Panasonic TC-32LX85 Review

 

The Panasonic TC-32LX85

A great entry level HDTV with a tag that won’t be hurting your pocketbook, this is a pleasant surprise from Panasonic, a company known more for high-quality plasmas than LCDs. Even more surprising is the fact that the Viera TC-32LX85 TV delivers clear and vibrant images and excellent picture quality given its quite affordable price.

Design

The 3-inch bezel frame in glossy black surrounding the 32-inch screen of the TC-32LX85 presents an unassuming and simple design, yet stylish enough to blend well with modern home interiors. A solid looking non-swivelling stand and hidden speakers complete the contemporary appeal of this small-screen HDTV.

The remote shipped with the TC-32LX85 is similar to the ones used in Panasonic’s plasmas – a large, ergonomically designed piece with the keys more or less logically arranged. Even without backlighting, the remote is easy to use, particularly as the menu system – also copied from the plasmas – is intuitive and navigation-friendly.

Screen/picture clarity

We aren’t hyping when we said that the picture clarity of the TC-32LX85 is quite impressive. Beginning with black levels, the darkness rendered by this LCD is quite good compared to other LCDs – not on the level of the Panasonic plasmas – but definitely just a notch or two lower. The superbly inky blacks give pop to the other colors, making them more brilliant and stunning and adding fine details to shadow areas. Color accuracy is also excellent, with the red, green, blue and greyscale temperatures measuring close to reference standards. Decoding of reds is a bit off, but this is barely noticeable for the most part.

The TC-32LX85 cannot accept 1080p sources, and hence, high-def viewing is limited mostly to 1080i and 720p sources. Another downside of this Panasonic is its poor handling of standard-def sources: it failed to resolve every horizontal line of the HQV test material, and it failed to smooth out jagged edges resulting in some noticeable artefacts. On the positive side, the TC-32LX85 does exceptionally well in white-field uniformity, a common flaw of LCDs wherein totally white areas sometimes exhibit blue and red splotches.

Features

The TC-32LX85 allows adjustments of basic controls: four picture presets that can be tweaked independently per input, selectable color temperatures and backlight control, which allows tweaking the factory-set black levels to even darker ones for more stunning images. The connectivity options for this entry level HDTV is, as expected, limited: three HDMI ports and some component and analogue inputs, plus a SD card slot on the side. The lack of a PC input is perhaps for the better, because the native 1366×768 resolution causes overscans that obscure parts of the screen.

Admittedly, the TC-32LX85 is not a perfect HDTV for everyone. It has excellent features but it also has numerous downsides which, for those already familiar with HDTVs, aren’t merely inconveniences but outright flaws. But as it is obviously targeted for newbies, it is indeed a perfect starter set to begin the HDTV experience.

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