The REALLY big picture
Written: May 15 '02
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Pros: Great picture, easy-to-use menus
Cons: Ports are hard to reach
The Bottom Line: Amazing picture, amazingly thin, easy to use, fanless (and thus soundless) operation. Of course, it is $5 grand.
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| Girlina's Full Review: Panasonic TH-37PWD 37 in. TV |
When Girlina was buying a new pad, there was really only one thing on her mind: How could she transformn it into the most slam-bang home theatre system ever? A few thousand dollars later, she has prevailed, and the apartment and her life have been changed forever thanks to the Panasonic 37-PWD4.
Comparative analysis is difficult with something as new as flat-screen TVs, but with close to five thousand smackers on the line I did my best, calling on contacts from the home theatre magazines to get the lowdown on the best system. After considering alternatives from NEC and Samsung, I finally picked the Panasonic because 1) it is supposed to be best-in-class in black reproduction; 2) it is fanless, eliminating the noise complaints common with older units; and 3) as a New Yorker, I really don't even have room for a 42-inch set, so this 37-incher was a perfect, somewhat lower cost alternative.
After ordering the unit and tabletop stand from DTVCity.com without incident (see my brief review of this retailer if you desire) I enlisted a friend to come over and help out with the unpacking. Although easy enough - you just put the posts on the base through the two holes on the unit, which is equipped with handles on both sides - it's definitely a two-person job.
The display doesn't weigh a ton - only around sixty pounds - but this is not something you'd want to drop. And even this 37-incher is certainly big enough, at around three feet wide by close to two feet tall. You'll love how thin it is though - a mere 3.5 inches. Note that the stand is definitely a bit wider than that and adds some weight as well.
After we got it all set up, I plugged in TiVO and the DVD player, turned it on and was definitely WOWED. With a solid hi-res source (such as a progressive-scan DVD) the picture is simply flawless, with subtle yet rich color, deep blacks and no blurring or screen artifacts that I could detect even in fast-motion, complex scenes.
Since I like to watch TV with the lights on, I was concerned about whether the picture would be bright enough, but there's no worries with the Panasonic. It has special extra-bright Dynamic settings and looks great under any light setting.
Use with TiVo was not nearly as satisfying - on such a large screen the compression TiVo uses is obvious, and even on the highest quality a certain amount of blurriness and pixilation can be visible, with some channels worse than others. Part of the problem is that at approximately 7 feet I am sitting a bit too close from the screen most of the time; when I view the set from my dining area at approximately 15 feet away the problems are much less noticeable. But at any rate it's not Panasonic's fault, and resolution is still more than adequate for watching the soaps and Law and Order.
The set is also easy to use, with a somewhat cryptic but simple series of menus for adjusting color, contrast, etc. I especially like the aspect ratio settings, which I understand can be a problem on other units. You've got five choices - normal (standard TV is centered in the frame) ; zoom (cuts off top and bottom of standard TV); full (stretches standard TV to fit); auto (chooses best alternative based on source) and the truly wonderful justified (keeps center of the image the same and stretches the sides to fit).
You can click through this simple set of choices instantly and they pretty much cover all the bases. Overall, I find justified an excellent setting for the vast majority of TV programming - you barely notice any stretching at all, except with icons or faces that appear in the very outside of the picture. Zoom is the best choice for anything in letterbox, although even at that setting true widescreen results in black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.
The set does run a bit hot as most plasmas do - after it's been running for a while you can definitely feel the heat if you put your hand in back of the screen. However, it has never overheated on me after even hours of use in a fairly warm apartment, and operation is completely noiseless as had been described.
So what, if any, are the main downsides of the unit? I wish the input/output jacks were a bit better. Although there's a full array of choices (component, S-video, composite, RGB, etc.) the set will basically only accept one analog source and one digital source. These fill up quick: For example, I was forced to constantly to unplug and replug cables when switching between TiVo and an analog DVD until I caved and bought a progressive scan.
I have been mulling over buying a PlayStation as well and god only knows where I will plug that in. It doesn't help that the ports all face downward, which makes sense for a wallmount but is incredibly awkward for a tablestand setup. Trying to align and plug in an S-video cable by feel is not a fun experience.
Cable issues aside, the Panasonic has been an amazing new toy. Frankly, it's more like a member of the family. People actually come over to the house just to visit it (and they all ooh and aah) and it certainly keeps me company: When the gals from Sex & the City are literally larger than life, I feel like I'm sitting right there in the coffee shop with them! Sure, when you add in the stand and shipping it cost over $5,000, but hey - it's an investment in the future.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 4,600
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Epinions.com ID:
Girlina
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Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 247 members
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