Panasonic TC-37LZ85 LCD HDTV Review - Remote Control

The Panasonic TC-37LZ85's remote is smaller, comfortable and well designed. We wish you could program it to use with other devices.

Ergonomics & Durability (6.05)
The Panasonic TC-37LZ85's remote is pretty much identical to that we saw with the Panasonic Viera TH-46PZ8OU, which is generally a good thing since we liked that remote a lot. It's not nearly as large as some other remotes that we've seen, which is nice as it means you don't have to constantly shift your hand up and down the remote to access all the controls. We also like the nicely contoured back and the easy balance we got with the remote. The buttons are soft plastic and are comfortable to press, with good key travel. We would have liked a bit more tactile feedback, however, as they feel a little bit squishy. It also feels well put together, although we are a bit concerned about the strength of the latch for the battery cover. Overall we were very happy with the Panasonic TC-37LZ85 remote's ergonomics.

Button Layout & Use (6.5)
The buttons on the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's remote are a bit crowded together, but this is made up for by the generally large buttons, you probably won't accidentally hit the wrong button. We also like the clear labeling on the remote, something that we appreciate given the sometimes arcane labeling we've seen on other remote controls. We found that with our hand at neutral we were easialy able to reach all the important controls like channel, volume and the directional pad without needing to shift our hands, and we have smaller hands. To change the channel directly we did need to shift down the remote to access the keypad, but since the remote isn't too large this wasn't much of a problem and even when holding it lower the balance was good. We were very happy with the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's button layout and use.

Programming & Flexibility (0.0)
Perhaps the biggest negative about the Panasonic TC-37LZ85's remote is that you can't program it to use any other devices. Given that it is generally well designed we wish we could use it with other devices.