I am looking to buy one of these sets and cannot decide which one to get. Is there anyone out there that has either one and can recomned which one is better. Please help me out on this I don't know if the this Tau model is available in Canada only which is where I am.

Panasonic TAU CT-32SX30
http://www.panasonic.ca/products/TVs/TAU/ct32sx30.htm

Sony WEGA KV32FV26
http://www.sony.ca/products/details....rodid=kv32fv26

http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer.../kv32fv26.html

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My Growing DVD Obsession

[This message has been edited by zaskar (edited December 21, 2000).]

They seem like really nice sets. I am getting the CT-27SX10 next month. Are those price in Canadian dollars. I am getting the TV for about $500. These TV's are available in the US. I do know that these sets are about $300-500 cheaper then the SONY.

Mike

I just saw these TAU's yesterday and I think they blow the WEGAs away. They definately get my vote.

Yes the prices are in Canadian, except the second Sony site that is the US site.

Derek

quote:<HR>Originally posted by ANDREMIKE:
They seem like really nice sets. I am getting the CT-27SX10 next month. Are those price in Canadian dollars. I am getting the TV for about $500. These TV's are available in the US. I do know that these sets are about $300-500 cheaper then the SONY.

Mike<HR>

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My Growing DVD Obsession

Thanks for your help I was leaning more towards the TAU but now I think that is the one I want.

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My Growing DVD Obsession

I bought the new 32 inch Tau last week. For the price, it is indeed a terrific value. I really like the set and the automatic 16:9 squeeze works like a charm. If you have any further questions, please post them.

(It seems that the model number is different in Canada from its United States counterpart.)

ZenDog,
where did you see the Tau's for sale? I have been waiting to buy a 27" for weeks now.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Franchot:
I really like the set and the automatic 16:9 squeeze works like a charm. If you have any further questions, please post them.

<HR>

Can you explain the squeeze trick....again...
Do you know if the 27" can do it to? If so how do you do it?


Mike

quote:<HR>Originally posted by broadwayblue:
ZenDog,
where did you see the Tau's for sale? I have been waiting to buy a 27" for weeks now. <HR>

I saw them at radarcity.com. Don't know how reliable they are.. http://www.radarcity.com/panasonic27inchtvs.html

The 27 inch and lower Taus do NOT do the squeeze trick. I was in the market for a 27 inch TV, but wanted a TV that would do the squeeze. The 27 inch Sony Wegas do, but I liked the Panasonics better...plus, I had read that some people had had some problems with their Wegas and I didn't want to risk it. Around LA I've seen the 27 inch Tau for about $500-600. The 32 inch Tau goes for about $1600 but you're getting more for the price...the Tau is comparable to the 32 inch Sony XBR 400 which goes for about $2200.

The squeeze trick...

When an "enhanced" or anamporphic DVD is played all the lines of resolution encoded on the disk can be displayed on a 16:9 moniter resulting in a sharper picture. A 4:3 set must "down convert" this image (because it can't show all the lines of resolution) thus resulting in less sharpness and more "jaggies," etc. Some people set up their 4:3 TVs by going into the service menu and tinker with the settings so that anamorphic DVDs will display all the resolution and no elongation. The problem is that when they switch back to 4:3 material (broadcast TV, older films) or non-anamorphoric DVDs, they must go into the service menu again and redo their settings. Back and forth, back and forth.

The Panasonic Tau (along with the Sony XBRs) automatically switch between 4:3 and 16:9 modes when they detect anammorphic DVDs. This feature can be toggled on or off on both company's sets. The Pansonic also accepts progressive scan DVD players, but to be truthful the line doubler is so good in the set I've seen little use for it yet. I've run a cheap DVD player with no progressive scan capabilities through it and the picture is great. I've run a thousand dollar progressive scan player through it and the results are pretty much the same.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by broadwayblue:
ZenDog,
where did you see the Tau's for sale? I have been waiting to buy a 27" for weeks now. <HR>

I saw them at Best Buy yesterday. I didn't have time to really fool around with it but the picture looked fantastic. I think the Tau I was looking at was ther 32" HD model.

too bad the 27" doesn't do the squeeze trick. Would there really be a noticable difference on such a small set though? I might just have to check them out at best buy today.

i work at best buy, and the colors are so much better on the 27" TAU then they are on the wega. Too bad the digital Samsung blows them both out of the water. (i own the samsung)

Thank you. The 'line double' explains the results of a test I made.
I recently bought the Panasonic Tau 30" HDTV and am overwhelmed with the learning curve associated with moving from analog to digital hd.

I compared my old DVD player to the Samsung DVD player that upconverts to 1080i [hdmi in]. The picture looked the same! Even when compared to the non-progressive scan dvd using svid!

[I returned the Samsung 1080i DVD player and the overpriced $120 hdmi cable.]

The Panasonic manual doesn't explain all the features. So I wasn't sure why there wasn't a noticable difference. I also thought you had to use component in to get progressive scan. But as I mentioned I get a flicker free picture using svid in and a quality non-progressive scan dvd player.

I guess it's a better tv than I thought!

Hope this helps someone.

I believe omnivore deserves the "Member who best uses the search function" award.