Panasonic Viera TX-P37C2B 37-inch Widescreen HD Ready Plasma TV with Freeview Review
I have long had a mental 'price point' of under £400 for a 37" Plasma. This narrows the field somewhat as pretty much the only manufacturer to produce this screen size in Plasma technology is Panasonic. When this model became available on Amazon at £399.99, I plumped for it instantly. I am a TV Cameraman and previously would have only ever bought a Sony TV (they were, and I emphasise WERE the best for many years). However, in my view, the only screen technology to produce truly realistic pictures (especially on standard definition, which we still watch a lot of) is Plasma. LCD is cheaper, more durable and fully HD resolution even at smaller screen sizes - but - the blacks are dark greys and flesh tones and highlights, especially on studio scenes, often look plastic and unrealistic. Add to this the 'lag' in response time of the LCD and it's to be avoided in my opinion. As Sony dumped Plasma when they introduced their LCD Bravia sets, I looked to Panasonic.
This TV is a brilliant no-frills set. It has everything I need and produces deep blacks, good flesh tones and has no flicker or lag. The contrast range of the screen is incredible. The menus are simple and logical, the plain piano-black finish is unobtrusive and the power switch is on the front - not buried away at the back if you are not a 'leave it on standby' person. It only has two HDMI's but you can easily add an adaptor for extras if you need them. It also plays AVCHD movies via the built in SD-XC slot. As a Lumix TZ-7 Camera owner, I can view my home movies straight on the TV - fantastic! My only real criticism so far is that the sound is pretty hollow. Copious fiddling with the bass, treble and equaliser menus allow you correct this to an acceptably full sound but you wouldn't want to rely on it for watching films - a separate Dolby decoder or speakers would be needed. Also, the picture 'out-of-box' is unimpressive. I thought I'd made a huge mistake at first. Again, playing with menus for half an hour, you soon realise that there is plenty of latitude to hone the picture to your tastes. For me, this is the 'true cinema' setting with the brightness down a couple of notches, contrast and colour up a notch each.
If you don't need an all-singing, all-dancing, multi input TV and you can't afford a Samsung LED (which themselves have problems with fast motion), this is (trust me) a MUCH better investment than an equivalent LCD.
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