Panasonic TX28PL1 Review

Overall Rating

Numerous

Only two SCART sockets.
Teletext controls are a bit poor.
I have noticed sometimes that vertical parallel lines can deviate towards the centre of the screen near the top of the picture. I.e.

/ | \ rather than | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |

Not usually noticeable.

Having spent 2 or 3 Saturday's trudging round the high steet and local retail parks I decided that Panasonic make some of the best in terms of picture quality and, compared to say Sony, offer good quality at a much lower price point.

I had thought of the Panasonic DK series but was able to locate the newer Panasonic TX 28 PL1 TV on the internet for the same price Comet et al were charging for the discontinued versions as "manager's specials".

So what's the spec?
===================
28 inch flat screen

Receives:
PAL 1
PAL 525/60 (playing NTSC tapes on compatible video recorders)
M.NTSC (plays from M.NTSC video recorders)
NTSC (plays from NTSC videos from AV input)

Front panel - standard buttons plus:
S-VHS socket
headphone socket
RCA Audio/video sockets

Rear:
Aerial input
AV1 Scart - RGB in, Audio/Video in/out
AV2 Scart - Audio/video in/out, s-video in, Q link
RCA Audio monitor out (L/R channels)

Other features:
Automantic aspect control
Qlink to your video (same remote control, automatically downloads tuner information etc.)
Owner Id system to deter thiefs (I have my doubts if this is worth much)
AI noise reduction


Subjective rating
=================
Picture is excellent - pin sharp and well balanced. No colour bleed. Panasonic Auto setting seems to effortlessy cope with resizing all picture types to the full screen but can take a second or two to kick in. Noise reduction seems to work well.

Sound is also excellent - very loud and clear with good response in bass and treble and little noticible distortion even at high volumes.

Ease of setup/use
=================
I had it up and running in 5 minutes with minimal referral to the manual. Manual isn't bad but isn't great either - doesn't explain some features very well. In use I've never had to refer to the manual - everything has been reasonably intuitive having read the manual once in the beginning.
I don't like the teletext controls - not as good as my last Panasonic.

In summary
==========
Not quite a Sony but runs a good second IMHO. On punch/pound much better value than the Sony though.

You can read fuller details of the specification at
http://www.techtronics.com/uk/shop/862-panasonic-tx28pl1-crt-widescreen-tv.html
I have no affiliation with Techtronics other than as a completely satisfied customer - it might take a few weeks for delivery but they were very cheap and very helpful.

Members' Comments onJimmy P.'s Review

• Jimmy P. on 24th Jun 2002

  Having reread Neil's review on the same model I'd now recommend John Lewis rather than Techtronics as the source. Techtronics is marginally cheaper but the 5 year guarantee Neil mentions seems pretty unbeatable.
  J.