Panasonic TX-32LXD700F

...Previous to me owning the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 I had owned for 9 days a Panasonic TH-37PX70 Plasma TV, which I returned to the shop in exchange for the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700, the reason for this was the following. I own a Play station 3, as some of you may know, Plasma TV's can suffer from image burn / image retention, this basically means that if a static image is on the screen for an amount of time, e.g. a channel logo on digital TV or a still ...
...Prior to me purchasing the Panasonic TH-37PX70 Plasma TV I had asked the sales assistant if the Plasma TV would be suitable for games console use to which he replied "IF YOU HAD ASKED ME THIS QUESTION 4 YEARS AGO THEN I WOULD HAVE SAID NO BUT NOW IMAGE BURN / IMAGE RETENTION IS NOT AN ISSUE NOW, SO I CAN RECOMMEND THIS PLASMA TV FOR GAMES CONSOLE USE". So I went ahead and purchased the Plasma TV, I had been playing on Formula 1 Championship ... more

I would like to begin my review by pointing out the following.

Previous to me owning the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 I had owned for 9 days a Panasonic TH-37PX70 Plasma TV, which I returned to the shop in exchange for the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700, the reason for this was the following. I own a Play station 3, as some of you may know, Plasma TV's can suffer from image burn / image retention, this basically means that if a static image is on the screen for an amount of time, e.g. a channel logo on digital TV or a still graphic off of a games console for example a speedometer (in my case) off of a racing game, then there is a good possibility that this image will be still visibly when you start to watch TV especially on a dark scene. Prior to me purchasing the Panasonic TH-37PX70 Plasma TV I had asked the sales assistant if the Plasma TV would be suitable for games console use to which he replied "IF YOU HAD ASKED ME THIS QUESTION 4 YEARS AGO THEN I WOULD HAVE SAID NO BUT NOW IMAGE BURN / IMAGE RETENTION IS NOT AN ISSUE NOW, SO I CAN RECOMMEND THIS PLASMA TV FOR GAMES CONSOLE USE". So I went ahead and purchased the Plasma TV, I had been playing on Formula 1 Championship Edition for NO MORE than 90 minutes which personally I do not find to be a long time and should not have resulted in my Plasma TV getting image burn.

Upon switching back to normal TV, to my horror I could see on the dark scenes of the program I was watching the speedometer from the Formula 1 racing game, I thought to myself it will probably be a temporary thing and give it a day and it will be gone, but it was not, so that’s what made me take the Plasma TV back and get the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 LCD TV instead which IMO is a FAR FAR BETTER TV in every respect to the Plasma. It astonishes me that Plasma TV's can still suffer from image burn and yet manufacturers still manufacture them knowing this, it is quite normal now to watch TV that have static channel logo's and also for households to have games consoles, so why do manufacturers still make Plasma TV's, the only reason I can see is that Plasma TV's are available in bigger sizes at present than LCD, but I think when LCD TV's can be made at the same size as Plasma TV's, then I think that the Plasma TV's days are numbered.

I HAVE THIS ADVICE FOR ANYONE WHO IS THINKING OF BUYING A PLASMA TV, DO YOU WANT TO BE PARANOID OF IMAGE BURN WHEN VIEWING A CHANNEL THAT HAS A STATIC LOGO? DO YOU WANT TO BE PARANOID OF IMAGE BURN WHEN PLAYING ON A GAMES CONSOLE? IF YOU ANSWER THESE TWO QUESTIONS NO THEN A PLASMA TV IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR YOU. BELIEVE ME, IMAGE BURN IS STILL AN ISSUE WITH NEW PLASMA TV'S, I SHOULD KNOW I HAVE EXPERIENCED IT FIRST HAND.
I must apologize for going on a lot but I just like to be informative and I would hate for someone to make the mistake I did and have the problems that I had with my Plasma TV. I will now continue with the review of the LCD TV.

Firstly, the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 is Panasonic's top of the range LCD TV, it is finished in a beautiful looking shiny black finish and I can report that the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 performs as good as it looks, the TV comes on a pedestal stand which allows you to turn the TV left or right approximately 15 degrees. The first time you switch the TV on it will ask you if you want to auto tune all the available TV stations in your area, this includes analogue stations and also DVB (free view) stations as well, as the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 has an inbuilt DVB (free view) tuner, there is also a slot on the back of the TV which allows you to insert a COMMON INTERFACE MODULE, and this in turn allows you to be able to watch paid for DVB channels upon a subscription to these channels. Also the first time the TV is switched on, you have the choice to enter your name/address/post code, these are protected by your own chosen pin number, this allows the police in the event of you TV been stolen and recovered, to be able to trace the owner of the TV.

The Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 has the following connections,

3 HDMI sockets, which is unusual as most High Definition (HD) TV's have just 2, HDMI is the new type of connection to allow high definition pictures to be shown on the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700. Basically HDMI is the new HD form of the scart connection. Some but not all relatively new DVD players/recorders can sometimes have an HDMI connection, if an HDMI lead is used and it is connected to an HD TV, it will UPSCALE the picture to near high definition (HD) quality, I have done this with my DVD recorder and can inform you that it does make QUITE A BIG difference to the picture quality, the picture IS MUCH SHARPER than before.

Audio out: This allows the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 to be connected to a HIFI system and have the sound outputted through this.

PC: This allows the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 to be connected to a PC and be used as a monitor.

Digital Audio Out: This allows connection to a home cinema kit/amplifier so as to provide surround sound.

COMPONENT: This allows connection to a DVD player for high quality pictures (BUT NOT AS HIGH A QUALITY AS HDMI CONNECTION WOULD GIVE)

AV1 AV2 scart connections: These allow you to connect a video recorder, sky TV receiver or anything else that has a scart connection; both AV1 & AV2 have RGB input (RGB will give a better picture, if the connected equipment allows, than the standard video signal)

Headphone socket: This allows you to listen to TV via headphones so as not to disturb others.

AV3 (S Video): This allows you to connect equipment that has the S video connection such as some DVD players, camcorders.

On the front of the TV, hidden under a flap is a SD card slot, which allows you to insert an SD memory card from a digital camera and allows you to see your pictures in HIGH DEFINITION, the quality is TRULY amazing. I particularly found the SD card slot a very useful addition.

Last but not least the RF connection: This is where the TV aerial plugs in off of your roof top aerial for example.

The menus of the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 are very clear to understand and the remote control layout is very clear as well. Menus on the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 allow the following,

Picture menu: Allows you to adjust the contrast, colour, brightness, picture sharpness. There are also four screen settings modes called DYNAMIC, CINEMA, NORMAL, AUTO, these modes adjust the picture to a pre set setting of the contrast, brightness, colour. In the AUTO mode, the TV automatically senses the available light level in your room and adjusts the brightness, contrast for optimum picture quality.

Sound menu:

Bass: This allows you to adjust the bass level to provide a deeper sound for example when watching something that has a lot of explosions or when listening to music that has a lot of drums playing.

Treble: Adjusting this will emphasize the soft sounds that comes out of the TV.

Surround: The Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 has an inbuilt SRS Trusurround XT system which basically means that you can get a simulated surround sound affect from the two speakers that the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 has on it, this applies more so to a film/program that was recorded in surround sound. The sound quality from the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 is TRULY AMAZING and I can tell you that the inbuilt SRS Trusurround XT system works very very well and provides an excellent simulated surround sound affect; I would go as far as saying that it is the best simulated surround sound I have ever heard. There is also a simulated surround sound mode which will provide a simulated surround sound but my opinion was that good that it was, it was not as good as the SRS Trusurround XT mode. If you so wish you can turn off the surround sound modes and just listen to standard stereo sound.

Setup menu: In here you can manual tune DVB and or analogue TV channels, off timer; this will automatically turn off the TV after either 15/30/45/60/75/90 minutes, which is handy if you have the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 in a bedroom for example.

Also in the setup menu there is the option to check the signal quality of the DVB stations which is handy if you are trying to align your TV aerial for example.

My experience of using the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 now.

I have used the TV for around 10 days now and I have found the TV VERY VERY easy to use. The picture quality is absolutely excellent, I have Sky TV and not the Sky HD and the picture quality is superb and easily beats the Plasma TV that I previously had by a long way. My Sky TV is connected to the TV via a scart connection. I also have a Play station 3 connected to my Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 via a HDMI lead, and the picture jumps out at you, the image is in high definition and is incredible sharp and again easily beats the Plasma TV that I previously had. I also have connected to my Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 a Panasonic DMR-EX85 DVD recorder, I have this connected via an HDMI lead and this in turn UPSCALES the picture from the DMR-EX85 to near high definition quality. The picture quality from the inbuilt free view is also excellent as well, I will also add that the inbuilt free view has the a TV listings guide built in so that you will be able to see what is on from now and until 7 days in advance.

Has I have previously mentioned, the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 is Panasonic's top of the range LCD TV and as such has the top quality IPS -Alpha (WXGA) LCD panel, this panel has the 100HZ motion picture pro, this provides 100 frames per second rather than the standard 50 frames per second like most other TVs including LCD TV's, what this means is that you will be able to watch the fastest movie action or fast paced sports and not suffer from any picture blur/smear as is sometimes seen on some cheaper LCD TV's. A friend of mine has a LCD TV, I wouldn’t say that it was cheap and it is a well known brand, on watching a football match on his TV the fast movement of the players are smeared/blurred as the TV cannot keep up with the action basically. My friend has watched a football match on my Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 and he cannot believe how much sharper and how much smoother the picture is compared to his TV, he is now in the process of trying to sell his TV so that he can go ahead and purchase a Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 LCD TV.

Another problem that can sometimes be had with LCD TV's is that blacks are not shown as true black, instead these are show as a dark Grey, this is due to LCD TV's using a back light, but with the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700, this has the INTELLIGENT SCENE CONTROLLER, this means that the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 automatically adjusts the back light brightness so that in turn can show black as black and not has dark Grey. Sometimes as well with LCD TV's, if you sit to the right or left of the TV, the picture can suffer from either whiteout or blackout, this basically means that the picture will disappear and go either black or white, but with the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 the picture can be viewed to a very wide 178 degree angle, horizontally or vertically. It will be almost unheard of for someone to need to watch the TV past this angle as well. The contrast ratio (which basically means the difference in shades of colour/contrast that the TV can show) is 8500 to 1, with a lot of other LCD TV’s the contrast ratio is sometimes only 3000 to 1 or 4500 to 1 or 5000 to 1, so you can start to get an idea as to what the colour/contrast range/image quality will be like on the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700.

Well I cannot think of anything else that needs to be mentioned, apart from, the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 is EASILY THE BEST LCD TV THAT I HAVE SEEN AND IS ARGUABLE THE BEST LCD TV OUT THERE AT THE MOMENT. Admittedly the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 is not cheap (I paid £999 for mine but this included a 5 year parts labour warranty) but the cost IMO is definitely worth it, I cannot recommend the Panasonic TX-32 LXD700 enough, that’s how good it is. 

...less