Panasonic TH-37PX80 Review

 

The Panasonic TH-37PX80

Panasonic unfailingly launches its Vieras for the year every January. For 2008, among the HDTVs launched by the company is the TH-37PX80, a mid-range plasma that proved to be highly popular due to its awesome picture clarity.

Design

To its credit, Panasonic made this TV a tad thinner than its predecessors but nonetheless, it isn’t likely that the TH-37PX80 will win awards for its rather drab design. Glossy black bezel around the muted screen isn’t exactly a standout, particularly in a sea of HDTVs virtually having the same style. The only thing that makes this set a little different from others is the slightly curved lower frame – highlighted by the similarly arced thin strip of metallic grey – which gives way to the slightly angled speaker grille that also houses the power button, LED indicators, and a latch that conceals more control buttons. A wedge-shaped, glossy black non-swivel stand completes the setup.

The remote commander is almost identical to other Panasonic TVs: same layout and button sizes, with just slight changes in the shape/contour to differentiate it from other wands. As with the clicker for the TH-42PX700, the navigation keys are inconveniently placed near the top of the wand, too far from where the thumb naturally rest in the pad. The user interface in the TH-37PX80 is the same as all other Vieras, too –the yellow-on-blue menu system that is easy-to-use and almost faultless – so we have no reason to complain.

Screen/picture clarity

If there is anything that can be said about the Viera plasmas, it’s that they never fail to awe and surprise us. Panasonic surely know its plasma business, and it continue to provide products that really deliver the goods. Thus, even at first glance at the image on the TH-37PX80, we know that this Viera is better than its predecessors, which are all excellent to begin with. The black levels and colour accuracy are simply astonishing – giving out dynamic and crisp images that blew us away. And to think that this is essentially a low-cost plasma!

The PX in the TH-37PX80 indicates that this is a low resolution TV, and it sure is with its 1024 x 768 (720p) native resolution. Even so, down-converting 1080 sources isn’t a problem with this plasma, and we didn’t see any apparent loss of resolution in the video processing – an indication that the cutting-edge V-Real 3 processor works well. With the inclusion of 100hz. refresh rates, motion blur is practically nil, though noise and artefacts are still observed when playing deinterlaced and standard-def materials.

Features

One of the features introduced in the TH-37PX80 is the Game mode, an enhancement designed to eliminate lags during game-playing. Other features include three HDMIs (Viera link capable but aren’t Deep Colour compatible), dedicated PC input, SD card slot, two Scarts, and the standard component/composite input jacks.

With its impressive performance, it’s easy to see why the TH-37PX80 became popular with the budget-conscious crowd. It’s a great HDTV through and through, and it’s a highly recommended one that is wallet-friendly to boot.

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