CHEAP Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L26X1 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV

We spent weeks checking reviews, checking out actual sets in various stores and finally decided on a Panasonic, despite other brands (Sony and Sharp) being maybe to cheaper for this size (or close to it) during Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.

I took friends and had them say what they liked best, without telling them what we liked. Three of the three people who traipsed thru stores picked the panasonic over the sony, sharp and toshiba models that were everywhere. It’s all about what you see and it’s always gonna be a crap shoot because as everyone will tell you, what you see in the store may not be the same as what you see at home, depending on cable provider/type of input, setup options, etc.

Ironically, everyone selling Panasonic has raised their prices in last week or two. (You could get the 32 inch for 9 or lower. THen it went back up to over 0. The 26 inch had reached a low of around 9 but then went back up to 0 and over for some merchants, with 9 being the lowest that we found, from Amazon.)

We had been considering a Hannspree 28 at 9, but not only could we not see it, the day we went to order, it was sold out everywhere. THat was the day when we looked at our old set and said: Enough already. 11 year-old Sharp had served us well (old CRT) but seriously, time to enter the LCD world. We could barely see the onscreen cable guide. It wasn’t easy to bite the bullet when we needed a smaller set and the 32-inch models were so cheap. (But we have no room in our bedroom and it would have been a huge (no pun) mistake to get a 32 inch as we only have about 8 feet tops from the cabinet and our bed. And that’s the ONLY place we could place it. Heck, this unit would be big in our living room. (City living but we actually have “large” rooms, they are just not wide rooms and that’s where you get limits.)

The box did indeed have some bumps, etc on it and it made us a bit nervous that the Fed Ex guy did not have it on the cart the right way up (Why does no one look at the arrows on the boxes?)

But it seems to be intact.

Frankly, the interior packaging was worrisome. THese manufacturers don’t seem to believe in any real padding or protection for these very delicate screens. I get junk stuff that costs nothing with more secure interior packing materials and real padding than this TV. (Panasonic: Pay attention!)

The trickiest part of assembly was the small screws that held the stand in place. It would have helped to have had a magnetized screwdriver because it took us a while to get each one in the proper way.

As others have noted, it’s a very bare bones info for setup and we had it up and running in like 10 minutes (it took longer to move stuff to get at the back of our old TV and our TW cable box to unplug old set and its cable.)

Here’s the best part for us, as Time Warner-dependent folks: The pix quality with just the regular cable input on back (and three component in connections) is fantastic. Which makes us wonder how astounding the HDMI will be (We would need a new box and we’ve heard about lots of problems with all of the HDMI-equipped boxes that Time Warner uses, which are all Scientific Atlanta (now Cisco?). Tons of online forums filled with complaints.)

We were concerned that pix quality would be compromised without another box. Now, we can wait. (And we’ll see how HDMI works by connecting our new Sony laptop to the HDMI connection on the set.) We really don’t want to mess with another box as we have lots of other stuff attached, including Slingbox.

Setup was fast. The options are relatively limited, but really, how much do you need if the pix looks good?

The onscreen setup is fairly intuitive (if you’ve ever used a cable company remote), so you can access features easily.

The two things we loved about this model were the iPod dock (for select iPods, nanos, touch and phones–don’t waste your time calling the Apple stores. THey can’t tell you which units work. They refer you to Panasonic.) because we have friends who have lots of stuff on their units and this is a quick way to share (video, photos). We haven’t tested that yet.

The other feature is the easily accessed on left side SD card. We love this, especially for friends and family who want to share photos. Very quick and easy. Small lag time between accessing photos (their is a slideshow feature).
A word of caution: We don’t know if it’s just our unit, or all of them, but you have to be very careful taking the SD card out. It seems to stick and you have to try the in/out bit a few times and then gently pull it out. (This has never happened on our computer or our camera, so…)

My only gripes, as it is about all these models: Speakers should be upfront, not underneath, but sound quality is still more than OK. (We’re not looking for theater quality in this size room.) And the bases should turn.

The other thing is this whole shiny black cabinet. HATE that quite frankly and it does pick up glare due to the windows and lights we have in the apartment.

But the viewing angles are good enough that we can watch the TV from the bathroom about 12 feet away and it’s not all that bad in terms of color or “depth.”

The DVDs (regular, not blue ray) we’ve played so far look outstanding. (Almost as great as they do on our Toshiba laptops, which have exceptional resolution. We often watch on the fly while traveling.)

One last thing: We could not mount this on a wall so it’s on a stand that raises it so its now about 46 inches off the floor, which is maybe a foot or more higher than our bed. So we can’t vouch for how it looks when you look “up” as you do with a wall mount.

All in all, we’re pretty satisfied. Now, let’s hope for some long-term reliability and several years of use out of this. (We’re spoiled. We had Sony and Sharp units, big ones, over the years that each lasted over a decade. We had smaller models that lasted 15+ years! We’re not big on buying just to have New New New.) Only time will tell.

FYI: I believe this model was one recommended by Consumer’s Report.

Available at Amazon

Check More info!

Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L26X1 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV Feature

• 26″ LCD 720p HDTV
• Included universal iPod dock provides a convenient way to enjoy music, videos and photos on your VIERA HDTV
• VIERA Image Viewer lets you share your digital photos with friends and family directly from SD cards
• VIERA Link lets you control your compatible Panasonic DVD recorder, Blu-ray Disc player, home theater sound system and HD camcorder
• Three HDMI inputs and PC input

Panasonic VIERA X1 Series TC-L26X1 26-Inch 720p LCD HDTV Overview