Televisions

Panasonic typically lures movie fans to its 4K screens with cinematic image processing offering judiciously judged contrast and peerless colour accuracy. But for its JX850 line, the brand has taken a different tack, accommodating sports and gaming fans with Bright Panel Plus technology for punchy daylight viewing, and unapologetic image smoothing.

The TX-55AX902 has a lot to live up to. First teased over a year ago, when Panasonic created headlines with the promise that it was working on an LED LCD able to exceed the picture performance of its plasma TVs, it bristles with advanced image wizardry, plus a full-array LED backlight with advanced local dimming. So can it lay claim to the high-end 4K market?

There's never been a better time to invest in premium home theatre, now that multiplex screens have lost their silvery allure and cinema concessions now come with a side order of anxiety. Stepping up your AV game is the only sensible solution, and Panasonic's flagship HZ2000 is perhaps the ultimate flatscreen upgrade. Okay, it's not 8K, but for the movie sources of the here and now, it's unbeatable.

Rival OLED manufacturers are really getting started with new types of high-brightness panel designs, but Panasonic has been at it for years – with consistently great results. A catch has been that the brand's hardware-enhanced OLED TVs have tended to pile on the (Great British) pounds.

Panasonic's multi-talented, mid-range HX800 LED LCD could be the screen home cinephiles have been clamouring for. Offering a feature specification and picture characteristics more becoming panels twice the price, it's a tempting proposition if Dolby Vision HDR and a blistering gaming performance are big on your want list.