The world of microdisplay TVs is quickly filling with tons of sets. A
consumer has so many different sets to choose from, they hardly know where to start.  Many begin to narrow it down through price. They do not want to spend the extra couple grand to get a 1080p set from Samsung, while they also are aware that inexpensive models from Zenith or RCA
might not be a great investment. This is where Panasonic TVs live and thrive.  

The PT44LCX65 is one of the newest additions to Panasonic's long tradition of rear projection LCD TVs. The first thing you notice is how small the bezel of this TV
is. Panasonic is following the trend of putting speakers on the bottom of entry model sets to accommodate rooms with space issues. The screen has a nice black trim around it and sports a non-reflective coating. The bottom of the TV has a nice, gentle slope to it with the same style that Panasonic tube TVs have had for a couple of generations now.  

Remote

The remote also has the same layout that its smaller tube brethren sports.
It has a nice aluminum face with red backlit buttons. The buttons have a logical layout and are spaced evenly. The remote doesn't look to be ergonomic in any way, but surprisingly, it feels fine. The only quarrel I
have with it is lack of independent input buttons. This TV has 8 different inputs on it, and while it does navigate very well, more input buttons would help the cause.  

Setup

The first screen you see when this TV is initially turned on is a little setup menu. It allows you to exit the screen if it's not necessary, but it will guide you through the cable or antenna setup. Once it goes through its preliminary setup, the menu will allow the user to fine-tune the picture and sound. Unfortunately, this happens to be one of the lower points of the TV.  
 
The menu is easy to navigate and is intuitive, but it is very basic. The adjustments that Panasonic puts in this TV are the same that they use in their small 20-inch sets. The picture on a rear projection LCD unit is not great and needs help. They don't give you the ability to adjust the black level or have any edge enhancements. These are things that need to be adjusted and they do not give you that option.  

The audio settings are limited as well. Panasonic did not include many options for making the mediocre sound quality better. In defense of Panasonic, most people do add a type of surround sound system to the large TVs, but some do not. 

Picture quality

The heart and soul of this TV happens to be the picture quality. Panasonic may have skimped on items like the setup and remotes, but they did invest some good R&D in the set. From the moment that I turned it on high definition, it impressed me. Sure, this set is not the best I
have ever seen, especially in standard definition, but it sure is good for a rear projection unit.

Standard Definition

The true real world test of many high definition sets is not the quality of the picture provided by HDTV, but rather, standard definition. CNN and ESPN
provide great stations for seeing the true quality of the set due to the ticker bars at the bottom of the screen. Tickers give a great reference point as to the sharpness of the set. The Panasonic does a decent job of producing clean, sharp lines. The picture above the ticker however, is something different.

The faces of the people on the screen left something to be desired. The screen was pixelated at best and everyone had a halo effect. The hair on the news anchor had no clean lines and I
could only make out two colors on the persons face. There was no shading. The colors need some work, but over all, a person could still watch the program.

High Definition

This TV's strength was obvious from the time I first turned it on. ESPN was broadcasting the Little League World Series in high definition and I
can tell you that they have a great lawn mower. The grass was a gorgeous shade of green; not too bright, but at the same time, naturally green.
The nice sky blue combined with the green grass sucked me into the program.  

I love to see if I can read the sweatshirts of people in the crowd; I could, but the two teams were Saudi Arabia and Venezuela! The only flaw that could be found is the black levels. The shadows cast from the lights hitting the stands didn't produce black but rather a bluish-gray. This is a common problem found many LCD
based TVs and this Panasonic is no exception. Normally the black levels can be adjusted, but remember, Panasonic happened not to include that option.

DVD

I
am a sucker for fast cars and the cliché scene from The Fast and the Furious that features the 1970 Dodge charger is a great testing scene.
It provides the viewers with fast action combined with deep, rich sound. The TV had no problem producing a glossy paint job on the black beast. Unfortunately, the TV did produce enough detail to reveal a bit of stubble on Vin Diesels head.

The exhaust tone of the Charger was nice and deep but when it was combined speech, it became muffled. Again, Panasonic lets us down by only including basic adjustments to compensate for this.  

The Incredibles will also give any HDTV set a good workout. Almost every scene has bright colors, but also the notorious black, the arch-enemy to any LCD set. The scene where Dash runs through the forest being chased by bad guys shows once again that this TV can produce nice, bright colors, but also, grayish blacks. 

Game System

The advent of HDTV gaming is just upon us. XBox 360 and the PS3 will both support gaming in HD but until then, we are stuck with 480p as the standard for gaming.  Even still, most of the time this can produce a great experience. The XBox currently is the game system of choice for people that crave the best picture and Burnout 3 is a great,
fast paced game.  Well, it sure may be a great game, but not that great looking on this set.

During the fast races, there is a lot of pixelation happening. Sure, this is a LCD rear projection so none of them are that great. On the bright side, there is no blurring happening. It is crisp pixelation; nothing more and nothing less. There is great color in this set from all the sources and the XBox is no exception.

Summary

The TV has a gorgeous bezel. In fact, I think it is one of the best in its class for style. The user via the front panel can replace the lamp themselves (see below). There are tons of inputs and probably more then anyone will ever use. Panasonic even added a front VGA input and SD/MMC inputs (see below). The picture is great on HD and the analog is OK. This set would be great for the person seeking an opened option out of a TV. It does not have that many settings for video or audio, but if a person is looking for a "turn on and go" solution, this would work fine. With the amount of inputs that Panasonic installed, it gives a person tons of options. Keep in mind though, that person does need to upgrade to a digital source like satellite or digital cable to take advantage of this TV. Overall though, I like this set.

Overall score: 8 out of 10