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 8 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.
| Brand Name | Panasonic |
|---|---|
| Item Weight | 45.4 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 36.5 x 26 x 11.7 inches |
| Item model number | TC-32LZ800 |
| Batteries | 2 AAA batteries required. (included) |
| Color Name | Black |
| Item display height | 22.6 inches |
