Panasonic Viera TC-L32X1 32" HDTV LCD TV

The Panasonic Viera 32-inch TC-L32X1 is rather unique in that it has both a great picture and also a wired, dedicated iPod docking station through which it plays movies, pictures, and music from your iPod right on the HDTV's picture screen. That last bonus feature was the dealmaker for me.

If you love iPods and all the things they can do these days, you probably don't normally think about hooking one up to a TV. There have been ways to do that for years, but they are somewhat complicated, involving wires, cables and a learning curve. With this Panasonic TV, it is all as simple as dropping the iPod into a docking station and clicking a few simple commands on a remote. Apple-ca-dab-ra! 

Of course, beyond this one super-duper bonus feature of easy iPod-ing on your HDTV, what other "extras" does this HD TV have?

It has a viewer for your digital pictures, for one thing. It has a standard SD card slot in its side, just like the one in your laptop, and through what Panasonic calls its Viera Picture Viewer, you can drop in a Secure Digital card (like the one you probably have in your digital camera) and see your camera-created or downloaded images right on your TV screen- again with nothing more than a few clicks with the remote. Bye-bye to all those cables and the learning curve you have to remember. As you watch the slide show of your images, you can apply three different types of music in the background and four display effects.

Then there is what Panasonic calls its Viera Link. This allows the remote control to manage a number of audiovisual peripherals, or components, attached to the HDTV, such as an HD camcorder, a digital camera, a DVD recorder/player, a Blu-ray disc player, and/ or a home theater system. This consolidates various operations into one remote. The Viera Tools menu lets you access things such as movies and photos quickly from your various storage libraries.

Through a feature Panasonic calls Fine Black Panel, panel reflections have been reduced by 50% in comparison to conventional TV panels. This way you reduce glare and get sharper images.

Beyond these bonus features, the basic TV is very nice. Walking down the comparison row at Best Buy, the picture image of this TV simply stood out based on image clarity and color. Setting up the TV is easy. It is so nice that you can get a nice TV of this size and have it so light in weight compared to 20th century TVs. Of course, if you want to watch your shows in High Definition, you will need a couple of things you may not know about, unless you already have one of these kinds of sets.

The first thing you will need is a way to get High Definition signals into the TV. It will play standard definition channels, of course, but if you want the sharpest images with the best color, you will want to pay a little more ($20-30 a month more with a cable company) so you can get HD. This normally means getting an HD box or an HD box with a DVR from your TV provider.

The other thing you will probably want to get is an HDMI (High Definition Media Interface) cable, to plug from your TV into your provider's control box. You can use standard cables, but the HDMI cable, which may run you $25 or so, does the connection job in the simplest and most effective way.

I would also recommend that you get a surge protector adequate to provide voltage spike protection to your TV. Simply ask the people at the store where you buy your TV to show you such a surge protector and if you feel you need what they have to offer, buy it. No need to have some voltage surge damage your TV set.

Once you have your HDTV, your HD channels input, and your HDMI cable, and your surge protector, set it all up. The Panasonic instructions are very clear and you should have little trouble putting it all together.

I really liked the intuitive remote that comes with this particular HDTV. It is very easy to set up and learn, and I REALLY appreciated the "Return" button: if you get into trouble, you can "back out" of trouble by simply clicking "return" until you are back to square one.

Since this 32-inch set is not as big as many of the 50-60-inch HDTVs many people are buying today, while HDTV looks great on the screen, standard-definition broadcast, regular DVDs, and even TiVo recordings don't look particularly degraded by that nearly-3-foot screen. If you have a large standard DVD collection like I do, and are not quite ready to invest another small fortune in the HD-DVD or the Blu-ray world, that's something to think about.

So what is lacking? I wish that the manufacturers of these great new sets would simply put a DVD in with them that took you through everything and showed you all the features. In the age we live in, there is no reason not to have a video tutorial like this. As noted, the basic setup with the instruction booklet is fine, but to really get to know all the bells and whistles of such a wondrous HDTV set, a DVD tutorial with an actual human being explaining things would seem to me to be eminently logical.

 I am, overall, very happy with this unit and highly recommend it- especially if you have one or more iPods and use them a lot. Your TV will have a great picture and sound, you can use your iPod and/or SD cards with it, and you can do many other things with it as well, such as play back shows in both standard and high definition, or even use it as a monitor with the internet and surf the net with it. It's a versatile unit. 

Some Tech Specs:
Type= LCD
Series= X1
Model Year=2009
Display Resolution=720p
Contrast Ratio=12,000:1
Response Time= 8msec
Viewing Angle= 178 degrees
Aspect ratio= 16:9
Native Resolution= 1,049,088 Pixels
HDMI inputs=3
PC input=1
Dimensions with stand=21.7" x 31.5" x 8.6"
Weight=29 Pounds 

Four Stars/ ****