Panasonic TX37LZD85 Review

[David Mackenzie]

Hey everyone

I've just finished reviewing the Panasonic VIERA TX37LZD85
You can read it here: http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/Panasonic-TX37LZD85/

-David Mackenzie

[hatzik]

Thank you David.
You gave us valuable information that there is no way to know of just by looking at this set in a store!

[quodsolaris]

Hi David, everyone

I've been very keen on this TV for a month or two now, (it's just come into the stores in Holland) and it is very disappointing to read your comments, especially about the appearance of halo effect even on 1080p. The fact that you can't turn the sharpness off bothers me.

Please could you elaborate on the halo effect you saw... I am hoping it is one of your "you won't notice it from more than a few feet back" ones.

Secondly, I would love to know if it is possible to get into the service menu that you mentioned (where you were concerned about warrantees etc), and if you can turn the sharpness feature and other enhancements off. Anyone know?

Thanks

[Eddy5]

Hello,

I've got myself a Panasonic 37LZD85 LCD and I'm mostly pleased with it apart from it's 24fps support. I'm playing Blu-Ray movies from my PS3, through HDMI.

My problem is with the PS3 set to 24Hz output for Blu-Rays and then the Panny set to have 24p Film mode on,  motion in the film is beautifully smooth but there's some awful, distracting artifacting on faster moving scenes. Your review is the only one I've read that mentioned this. I've seen this on pretty much most Blu-Ray's I've tried and this on my screen and on the screen I tried in the shop. Fine, I thought, I'll just turn it off, but no, that makes the motion seem jerky on certain scenes and there can some terrible flickering on detailed scenes (Like the space station pans early on in Space 2001, or the vertical stays on the bridge at the alternative end to I Am Legend, or some of the interior panning shots in I Am Legend). The jerkyness I'm talking about is not like I had with the 32LXD70 which seemed to have a slight pause every now and again, but a consistant jerkyness (Probably because it's only 24fps). To me, this looks worse that motion in DVDs played on the screen.

Am I being overly picky about the straight 24fps performance (With 24p Film mode off), or are other screens the same?
Do any other screens give better processing of 24fps material (I really do like the motion with 24p Film mode on, but can't live with the artifacting)?

[David Mackenzie]

Quodsolaris:

The extent of the sharpening isn't so severe that you'll see the ringing from sitting a few feet back, but the overall picture is changed slightly nonetheless.

As for the service menu, I've heard that you can adjust the Backlight in here, but I'm not sure about any other tweaks.

Eddy5:

As I said in the review, the artefacting you talk about is to be expected since the TV has to guess the position of objects to create in-between frames, and in real time. Any other TV would be much the same with this feature which is one reason why I recommend leaving it off. Motion interpolation appeared on some later CRT TVs but it started to become largely ignored, I'm not sure why it's reappearing now.

When I tested, I didn't see anything wrong with the straight 24p performance myself. It's interesting that you mention it looking worse than standard DVD, which in the UK would become 25p for playback... only a frame difference.

[Eddy5]

Thanks for the response Lyris. I think my main issue is the amount of flicker that can appear on some scenes. In your experience does the Panasonic seem any better or worse with 24p material than say some of the Sony LCDs?
Also what were you using to play Blu-Ray movies, a PS3?

[huwie]

Thanks for the brilliant review.
I am off to buy one of these units tomorrow and can't wait.
Will it take a Russ Andrews Powermax mains lead?
Hope so as Ive ordered the 3 for two set from RA!!!!
Also ordered a Tacima mains cleaner and a QED Performance HDMI lead.
Problem now is of course I wont know how good these are with a new set unless i take them off!!!
Auditioned the set at my local store and it blew the pants off the Samsung, Phillips and Toshiba.
Sound is impressive also.As I am 12 ft away from this 37" set, I dont expect that the problems mentioned above will be an issue.
Its taken a while to decide and I must have read 100 reviews on ....various sites.None as comprehensive as HDTV.
Are the settings mentioned in the review, the ones you would recommend for optimum quality?
Best wishes and thanks....Huwie

[aarelee]

Hey!


Well, I've had this TV for about a month now and I'm very satisfied with it.


Nonetheless there are a couple of things annoying me.

Firstly, the standby/off (by off, I mean switching off from the button on the front panel) power consumption -  I measured it and it shows about 15W, while doing nothing..? Any ideas where this 15W is going?
According to the manual, this is supposed to be 0.3W (Without monitor out recording -  perhaps someone can elaborate this?)

And secondly, it doesn't change the input source when I turn on something that's connected via HDMI. I thought that something like this was elementary, it works with scart...


BTW, nice review


Thanks

[tonyST]

Hello, everyone! Regards from Croatia! And first of all, sorry for my english not as good as croatian

David, great review! I'm very interesting in buying Panasonic LCD, or I was before this review. Can you please tell me does Panasonic TX-37LZD800 solve problems of LZD85? Do you know is picture quallity better, does it have more options?

Anyone, can you recommend me good 37" LCD mostly for Freeview, DVD? (Sony,Panasonic,Toshiba,other??)

Thanks