Panasonic Launch TX-65CZ950 4K Curved OLED TV at IFA 2015

Panasonic today officially announced its entry into the nascent OLED TV market by unveiling the company’s upcoming Viera TX-65CZ950 display at the IFA 2015 consumer electronics trade show in Berlin. Available in a single screen size of 65 inches from October (2015), the Panasonic TX-65CZ952B (UK model) will feature a curved panel, 4K UHD (ultra high-definition) resolution, a specially-tuned version of the Japanese brand’s 4K Studio Master Processor, as well as THX certification.

Panasonic TX-65CZ950

The move by the ex-plasma innovator is a sorely-needed shot in the arm both to the fledgling display technology and to the consumer television landscape in general. Panasonic exited the plasma display panel (PDP) business in late 2013, with South Korean rivals Samsung and LG quickly following suit, leaving a consumer TV arena filled almost exclusively with ubiquitous but lower quality LCD technology. The TX-65CZ950 will be the first Panasonic TV to feature self-emitting pixels, without the need for a backlight, since the VT and ZT plasmas released in 2013.

Panasonic issued press releases detailing its proprietary video processing which powers the new OLED display. This makes marketing sense, because it’s common knowledge that LG Display is currently the only producer of OLED panels in anything larger than miniature (phone and tablet level) sizes, and Panasonic therefore will be keen to address and correct the possible misconception that the panel alone is responsible for the image quality of the television. Indeed, in its statement, Panasonic reminds readers that the screen technology is only one part of the puzzle, and that “getting the most from OLED means driving it with advanced picture processing capable of unlocking its full potential”.

Panasonic’s TX65CZ950 press release frankly reads like a checklist of what’s wrong with the current OLED TV offering, which, of course, is 100% LG. Accordingly, it makes for interesting reading: aside from the fact that biting the hand that feeds them is a daring move, it explains how the Japanese TV maker is addressing the problems that we found with the current attempts at OLED televisions. While those produce an excellent (and unbeatable) minimum luminance level with their zero blacks, we’ve found that LG’s OLED TVs do not produce good dark-scene quality, a point which we feel has been lost in many evaluations.

Firstly, the press release outlines Panasonic’s commitment to image fidelity by stressing that accuracy is the company’s goal. To market that point, they’ve teamed up with Hollywood colourist Mike Sowa, known for his work on Oblivion and Insurgent amongst others.

To start with, Panasonic promises comprehensive look-up table (LUT) technology on the Viera CZ950, which will be used both to compensate for any panel inaccuracies (all panels have them) and to square the circle of adapting the OLED panel’s native wide colour gamut to correctly display existing Rec.709 content. LG’s own video processing doesn’t do a good job of this, with hue errors, most visibly with cyan, appearing during dark scenes (ironically enough, reproduction of dark scenes has long been the selling point of OLED). On top of that, attempting to use advanced controls on LG OLEDs to calibrate greyscale and gamma exacerbates contouring/ banding errors on the display. Although Panasonic’s PR announcement doesn’t specifically mention those, we would hope that this issue is specific to LG’s video processing and not a problem with the panel.

More interesting still is a feature called “Absolute Black Gradation Drive”. Panasonic mentions that the zero black capability of OLED “has actually been a challenge for OLED TV makers, since the shift from complete blackness to just above black is a very difficult gradation step to render”. Indeed, this echoes the findings of our own tests. As well as featuring colour errors during dark scenes, the LG OLED TVs often exhibit indistinct shadow details. Panasonic then mentions that its “experience with plasma technology has enabled it to solve the issue on the TX-65CZ950, resulting in unprecedentedly beautiful and precise detailing even in the very darkest picture areas”. This makes sense, given that the OLEDs we’ve assessed have exhibited a similar, but more extreme version of the characteristic of PDPs where the colour and greyscale would shift slightly depending on the brightness of the scene being shown on screen.

Additionally, the press release subtly addresses screen uniformity, by using a quote from Eric Gemmer, who is responsible for testing displays for certification at THX. Gemmer says that the collaboration between Panasonic and the San Francisco AV quality advocate is “a television capable of creating bright objects with excellent white uniformity”. However, our main concern is with the quality of the uniformity during dark scenes, something that isn’t addressed in the release. Depending on the average picture level (APL) of the scene being viewed, the uniformity displayed on the current LG OLEDs ranges from very good to very poor, with a rapid falloff of light at the extreme sides of the panel which can even change shape and position during image motion.

We’ll have to wait and see if Panasonic’s panel driving method has solved or at least reduced the low-light uniformity problems exhibited by LG’s OLED TV offerings, but the fact that the CZ950 is THX-Certified is heartening. None of LG’s recent OLEDs have been able to make this claim. We don’t know if that’s because they simply weren’t submitted, or if they were submitted and rejected due to uniformity problems.

There’s also no mention of motion resolution, the importance of which Panasonic hammered home during the plasma days. LG’s implementation of its own OLED panels results in motion quality that’s only slightly better than LCD, with the low base motion resolution measurement of 300 lines being attributable to these displays’ use of sample and hold driving (impulse-type displays like CRT and PDP – now both in the rear-view mirror – could achieve far higher numbers, albeit with some residual noisy motion artefacts in the case of the latter). As with LCD, workarounds are needed to raise the motion resolution, which can introduce other artefacts.

Samsung sidestepped this inherent limitation in its sole 2013 OLED model by implementing a dark frame insertion mode, which is similar in principle to the backlight blinking implemented on some current LCD displays. Meanwhile, in their professional OLED studio monitors, Sony uses a vertical “scanning” feature (captured by a YouTube user with a slow-motion camera) which produces a lively image that produces high clarity during motion – something we would love to see on a Panasonic OLED. LG OLED televisions have never included either of these features, instead only featuring LCD-like motion interpolation. This may simply be because the company doesn’t see the need for it, or perhaps because the panel is somehow incapable of anything better.

Also promised is HDR compatibility, and hopefully with the launch of Ultra HD Blu-ray later this year, we’ll begin to see some killer content using this new technology that isn’t tied to one manufacturer’s TVs. Although many times brighter than plasma displays, it’s almost impossible that OLED TVs, at least this year, will be able to reach the maximum peak brightness of 1000 cd/m2 that Samsung’s and quite possibly Sony’s LED LCD implementation can offer. Recently, LG mentioned that its OLED HDR solution (so, presumably this also means Panasonic’s too) will operate at a lower peak brightness, while reminding people that its zero black level should make up for the limitation. Just how bright they can get is something we’ll find out when we get our hands on one.

Panasonic’s return to the emissive display market is excellent news. The fact that the corporation has addressed – at least on paper – almost all of the very same issues that have disappointed us with the OLED TVs currently on the market leaves us optimistic. Not only this, but we hope that another company’s participation in OLED will be enough to reignite the interest of others in this promising display technology – the more competition, the better for the consumer. As of the time of writing, there has been no adequate replacement for Panasonic’s last-generation plasmas. With today’s launch of the TX-65CZ952B, there is now hope that Panasonic themselves may provide it.

Source: Panasonic press releases on 4K Pro and TX65CZ950 OLED TV

14 comments

  1. Interesting article from Phil Hinton @ AVForums UK:
    https://www.avforums.com/review/panasonic-tx-65cz950-4k-uhd-oled-review.11860

    “It was pretty obvious, although not confirmed, that the Panasonic engineers have been reading reviews and forums owners threads regarding the LG OLED sets and the issues some people were highlighting.”

    “One thing I noticed on perhaps the second pass of the demo loop was that the uniformity of the Panasonic OLED image was significantly better than the LG. On the LG there was a vignette (dark edges) effect where on the CZ950 the image went to the complete edge of the panel with no dimming at all.”

  2. Hi Vincent,

    Any mention from Panasonic of a CX900B?

  3. THANK F**K FOR THIS!!!

    I know the verdict is still out on motion resolution and everything else, but… Panasonic is entering the OLED game.

    As a plasma lover, though not religious, I can’t help but feel soooo relieved to finally hear the first official news of this; THANK CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!! xD xD xD

  4. It looks like Panasonic might have solved some of the problems with OLED. But not the one that LG are finally sorting: Curves

  5. Meanwhile, the dark flames seem to have been fixed on the panel side of things by LG.

  6. @vincent. When the next hdtv shootout

  7. Finally! My only gripe is that it’s curved. I’m not too fond of curved screens to put it lightly.

  8. hello I cannot believe Panasonic would be stupid enough to go for a curved oled screen giving the thousands who are clearly waiting for a flatscreen oled TV such as the new lg 980V , curved screens give me a headache and I would never buy such, so once again Panasonic have made a very serious mistake which will not go away .

  9. So, Panasonic is confirming that there will be a future for OLED, maybe it regrets removing Plasma as quickly as it did, but are they sourcing their panels from LG or is this their exclusive R&D product?. This article makes me think that the exclusive technology competition may be better served for the consumer if the best bits patented by electronics manufacturers are included in all high end products, ultimately becoming standard as new cheaper models arrive, as gradually happens in the motor industry.

  10. Desirable as the tv looks i can only hope that pana will make a flat oled panal in perhaps a few months after the release of the cz950. Failing that lgs ef9500 might just win me over just as long the problems with eg960 are improved with lgs ef9500. Or i am going to have a long wait. Hope you are listening pana.

  11. Curved? Next!

  12. This is clearly a very high end model and is probably so to justify what is likely to be an excessively high price tag.

    65″ is just too large for most people, 4K UHD is an extravagance that few would benefit from, and curvature is just a gimmick that no-one wants and alienates those who want to wall-mount. I do hope Panasonic isn’t trying to deliberately use the inevitable lack of interest in this model as a self-fulfilling excuse not to persue OLEDs.

    I can’t help thinking that if OLED manufacturers stopped trying to out-bling one another and just made a range of 1080p flat screens from 40″ to 60″ that made the best show of the new technology, they would get the yields and market penetration they so desperately seek and *then* they could go and make fancier models that only appeal to a tiny proportion of the market.

  13. whilst lg flat oled ef9500 still hasnt sorted out the problems that were on the eg960

  14. maybe it regrets removing Plasma as quickly as it did, but are they sourcing their panels from LG or is this their exclusive R&D product?. This article makes me think that the exclusive technology competition may be better served for the consumer if the best bits patented by electronics manufacturers are included in all high end products.. I can’t help thinking that if OLED manufacturers stopped trying to out-bling one another and just made a range of 1080p flat screens from 40? to 60? that made the best show of the new technology, they would get the yields and market penetration they so desperately seek