Panasonic TX32LZD85 Review

32in LCD

Picture
Sound
Features
Usability
Value

Panasonic raise the bar for 32in LCD performance.

HD Ready:

yes

Resolution:

1920 x 1080

Rating:

94%

Reviewed: 04 May 2008

Design

Almost indistinguishable from their PZ85 series of Plasma TV's, Panasonic's LZD85 range of LCD's feature a slim profile, glossy black finish and a frame that curves subtly backwards along the full length of its sides. A feature which looks destined to become synonymous with flat panel TV's from Panasonic, an elliptical silver trim at the base of the screen actually houses a full length single speaker.

The collection of design elements brought together on the 32LZD85, rather than creating a rather cobbled together look actually combine to create what in our opinion is a supremely stylish piece of kit.

Features

The TX32LZD85 sports a Full HD native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels which allows this panel to resolve every detail of 1080i and 1080p sources, rather than scaling these pictures to fit.

Screen: 32in 16:9

Tuner: Digital

Sound System: Nicam

Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Contrast Ratio: 10,000:1

Brightness: 550cd/m2

Other Features: Motion Picture Pro 2.

Sockets: 3 HDMI, 2 SCART, Component Video, Composite Video, PC input, SD card slot.

Increasing the frame rate from 50 frames per second (fps) to 100fps, Motion Picture Pro 2 has been designed to create a more fluid picture while maintaining resolution.

Complementing Motion Picture Pro 2, the latest incarnation of Panasonic's picture processing engine 'V-real 3' detects on-screen motion and activates backlight blinking to maintain resolution in those areas. Of course there is much more to V-real 3 - Panasonic have apparently re-engineered almost every element of their picture processing engine in its latest guise.

There are two major constituents to the V-real 3 equation, V-real PRO 3 Processor and V-real PRO 3 Driver. The 'processor' element works on the raw video signal to optimize the incoming stream, while the 'Driver' element works with the refined signal and optimizes panel performance to this signal.

The 32LZD85 features 3 HDMI (v1.3) inputs. HDMI v1.3 can utilize the Deep Colour (x.v.YCC) format. Deep Colour produces almost twice the range of available colours, but you will need a source that produces this level of detail (A few HD camcorders offer the feature and possibly in the future, Blu-ray discs played through a Deep Colour enabled player such as Panasonic's DMP-BD30).

A simple feature on the 32LZD85 (shared with most of Panasonic's newer LCD/Plasma TV's) we really like is the photo viewer. Insert your camera's SD card into the screen's SD slot and it automatically shift into slide show mode. Your photos are then easily navigable through the TV's remote.

Performance

If it wasn't for Plasma's advantage in its ability to produce a deeper richer black level performance we may all have been less critical of LCD's shortcomings in this area. As it is, LCD technology has always had a black level benchmark to follow, with Panasonic (being a producer of LCD and Plasma screens) being a good example of the progression of the two technologies in this respect.

We were very impressed by Panasonic's budget PX80 range of Plasma TV's and especially the supreme black level performance it achieves for the price. Ultimately, the TX32LZD85 may not be able to match the PX80 range in this respect, but it does narrow the gap between the two technologies and introduces a black level performance, with subtle graduations in dark areas, which significantly reduces the advantage of Plasma technology in this area.

We have always believed that Panasonic have introduced a more successful implementation of 100Hz processing than most and their Motion Picture Pro 2 maintains and enhances that tradition. Motion Picture Pro 2 is the most mature implementation of 100Hz processing we have seen. It is not perfect, with a tiny amount of smearing and slight loss of detail on fast pans. The point is that 100Hz technology on the 32LZD85 is so good we are having to look much more closely for faults. There are very few LCD TV's that can rival the fluidity of motion and retention of detail which is maintained with fast motion sequences on the 32LZD85.

Colours on the TX32LZD85 benefit from improved black levels which act as a perfect canvass to display the Panasonic's vibrant colour palette. Colours remain consistently rich and accurate, even with tricky facial tones.

The jury may still be out on whether a 32in screen can make any significant use of the extra pixels afforded by a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. What is not in doubt is the sublime High Definition (HD) performance of the TX32LZD85. This is the sharpest most detailed picture we have seen on a 32in screen, which ironically left us wanting to witness the whole experience on a larger screen.

Moving on to Standard Definition (SD) performance, the TX32LZD85 is surprisingly good for a Full HD screen. With the poorer quality terrestrial Freeview source we have seen better performers, but the TX32LZD85 does a remarkable job upsacling to its 1920 x 1080 resolution. A certain amount of flickering and smearing is evident with fast camera pans and video noise has not been entirely eradicated. Move up to a better quality cable or satellite source however and these problems are largely eradicated. Still not perfect but easily up there with the best SD performing LCD TV's.

Not wanting to finish on a negative point, we were somewhat under whelmed by the acoustic performance from the TX32LZD85. Performance from the different speaker arrangement on Panasonic's TX32LXD700 is slightly better with the 32LZD85 slightly underpowered in comparison - though not enough to influence a buying decision as the difference is slight.

Conclusion

Certainly one of the most accomplished 32in LCD TV's currently available. The TX32LZD85 stands out from the crowd with a strong performance in all areas.