Panasonic presented its OLED TV
flagship at a press conference held today. Like last year, the Japanese manufacturer only presents its flagship at first, the LZ2000. It arrives for the very first time with a beautiful 77 inch diagonal!
All of the manufacturer’s OLED ranges and LCD televisions will be presented later.
77 inches of happiness and Master OLED Pro panel
We now know the successor to the famous Panasonic JZ2000, often referred to as the best OLED TV in 2021, and it is the LZ2000. Usually available in versions of 55 and 65 inches only, it arrives this year in a third 77-inch “Cinema Size” variant, enough to transform your living room into a movie theater.
The conference was also an opportunity to learn about the presence of a new generation panel on these three models, the Master OLED Pro. It is difficult to know if Panasonic has used the new OLED.EX panel from LG Display; we only know at the present time that this slab was “Custom designed by Panasonic” and “Personalized in Hollywood” in order to improve peak light and detail accuracy in highlights. The LZ2000 will support many HDR formats including Dolby Vision IQ, Dolby Vision, Filmmaker Mode, HDR10 + Adaptive, and HLG Photo.
On the image processing side, there is also something new with the Panasonic Auto AI mode which was launched in 2021. Using ambient light sensors and artificial intelligence to adapt the image in real time according to the lighting conditions, the HCX Pro AI processor will now be able to adjust each tone according to the color temperature of the ambient light, and not just its intensity.
The promise of directional sound
Just as the JZ2000 bridges the gap between image and sound, the LZ2000 wants to make the experience even more immersive, in particular thanks to an improved audio system to take advantage of Dolby Atmos. The front speakers have thus been replaced by networked speakers which extend, in a row, over the entire length of the television. Panasonic promises sharper, clearer directional sound and an even wider soundstage.
Panasonic is also introducing an interface through which it will be possible to adjust the sound and its intensity in different parts of the room. There are 3 modes, “Pinpoint, Area and Spot” which allow you to increase the intensity in a specific area of the room without affecting the sound in the other areas.
New for gamers
Despite its penchant for cinematic content, Panasonic does not forget the gamers. Already last year, the manufacturer had introduced HDMI 2.1 on its televisions, a standard which had certainly posed some concerns, as we had pointed out in our test of the Panasonic JZ1000, but which has since had the right to its batch of corrections.
A “dashboard” designed for gamers
This year, Panasonic assures that gaming features such as 4K at 120Hz and VRR will perform as they should when new televisions are released: “Right out of the box, major HDMI2.1 functions such as High Frame Rate (HFR) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) at 120Hz in 4K resolution are supported, making the LZ2000 the perfect partner. of the latest game consoles. “
It’s reassuring, especially since Panasonic has also planned a little surprise for players with its “Game Control Board”. Via an interface that does not seem as modern as that of LG’s Game Optimizer, the TV will bring together all the options and information relating to gaming.
In particular, you will find all the information from the game (frame rate, HDR metadata, chroma subsampling data), a lightening option for dark areas called “Dark Visibility Enhancer”, or the HDR Tonemap, Input options. Lag and VRR and Viewing Mode.
An input lag of 1.5 ms with the new “60 Hz mode”?
That’s not all, since Panasonic ensures that the television will not only automatically detect consoles, but also Nvidia graphics cards compatible with HDMI 2.1 with the “SPD automatic game mode” which will allow it to optimize automatically. VRR and input lag parameters.
Finally, Panasonic demonstrated a new 60Hz refresh mode on its LZ2000. Designed to reduce the input lag for games at 60 Hz on consoles, this mode was without appeal during its presentation: once activated, the input lag went from around 10 ms to… 1.5 ms !
For those wondering, there doesn’t seem to be a major change on the interface side. My Home Screen is upgraded to version 7.0 and as the only new feature is better accessibility options for the visually impaired, which is already a very good thing.
Source: conference
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