Panasonic TX-L37G20B 37-inch Widescreen Full HD 1080p 100Hz LCD TV with Freeview HD and Freesat HD

 

 

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This is a replacement for a 2009 37" Panasonic which had a power switch problem. We were very happy with it but Amazon offered a refund under guarantee so we took it.
Firstly I don't play games, only watch the occasional England football match & don't have a Blu-Ray DVD. But I bought a Freesat dish just before the World Cup. So if you watch mainstream TV on Freeview & Freesat & DVD's then this review is for you. Both Freeview and Freesat have all the HD channels.
Freesat is very useful for STV viewers who miss out on some of ITV's top dramas like the recent Downton Abbey. Just put a London post code in like W1A 1AA (Central London) when you set up and you can view ITV London.
Set-up is simple. Lift it out of the box...very light, plug everything in and it tunes itself in. Takes about 5 minutes. You now have dozens of settings to tweak if you want. One tip is to leave for 30 minutes before you do any tweaking so it gets 100% warmed up. I must admit to hardly touching any of the tweaks which is a first for me. I just went through all the pre-sets and stuck with those. This set is an improvement on last's years equivalent Panasonic model and I thought that was very good.
Sound is often poor on this type of set and 500 odd rock concerts & age haven't done my ears any good. But again the sound has improved since last year. It now has a Graphic Equaliser which will help shape the sound to your personal taste.
Motion blur is often a problem on this type of set, especially on football, but even on SD pictures there does not seem to be any. HD football on Freesat is outstanding. It arrived the day that BBC1 went HD. I won't go into the huge debate on bit rates, upscaling etc etc, All I know it looks great
David Attenborough type programmes look stunning whereas Eastenders just look crisp & clean.
Overall we are very pleased with it.

After months of deliberation, reading various reviews, 'Which' reports and Amazon customer opinions and then looking at sets in Currys/Dixons/Comet etc. and learning about LG sets and Samsung Tellies, I saw an HD transmission of Golf/Ryder Cup on this Panasonic in John Lewis and I could see the blades of grass, I could see the little faces in the crowd and it all looked so REAL. NATURAL colour, no blurry motion, 100HZ and I was sold!

In my profession, I install Satellite and Freeview and I get to see a lot of tellies. Flat screen has always been a No-No compared with cathode ray tube. Considering that this screen is about twice the size of the average CRT TV, the picture is brilliant. I use both Freesat and Freeview and all pictures are good. Wise to have the option.

In my opinion, Panasonic have always had the edge on most TVs - Sony included. This one is EASY to set up, intuitive to use and has a very logical remote. Loads of connections around the back. The sound is average for a skinny bodied TV but fine when put through a sound system.

And I bought it from 'The people's well known favourite store' (sorry Amazon but for another £100 odd pounds, 'The people's favourite store' give a 5 year guarantee).

So recommended? What do you think!

If you are looking for a good quality TV at a reasonable price, this could be for you. The Panasonic is well featured with plenty of connectivity options and it looks pretty good too.

The design incorporates glossy black plastic and a cool stripe emanating from the Panasonic logo at the bottom. The TV is reasonably light and can be swivelled from side to side. It even has a proper power on/off button, so no nasty permanent standby here. The remote is a bit chunky but is easy to use and the buttons are laid out pretty well.

Setting up is easy, even the pedestal is easy to fit and within a few minutes I had the television in place and connected up. Once switched on for the first time the set enters automatic tuning and setup mode, so after a few minutes more it was ready to go.

I had read a few reviews before purchasing, and there seemed to be some criticism of picture quality, particularly for Standard Definition broadcasts (Which? especially highlighted this in their review). Some SD content, especially on FreeView, isn't great but I don't think this is just down to the TV, signal quality is a factor. SD generally looks fine from my Sky HD box and High Definition is all you would expect it to be. After a bit of tinkering with settings I have found the picture to be superb, with dark, inky blacks, good contrast and very little ghosting or streaking when the picture is moving quickly. In fact, the response time is very good. The TV is obviously best viewed directly from the front, and if you do watch from an angle the picture is much darker. It's best to make sure that you will predominantly be front on to the screen.

Some of the picture enhancement settings help more than others. The CATS feature, which automatically adjusts contrast according to lighting and on-screen action, is great. Intelligent Frame Creation is Panasonic's implementation of 100hz processing, and on its maximum setting it can create some artefacts on-screen when there is a lot going on, but then I have seen this on plenty of other TVs supporting 100hz. Again, what you are watching can be a factor. Turning down to medium pretty much fixes it and of course turning it off completely loses the performance edge but gives the best quality image. There are resolution enhancers, colour settings and so on which do not always seem to have a dramatic effect.

The television has different `profiles' for settings based on what you are doing, such as Normal, Cinema (great for BluRay) and Game. The latter works a treat with my Xbox 360 and Wii, where response times are smooth whilst retaining detail.

I don't have a home cinema set-up so I'm using the TV speakers, and these have been fantastic without much being changed, settings-wise. There is a virtual surround feature which gives the sound an energetic boost without actually surrounding you all that much. It maybe fills the room a bit more. The clarity and quality of the sound is very good overall, with even reasonably punchy bass.

As well as Freeview, Freesat, 4 HDMI ports, 2 SCARTS, component, USB, network, etc. the set also has an SD card slot, so you can watch photos on screen with ease. Once connected to your home network, it's also easy to hook up with your PC and play videos, photo slideshows, music and the like via an application such as Windows Media Player streaming. The interface for this on the TV is horribly primitive and not very slick, but it works.

Panasonic have included Viera Cast, their take on online connectivity. It's not great. It amounts to a few bundled `apps' in a basic interface with very limited functionality. Half of them aren't even in English. YouTube and the weather are about as good as it gets here, maybe it will be updated one day.

With so many LCD TVs on the market, it's hard for one to stand out. I'm not sure if the Panasonic LX-37G20B is the very best of its type, but I'm very happy with it. The picture and sound quality are excellent, it has loads of connectivity options and it looks good. Well worth a purchase if you are in the market for an LCD 37" set at this price point.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Panasonic tv
My order of Panasonic 37" HD tv with built in Freesat and Freeview receivers from 123 Electricals, arrived within a few days and works perfectly. Read more

Published 2 months ago by bemax

1.0 out of 5 stars Buyer beware
Having purchased this TV for it's FreeSat capabilities, I can't tell you how frustrating it was to discover that the FreeSat does not function at all and refuses to pick up a... Read more

Published 5 months ago by Sam

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent t/v
I purchased this t/v after reading a selection of reviews on Amazon(but,unexpectedly, bought it cheaper elsewhere). Read more

Published 8 months ago by goff

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent colour and sound
I needed a Freesat TV and this was one of a small number of TVs with this feature. However, the reviews I read did not give it good marks for picture quality but I still decided... Read more

Published 8 months ago by multi

1.0 out of 5 stars do not buy
Do not buy. This tv comes with manufacture fault. LCD panel is loosen, not promptly fixet in the TVS frame. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Casper

5.0 out of 5 stars Great TV
It is a great TV. You just switch it on and it sets itself up - fortunately as I am not good at that sort of thing. it is a brilliant picture and I woulod recommend it..

Published 8 months ago by V. G. Hardy

5.0 out of 5 stars happy shopper
this tv is great and we haven't gone through all the gizzmos yet, so easy to set up, picture is fantastic. and it was delivered on time so no complaints.

Published 8 months ago by Mr. Philip E. Doleman

5.0 out of 5 stars Panasonic TX-L37G20B - 37 inch
Great TV. Always had Sony in the past but a bit disappointed with the last one. This Panasonic has built in Freeview and Freesat. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Doris

2.0 out of 5 stars Why the adverts?
I would have given the set 4 or 5 stars for quality and performance had it not been for Panasonic's grandly named Guide+ EPG screen. Read more

Published 10 months ago by Kevin Price

4.0 out of 5 stars Great picture - but you may need external speakers
There was a fault in the first product we received. Sounded like a loose connection when connected to an external DVD player. Read more

Published 12 months ago by Nonna

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