What also struck us was the plasma's ability to handle a PC input. This isn't generally a strong suit of PDPs, and we'd always advise caution when hooking up a computer to a plasma because screen burn is still an issue. However, despite this and the Panny's daft 1,024x720-pixel native resolution, connecting our laptop to the screen produced a very likeable image. We watched the fantastic WALL·E trailer, which we downloaded as a 1080p QuickTime file from Apple's trailer Web site and it looked nothing short of amazing.
Freeview picture quality was also very good. Obviously, the limiting factor with broadcast TV is the quality at which it's being sent out and the compression applied to it. Nonetheless, the Panny does the best with what it's given.
As we mentioned earlier, some considerable effort has gone into concealing the speakers on the 37PX80. With all flat TVs there is a danger that sound quality is compromised by the push to both reduce size and keep things hidden. That's certainly true of this TV. Although the sound is decent enough for most casual TV viewing, we noticed that it's subject to bass distortion on movies, especially if you turn the levels up. We aren't enormously surprised, and on a set at this price point, it's almost certainly not a deal breaker.
With flat TVs, we'd always suggest that you look into another sound system. It doesn't have to cost a fortune, but it will really help you get the best out of your home entertainment system. There are a number of all-in-one soundbars on the market that fill this niche quite well, such as the Denon DHT-FS3, which will offer vastly improved sound for TVs.
Conclusion
This TV is an excellent performer and
offers great value compared to other competitors. Despite that, we
think HD TVs have a way to go before they could really be called
'affordable'. Still, its black level reproduction is fantastic and it
makes watching movies a real pleasure.
The only slight letdown is the poor sound. For most viewing, it's perfectly capable, but movies -- especially those with deep bass -- will swamp the speakers and make you shudder. Of course, reducing the bass level will help with this but such a lovely picture really deserves better sound to back it up.
Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
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basart 23 February 2009
Good: everything nothing to dislihe at all
Bad: bright sun light on pannla
Comment: my wife finds the controlls easey to use . all she has to do is turn it on , sit back and enjoy a good picture with wonderful colours
Late8 24 September 2008
Good: Best SD Picture on a flat TV I have ever seen.
Bad: Being a Plasms and having a glass screen viewing in bright daylight rooms suffers
Comment: This TV has got to be the best flat panel I have seen today- with only exception to the Pioneer Kuro Plasmas. LCD's of all shapes and sizes cannot match the Panasonic on overall picture performance- especially SD material.
I'm very picky about picture and sound etc when choosing a TV and for the past 5 years or so I have been disappointed with the latest offerings of the HD revolution. My first TV of the HD age was a Samsung LCD- Although top of the range and highly rated at the time, the picture was very disappointing.
I always (and still do) find that LCD TV produce a unnatural and pixelated picture- particularly on SD material from Freeview or Sky etc. In a dark room the black parts of a picture were not black but a dark blue, and for the majority of the time Blacks were crushed and shadow detail lost- this is still seen on LCDs today and is the nature of the technology along with motion blur.
The Panasonic plasma is very different. When first switching it on it was clear that the Standard Definition picture material processing was superior to and LCD and colours and contrast was very natural. Its worth noting that a lot of TV today is still Standard Definition, this TV copes extremely well with SD material blown up onto a large flat screen. Black levels were .. well Black! And the image was very cinematic and professional looking. Performance on HD was out of this world!- the pros of plasma technology- ie black levels, contrast and colour handling etc made HD even better to watch.
I have quite honestly never seen such a natural picture on a flat panel TV in this price range- the only TV I have seen that’s better and performs as well is the Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV’s at nearly 3 times the cost!
Sound performance was better than expected, clear speech and a good bass response (particularly for a flat TV) was noticeable- but with a TV like this you must go for a separate sound system to make the home cinema experience even better.
The inbuilt freeview picture quality is better than other TV’s I have tried, but I’m currently using a Humax PVR Freeview box attached via RGB scart and its image just beats the inbuilt one in terms of sharpness. I’m also impressed with the amount of connections too and the SD card slot at the front makes it great for quickly showing your Digital Camera photos on the big screen. The images from a camera take a few seconds to load but there sharpness and detail is fantastic.
Oh no.. The Bad:
There are one or two downfalls to the Plasma tech its worth baring in mind however. The first is the screen itself. Because it’s a plasma it has a glass screen- I found that during the daytime or a very brightly lit room the image brightness suffers slightly due to the reflective nature of the screen. An anti reflective coating is on the outer side of the glass but it seems to be from the gauze and pixel panel behind- it can cause the image to look duller and slightly grey if showing a dark scene. – I have seen it a few times but its very slight.
The second is something called Image retention. Basically if you leave a static image on the screen for a long period of time a ghost image can be seen when watching normal TV- this can be cause by on screen logos etc but soon goes after 1-2min of viewing and is barely noticeable.
Another thing to bare in mind that a lot of review seem to miss is that motion blur still does occur on a plasma. Its mainly phosphor lag and is very very slight. Motion response on fast scrolling text or quick panning shots goes slightly blurry and suffers some slight judder. BUT don’t be put off- you will never find a LCD that comes close to this TV or any other Plasma for motion response.
Overall I recommend this TV if you want a natural high quality image across the board for HD and SD material. At the price you simply cant beat it on picture performance.
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