It's flaT ..... It's digiTal ..... It's Tau !. Review on Panasonic Tau Digital TC 21 T 200

I bought this model Panasonic TAU TC-21-T200at a price of Rs 13,900/- , 5 years ago. I chose this model 'cos no TV's picture quality was a match to its. The TV has a very good colour o/p system - the golden colour reproduced is extremely good - amazing colour quality in discovery channel, anim planet and the NGC when the animals walk with the sunset at the background. Regarding the features, I'd say it has a set of very basic features only.But it has one very good feature - the ''Half Mute'' .One press of the mute button reduces the sound to 50% and the next press mutes the sound. But there's a notable flaw - as we move towards the edges of the picture tube we see the ''vertical picture lines'' being spaced away from one another. Whereas in Sony Trinitron ,the lines are equally spaced at both corners and at the centre.So, if Panasonic TAU looks like this : II II II IIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII II II II then Sony Trinitron WEGA looks like this : I III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII III I Go near the picture tube and you can observe this ( But Sony which reproduces pictures with the Trinitron technology using grilles instead of masks - so Trinitron beats any pic tube in any aspect ) ! This model claims to possess a 200 W PMPO sound output.But, when I checked the speakers inside the box it showed just 5 W x 2 output level.. When you use a Sony TV , you can feel how good its Digital Signal Processing Technology is ! As you increase the sound in a Sony TV , you can feel the ''Low frequency effects'' (i.e. BASS) .And this TAU model has not got a DVD component input also . But just months later my uncle bought a Wega with a DVD input and many other functions for just Rs. 13,990 ( Today , you get a TAU with comb filter for 8,000 that produces cable video as clear and sharp as a DVD.......check it out )! Despite all these ''flaws'' I'd say it's a very good piece with excellent picture quality.......... It has not given any major probs as such . I do not know how long lasting this TV is......I look forward for this TV to last long enough !!!

Updated ( Nov 17 2008) :

After comparing with my neighbours' TV I realised that my TV is not capturing TEN SPORTS. When I "Auto Tune", some channels are bye-passed. On enquiring with the Panasonic Service Centre, I was informed that the Tuner Board may be faulty and we need to replace it @ costy of around a thousand bucks.

Updated ( Nov 05 2010) :

Now that DTH has replaced cable by and large, I don't really need the TV Tuner board. Well, now a days, I keep my Tau in my bedroom and don't use it much as the newly bought SONY occupies my hall. It's been around 7 years since I bought this TV. And it's still going strong ! GREAT buy indeed. Panasonic is still making CRT TVs. If you are looking for one, GO FOR IT !