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Panasonic Viera TX-32LZD81 32in Freesat HD LCD TV Review

Author	Riyad Emeran
Published	20th Oct 2008
Manufacturer	Panasonic
Supplier	Electrical Discount UK
Price	£643.47 (Exc VAT)
as reviewed	£739.99 (Inc VAT)
Latest Price	Click here

Design
Features
Image Quality
Sound Quality
Value
Overall

Panasonic Viera TX-32LZD81 32in Freesat HD LCD TV

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Don't go thinking that this TV is only good with the pictures produced by its built-in HD tuner though, hook up a Blu-ray deck via one of the HDMI ports and you're in for a treat. Firing up the brilliant Iron Man Blu-ray resulted in a far more cinematic experience than I would have expected from a screen this small. With the lights dimmed, and the action coming thick and fast, I barely remembered that I was watching a 32in screen. In particular, the scenes in the desert were beautifully rendered, with impressive amounts of detail, despite the bright, oversaturated nature of the setting. Darker scenes, like the Stark's arrival at his party, and the fight at the end of the movie are also handled well, although the TX-32LZD81 is no match for one of Panasonic's plasma screens when it comes to black levels.

I must point out that I'm not saying that the black levels are poor on the TX-32LZD81, because they're not. Panasonic quotes a contrast ratio of 10,000:1, which is obviously a result of dynamic backlight technology. Panasonic calls its dynamic lighting Intelligent Scene Controller, and I have to say that it's one of the better implementations that I've come across. Sometimes a dynamic backlight can cause more problems than it resolves - the most common issue being a clearly discernable drop or jump in brightness as the system tries to cope with changes in contrast. The TX-32LZD81 exhibited no such issues, although it's also worth remembering that this kind of problem is always more noticeable on larger screens.

Colours are also well resolved, with skin tones especially looking very natural and lifelike. This resulted in HD close up shots looking particularly realistic, with none the slightly sickly palls that afflict lesser TVs. Even more impressive is the fact that the TX-32LZD81 managed to avoid looking over saturated even when fed low quality SD sources via its Freeview tuner, a feat that shouldn't be underplayed. And while I'm on the subject of standard definition, the TX-32LZD81 put in a sterling performance in this department too, even when faced with the truly awful, low bit rate fare that haunts the corridors and rooms of Freeview.

Like most flat screen TVs these days, the TX-32LZD81 has its speakers hidden away beneath the screen, which makes for a sleek, uncluttered look, but also limits the size of the speakers that can be employed. That said, even in the aural department, this TV does a pretty good job. OK, so you're not going to get all the shock and awe that would accompany a proper surround sound setup, but for general TV and movie watching, the sound is loud and clear enough to satisfy.

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Mark said on 21st April 2009

Hopefully these comments may help someone considering purchasing this TV, I have had 4 months to play with this TV since treating myself at Christmas after reading many reviews, its worth travelling a few miles to ensure you get the 5yr warranty, the price I paid is still over £100 less than I can get locally without the 5yr warranty,
Now the TV, first bad points, well one I can think of, after it's done an overnight update it won't switch back on,just sits there with the led flashing, (this has happened 3 times in 4 months)no biggie, just turn off at the mains for a minute to reset itself,
Good points, the picture out of the box is good but not what I'd describe as excellent, but spend a little time setting it up & I'm sure it will be well worth it, I downloaded a test card & went through the TV's many settings until I was happy with them all, now I WOULD describe the picture as excellent, not even rushing to close the curtains in bright sunlight as with previous TV's,
Auto set up in freesat is great,inc BBC-HD (connected to the same quad LNB that I am using to recieve sky) but if you enter Other SAT (non freesat mode) and run a 45 minute scan for all satellites you will find many more signals than those available on freesat at the moment, in fact so many signals that it's not possible to store them all on the TV's 1000 presets, of course a lot of these are encrypted, but you should be able to pick up all "free to view channels" on astra 2A-2D & Eurobird 1, without moving the dish, I have over 500 sat channels stored including Luxe HD, enough to keep most people happy I think,
Very happy with the sound, it's possible to set up volume corrections on each mode, freesat, DVB, AV, HDMI etc so there is no more having to turn the sound up & down as you go from DVD to TV to freesat etc, my laptop linked to the TV provides an adequete picture and sound from the laptop is also available on the TV via an adapter,
One note re Carolines comments about not being able to send freesat to other TV's via the RF lead is true, but if you go into the link settings it's possible to set AV1/AV2 to TV out and then I think you should be able to scart out the channel being watched on the TV to a video sender if you wished, although I use this facility to viera link to my panasonic DVD recorder which works great on Direct TV record & Timer programming on both freesat & freeview
IN CONCLUSION, although I have probably spent a total of several days setting it up over the last 4 months, in my opinion it's the best TV we have ever owned & perfect for our family's requirements and with the ethernet socket hopefully about as future proof as is possible for any TV to be, it will be interesting to see if any new services will be provided via ethernet in the future, I have not tried the common interface up to now but I understand reading comments in various forums that it is possible to recieve pay to view, setanta etc, if I can help with any questions about this TV please contact me at at94@btinternet.com

Hopefully these comments may help someone considering purchasing this TV, I have had 4 months to play with this TV since treating myself at Christmas after reading many reviews, it... more

JLO said on 4th July 2009

Further to Marks comments about hooking up a video sender to AV1 or AV2 - yes this works OK but only if you have the TV switched on at the same time as the TV receiving the signal ... more

Mark said on 18th July 2009

Hi JLO, I don't know if this will help or not, with the LZD81 connected to a Panasonic DVD recorder, I am able to start recording SKY News in non freesat mode, then turn the T... more

pmalone66 said on 6th August 2009

I have just bought this TV for £639 (including a 5 year warranty) from Discount Electrical UK, the price advertised here of £569 does not include a 5 year warranty (whi... more

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