At an event at Pinewood Studios Panasonic today announced three new OLED TV series and three new core 4K LCD TV series for 2020.
The new OLED TVs – the HZ2000, HZ1500, and HZ1000 series – will all support both Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode with Panasonic’s original ‘Intelligent Sensing’ to expand enjoyment of Hollywood-level HDR picture performance to both dark and well-lit living rooms. Furthermore, recognising that it’s not just picture performance that delivers the perfect “Hollywood to your Home” experience, Panasonic revealed that both the HZ2000 and HZ1500 series OLED TVs will feature innovative built-in upward-firing speakers capable of delivering Dolby Atmos for the most immersive audio. All OLED models will share the same fine tuning by leading Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld and are planned to UHD Premium certified. Motion performance has also been improved on OLED TVs thanks to an advanced implementation of black frame insertion.
Panasonic also announced three new 4K LCD series: the HX940, HX900, and HX800, which will continue Panasonic’s pioneering support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ — the advantages of which are often most visible on core-range LCD TVs as the dynamic metadata HDR formats allows less bright TVs to avoid unnecessary tone-mapping of scenes which are within the native brightness of the panel. All of the OLED and 4K LCD TVs announced today will also support Dolby Atmos out of the box.
As film creators intended in both dark and well-lit living rooms
Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing and Dolby Vision IQ comes to all 2020 Panasonic OLED TVs
All 2020 Panasonic OLED TVs will support both Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing and Dolby Vision IQ.
Developed by the UHD Alliance, Filmmaker Mode allows users to enjoy cinematic video as it was intended by creators through pressing just a single button on the remote control. When activated, Filmmaker mode respects the frame rate, aspect ratio, colour and contrast of the content whilst also turning off noise reduction and sharpening. The mode is supported by a who’s who of Hollywood directors, including Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Patty Jenkins, Ryan Coogler, and Paul Thomas Anderson and many others.
Furthermore, Panasonic uniquely builds on top of Filmmaker Mode by also using the advanced external sensors in the TV to adjust the picture intelligently according to ambient light levels. This feature is called ‘Intelligent Sensing’. Whereas HDR content could look too dark when viewed in a well-lit room, Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing perceptually matches the impression of viewing the content in an ideal darkened environment even if you are sitting in a well-lit living room. This means that viewers will see all the details you supposed to see, even in very dark scenes. To ensure that this feature matches the creators’ intentions, Panasonic’s engineers worked together extensively with two Hollywood studios to ensure the best possible perceptual match. Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing is unique to Panasonic and supports content in HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, and SDR.
Panasonic also expands the capabilities of its 2020 OLED range to Hollywood’s highest fidelity content, Dolby Vision, through support of Dolby Vision IQ. Dolby Vision IQ uses Dolby Vision dynamic metadata to intelligently display every detail of the content, adjusting to the brightness of the room. It also informs the TV what type of content is being shown and will modify its settings to ensure images are displayed exactly as they should be. With Dolby Vision IQ, viewers will see things what the creator intended in any room and with any content type.
“Dolby is committed to driving innovation which enhances the consumer entertainment experience”, said Javier Foncillas, Vice President Commercial Partnership, Dolby Europe. “The latest of these innovations is Dolby Vision IQ, which ensures the viewer gets the best possible experience from their TV, no matter the ambient light environment or content genre. Panasonic are amongst the first to offer this technology to consumers on their HZ2000 OLED TVs.”
By supporting both Filmmaker Mode with Intelligent Sensing and Dolby Vision IQ, owners of Panasonic’s 2020 OLED TVs will uniquely be able to see Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and SDR contents as they were intended even in brightly-lit rooms.
Panasonic doubles the number of OLED TVs with built-in upward firing speakers
The HZ2000 and HZ1500 combine best-in-class audio and picture quality to deliver “Hollywood to your Home”
Following the success of last year’s GZ2000, in 2020 Panasonic is bringing the innovative built-in upward firing speakers to both the HZ2000 and HZ1500 in 2020.
The HZ2000 features ‘360° Soundscape Pro’, Panasonic’s highest-fidelity audio system for a TV, which combines the built-in upward-firing speakers capable of delivering Dolby Atmos immersive audio experiences and “Tuned by Technics” fidelity. Despite its impressively thin profile, the HZ2000 delivers a powerful and dynamic output of 140W complemented by a powerful bass. The total sound system has been tuned by engineers from Panasonic’s acclaimed audio brand, Technics, and also feature Technics’ proprietary JENO Engine for accurate, refined sound.
The HZ1500 will comes with ‘360° Soundscape’, with built-in upward firing speakers and an audio output of 80W.
The multiple built-in speaker units in both the HZ2000 and HZ1500 produce a spatial soundstage with Dolby Atmos content. The positioning of the upward firing speakers at the top of the TV means that, unlike soundbar based solutions, the sound doesn’t have to travel so far to bounce off the ceiling so it has plenty of energy to bounce down and create a terrifically immersive soundstage.
Panasonic continues its commitment to supporting all popular HDR formats down to core models
All OLED and 4K LCD models support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and static HDR formats in addition to Dolby Atmos too
In 2019 Panasonic was the first TV manufacturer to support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ down to its core models, delivering the benefits of advanced dynamic HDR formats to where they are really needed. Panasonic continues its pioneering support for core models in 2020 by supporting both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ across all the OLED and 4K LCD TVs announced today.
Furthermore, Panasonic continues its full support of Dolby Atmos by including it in all OLED and 4K LCD TVs announced today. Dolby Atmos transports listeners from an ordinary moment into an extraordinary experience with moving audio that flows all around listeners. Listeners will feel like they’re inside the action as the sounds of people, places, things, and music come alive with breathtaking realism and move throughout the space. And because Dolby Atmos is built right in to Panasonic’s OLED and core 4K LCD TV line-up, it’s never been easier to experience immersive audio in your home.
All three OLED series come in both 65-inch and 55-inch screen sizes. While the HZ2000 boasts a bespoke Master HDR OLED Professional Edition panel exclusively customised by Panasonic R&D engineers, all OLED models including the HZ1500 and HZ1000 have state-of-the-art picture processing courtesy of the HCX PRO Intelligent processor – the most powerful ever made by Panasonic. They also all support Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and HLG Photo, ensuring complete compatibility with all popular HDR formats.
Support for all popular HDR formats also features across all 4K LCD TVs announced today. Even the entry-level HX800 series (40-inch, 50-inch, 58-inch, 65-inch) which has a HCX Processor, offers support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma), HLG Photo, in addition to support for Dolby Atmos.
The HX900 series (43-inch, 49-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch) supports the same wide range of formats and adds a HDR Cinema Display, which delivers increased brightness.
With a faster 100Hz screen refresh rate, HDR Cinema Display Pro, and an HCX PRO Intelligent processor, the HX940 series (43-inch, 49-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch) also embraces the same broad roster of HDR formats. The HCX PRO Intelligent processor rapidly analyses and optimises the colour, contrast and clarity of all 4K video content, ensuring viewers experience the best possible TV pictures available regardless of their source.
The HX940 also features Local Dimming Intelligent Pro, which mimics the operation of thousands of virtual local dimming zones to improve contrast whilst also preserving the slimness of the TV. Local Dimming Intelligent Pro dynamically adjusts both the backlight and also the LCD shutters themselves in concert to achieve deeper blacks without loss of picture fidelity.
Truly from Hollywood to your Home
Stefan Sonnenfeld works with Panasonic to guarantee viewers see what the filmmaker intended
All 2020 OLED TVs are a knockout combination of Panasonic’s technological accuracy with the colour-tuning skills of Stefan Sonnenfeld. Sonnenfeld is among a handful of leading artists who has championed the power of colour grading to tell stories and communicate emotion. He is a trusted collaborator of some of the world’s best filmmakers and has applied his skills as a colourist to many of the most acclaimed and popular features of the past decade such as A Star is Born, Wonder Woman, Man of Steel, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and many more. Like many other leading colourists, he uses Panasonic OLED screens as large-format client reference monitors in his daily workflow.
Used in Post Production
Panasonic’s OLED TVs are widely used in studios and post production houses throughout the world. In its 2020 OLED TVs, Panasonic has included two new features based on requests from the post-production community in Hollywood and beyond.
Firstly, all 2020 OLED TVs will allow for tone-mapping to be turned off through the menu system. Tone-mapping is how TVs map the content being played back to the native brightness of the set to prevent clipping. As there is no TV industry standard for tone-mapping, the ability to turn it off allows post-production houses to work on the source content completely accurately until it ‘hard clips’ at the native brightness of the panel. Panasonic however also allows for the ‘clip point’ to be specified through the menu system, adding further options to professionals in the film making process.
Furthermore, in its 2020 OLEDs Panasonic has introduced the world’s lowest calibration points at 1.3 percent and 0.5 percent. This will further allow professionals and enthusiasts to ensure a completely accurate and linear transition from true black to just above black.
Finally, the 2020 OLED TVs supports CalMAN PatternGen test patterns from Portrait Displays’® CalMAN® software along with AutoCal functionality. Imaging Science Foundation (isf) calibration settings are also supported. Calibration of Dolby Vision content is also supported.
Perfect for sport
In the year of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Panasonic has worked to improve the playback of fast moving athletics and sports by improving the implementation of black frame insertion. Whereas conventional OLED TVs which utilise this technique insert a full black frame in between each frame of moving content, by utilising the power of the Japan-developed HCX Pro Intelligent processor, P is able to analyse the incoming signal and dynamically adjust the duration of the black frame over a two-frame cycle to find a ‘sweet spot’ which maximises the smoothness of images whilst minimising any flicker effect.
Designed for Living
The 2020 OLEDs and 4K LCD TVs have some special design tricks up their sleeves. The HZ1500 and HZ1000 series OLED TVs feature a swivel pedestal, allowing viewers to angle the screen freely according to their living room environment.
In addition, the HX940 and HX900 series of 4K LCD TVs feature Panasonic’s popular “2-way switch pedestals”, which allow owners to position the two pedestal feet in either a central position, or on the edge of the TV in order to match living room furniture perfectly.
My Home Screen 5.0 improves quick access usability
All OLED and 4K LCD TV series announced today feature the latest iteration of Panasonic’s highly evaluated smart TV OS, My Home Screen 5.0. The new version delivers considerable usability improvements. For example, when certain VOD Icons are highlighted, thumbnails of featured titles from that provider are automatically displayed above and can be easily accessed. This works for Netflix and YouTube amongst others.
All models announced today will also feature XUMO’s enterprise-level, free streaming service delivering both over-the-air and over-the-top channels to global audiences in one seamless experience and guide (excluding UK). End users simply press the channel up and down or guide button on the TV remote control to discover and enjoy watching these channels, just like a broadcast TV viewing experience.
All models announced today support HbbTV Operator App (except in UK). In 2019 Panasonic TVs announced world’s first support for HD+ and expanded support to M7 via a firmware update. In 2020, Panasonic will continue to support both HD+ and M7.
All models announced today also works with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, allowing users to operate some key TV functions, just using their voice.