Panasonic TX-L37DT30B (TXL37DT30B) 37Inch 3D,400Hz,1080p,Freeview-HD,Freesat HD Television|DLNA,Skype,Wifi + Viera Connect

They are using edge-LED technology to achieve that really good contrast level. They have also got two HD tuners in them – Freeview HD and Freesat HD. So you can get BBC, ITV and Channel Four in high definition just through your TV aerial – but if you are in a bad reception area or they are not broadcasting HD in your region, you have also got the option of using Freesat – you have got a Freesat HD tuner in here as well, so you have got a free HD service, whether it is through your TV aerial or you have got the option of doing it through a satellite dish as well.

They are also 400Hz scanning. Now, to explain that, if you took a basic TV, which is 50Hz, meaning there are fifty pictures per second making up your image, this particular set is 400Hz. So if you are looking at any fast movement onscreen, you are going to get no delay or drag in that movement; you will get really good control over any fast movement.

They also use an IPS panel. It is a top-quality panel on this TV – you can view it from any angle, there is no cut-off in picture quality, it doesn’t fade as you look at an angle – it is the same picture quality whether you are looking at the side of the TV or whether you are looking straight on.

The set itself has got a very slim frame around it. It feels like it is literally carved out of granite – very substantial TV, very slim as well.  It is finished in this sort of black finish with a grey to black stand on the pedestal as well. The On/Off switch is located just down here in the centre of the TV.

Before we go into the menus and show you a bit more of what this TV can do, because it has got Internet facilities and various other things built into it as well, we are going to take a look at the back of the TV at the sockets first of all.

On the back of the TV you have got three HDMI sockets just here. Next to that you have got an Ethernet port so if you want to connect this up to your wireless router – and we are going to go through the Internet services in just a moment – you can do so, so you can hardwire it. Although you have got two USBs down here as well so you can get a wireless dongle from Panasonic and do this wirelessly as well.

You have then got Component which is the red/green/blue connection – a lot of games consoles use Component – you have got that connection on there as well; as well as Composite Video which is the yellow, red and white connection – yet again, things like Wii games consoles use Composite so you have got that on there as well.

You have also got Audio Out which is the red and white socket just here. You have also got a Digital Optical Out just here as well, so if you want to feed the sound externally from this TV through an amplifier you can do so.

Coming down from there you have got your coaxial socket for your aerial and then just underneath there you have got your Freesat connection – connect a satellite dish straight into here and you have got a free satellite service as well as Freeview HD.

You have then got Scart, a single Scart next to it there. D-subsockets which are your PC socket just here. As I said before, you have two USBs.

On the side of the TV you have got a third USB. Just underneath there is your headphone socket, for your headphone; your third USB, SD card reader so if you have got a digital still camera or a video camera that takes an SD card, pop it in there and you can have your video or still snaps in the screen; fourth HDMI, and then you have got the common interface slot – if you want any pay per view material just get your self a cam card to go into the side of the TV.

The wall fixtures on here are 200 mm by 200 mm.

Okay, so let’s take a look at the TV set itself. First of all, it comes on a swivel base. The set itself – the remote control is all operated through the menu system. So on the remote control you have got a button here that says Menu. When we press the Menu button it will put this new menu up on the screen on this new range of Panasonic TVs. So, we have Picture, Sound, Time and Setup. Picture is highlighted in yellow. You have got Up, Down, Right and Left on the keypad here. If we just click over to the right it will give us Viewing Mode. So we have got options in there for Normal, Dynamic, Cinema, True Cinema and you have got a couple of professional settings in there as well.

The Pro Settings you can go into the Advanced Menu System on this TV and you can alter the white balance and various other things on here, the gamma setting – and store them in your professional settings for how you want the TV picture to look. But the basic operation – you have got Dynamic, Normal, Cinema, which are preset modes from the manufacturer on Contrast, Colour, Brightness and Sharpness settings. If you select one of those settings you can then go into that menu and adjust it for Brightness, Colour or Sharpness – just highlight the one you want to adjust, press OK and then just moving to the right or left you can increase the sharpness or whatever setting it is you want to adjust on the TV.

As we come down from there you have also got Panasonic’s CATS system built into this TV which is an automated picture adjustment for contrast. You have got a photocell just at the bottom of the TV down here which constantly measures the ambient light of the room and always keeps the picture at optimum performance for you. So if we switch that on there, basically now the TV will constantly measure the ambient light of the room and always keep it at optimum performance.

As you come down from there you have got noise reduction systems, so if you are receiving poor reception, you have got a lot of grain in the picture, then you have got options for Minimum, Mid or Maximum which will tend to diffuse that grain. If you are getting a good picture anyway that is very sharp and detailed, leave that off because it can tend to diffuse the overall image.

As we come down from there, as I said, this TV does have 3D technology built into the TV set itself. So if you purchase this TV and you decide in a year or two years down the line that you would like to get into 3D technology you don’t have to change this TV – it is already built into the TV. You just need to purchase some of the eyewear from Panasonic – these are the new rechargeable glasses – but you need to purchase these from Panasonic if you want to get the benefit of 3D on this TV.

You have also got options in the menu on this TV, while we are just talking about 3D. If we just come out of that, at the top of the remote control you have got a 3D setting on here. If we come into that, we press that – you have got 2D to 3D Conversion. So if you are watching just a normal TV transmission, you can even adapt that to 3D as well – as I said, you just need to purchase the glasses to benefit from that particular facility.

If we just come out of that for a moment and we will just take it out of that 2D to 3D on there, and go back into the menu system for you. So, as I said, we have the 3D settings on the picture as well. As we come down from there you have then got Advanced Settings. If we click on that you have got options of White Balance, where you can alter each primary colour – so you have got red, green and blue gain and red, green and blue cut-off. You can alter each one individually.

If you do make a complete hash of it, you have got Reset to Default – so just click on that. You can’t mess anything up; it will always reset itself back to a manufacturer default. But as I said, you can store all these settings that you make to the picture for how you want the picture to look, in one of those professional settings, so it is constantly on there for you as well.

You have also got things like Intelligent Frame Creation which if you switch that on to Mid or Max, it will actually fill in sort of extra lines of information for you. So if you are watching anything with fast movement, if it has got any sort of delay or drag – yet again it is something you can switch on to help control that as well.

If we come down again you have got things like Resolution Enhancer which you can have on Mid or Max. If you are watching a standard TV transmission, not in high definition, you can alter this to increase the resolution of a standard TV programme, to get a sort of pseudo high def image from a standard TV picture as well.

If I come out of there for a moment and we will briefly go through the Sound Menu. Yet again, we come into the sound menu; just click OK on the remote control – and we have got options there for Music, Speech or User. When you are in the Music or Speech menu, it gives you the options of adjusting just bass or treble. If you go into the User menu, it gives us a little bit more variation – and we have not got a graphic equaliser on there. So if we highlight that and click on that, you have then got basically adjustments at this end here for bass, mid-range and then treble – and you are just going up, down, right or left on the keypad here. So if we click up there you can increase the bass at the bottom end there, and then you have got the sort of mid-tone adjustments you can make to the sound as well, as well as the high frequencies. And it is just a case of tweaking up the sound yet again to how you want the bass and treble to be.

It has got quite a decent sound system in this TV as well – it gives a nice depth of bass. A lot of small TVs tend to suffer on sound quality because the speakers get extremely small – the thinner you go, the smaller the speakers will get. But it has got quite a decent sound system on this particular range of TVs.

You have also got Surround Sound Off which is just standard stereo sound. If we highlight that you have got V-Audio which will throw the sound out and around you. And then you have got V-Audio Surround and Pro Sound which are different settings to give you the effect of where the sound is actually around you or just coming from the speakers on the TV. But you have got the option of a sort of pseudo surround system on the TV itself.

Now then, if we come out of that menu for a moment, we will go quickly through the Viera Cast option on the TV. So you have got a button here that says Cast. If we press that, yet again, as I said, you can either hardwire this through the Ethernet port or you can get a wireless dongle from Panasonic to do it wirelessly. If we just click OK to enter, you have then got options via the Internet to go onto various different settings. So we have got on here now options for – in fact it is just loading up, so we will go back – you have got things like Twitter, Cine Trailers, Euronews… If we go back again we have got BBC iPlayer. You just highlight any of these square boxes on her e- and yet again you have got on the keypad, using Up, Down, Right or Left, highlight BBC iPlayer, just press OK on the remote control and that will start to load onto the BBC iPlayer itself where it will give you options of catching up on any content you may have missed. It is almost like having an additional channel on your TV. When this loads up in just a moment it should give you the complete contents on BBC iPlayer – for which, yet, again, on the remote control you just scroll along using the Up, Down, Right or Left buttons on the keypad to highlight any particular programme that you may want to view.

There we go – so that is now loaded up. So now we have got BBC iPlayer on the screen. As you can see on here we have got various programmes that you can catch up on – if you missed the Grand Prix, yet again just click on that, highlight that programme, press OK and it will load that particular programme up for you.

But as well as that, as I said, you have got things like Skype on here, Facebook –various different websites you can go onto. With Skype you can get yourself a Skype camera from Panasonic, plug it into the rear of the TV – you can make Skype to Skype phone calls to friends or family anywhere in the world. Yet again, if it is a Skype to Skype call, they are also free of charge.

So, there you have it – a TV either 32 or 37 inch which is packed with features. Superb looking TV – the build quality is second to none.

If you would like more details on this range of TV please give me a ring - my name is Chris - on 01204 861 861. We have got two stores, both in Bolton and Leeds.  This range of TVs is on demonstration in both of our retail stores. If you go to our website which is www.soundandvision.co.uk there are hundreds more video clips on there – not just on TVs but on amplifiers and speaker systems as well. So, as I said, please give me a call – my name is Chris - on 01204 861 861.

Thank you.