I've never been a great fan of widescreen TV's, until recently there really hasn't been enough programming to justify them plus the 76cm models are just too small. Especially when watching a 4:3 program when you end up with the equivalent of a 59cm standard TV.

    The Panasonic TX-47P600H is a rear projection 119cm set with the lot. It is compatible with both High Definition standards, 1080i (interlaced) or 576p (progressive scan) when connected to a HD set top box (I use a DGTEC 2000). Unlike most of the competition, the Panasonic uses a non reflective screen - go check out some of the others and see the horrible reflections that manifest themselves at various angles. It has all the usual rubbish that I never use such as picture-in-picture (dual tuners) with strobe, freeze frame, teletext and the like. The sound from it's 4 speakers is pretty good although most of my listening is via my Yamaha/Paradigm/M&K set up.

    There are 2 component inputs at the rear with a total of 4 A/V inputs including one at the front. With overall compact dimensions of 1095mm X 1190mm X 540mm (W x H x D) this is a lightweight (59kg) unit that would grace any room without dominating. We sit around 3 metres from the screen and find it ideal although anywhere from 2 metres to 5 metres would be fine. Picture quality on free to air is variable and (naturally) source dependent, when using a set top box however the quality is quite amazing, especially when watching in one of the high definition standards. The problem with trying to compare these types of TV's is that the majority of stores don't know how to set them up in relation to convergence, colour temperature etc so when you go to your local Bing-Retra-Norman store with all these different brands of rear projection sets, there is no way of really comparing them 'cause you just don't know how they're adjusted. Fortunately we use a set up DVD and can check out the various brands after proper adjustment. To this date, the Panasonic is the best set we've tested. The other issue, of course, is that when you purchase a set from one of these stores, you get a picture that is all over the place. When purchased from us, we set up and converge every unit.

    In terms of owning one of these things by itself, it's a waste of money. I won't go on about it here but trust me - wide screen analogue is useless. When you hook up the digital set top box however, it's a whole new ball game. With the box adjusting the aspect ratio things become a lot easier and when you see true High Definition you'll see a whole new world of viewing possibilities. When Star Wars - The Phantom Menace was broadcast in HD the other night I was gob smacked. The picture was noticeably better than DVD quality and the Dolby Digital sound was superb. It finally justified my outlay to put the gear in my home.

    The long and short of this rambling is that if you're buying a widescreen TV, try not to buy one of the babies (76cm) and save up to buy one of the big boys. The Panasonic Retails for around $6999 less whatever you can screw the dealer for. And whatever you do (yes I know, never start a sentence with a preposition) NEVER buy a widescreen TV that can't handle High Definition (sorry Loewe). Oh! and don't forget that set top box, it's worth it for the Dolby Digital sound alone.