I just recently upgraded from a 50' CRT Phillips non-HD to a Panasonic PT-61LCX65 61" LCD Projection. After obtaining the 61", I noticed that the regular cable channels on my 50" looked far better than on the 61". And Some HD channels fook far better than others. Is this common? {I was watching Monday night football and it looked amazing). The primary reason for buying the 61" is for playing my XBox 360. Prior to getting the 61" I played my 360 on my 27" Phillips HD CRT 27" and the 27" gaming experience was better than on my 61". I'm not sure if this is a result of me not being at the proper viewing distance (I'm at 7.5")or, is it that LCD rear projections are not good for gaming? I've been reading other posts and it seems as if there are video delays with DLPs.
So the question is: "Do I take back the Panasonic LCD and keep using my 50" Non-HD Phillips CRT for regular tv and my 27" Phillips Hi-Def for gaming? Or is the Panasonic a good tv and I just need to configure it?"
The Panasonic is a great TV and I think their new LCDs have an incredible picture your just sitting way too close for a 61". You should sit 12-15 ft back for a set of that size. I sit just over 9ft back and my 52" is about as big as I would go from that distance. At 7.5ft the Panasonic 52" will look much better than the 61" and it will save you some money too.
Standard channels will not look as good on a digital TV as they do on an analog CRT set. CRTs tend to hide the flaws of SDTV much better than any digital set. It is just part of the trade off for an incredible HD picture.