Best Panasonic TV 2024: The best 4K LED and OLED sets

We say it every year but Panasonic continues to surpass themselves with each flagship OLED. We’re confident that the MZ2000 is its best yet.

The biggest change comes in the adoption of the MLA OLED panel from LG that Panasonic has customised to its own design. The benefit is a huge jump in brightness with the Standard mode preset registering 1500 nits on a 5% window during our measurements, and a whopping 1877 nits on a 10% patch in Dynamic mode.

Highlights burn with intensity, images shine with punch and depth, contrast is excellent, skin tones are naturally conveyed and reds and blues take on a rich, deep look. However you cut it, the MZ2000 offers sensational picture quality. With support that covers all HDR formats: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, every source looks excellent on the MZ2000.

We found sound quality was equally top notch with the side- and upfiring speakers helping to convey a large presence in a living room. It remains light on bass, however, failing to give bass-heavy scenes the emphasis they require.

Elsewhere not much has changed but that isn’t a negative in our opinion. My Home Screen remains easily accessible and customisable, with Freeview Play adding the UK catch-up apps along with big hitters in Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+ and others. The Game mode has been updated with two modes to choose from in Game and True Game, the latter offers accurate colour performance much like Filmmaker mode does for film and TV. 

We measured input lag at 14.5ms, which isn’t as good as models from other brands and brisk enough. HDMI 2.1 technologies such as VRR, ALLM, 4K/120Hz, but they’re only available on two HDMI inputs. The MZ2000 is an undoubtedly expensive TV, but one of the best of its kind.

Reviewer: Steve May
Full Review: Panasonic MZ2000

If you find that the MZ2000 is a) too expensive and b) you want to mate your own sound system to a TV, then the MZ1500 is your best bet in Panasonic’s OLED range.

Essentially carrying over the panel from the LZ2000, the picture performance is uniformly excellent across all sources. Peak brightness isn’t as bright as the MZ2000, we measured a high of around 1100 nits, but that’s more than enough to ensure that the MZ1500 doesn’t have to rely on tone mapping to display high brightness HDR images.

Reds have a deep, saturated look to them, contrast is excellently conveyed with rich blacks, and highlights are conveyed with pinpoint precision. Skin tones can take on a warm look that perhaps isn’t the most natural, especially in Dolby Vision, but does make for an attractive image. Upscaling of lower-than-4K sources is impressive, with good clarity and detail afforded to 1080p and DVD content. Motion processing also impresses in the right mode, set it to higher levels and judder and noise become visible.

Sound quality is better than expected for a flatscreen TV. It can get a bit hoary at louder volumes, but in general vocal clarity is good (but could be better), the soundstage depicted is both tall and wide, and bass has punch and weight to it. An external sound system would improve further, but we wouldn’t say you should rush out and get one if you don’t already have a soundbar.

My Home Screen remains simple to use, and while there’s not as many streaming apps available as other brands, all the notable apps in video are included, and Freeview Play adds the UK catch-up apps.

Like other OLEDs in the 2023 Panasonic range, there’s Game and True Game mode, the latter displays accurate colours for gaming. Input lag is 14.3ms, which is speedy, though other brands offer a faster performance out of the box.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Panasonic MZ1500

The LZ2000 is Panasonic’s flagship TV or 2022 and as we’ve come to expect from the Japanese brand, it’s exceeded expectations yet again with superb image quality and impressive Dolby Atmos audio.

The design is typically understated and not intended to draw much attention to itself but simply melt into its surroundings. In terms of features there’s Freeview Play for catch-up and on-demand TV, and Panasonic has added the likes of Disney+ and Apple TV+ to its My Home Screen interface.

It’s also a respectable choice for gamers after a high-end panel. We measured input lag at 14.5ms (no improvement over the JZ2000), and with the Game Control board there is the ability to optimise gaming settings on the fly. HDMI 2.1 features are supported too with the likes of variable refresh rate, auto low latency mode and 4K/120Hz all onboard.

All HDR formats are included too, such as HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. The image quality is finely-tuned for bright and dark rooms with the help of the TV’s light sensor, and we found colour volume has improved, especially the colour blue. The low light performance has also been improved, with more detail visible in the darkest parts of the image.

With the OLED EX panel from LG Display (but made to Panasonic’s custom specs), we benchmarked brightness at 966 nits in Standard mode, which makes the Panasonic one of the brightest OLEDs on the market and certainly among the brightest we’ve reviewed from Panasonic. In general, the average picture level is brighter, which helps to make all types of content pop off the screen.

The Dolby Atmos speaker system has had a few more tweaks over the JZ2000 model, and again it’s an area where we found the LZ2000 to be an improvement over the older model, the 360° Soundscape Pro system yielding plenty of width and height with Atmos soundtracks.

Reviewer: Steve May
Full Review: Panasonic LZ2000

The MX950 is Panasonic’s first Mini LED and it’s one we found to be very impressive over the course of testing.

Picture performance is very good, though not as bright as you might expect considering the MX950 punches well over 1000 nits but this is a TV that uses its brightness where it needs to, rather than producing an overly bright image. The inclusion of Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive does allow for better detail in dark scenes, with more shadow detail and better black levels. What blooming we noticed was kept to a minimum. in a 4K Blu-ray of Zero Dark Thirty, but it is kept to a minium. Upscaling is strong, cleaning up the image without adding more noise that’s already there.

Like the MZ1500 the sound quality is one of the better attempts we’ve noted from a flatscreen TV, with a good bass output, expansive soundstage, and solid dialogue clarity. A soundbar can improve upon it, but we’re happy enough with the results.

This model carries Pansonic’s My Home Screen interface, which means it’s not stocked with as many apps as the MX800 but for home cinema fans there’s enough apps to indulging in.

The True Game mode looks to offer the most accurate picture performance for games, though we noted that it adds a little more processing to the image, qith input dropping from 15.4ms to 15.8ms. It’s not much, but the Sony and TCL TVs offer slightly quicker input lag. HDMI support includes ALLM, VRR, and HFR, so you can get a high quality performance out of this TV.

It’s quick to assemble though a bit bulky in size considering that it is a Mini LED, which are normally slimmer. Viewing angles are decent, though we can’t escape the feeling that they could be a little stronger.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Panasonic TX-55MX950

The LX800B is Panasonic’s midrange LCD TV, the type of model that looks offer a good balance of value and performance, and for the most part we feel it achieves it..

There’s not much to write home about in terms of its looks, It hits the same utilitarian vibe the rest of Panasonic’s 2022 line-up hits, melting away into a room rather than standing out. It is easy to assemble, our reviewer managed to put it together in less than three minutes, a case of screwing in the feet. Those feet are placed at either ends of the TV, which is not too helpful if you don’t have a wide piece of furniture to place it on.

The biggest change from previous models is the adoption of Android TV for the interface. However, despite the wealth of apps it offers, we found the speediness of the interface to be disappointingly slow. That and HDR and Atmos support for the apps isn’t as comprehensive as other interfaces, with Disney+ only supporting 5.1 audio. Freeview Play is include for UK catch-up and on-demand apps.

We wouldn’t necessarily recommend this screen as one for gamers after a high-end panel either. Though input lag is a pacy 10.5ms, there’s no support variable refresh rates or 4K/120Hz gameplay. That said it should be a good choice for most gamers or simply want a good gaming experience.

Google Assistant is supported for voice control and there are three HDMI inputs, which is less than we expected, and there’s no eARC support either, so the TV can’t pass through lossless Dolby Atmos audio to a connected a soundbar.

The TV’s peak brightness is another area that’s less than we expected. We measured Cinema mode to be quite dim (342 nits) with Filmmaker mode hitting 507 nits. The LX800B does support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ to help its HDR performance, but black levels aren’t the strongest with some backlight bleed noted. Upscaling of less than 4K sources is good, with natural colour reproduction and good levels of detail.

The TV’s Dolby Atmos compatible sound system is an aspect that’s better than we expected. It’s spacious, high frequencies are sharp, the midrange is clear and detailed and bass is decent. A soundbar would best it but we wouldn’t say there’s a rush to add one.

Reviewer: Kob Monney
Full Review: Panasonic LX800B