‘Custom Professional’ GZ2000 OLED from Panasonic

Panasonic has announced its 2019-2020 AV line-up, including three new OLED TV models and a handy entry-level UHD Blu-ray player, among much more. The three OLED TVs are the GZ2000, to be available in 65-inch only from September priced $8299, the GZ1500, available in July again in 65-inch only for $6199, plus two sizes of the GZ1000, also in July, at $5799 for the 65-inch and $3599 for the 55-inch.

The flagship TH-65GZ2000U includes a new “custom Professional Edition 4K OLED panel”, along with a Technics-tuned soundbar that is augmented with what are claimed as world’s first built-in upward-firing speakers to support Dolby Atmos.

While Sound+Image readers may be more likely to attach a larger sound system to a TV of this level, be aware that in contrast to last season’s TVs, the next model down is not just the same but without the audio component. That’s because of that custom OLED panel,

where Panasonic’s engineers have taken the latest-gen panel from LG.D and raised the applied voltage, while also adding a custom heat-sink to take the heat off the additional brightness thereby achieved, which Panasonic says is 30% brighter than the current FZ1000. While Panasonic Australia’s Consumer Group Director Richard Tazzone told us that for various reasons they’re not quoting nit levels for their TVs, we gather the GZ2000 can achieve 1300 nits, which is an advance on previous OLEDs.

There’s more to a good picture than brightness, of course; colour accuracy is supported by two dynamic look-up tables in addition to the GZ2000’s ability to use CalMAN PatternGen test patterns, along with AutoCal functionality.

ISF calibration settings are also supported. Both the OLED range and Panasonic’s new range of premium LED-LCD TVs support HDR in all its key flavours: HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG. The HLG implementation interestingly includes HLG Photo, the HDR standard for stills, which is used by some of Panasonic’s Lumix cameras, among others.

The UB150 UHD Blu-ray player is a useful addition to the range at just $279; it lacks Dolby Vision compatibility but supports both HDR10 and HDR10+, as well as Dolby Atmos compatibility and high-res audio playback to 32-bit/384kHz PCM, and DSD to 11.2MHz.

More information: www.panasonic.com.au