News

Panasonic has taken the wraps off its new flagship OLED TV for 2022, the LZ2000, at CES. The high spec screen will be available in 55in, 65in and, in a first for the brand, 77in screen sizes. Panasonic dubs this new ultra large screen ‘Master OLED Pro Cinema Size’.

The brand is betting big on gaming for 2022, introducing an information and settings overlay called Game Control Board, plus automatic NVIDIA GPU detection, improved 60Hz latency, and full HDMI 2.1 support.

Out of the box, the LZ2000 supports key features such as High Frame Rate (HFR) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) at 120Hz in full 4K resolution on two of its four HDMI inputs.

Home cinema fans won’t be left wanting though. The LZ2000 features an updated Auto AI picture engine able to adjust for ambient light colour temperature.

Panasonic suggests this embellishment is crucial, ‘as humans perceive white differently based on ambient lighting. For example, most European homes use warm-coloured lights at night-time, meaning that onscreen white can be perceived as blueish and too cold.’

The new sensor works with Panasonic's HCX Pro AI processor to adjust each tone individually based on the ambient light, supposedly to deliver a more comfortable evening viewing experience.

All three LZ2000 iterations use the latest 2022 generation Master OLED Pro configuration, custom engineered by Panasonic to deliver even more brightness through improvements in picture processing. The promise is a bump in mid-level brightness, for more dramatic HDR, while improving accuracy in brighter areas. Final colour-tuning, as with previous Panasonic OLED generations, is by leading Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld.

HDR format coverage of the LZ2000 includes Dolby Vision IQ, Dolby Vision, Filmmaker Mode, HDR10+ Adaptive, and HLG Photo.

A sound idea?
Panasonic’s OLED flagships have consistently led the way when it comes to integrated cinematic audio. For the LZ2000, the brand is adding directional sound to its 360° Soundscape, courtesy of an all-new front-firing speaker array.

Last season’s L/C/R drivers have been replaced with an array of speakers which run the entire length of the TV behind the front speaker grill.

Panasonic says this technique brings a number of benefits, including a wider soundstage.

Meanwhile, the LZ2000's new Game Control Board interface gathers all relevant game settings and information in one place, and presents them as an overlay, so players don’t need to leave the game they’re playing to make adjustments.

The Game Control Board features include key game info (frame rate, HDR metadata and chroma sub-sampling data); Dark Visibility Enhancer, which allows the player to adjust the near black portion of dark scenes, making it easier to detect enemies in the shadows; HDR Tonemap settings (On, Dynamic, Off); Input Lag and VRR settings and a Viewing Mode, for real time adjustment monitoring.

There’s also an SPD Auto Game Mode, for the automatic detection of compatible HDMI 2.1 4K HFR/VRR-supporting NVIDIA GPUs (like the RTX30) allowing the LZ2000 to automatically optimise both the input lag and VRR settings.

Panasonic says it has also reduced the input lag for 60Hz games, through a new `60Hz Refresh Mode’.

Look out for an LZ2000 review in HCC later this year.