Panasonic TX-L37D25B (TXL37D25B)

This range is all LED edge-lit panels - which I will go through in just a second with you. The specification is exactly the same apart from the power consumption - we have got 136 watts on the 32 inch, 147 watts on the 37 inch and 152 watts on the 42 inch.  So there is only 16 watts’ difference there between the 32 and the 42 inch, so all three models extremely low power consumption.

So, as we said, LED edge-lit TV.  What does that mean?  Well basically they are LCD panels.  On traditional LCD panels you have what we call CCFL lighting.  So it is almost like florescent tubes behind the panel so that you can see the image.  Well on this new range of TVs they are using LED lighting.  It is a lot smaller, it is just around the edge of the panel.  So they are even slimmer than a traditional LDC panel.  In fact if we just spin this one around for you, if we can manage this without sort of dragging everything off, you can see how slim that panel is.  No depth at all.

Now then, if we can just spin that back round for you - all the TVs are finished in this sort of slate-grey finish.  They are all on a swivel base as well.  They are all full HD, so they will all cope with the three major formats of high definition - 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolution. 

They are also 100Hz scanning.  But the 100Hz scanning on this is slightly different than the traditional 100Hz TVs.  It is backed up by what they call a backlight blinking system.  So the backlight also flashes at 100Hz as well, giving the equivalent sort of scanning ratio of around 200Hz.  So it is coping with fast movement extremely well.  Standard TVs scan at 50Hz which means it is basically fifty pictures per second make up your image.  This is scanning at equivalent to 200Hz so it will cope with fast movement, as I said, extremely well.

So first of all we will go through the sockets on the rear of the TV.  You have got three HDMI sockets on this range, two scart sockets, one Component, which is the red/green/blue connection.  You have got Optical Out, so if you want to feed the sound digitally out of this TV through an external amplifier you can do so.  You have also got Analogue Audio Out.  You have got a PC input and you have also got an Ethernet input on the rear of the set.  You have also got a USB socket on the rear, and you have also got a satellite connection which we will come back to in just a second.

On the side of the TV you have got an additional HDMI - so four HDMIs in total. You have also got another USB - so two USB sockets.  There is a headphone socket, and there is also an SD card reader on the side, so if you have got a digital still camera or a video camera that takes an SD card, you can pop it into the side of the TV and you can have that footage directly on the screen.

So if you go back to that socket on the rear of the set, which is the satellite connection, the reason it has that on this TV, this particular range have two HD tuners built into them: you have got a Freesat tuner and you have also got Freeview HD.  The Freesat connection uses a satellite dish, your standard Sky satellite dish; if you take a feed from that dish directly into the back of the TV, you will be up and running with a free HD service.  You are going to get BBC HD, ITV HD directly on your TV screen through a satellite dish. 

However, this has got also one of the new HD tuners in.  If in your area they are actually broadcasting high definition through your TV aerial, you can get BBC HD, ITV HD and Channel 4 HD just through your standard TV aerial.  That is build into this set.  So, two HD tuners, HD Freeview and HD Freesat.

If we go through the Menu on the TV, on the remote control there is a button up here which says Menu.  We press the Menu button and we will get the menu onscreen. It is a nice simple menu on the Panasonics - we have got Picture, Sound and Setup.  If we go into the Picture Menu first of all by just clicking OK in the centre of the remote, we have got Viewing Mode.  It states Dynamic.  That is a preset mode for the contrast, brightness and colour set by the manufacturer.  You have got other settings in there for True Cinema, Cinema, Normal and back to Dynamic.  And you will probably see the contrast and the brightness changing there slightly as we click through those different settings.

If we go down that menu, you have got independent controls for contrast.  You have got Up, Down, Left and Right on the keypad here; we can alter the contrast, brightness and colour just by clicking down and moving left or right to alter that setting to exactly how you want it on there.

You have also got Panasonic’s C.A.T.S. system on here which is an automated contrast adjustment.  If we switch that on and leave that on, there is a photocell on the front of the TV which will constantly measure the ambient light of the room and will always keep the contrast at optimum performance on this particular set for you.

If we come out of that menu and quickly go down to the Sound Menu we have then got two adjustments:  Music, which gives us adjustments to base and treble; Speech, which gives us pretty much the same adjustments on there.  But we have also got now User Mode.  User Mode is a new feature on the Panasonic TVs which gives us more variation over the audio of the set.  We can alter the base at this level down here.  You have also got mid-range adjustments for the tone, as well as treble at the other end of the scale.  So you have got more variation over the tone of the TV itself.

You have also got various different surround sound systems built into this TV.  We have got Surround Sound Off, Virtual Audio - which will throw the sound out at a wider angle; and then we have got various Surround Sound modes to try and get the sound out and around you as well.  So it has got a fairly good audio system in this set as well.

So, a nice easy menu to use.  You have also got on the remote control Viera Cast.  If we press the Viera Cast button, you can get some limited web function through the TV.  So we have got things on here like YouTube, Picasa, Skype.  With the Skype facility you can have free phone calls through the TV; obviously you can have video footage on there so you can see who you are phoning as well.  If you are using Skype to Skype those calls are free of charge. 

We can come down from there onto things like Eurosport - if we just click the OK button, we can jump onto various things; whatever is showing on Eurosport at the moment.  And we can click that on there and we can get that footage showing on the TV.  So if we just turn that up, and then we have got displayed on there the motorsports as well.  We can pause that and send it back to the beginning again. 

So, as I said, we have got Viera Cast built into that TV.  Now, with Viera Cast, it does require connecting up to your network system at home - as I said, you have got Ethernet connections on here and USB connections as well.  You can always get an Ethernet cable connected up to your PC and you can send photographs or anything you have got stored on your PC directly to the screen.  As I said, you have got Picasa on here.  As long as your system is DLNA-enabled, there is nothing stopping you from sending all that footage straight to the screen itself.

So, an extensive range of features on this TV; an extensive range of sockets.  Two HD tuners, superb picture and sound quality.  It is hard to fault this new range of TV. 

What I would say, if you would like more details on this range, please give me a call - my name is Chris.  You can get hold of me at the Bolton shop on 01204 861 861.  Or go to our website which is www.soundandvision.co.uk.  Or if you want more information just click the link at the side of the screen.

Thank you.