The set offers a native resolution of 1,280 x 720 alongside high, 400 cd/m2 brightness ensures vivid, exacting images from DVD players and other devices. What's more, Panasonic's Progressive Scan Doubler will upconvert standard interlaced (nonprogressive) broadcast and auxiliary signals to flicker-free, 480p resolution.

The PT-50LCL13 is considerably less bulky than most rear-projection televisions and consumes less energy. Further, LCD displays don't suffer from misconvergence or flicker, like their CRT counterparts. The Panasonic multimedia display incorporates thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, also known as active matrix, to improve color reproduction, eliminate ghosting, and boost response speed. TFT technology also helps achieve an extraordinary brightness level of 700 to 800 cd/m2.

Two-tuner picture-in-picture with split-screen display lets you view two programs at once by dividing the screen in half down the middle. Each program is shown at full height, with one program on the left side and the other on the right. Eight-bit PIP image processing provides 256 levels of gray from black to white in the inset picture for finer image detail.

Movie sources get their due with Panasonic's 3:2 pulldown feature, Progressive Cinema Scan. This enhancement compensates for motion artifacts that sometimes result from the telecine process that's used to convert film's 24-frames-per-second to an NTSC-friendly 60 frames per second. Other picture-enhancing features include horizontal and vertical edge correction and a motion-adaptive 3D Y/C digital comb filter, which eliminates "hanging dots" and color rainbow effects in closely spaced patterns.