JVC JLC37BC3000 37-Inch 1080p LCD TV

Great TV – Excellent PC monitor, December 5, 2011

I got this TV after reading through lots and lots of reviews. I wanted a larger PC monitor that could also double as an HDTV without being too costly. I got it from another website for under 400 with a 45-day return policy. I almost got the 32″ model, but going all-out for the bigger one was better!

I found that not all large HDTVs could clearly display the small text that computers use at 1920×1080 resolution. I have a beautiful 58″ Panasonic plasma that accepts PC-input, but reading text on it is horrible! I’m no expert, but I read it has to do with better TVs (like this JVC) having 4:4:4 chroma subsampling.

This JVC is excellent for all general PC work. Windows7 recognized it, and I didn’t need to configure a thing. And computer games like Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are even more incredible at 37 inches. The “ambient light sensor” has an off-low-med-high setting to compensate for any room lighting. Black levels are very nice. Also great is its “auto-shutoff” feature after about 40sec of not receiving an input signal (like when my PC turns off the signal to the monitor after 15min). After this, it also wakes up appropriately by keyboard or mouse wiggle.(it does take a bit longer than a usual PC monitor. about 9sec to power up)

I also use the “sleep timer” and the “audio-only” features to listen to TV as I go to sleep.

The speakers sound incredible for little built-in TV speakers. Most panel TV speakers sound bad and the reviews I read on how good this JVC sounds were correct. The “SRS studio sound HD” isn’t as good as a full AVR 7.1 system of course, but good for it’s intended purpose.

The size does dominate my desk, but I sit about 3 foot from it and don’t have eyestrain or crane my neck to see corner to corner. Looking at it from off angle is excellent too.(unlike my old PC monitor)

Compared to a plasma, this TV is amazingly light for its size. It also includes VESA mounting holes if you plan on wall mounting it. And much lower wattage than a plasma too.

It’s got analog and digital audio output, but I didn’t use it. It also has a USB slot for watching JPEGs, I don’t use it either.

Cons: 1) the included base doesn’t pivot up/down or turn at all. No big deal really.
2) I wish it had an LED backlight, but it’ll be a few more years before those come down into this price range.:(
3) The Panoramic Stretch video mode could use more work. I sometimes watch old 4:3 content and I like the mode that stretches the edges of the screen more than the center. On JVCs that is the “Panoramic Stretch”. Panasonics do a better job with a large center with normal aspect and then stretching the edges to fill the widescreen. I’m just picky on this mode, some people don’t mind watching short-fat people, or they can use the “Zoom” mode [crop the top and bottom] or “square screen” mode [bars on the left and right].

Overall I more than pleased with this purchase. I hadn’t heard of JVC TVs since the 90’s. Good to see they’re still around and standing up to the likes of Sony, LG, Samsung etc.

EDIT(07MAR2012): I’m still loving this HDTV as my primary computer monitor!! 37-inch seems the perfect size.
I found a test for 4:4:4 chroma subsampling and this TV passes under VGA, but fails using HDMI. HDMI still looks good, but not as crystal-clear as VGA. This is strictly talking about reading regular-size computer text at 1080p and NOT Movie/TV show picture quality which always looks good regardless of VGA or HDMI. In fact I love watching HD videos using a Patriot Box Office 1080p High-Definition Media Player PCMPBO25 (Black) on the HDMI-1 port.

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Great value – good picture, best sound on a flatscreen, December 16, 2011

I found this 37″ TV on sale at a large big box retailer for $350. The picture is good, probably about average to a little above for this class. The sound is where this unit stands out. From my (limited) experience shopping and viewing friends’ TV’s this unit has the best sound quality around. I guess that makes sense given that is where JVC has typically shined.

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