Panasonic is one of the rare manufacturers to be both on the plasma and LCD market, the former being reserved for 37 inch products and larger. Smaller sizes like with this TX32LX600F are LCDs, the technology being borrowed from LG-Philips in the form of an IPS panel.  This choice assures, according to Panasonic, larger viewing angles (it’s true), more vivid colors, a reduction in image defects and notable sharpness.

The TX32LX600F is a more of a high end screen, confirmed by its rather rich connectivity. There are two appreciable HDMI inputs (even if we would have preferred three), a VGA, and a YUV.  However, the main component lacking, and we have trouble understanding why this was skipped over on a product at this price, is a digital TV tuner.

The IPS panel displays a classic resolution for a '' simple HD '' television of this size at 1366 x 768 pixels.  From our experience, we predicted that it would have better performances with DVDs and sequences in 720p (movies and cable).  And this is exactly what test results confirmed with especially good scaling of SD sources (DVD, TNT, and older game consoles).   Edges are clean, gradations are almost exempt from video noise, and anti-aliasing is efficient.   Obviously, it’s nicer and there is more detail in 720p and 1080i – the favorite modes on this TV (note that rendering here is very close and even difficult to differentiate).   For optimal rendering, activate MPEG NR noise reduction to medium. 

On the other hand, we had several problems in PC mode. For example, it was impossible on our configuration to use HDMI and we could only navigate on the VGA input.

Even if the image is precise and detailed, it is hard to recommend this television. Panasonic does keeps its promise of vivid colors, however, they really distort sequences. Overall, black and white lean towards blue and grays are tinted with red. In figures, the colorimeter measured an average DeltaE (differences in 18 standard colors) of 8.6. For comparison, the  LG LB1R is at 2.4.

Of course, we tried to manually correct colors, but unfortunately, had little success. Panasonic did do a good job in this area by providing a manual adjustment for each complete RGB channel of the gamma (a single one for all colors). We were barely able to recuperate neutral grays while pure colors (a blue sky or skin tones, for example) remained too saturated.  One small detail here was that the OSD is a little bit too  and lacks readability.

Next, in the image correction options, we find a sober presentation and those used to a Panasonic tube TV won’t be lost. For the others, everything is explicit and there are three lines per option in the menu. For example, in Image we can access Color temperature in advanced mode to manually fine tune RGB channels, etc. No bizarre manufacturer nomenclature and everything is basic and clear.