Panasonic has unveiled the world’s first 4K HDR OLED TV with professional-grade video processing at the CES 2017 consumer electronics trade show in Las Vegas this week. The Viera EZ1000 (or EZ1002 in the UK) will be the company’s second OLED television after its inaugural CZ950/ CZ952 which was released in late 2015.
Unlike its curved predecessor, the Panasonic TX-65EZ1000 will use a flat WRGB OLED panel supplied by LG Display, though both displays will share the one singular screen size of 65 inches. Taking a leaf out of Sony’s ZD9 launch playbook, Panasonic refused to disclose the exact peak luminance and colour gamut coverage on the EZ1000, merely stating that it will deliver “around double the peak brightness of a conventional OLED” and “almost the full DCI colour space”. If we were a betting person (hey we’re in Vegas after all), we’d put money on a peak brightness between 800 and 1000 nits, and 98-99% DCI-P3 coverage.
Update: According to a presentation slide at the launch event, the EZ1000’s peak brightness will be around 800 nits (likely the peak luminance of all OLEDs using LG Display’s 2017 WRGB OLED panel), with almost 100% DCI-P3 coverage.
The new “Master HDR OLED” panel will be joined by an “Absolute Black Filter” that not only soaks up ambient light and reflections to reduce glare, but also eradicates the reddish blacks which can affect some OLED TVs in bright rooms. We’ve been very impressed with the anti-reflective filter on the now-defunct Panasonic ZT plasma, and so can’t wait to see how the version implemented on the TX65EZ1000 will perform.
Another aspect which has consistently blown us away on Panasonic Vieras in recent years is their excellent colour accuracy, and the Japanese manufacturer is looking to step things up a notch on the EZ1000 via several avenues. First is a Studio Colour HCX2 video processor – the most powerful from Panasonic on a consumer television yet – which provides unrivalled “Delta Zero” accuracy through 3D LUT (look-up tables) similar to those used by Panasonic’s professional filmmaking and broadcast monitor arm.
Furthermore, professional users can even upload their own 3D LUTs by SD card/ USB stick. And when you consider Panasonic’s continued finetuning collaboration with Hollywood colourist Mike Sowa, the company’s own Hollywood Lab experience, and integrated DDC (direct display controls) for ISF calibration, it’s unlikely we’ll see another OLED TV that can present the director’s creative intent with more accuracy. THX and Ultra HD Premium certifications are being applied for.
OLED’s self-emissive display characteristics lend itself to true blacks, but LG OLEDs to date have had a tendency to either render the shades just above black with more noise and blockiness, or crush shadow detail however slight. Panasonic aims to tackle this through its HCX2 processor, drawing upon its know-how and experience with plasma to compensate for the relatively large “jump” between OLED’s off (zero black) and on (above black) states for the clearest and cleanest reproduction of detail in dark scenes.
The Panasonic EZ1002/ EZ1000 will support HDR10 PQ (perceptual quantisation) standard for Ultra HD Blu-ray playback, HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) for HDR broadcast, 4K HDR streaming from Netflix, Amazon and YouTube, but not Dolby Vision format since the company believes it knows its own panel and processing better than any other organisation. Like all other OLED TVs to be released in 2017, the TX-65EZ1002/ TX-65EZ1000 won’t have 3D capability.
To complement the class-leading picture quality, Panasonic has roped in sound engineers from acclaimed audio brand Technics to help develop a new Dynamic Blade Speaker for the EZ1000. Taking the form of a soundbar stand spanning the entire width of the screen (again), the Dynamic Blade Speaker is a deceptively slim audio system that houses 14 speaker units including 8 woofers, 4 squawkers and 2 tweeters, plus a quad passive radiator to enhance bass.
Other features include a “floating” design, dark metallic finish, a newly developed My Home Screen 2.0 Smart TV system, a revamped Media Player app supporting 4K HDR10 and HLG content, Freeview Play for the British TX-65EZ1002B model, as well as IP>TV tech (to convert broadcasts into data streamable to other devices) on continental models. Control4 and Crestron certifications are pending.
The 65in Panasonic EZ1000 will be available in Europe from end of May 2017, although there’s currently no plan to release the 4K OLED TV in North America. The company hasn’t decided on a launch price yet.
Hopefully above is just a mistake and LG keep their OLEDs 3D compatible. They’ll need something to give their sets an edge over the other brands. It’d certainly sway me!
So it can’t hit the magic 1000 nits, for effective HDR viewing. Think this set is using LG’s 2016 panel.
It’s not a mistake. 3d is dead
Looks great, but I immediately want to ask:
1. Is the soundbar removable?
2. Can it be wall mounted?
@James: Just clarified. Yes it’s removable, and can be wall-mounted.
Warmest regards
Vincent
@Vincent Teoh: Have Panasonic mentioned anything about compensating for the near black non-uniformity of the LG panel ?
Regards.
Jim
Couldn’t care less about still more NITS.
No 3D = No purchase
2016 LG C6/E6 or Loewe Bild at top of my list and nothing at CES to excite me one bit!
No BFI = poor native motion resolution, still 300 lines without movie ruining interpolation = useless for 24p movies
No 3D = useless for great 3D animations like Tangled or Moana
High price
Please give back plasma, OLED is not mature yet.
Truly a sad thing to see 3D removed for next year. Now that OLED 4K has become the beautiful, and getting better every year, technology we were promised way back in early 2002 and pairs so perfectly with Passive 3D they of course decide now to pull the plug.
There have been ignorant anti-3D zealots that can’t see 3D apparently that will now be happy because now the rest of us will have to do with out as they have… and their 3D is dead articles dating back half a decade, well they weren’t right but they still one anyway.
3D has been a slow burn for a long time it was implemented on too many cheaper sets to begin with so for a lot of people the experience was SUB-STANDARD. The Movie industry (evil cabal) fought this every step of the way keeping U.S. movie prices for 3D SKY HIGH while giving the 2D Blu-rays significant discounts as time went on. In Europe those same (many region free 3D blu-rays) sell for 1/2 or less including the cost to ship them over to us in America. Apparently only the U.S. customers payed the penalty (where have we seen that before **cough** medication **cough).
Having two different standards Passive and Active didn’t help either. Glasses costs were very different / no batteries vs batteries and people sometimes only being able to test out or see one type of 3D. (For many that meant for example their eyes were irritated by the shutters of the Active Glasses or how dark they made the images and that was all they ever tried before proclaiming 3D a gimmick it was an opportunity lost.
That show burn as more and more people show case their great new 4K OLED 3D TVS (and even LCD 4K 3D etc…) more people are seeing just how life like and amazing the 3D experience makes things. It brings things to life in a more realistic way for me. When the base for something is growing it’s the wrong time to moth ball something. 3Ds last sales were a big factor in a lot of people buying this year instead of waiting for next years TVs & prices to drop. Many of us will be in no hurry to upgrade with no options left but used or projectors/active 3D.