Hands on: Panasonic TX-L37DT30B review

When 3D TVs first started emerging onto the market at the beginning of last year, Panasonic spent a lot of time talking up the merits of plasma.

It said plasma was by far the best technology for 3D due to its crosstalk performance, and heckled the 3D LCD efforts of its rivals.

However, times are changing and while Panasonic is sticking to its guns on the 'plasma is best' issue, it's now launched a range of 3D LED LCD TVs. There is a market for 3D LCDs and Panasonic, not surprisingly, wants a piece of it.

The DT30 series comes in two sizes, the 37-inch Panasonic TX-L37DT30 and the 32-inch Panasonic TX-L32DT30. They sit alongside the TX-L37DT35 and the TX-L32DT35 in the range but UK readers can ignore this DT35 series as it's not going to go on sale on these shores.

You'll notice that's a maximum size of 37-inches - evidence that Panasonic still firmly believes that if you want a big screen, you should go for a plasma.

Panasonic claims the DT30 series are the best 3D LCD TVs in the world and beat the performance of the likes of Philips and Samsung. That remains to be seen – we'll be testing the DT30 TVs in our labs in the next month or so – but on first reflections the DT30 series really is stunning.

Beneath the liquid crystal layer sits an IPS Alpha panel which offers energy efficiency, brightness and a wide viewing angle as well as a super-low response time.

The amount of light the TX-L37DT30B produces is phenomenal – it's easily brighter than the top of the range VT30 plasmas, which is to be expected. Picture quality is super impressive and even though we had limited time to check the TV out, the sheer quality of it was immediately obvious.

Crosstalk may be an issue compared to the plasma ranges – we'll look more closely at that when we run our full review – but generally picture quality and motion were a match for the TV's good looks.

Specs-wise, the DT30 series packs a 400Hz backlight and Intelligent Frame Creation Pro tech, as well as Viera Connect, Wi-Fi compatibility (you wont find a free dongle in the box though), DLNA certification, 4 HDMI connections, 3 USB ports, and a PC input.

Check back soon for a full and in-depth review.