Review: Panasonic V20 (TX-L37V20B) LED LCD HDTV
Panasonic, like many other manufacturers, has begun to roll out their 2010 lineup in anticipation of this month’s World Cup and the TX-L37V20B is one of the most anticipated. The TX-L37V20B represents the apex of current LCD display design incorporating as it does an IPS panel for improved off-axis performance, LED Edge backlighting, Internet TV, Freesat HD and Freeview HD. With features like that the TX-L37V20B can certainly be considered a flagship model but does its performance measure up to the specs, let’s see.
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The Panasonic TX-L37V20B represents the apogee of current LCD display technology and incorporates many performance enhancing features. The use of an IPS panel means that the off-axis performance of the TX-L37V20B is much better than those using standard VA panels and the LED backlighting results in a ultra thin and energy efficient display. The out of box performance is excellent when using the True Cinema preset and is in fact the best I’ve seen to date on an LCD TV. When you include the ISFccc controls you can calibrate the image of the TX-L37V20B to reference standard and for this Panasonic is to be congratulated; it is good to see a company delivering excellent images along with all the bells and whistles. As far as the bells and whistles go the TX-L37V20B is an embarrassment of riches which includes Freesat HD, Freeview HD, Internet TV, DLNA certification, DivX VOD and Dolby Digital Plus. Panasonic even include a WiFi dongle which is a nice touch.
The TX-L37V20B isn’t perfect of course, as is often the case there is always a compromise somewhere along the line. The use of an IPS panel means that the off-axis performance is much better than most of LCD displays but the black levels could be a little better. Also the use of LED Edge backlighting might mean the display is ultra thin and energy efficient but the backlight uniformity could be a little better too. Given the otherwise excellent video processing it really is time that Panasonic fixed the cadence detection issues that plague all their displays. My only other complaints are fairly minor ones relating to the position of the rear inputs and making the menus more calibrator friendly.Ultimately though the TX-L37V20B provides some of the best out of the box images I have seen to date from an LCD TV and this coupled with the excellent features and very reasonable price means that I have no hesitation in giving this display a Best Buy award.
