Customer Reviews

Panasonic Viera TC-37LZ85 37-Inch 1080p LCD HDTV

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just received this set today, after weeks of web and in-store research. I had always thought that the Panasonic LCDs looked a bit better than the Sonys and Samsungs at the stores, and looked very much better off-axis (important in our room). Well, all I can say is they must not have had the set adjusted very well in the store.... it looks way better at home that it even did there!

I actually chose this set not only for what I had seen in the store (a little better picture, but not by a lot as I saw it there) but because I had read some reports on the net that the Panasonic IPS-Alpha screens generally do better on standard and analog TV than most other types. We have a lot of old VHS (such as home movies) and wanted a good quality set on which these would still be watchable. I'd say the old tapes look as good on this set as on the old CRT set, other than the expected results of the screen just being so much larger showing the lack of detail. A nice surprise, even analog over the air TV is completely watchable, no gritty lines or obnoxious blurs. On a whim, I connected my laptop to the TC-37LZ85 via the S-Video connector and brought up some old B&W shows on [...]. The ancient B&W Alfred Hitchcock shows look better in this set, through the low-res internet link, than they EVER did on analog TV.

We don't have a Blue-Ray player to see what the highest resolution video looks like, so I slipped in a SD-card with some high res (5MByte) photos on it. These are just drop-dead gorgeous. Couldn't stop watching the slide show, I had never seen these photos quite like this, wish I could print them as well as this screen shows them.
The only negative of the set (so far, hey it's just the first day) is that in my research I neglected to notice that this model does NOT have a VGA connector for computer video, so I can't see my laptop screen in its full resolution. Maybe the TC-37LZ800 would have been a better choice (for another $[...]), but maybe not, I don't know how often I'd do that anyway. :)

Bought it from Amazon and got it via CEVA in 5 days (could have been shorter as it was shipped from a warehouse just 500 miles from where I live :) I almost bought the 32LZ800 for almost the same price but decided to get this due to the matte screen, I dont like the glossy screens. Also I got a Panasonic due to the IPS panel instead of the PVA variants from most other vendors. Look at all the sets at a 45 deg angle before you decide :)

Razor sharp pictures through a PS3, SDTV is not bad (after reducing the sharpness etc), no VGA input, adequate sound (though could have been a little louder).

The factory default settings are not great but it can be tuned to display pleasing results. For a 2008 TV, I am unhappy that there isnt a separate RGB control. Another bummer is the lack of a VGA input: my older laptop doesnt have DVI/HDMI. Every 32-37" LCD I have seen has this input and I didnt check this before ordering :( With a VGA port and the RGB controls, I would have given it 5 stars.

Overall its a good purchase. If you need a no-frills panel, this is a good choice, given that it was the cheapest 37" TV from Amazon when I bought it.

Ok well this is my first review of anything here so off we go.... I purchased this TV a few weeks back and could not be happier. This is the first HD TV I have ever purchased so I did a lot of reading up on what is hit and miss. Big Hit! For a smaller living room, which we have it is perfect. I am hooked up to Suddenlink HD cable, getting Direct TV soon, a Panasonic up convert DVD player and my PS3. Amazing picture and a great value as well. I was on the fence at first but I tore that fence down and this TV is here to stay. Very user friendly, 3 HDMI inputs make connection a snap. Audio is typical for a TV but I have mine running through an Onkyo home theater receiver, so the marks are pretty good. I was really surprised how well SD channels looked; you know the difference but they looked just as good, even better that my old tube set. Watched "Night at the Museum" on Blu-ray and it was like the picture was so lifelike all my wife kept saying was "WOW" and I would have to agree. Also comes with a "game mode" which I love for the PS3 and "Call of Duty 4". I would recommend this TV to anyone wanting a great TV for a great value.

This tv is amazing quality for the money. I own another lcd hdtv (samsung 42incher) and the picture quality on this panasonic is quite impressive compared to that tv. For beginners, the panel is an ips panel which means the viewing angle is wide; you can see the screen clearly from the side. The finish of the screen is matte which is great for my room with lots of daylight.

The picture quality surpasses my samsung in many ways including blacks and color gamut--very impressed. In addition, i use this panasonic for gaming and as a pc monitor. Be sure to set the hdmi mode to 2 and use the 3rd hdmi input (gaming). This means the pixel ratio is 1:1 so the text is sharp and the graphics amazing. Playing crysis on this screen blew me away as did metal gear solid on ps3!

A few other things I like are the sdhc memory card input: we returned from a trip to africa with several gigs of pictures on sdhc, this tv was a great way to showcase the pics in high def to the family.

finally, the lack of tax, and white glove service of amazon saved me so much time and money I wish i had a reason to buy another.

Great tv, looks fantastic. I bought this for my family room and the size is perfect. For me I was looking at this tv, the vizio 37 720p and a Samsung 40 in. I already own a Samsung Plasma

Pros:
1080P
Sports look great/fast response time
Excellent sound, better than my samsung plasma
Cheapest 1080P tv I have found

Cons:
No PC input, but I think I can just buy a dvi/hdmi adapter
Remote: Remote does not work right until the tv has been on for at least a minute. I use my satellite remote so this is not that big of an issue

You wont go wrong with this tv, I have it hooked up to directv, wii, 1080p dvd player and a apple tv.

I spent several hours reviewing 37" LCD TV's online and followed it up by going to one of our local superstores to see & listen to the units. I compared the 720P & 1080P units for picture quality & found them to be similar in the full screen mode. What separated the former from the latter was the zoom mode I regularly use when I watch TV in the letterbox or 4.3 format. It was no contest with the extra lines of resolution available on the 1080P units. They do make a difference ! The screens of the Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, etc. are all similar side-by-side , but I definitely prefer the sound coming from the Panasonic. I have no intention of installing external speakers, so it was extremely important to have a decent set of internal speakers in my selection. The other thing I noticed in the store was the side viewing angle of the Panasonic was by far the best of any LCD's I watched. To make a long story short- I love this set and am glad I waited until 1080P was available in the LCD market. Plasma is still king when it comes to picture quality, but this is very close !!!!!!!!!

I was an electronics salesman for 2 years and this is the best performing 37" lcd I have seen. I could get technical about it but the bottom line is it just looks better. I did not own a flat screen TV prior to this because I hadn't found anything worth spending the money on, but I now own this TV and it has not dissappointed!

I have been looking at HD sets for several years now, but money was always an issue, plus our old 32" Sony CRT was still working okay. It was my Xbox that finally drove us to HD.
I had our Xbox hooked up through the little yellow composite jack - the lowest quality connection known to man. We were often unable to read text on the screen during games, it was very frustrating. Plus I knew that the Xbox was fully capable of a beautiful HD image, because a friend has his setup in HD.
Getting my wife to agree was not as hard as I expected, and my brother decided to buy our old CRT for $100.
I knew we needed a 37" because it was the best fit for our entertainment center. This set has about 3/4 of an inch on each side - perfect.
I ordered the set through Amazon, but from OneCall. I received all of the expected informational e-mails about delivery and such, and the set was delivered 2 days early (how dare they)! It was delivered via FedEx, which made me nervous at first, but the set arrived in perfect condition. Setup was a breeze and I was watching HD in 5 minutes.
I have had the set for almost 2 months now, and over-all I give the set 9 out of 10.
Here are my pros and cons...

Pros:
1) The set is beautiful to look at, even when off.
2) HD images are truly gorgeous!
3) Colors look to be dead on - flesh tones are natural and colors never seem over-saturated.
4) Games on my Xbox look to be liquid that you can reach into!!!
5) Image is very bright - able to watch this set in a sunny room!
6) Sound quality is good - but not great. Never tinny, and never rattles or buzzes. I give it 8.5 out of 10.
7) No dead pixels (not sure if this is still an issue with some, but happy there were none)
8) 3 HDMI connections - some sets in this size range only have 2.
9) No motion blur to speak of - even in fast moving scenes.

Cons:
1) SD images are disappointing. I knew this would be the case going into this, but guess I expected better since Panasonic is supposed to have one of the best SD images. However, I was able to find every single one of our shows on HD channels, so it really doesn't matter now. :-)
2) Black levels aren't great. They are good, but they could be better. I have adjusted it to a THX disc, but still blacks are some-what grayish.
3) Bad placement of power, volume and channel buttons - they are on the side of the set and are difficult to differentiate since I rarely use them and they are soft rubber.
4) Ridiculous placement of the SD card slot. It is on the side, but around back and is under a plastic door. This would be fine if you never had to remove the card, but I intend to add new pictures from time to time to show people. In my setup, the card is simply unreachable. Doesn't seem that anyone makes an SD slot extension cable either. I would have just preferred a front mounted USB port behind a rubber nubby to be honest.
5) Volume control goes all the way up to 100. Why? Can I really tell the difference between 47 and 48? No! Because of this, it takes far too long to raise or lower the volume. 50 steps would have been perfect - 100 is stupid.
6) Input labels cannot be customized. You can only choose from the standard "Cable, Game, VCR, etc. My 10 year old Sony let me name them whatever I wanted. LAME!
7) Set un-mutes even when you are turning the volume down - Little thing that annoys the heck out of me.

So there you have it. To me, the set delivers on the most important item - picture quality, everything else I've mentioned is secondary. I paid $860 delivered. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a set this size, and I would definitely recommend OneCall.

We purchased this TV for our family Christmas present two weeks ago. We chose the 1080p version because we plan to upgrade to a blu-ray player. Of course we couldn't wait and had to set it up immediately. Initially I thought it was a nice TV and was happy because the screen was bright and it is 'bigger' than our last TV.

Then, we upgraded to DirectTV's HD programming. Wow, what a difference. I have to say I am blown away. The picture is crystal clear, bright, the colors are beautiful. Additionally, the TV is very intuitive to use and the menu system is well thought out and easy to navigate.

We upgraded from a 27" tube TV and chose the 37" because we wanted a 1080p TV at a reasonable price. It seems like everyone is wanting a 40" or bigger these days, but I have to say the 37" is stunning. It's a great size, feels like a large screen without overwhelming the family room.

This is a great TV and is breathtaking with HD programming. If you considering a HDTV do not short yourself, go for the HD programming to go with it. What a difference!

July 2008 Consumer Report rated this one of the top LCD's. Price at around $1500. But I bought it from Amazon for under $1000 including shipping (it came in a couple days. It is so excellent! And no glare!! I can finally open my drapes again. Very clear picture and colors and this is without HDTV! I can't wait to try it with HDTV but even regular TV is a heck of a lot better. And it's wide screen and about a million times lighter than my old TV.