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The Panasonic TC-37LZ85's menu system is simple, but we found some of the inte
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Ease of Use (6.0)
 The Panasonic TC-37LZ85's menu system is similar to what we've seen from other Panasonic HDTVs. The main menu gives you eight options, arranged across the left side of the screen. These are, from top to bottom: Viera Link, Picture, Audio, Timer, Lock, SD card, CC and Setup.
You navigate the menu using the directional pad on the remote, selecting one of the items and pressing in on the center select button will bring up the indicated menu, which replaces the main menu. To go back a level you either hit the menu button or use the dedicated Return button, which sits just below and to the right of the directional pad on the remote.
Overall we found the interface to be relatively simple, if lacking in any particular polish or flourishes that we've seen in other menu systems like those from Sony. We did find some of Panasonic's decisions to place items at the top level versus buried in the setup menu to be rather arbitrary. For example if you want to control power systems you will need to go into the Advanced Setup menu, not very intuitive.
Picture Controls (6.0)
The picture controls on the Panasonic TC-37LZ85 offers a wide array of options that you can adjust. The first item allows you to select from several preset picture modes, including Vivid, Standard, Cinema, Game and Custom. Below this are standard options like Back light, Picture and Brightness. The menu is two pages long and if you move down into the second page you find some other options like Color Temperature as well as the option to open the Advanced Picture menu.
The Advanced Picture menu gives you access to six different options for controlling items like noise reduction, Black Level and screen Size. Most of these options are a bit arcane and will have you running for the manual to figure out what they do.
Audio Controls (5.0)
The audio menu on the Panasonic TC-37LZ85 is the third one down in the main menu. Opening it will give you four options: Bass, Treble, Balance and Advanced Audio.
Opening Advanced Audio gives you several more options, including the ability to turn the simulated surround sound on/off, Bass Boost and control Speaker output, as well as control HDMI audio settings. There is no equalizer available in the audio controls.
Other Controls (5.0)
In addition to the picture and audio menus the Panasonic TC-37LZ85 has six other menu options available at the top level. These include the VIERA Link menu, which allows you to control other Panasonic equipment in your home theatre with the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's remote.
The Timer menu allows you to set a timer, of course. The Lock menu gives you access to parental controls.
The SD card menu allows you to view photos stored on an SD card that is placed in the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's memor card slot. The Closed Captioning menu gives you access to Closed Captioning controls, again rather straightforward.
The Setup menu is where you'll find all the miscellaneous items that Panasonic either felt didn't deserve their own top-level interface or don't fit anywhere else. This includes Language, Clock and Program Channel, amongst others.
There's also an Advanced Setup menu that allow syou to manage power settings, but also has the option for playing an SD card automatically.
Manual (6.0)
The Panasonic TC-37LZ85's manual is the size a large magazine and has instructions in English, Spanish and French. It lacks an index and the table of contents is rather truncated, but we do like that there are lots of pictures and clearly labeled diagrams. We also like the colored tabs on the edge of the pages that tell you what section you are in. We've seen better designed manuals, but the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's manual isn't a total train wreck as we've seen from other manufacturers.
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