrast ratio, 480cd/sq m of brightness, a horizontal viewing angle of 160 degrees, and a moving picture response time of 16ms (I believe CRT TVs rate as 12ms and faster!).
This Panasonic LCD happens to have its stand built-in. It allows you to tilt the monitor 15 degree up and 5 degrees down... I know, not a whole lot. You cannot twist the LCD left to right... but the stand is a small oval so it is not hard to place the monitor into different side viewing positions.
The LCD TV also has built-in stereo speakers which are adequate. A headphone jack is located on the left side. Hidden behind a large panel on the right side of the TV (left if you're looking at the back of the TV) is the 2 sets of S-Video/composite video and stereo audio inputs and the component video and stereo audio input. The lower back of the TV houses the coaxial antenna/cable input and power jack... both can be covered with a panel including in the package.
This LCD TV includes a Digital Comb Filter, Active Light Control, and Active System Control to help improve picture clarity and detail, reduce video noise, and improve picture color.
The top of the TV has TV/Video button, Channel selector buttons, Volume buttons, and the Power button. Note that the power button on the remote will only turn on the TV if the main power button on the TV is depressed in the ON position. The power button on the remote switches the TV from active status to standby status.
You also get a small white/ivory remote control. The remote allows you to access all basic features of the TV as well as the setup menu and the TV's advanced features. You cannot access the setup menu or the TV's advanced features without the remote! The channel lock, closed captioning modes, SAP audio selection, setup menus, fine tuning of the picture and color quality, sleep mode (up to 90 minutes), and the aspect mode (16:9 mode caused black bars to appear on the top and bottom of the screen). I know I said that there was no 16:9 aspect... the Panasonic LCD TV displays 16:9 mode the same way standard (4:3) aspect TVs would... with wasting TV real estate with horizontal black bars on the top and bottom.
If you're wondering, the power consumption of the TC20LA1 model is 67W in average use and 0.8W in standby mode (turned "off" via remote but power switch on monitor itself is "on").
Performance
When attached to an antenna, the performance of the tuner is just like most TVs... about average. Now the other thing you must be asking is why would I hook up such an expensive TV to an antenna?! Well, just to try it out.
When you hook it up to cable, the picture is phenomenal! Colors are crisp, details vibrant (especially when hooked up to digital TV signals and HDTV signals as well as high quality source video!). Although the screen response time is fairly quick (Panasonic rates it as 16ms), fast action on the screen can still cause blurs and ghosting effects on the screen... I noticed this most with animation (like Justice League).
Hooking it up to my Panasonic S35K through the component video was something special to behold. The video seemed more vibrant and colorful than hooking up the S35K via S-Video cable to my Dell 2001FP 20.1 inch Flat Panel.
Hooking the Panasonic LCD to my XBox via component inputs... well, well, well... it absolutely rocks! Being able to play Halo, Dead or Alive 3, and other games at 480p resolution is something else... I mean it. I am never going back to using a regular TV (except for really fast paced games... maybe).
Other than the occasional minor ghosting/blurring problem that cropped up... the only major issue was watching movies/shows with dark colorations, especially black. Black doesn't look like a true deep black... it's more of a deep, dark grey. However, this seems to be a failing of all current LCDs. It's not a deal breaker by any means but makes the LCD TV less appealing if you watch horror and dark themed movies.
Last Words?
This is a great TV despite the minor complaints and if you have the bucks for it. However, this TV isn't a neccessity by any means... especially with quality traditional CRT TV of 27 inches of screen goodness running for the $200-$300 at CostCo.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 999
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yusakugo
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