Panasonic HZ2000 OLED promises higher peak brightness than other sets | CES 2020

Another year, another CES and another flagship Panasonic OLED. The HZ2000 builds on the success of last year’s GZ2000 with a custom-made OLED panel, which the company claims is capable of a higher peak brightness than rival OLED sets. 

Panasonic’s HZ2000 carries on from where the GZ2000 left off. Available in the Summer of 2020 in 55-and 65-inch sizes, it features another custom-made OLED panel as well as Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode.

Panasonic has included Dolby Vision IQ, which is also a feature that has made it into the LG 2020 TVs.  In a similar manner to how Dolby Vision optimises HDR video, Dolby Vision IQ intelligently optimises the picture quality for better viewing experiences regardless of room brightness. And it’ll do this on the fly without requiring the viewer to adjust picture quality with the remote.

As expected there’s support for a bevvy of HDR formats including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG and HLG Photo. Powered by the HCX Pro Intelligent processor, Panasonic asserts the HZ2000 is capable of “significantly better peak and average brightness levels” than previous OLEDs, quoting 20% better brightness than the competition.

New to the party is Filmmaker Mode, championed by the filmmakers such as Rian Johnson, Patty Jenkins and Christopher Nolan. Developed by the UHD Alliance and revealed at IFA 2019, it allows viewers to enjoy films as the filmmaker intended with a press of a button. Filmmaker Mode preserves the frame rate, aspect ratio, colour and contrast while turning off noise reduction and sharpening.

With this model, Filmmaker Mode can use the ambient light sensor on the television to intelligently adjust the brightness and gamma of the screen to maintain image quality. This lets you watch films under bright lights or in darkness without having to compromise on quality. In competitor TVs, Filmmaker Mode adjusts brightness down, forcing you to watch in a dark room or change mode.

Filmmaker Mode is activated by using a dedicated button on the remote control, rather than auto-detecting content as LG has used on its TVs. There’s no right or wrong way of doing things, but with Panasonic’s choice it at least means that you can quickly switch modes depending on your mode rather than the TV deciding what it should or shouldn’t do.

Panasonic’s motto of “Bringing Hollywood to the Home” is further encapsulated by its collaboration with leading Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld. He has once again turned his talents to tuning the Master HDR OLED Professional Edition panel, ensuring expertly optimised colours that have been backed up by Panasonic’s R&D engineers for an OLED panel that offers greater control over picture quality.

The upward-firing Atmos speakers return, with the speakers tuned by Technics and using their JENO Engine technology.

And that’s not all. The HZ2000 expands the possibilities of TV calibration with the addition of two calibration points at 0.5% and 1.3% signal levels. It’s thought this will allow for better transitions out of black levels and higher levels of precision. The HZ2000 also marks the first time viewers will be able to calibrate Dolby Vision content too.

Yasushi Murayama, Executive of Product Strategy for Panasonic’s Visual and Sound Business Unit, says: “The HZ2000 really expands the viewing environments in which viewers can enjoy true Hollywood picture quality. Thanks to Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode with Panasonic’s unique Intelligent Sensing feature, viewers will still see all the details and colors that the creators wanted them to see, even if they are watching in a well-lit room.”

You won’t have to wait long for our first impressions of the HZ2000, with our hands-on review incoming.