Review: Panasonic TX-32AS600

Introduction and features

Until the technology's moth-balling late last year, Panasonic was the king of plasma. Its bigscreen TVs were better than anyone else's – just see our reviews for proof of that – but sales were presumably poor.

In 2014 it's now competing, not with picture quality, (the 32-inch TX-32AS600 is merely average judged on on-screen images) but with apps and usability.

The TX-32AS600 may be a middle-of-the-road LED-backlit LCD TV, but it does have something unique: Freetime.

A new-on-the-scene rival to YouView, Freetime is a separate, but well integrated, user interface that gives you a TV guide that can be scanned through both forwards and backwards, unlocking on-demand content from a range of catch-up TV apps.

For UK users this means easy and quick access to apps like the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Demand Five and 4OD (as well as to BBC News and BBC Sport).

Features

Selling for around £400 at the time of writing, the TX-32AS600 is a mid-range LED-backlit LCD TV. Though it boasts some distinctly low-end build quality (it's just so, so light – a mere 6kg), it looks a picture; a neat metallic strip along the bottom measuring 18mm lends some class to an otherwise ordinary looking gloss black frame.

At a mere 5mm on the top and sides, there's a minimalist look to the TX-32AS600. Just as well, because the TX-32AS600's chassis is rather chubby at 59mm deep (it measures 733x505x184 mm with the desktop stand attached).

Elsewhere, the TX-32AS600 features a Full HD resolution IPS panel and 100Hz processing. Around the back you'll find an impressive trio of HDMI inputs (one of them ARC-compatible), an RGB Scart, a set of component video inputs and an Ethernet LAN slot (though the TX-32AS600 also features Wi-Fi).

Also back there is an RF aerial input to fetch Freeview HD channels, a digital optical audio output for routing all sound to a home cinema system (and away from its own rather weedy down-firing 10W stereo speakers), and a set of left-right phonos.

A side panel immediately beside adds a headphones slot (nicely ranged towards the bottom to make it easy to access) alongside a Common Interface slot and a couple of USB slots. The latter connections power the TX-32AS600's Media Player software, though it also includes Media Server software for fetching digital phones music and videos from a Windows PC using DLNA networking.

More important to most users are My Home Screen and the TX-32AS600's choice of apps. The former, first seen on high-end Panasonic TVs last year, puts shortcuts for various TV functions around a large screen for live TV. These shortcuts include bookmarks for the TX-32AS600's built-in web browser, apps and links to the TV's media player software.

There's also a dedicated screen for Freetime that complements a large live TV picture with related shortcuts to on-demand content, a TV guide, a search function and a Showcase recommendations area (which is based on what you watch, though it wasn't yet live at the time of this review).

Apps

As well as having the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Demand Five and 4OD apps wrapped-up inside Freetime, the TX-32AS600 also features a plethora of apps. Accessed via My Home Screen, the BBC iPlayer app is again present, as are both BBC Sport and BBC News.

However, the real star turn is Netflix, which is provided alongside YouTube, Wuaki.tv, Meteonews TV, Eurosport Player, CNBC Real-Time, Skype, Euronews, Facebook, Twitter and AccuWeather.com. A dozen more minority apps are available to download for free from the Panasonic Apps Market.

Also available

The Panasonic TX-32AS600 is the smallest member of the AS600 Series of LED TVs, the others being the 39-inch Panasonic TX-39AS600, 42-inch Panasonic TX-42AS600 and the 50-inch Panasonic TX-50AS600.

A step-down from the TX-32AS600 is the brand's 32-inch TX-32AS500 and 32-inch TX-32AS400, which don't feature Freetime, My Home Screen nor Full HD resolutions.

However, the TX-32AS500 does include Netflix and the BBC apps on its now rather dated-looking VieraCast interface.

Picture quality

Without any 3D to deal with, I played a Blu-ray disc of 12 Years a Slave to see how the TX-32AS600 coped with a top-draw film. Playing initially within the My Home Screen page but pushed to full-screen mode, the TX-32AS600 offers impressive colours out of the box.

Scenes from out in the plantation are initially dazzling, with rich, nuanced colours boasting plenty of saturation accompanied by a natural look to skin tones. There's just enough detail to make that Full HD panel worthwhile, though sharpness isn't the TX-32AS600's particular strongpoint.

This is all from within the cinema setting, which is a good place to start, though does need a few tweaks, including lessening the power of the backlight. Happily, the TX-32AS600 is very flexible, offering a colour management system and even options to change both gamma and white balance.

However, no amount of fiddling can bring the TX-32AS600 up to spec in terms of contrast, which is one of this TV's main problems. While exterior shots from 12 Years a Slave impress, dingier inside scenes, such as when Solomon is thrown in a cell after being captured, are unconvincing and contain little detail. While Solomon is softly lit in these dark surroundings, he's barely visible, and when he is, the picture doesn't look as natural.

Using the set's Ambient Light Sensor tends to make matters worse by dimming the panel, though it's useful in a bright room during the day, when it tones down brightness a tad. If you must then use with caution, it can be toggled on and off in the picture menus.

Despite the black levels and contrast being weak, the TX-32AS600's viewing angle is pretty good with the picture remaining thoroughly watchable when watched from the sides. While some LED panels struggle with uniformity and have blotchy areas of light in the corners and along the sides, that's not true of the TX-32AS600.

Another slight weakness is motion. Unfortunately, the TX-32AS600 doesn't have a natively 100Hz IPS panel, but is blessed only with a 100Hz-like backlight blinking system. It's an algorithm, not a characteristic – and it doesn't really work. It's actually not an issue with Freeview HD channels, but during 12 Years a Slave I noticed some loss of resolution, both when actors moved across a shot and during camera pans, but at least there's little judder on the TX-32AS600 during those pans.

While HD channels from Freeview are the best-suited source there is, considering the TX-32AS600's panel's pros and cons, standard definition channels are nicely upscaled. Soft they may be, but they're very clean and easy to watch. The same goes for digital video files of all kinds of quality, which are stable and fluid, though MKV files in HD resolutions obviously look best.

Usability, sound and value

Usability

My Home Cloud is adorable, and can be customised, so everything you could want from a TV screen can be catered for. Netflix addicts can put that app within easy reach, for example, by choosing one of the suggested layouts.

The best My Home Screen layout is the Freetime-centric Free Digital TV version, which puts around the screen shortcuts to the Freetime-powered TV Guide, On Demand, Search TV and the (forthcoming) Showcase sections. The use of colour is excellent, too, with bold green, blue, purple and yellow used on a black background.

Freetime's theoretical usability can't be doubted. Missed EastEnders last night? Scroll back to yesterday and watch it from iPlayer. It's easy, and it's quick, though only if there's enough processing power within the TV it's gracing. And that's my biggest concern about the TX-32AS600. Despite it being fitted with a dual core processing, there's worry that it doesn't have the necessary power to cope with what it's been given.

Digital media

The TX-42AS600 can stream and play files from a USB thumbdrive with formats ranging from MKV, AVI, AVC HD, MPEG-2, MP4, WMV and WMV HD video files to JPEG photos and MP3, M4A, FLAC, WAV and WMA music.

Digital file swapping doesn't end there; the TX-32AS600 can also be operated by the new Panasonic Remote 2 app for iOS and Android, which features Swipe & Share. As well as controlling the TV's central functions – though not Freetime – that app can find files on a PC or USB stick tethered or attached to the TX-32AS600, and play them on a smartphone or tablet. Clever stuff – though it's limited to MP4 files, JPEG photos, and MP3, M4A and WAV music files.

Sound

Audio power of 20W was never going to mimic home cinema, and the TX-32AS600 certainly needs a helping hand. The music setting proved the most helpful, nicely balancing what bass and treble range there is, though the mid-range is thin indeed.

While dialogue sounds fine and for everyday TV viewing the speakers just about tick the box, the best I can say about the TX-32AS600's speakers when it comes to serious TV watching is that there are slots for both digital optical audio and a headphones jack on the rear. Film fans and gamers will want to use one of those, and skip over the quiet background of the speech mode as well as the ineffective surround options.

Value

Considering what's on offer inside the TX-32AS600, it ought to be considered a good value TV, but the shine is taken from Freetime in particular by a lack of processing power. A dual core it may possess, but it's either not a very efficient one, or it's busy with other features. However, it's the so-so panel inside the TX-32AS600 that marks this down as a budget TV masquerading as a mid-ranger.

Verdict

Ignoring the quite average panel inside this 32-incher for a second, what the TX-32AS600 suffers from is the same affliction that bothers Toshiba TVs such as the 32D3454DB: a lack of processing power. Just like those Toshiba TVs, the TX-32AS600's cloud-based, app-packed antics, however impressive, just don't boast the necessary usability a smart TV platform demands.

We liked

Any TV with the excellent Panasonic exclusives Freetime and My Home Screen is hard not to like. That both are on offer in a mid-range TV is quite something, while the Swipe & Share antics (and general digital file-savviness) are hard to turn down for the money, too.

Every UK catch-up TV app is here, as well as Netflix. While colours are sparkling, HD fare looks great, and SD upscaling is also well judged. Is there a small TV out there any more versatile and ambitious than the TX-32AS600? Surely not.

We disliked

However awesome Freetime is as a concept, it's delivered here without the necessary processing power to make it anything but frustrating. Despite the app-packed user interface, there's no Amazon Instant app available to users of the TX-32AS600, while contrast is sadly lacking on this LED-backlit IPS panel.

Final verdict

On paper the TX-32AS600 is perfect for the modern living room or bedroom. Freeview HD is a given, but on this 32-inch Full HD TV it's complemented by Freetime. Offering the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport, BBC News, ITV Player, 4OD and Demand Five apps, Freetime is a revelation, but here it lacks the processing power to make it truly usable.

Netflix is present and works great, and Swipe & Share two-way file-swapping is the highlight on this surprisingly file-savvy set. However, some motion blur, a general lack of Full HD sharpness and some rather poor contrast performance, as well as a lack of processing power, mark this down as an over-ambitious TV that's bitten off more than it can chew.

Also consider

Although no other brand boasts Freetime functionality, if you're after a 32-incher it's worth checking out the Toshiba 32D3454DB, which has a DVD player built-in, though its apps are similarly under-powered. Samsung's UE32H6200 takes both picture quality and features more seriously than this Panasonic, also including all smart TV apps from UK broadcasters, as well as 3D.

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