Panasonic TX-L37G15B 37-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD TV with Freesat HD (Installation Recommended) & Viera Cast

I was looking around for a while and considered an LG and a Sony Bravia. I am 100% sure I picked the correct TV in the end. At only £100 more than the Sony and with Build it freesat and Vierra Cast this TV is a very well rounded product with an amazing Freesat picture, the PS3 also looks amazing on this TV.
I have a Humax FOXSAT-HDR Freesat+ 320GB HD PVR and that in it's selve is a great product (Get it if you want to record Freesat), however the HD picture using the TV's Freesat is a little better than the Humax.
I have connected up my Mac (you can also connect Windows) using the Twonky Media server (Which you get a Serial number for with the TV...Inspired) and can now browse all my Mac media on my TV.
With a simple connect of a Lan cable I can hook the Vierra cast up to the internet and get a range of information without the need to turn on a PC.

If your looking for a great 37" LCD look no further, this is a great product.

I've had this TV for a few months now, and the picture is fantastic and its pretty easy to use with one or two little niggles. Overall I'm very pleased and would probably order the same TV again - especially the size at 37". If you are considering the size, measure the distance from your sofa to the TV and divide by 6 to get the width then convert to diagonal. My TV sofa distance is 2.8m and a 37" TV is just right, though the kids sit closer.

I think of this TV in three parts...

1. Audio Visual: I believe Panasonic have reached as close to perfection as possible with their video implementation. Blacks are completely black, there is no motion blur other than the limitations in the source material, and the panel is perfect - it can go very bright with no degradation in picture quality, and has 180 degree field of view; as good as a CRT. The sound is as good as can be expected without having external speakers, in fact it has some nice settings to create an expansive sound and is particularly good for speech. What more could you want? - maybe something a bit more stylish like one of those wafer thin Samsungs, or an OLED Sony, but these are a bit gimmicky. The next step for video is 3D.

2. The Tuner: One reviewer marked this TV down for Freesat, and has been under appreciated for it, but I think he's right. You can't get VIERA CAST without Freesat and I'm sure you pay a premium for it. I don't use the Freesat as I have a Sky subscription, so the cables stay plugged into the Sky+ box. However, this TV expects to be connected. I've read somewhere that it doesn't setup the time properly if it can't find Freesat, also, it's software upgradable, but does so from a Freesat download. I did plug in the Satellite cable during setup which I recommend. I've tried the one HD channel on it - BBC HD and the picture is a little better than non-HD, but they always seemed to have dog breath Hairy Bikers on. So the cables went back into the Sky box which is where they've stayed.

3. Internet connectivity: Implemented and branded as VIERA CAST by Panasonic. It's not the world wide web, but a group of services served up over the internet. When we first had it there were about 4 services, now there's about 10, though a few are German - I think they are trying to control my mind!. There's a weather channel which is even worse than the BBC - not the weather's worse, just less reliable than Michael Fish. If you have a dinner party you can go to Picassa and have a stunning slide show playing, though it is distracting. We use YouTube a couple of times a week. I like to piss myself laughing at Cassette boy at least once a fortnight. Sometimes watching YouTube on full screen you forget it's not the real telly which is a credit to the incredible video processor in the box. I have read that BBC iPlayer is on its way to VIERA CAST which will be fantastic.

Pleasantly surprised by some little extras...
SD Card Reader for looking at pictures from my Panasonic camera.
Ambient light detector which I thought didn't work at first, but realise it seamlessly adjusts the brightness just right.
RGB takes 1080i from my Freecom media player.
Quality of standard DVD picture played through HDMI; some DVD's look HD.

Niggles...
Freesat (see above).
Ease of use: Panasonic have dropped a mark from their usual impeccable standards here - Sometimes the TV doesn't automatically goto the Sky box when you use the Sky remote, and Viera Link to my Panasonic home theatre occasionally goes wrong. The home theatre can work in tandem with the TV through Viera Link; the TV passes sound over to the home theatre to present - you then control the volume on the home theatre from the TV remote - groovy. But sometimes the Home Theatre flips over to DVD which gets the kids screaming at me to stop fiddling!
No WiFi: Its not obvious how to get the TV connected to broadband. Panasonic stick an RJ45 on the back of the box and tell you to get on with it. I bought a Belkin Wireless G Gaming Adapter for £30 and it works just fine.
Media Server: There's a media server client on the TV, but it's not a great implementation. It can't handle any HD content from the server. It's nice of Panasonic to implement something and give you a free licence to download and install Twonkymedia which is worth £20. I'd say if you want to do this, you need a proper media player attached to the TV.

This last point leads me to question this box. Panasonic have made a fantastic TV and have tried to add new media features which aren't quite integrated properly. Maybe my TV would improve with software downloads, if only it was connected to Freesat. I could have purchased a cheaper Pany with the same LCD panel and video processor, and with the money saved bought a decent HD media player. However, it's the real world. Nothing works 100%. Like a Porche, it's the imperfections that add character and create a bond. At the end of the day I'm happy I chose this telly.

Great set - has more functions than I'll ever use but the BBC HD channel is stunning (Freeview broadcasts are so-so but change the factory presets for picture and sound and you can improve it a lot) I wanted the TX-L37G10B which is the same set without some of the ports on the back but it was out of stock. Happy to recommend either model to anyone - I'm delighted with it.