Despite being the only UK brand still making 37in plasma TVs, Panasonic isn't adverse to using LCD technology to make 37in TVs too.

Particularly as its latest flagship model, the TX-37LZD800, effortlessly demonstrates the picture prowess that LCD tech is capable of.

But what exactly does flagship mean in terms of features? The easiest way to find that out is to see how the TX-37LZD800 differs from the LZD85 models a step down Panasonic's range.

Smart technology

Firstly, the TX-37LZD800's Clear Panel screen design helps it pull off a slightly cleaner and smarter appearance than the cheaper models, as well as – according to Panasonic's marketing blurb – helping it deliver sharper, crisper images.

It also literally gets one up on the LZD85s in having a show stopping four v1.3, Deep Color-enabled HDMIs at its disposal.

The TX-37LZD800 also sports Panasonic's Advanced Smart Sound speaker system. This separates out the tweeter and woofer units into two distinct pairs, so that the TV can deliver a more powerful, defined soundstage with more bass and less potential for distortion at high volumes. We've found this system to deliver markedly better audio than Panasonic's standard LCD TV sound systems in previous incarnations.

The last key feature benefit of buying a TX-37LZD800 over an LZD85 is that this TV also carries picture-in-picture facilities for watching two AV inputs simultaneously.

Fully featured

Turning our attentions to features that the TX-37LZD800 shares with the LZD85, we start off with a Full HD pixel count of 1920 x 1080, and a rather high claimed contrast ratio of 10,000:1, thanks to its dynamic contrast system.

The TX-37LZD800 also gets Panasonic's V-Real Pro 3 image processing engine. Although at heart this covers much of the same territory – reducing noise levels; boosting colours, black levels and sharpness – as similar processing on rival LCD TVs, we've previously found V-Real to deliver more impressive results than most, so we've high hopes for it here.

Other common ground includes a dedicated 24p mode for less judder; 100Hz processing to reduce LCD's traditional motion blurring problems; an SD card slot for viewing digital photos onscreen; and picture noise reduction and colour management routines.

It doesn't take long with the TX-37LZD800 and a copy of Blade Runner on Blu-ray to see that this TV's pictures are among the finest the 37in LCD world has to offer.