LED TV – Panasonic Viera TX-L32D25 Review
August 14th, 2010 at 7:11The first thing that strikes you about the Panasonic TXL32D25B is its unusual design. Instead of Panasonic’s usual piano black, they’ve gone with silver for the back and remote control and a deep brown colour for the front. While that may sound horrible, it actually looks great and really stands out in a living room.
The television is light and extremely thin. In fact at only 45mm in depth it’s one of the thinnest led’s I’ve seen. These light and slim features make it great for wall mounting or fitting in rooms with limited space.
The unit comes fully equipped with the full high definition resolution of 1920 x 1080. Coupled with its two tuners, a DVB-S for decoding Freesat HD and a DVB-T2 for viewing Freeview HD, you’ll be able to watch a great range of free channels at the definition they were created in.
The panel uses Intelligent Frame Creation to increase standard 50Hz signals to 100Hz, promising smoother images for fast moving images. The results were impressive, with smooth transitions, crisp edges and minimal artefacts on even the most demanding sports programmes.
The picture quality is very impressive, with lots of detail in bright and vivid colours. There were times when Freeview lacked sharpness but thankfully that didn’t carry over to HD viewing. I did find the 32 inch screen a little too small to really bring HD to life, but it’ll still please the gamers no end.
In terms of connectivity, the tv comes with four HDMI, three component and one composite input, plus two plugs for USB 2.0 access and a mini d-sub 15-pin connector to connect your PC.
The sound is handled by two 10 watt internal speakers which output in Dolby Digital Plus. Unfortunately for me this it is major drawback, with programmes sounding tinny and echoey and at times quite off-putting. Of course this isn’t a problem if you’ll be listening through your hi-fi but if you are using the internal speakers it’s certainly something to be aware of.
The panel features a dynamic contrast ratio of two million to one, and with the LED backlighting it provided impressive black levels on all types of programmes. The IPS Alpha panel used has been enhanced from previous models to lessen fading at extreme viewing angles, giving it a massive 178 degree viewing angle with no contrast reduction.
The tv connects to the internet via the LAN port, offering a wide range of content including live video streaming from YouTube and DailyMotion as well as on-demand slideshows with Picasa. You can even check the news, sports, weather and stocks without having to leave your sofa.
It also connects to Twitter, keeping you up to date with your friends and social networks, and Skype which, when combined with the Skype USB 2.0 camera, allows video calling from the comfort of your living room.
Overall I found the tv was excellent, but for the price it really should be. At $1250 it’s very expensive compared to its competitors and far exceeds the cost of a Sony Bravia. While it does earn its price tag with all the additional functionality, if that isn’t what you’re looking for you may want to look elsewhere. That said, it’s a great little tv which will really suit a second bedroom or study.
Visit tv wall mounts for the information on the latest tv’s to hit the market. For more information on the LG LE5500 LED TV, visit LED TV.
Tags: Consumer Electronics, Flat Screen Television, LED television, product reviews, television