After some initial resistance, Panasonic has joined the rest of the TV industry in launching curved versions of its top-of-the-range TVs – starting with the Panasonic CR850.
Panasonic’s 2015 4K TV range will include curved versions of select models, no doubt in response to the great sales success of curved TVs from Samsung and LG last year. So, just in case you were wondering, curved TVs are very much ‘a thing’ now so you best get used to them.
The top-end curved TV is the CR850, which will come in huge 65 and 55-inch versions and is effectively the curved version of the flat CX800 series. The latter will come in more sizes, starting at 40-inches and going all the way up to 65-inches.
Both these high flyers are what Panasonic is dubbing 4K Pro TVs on account of their advanced processing tech derived from the company’s professional cinema division. They’re also ‘HDR’ ready, though they don’t use Quantum Dot technology as some of the latest TVs do. Instead, Panasonic employs what it feels is a superior solution, Wide Colour Phosphor.
Panasonic claims Wide Colour Phosphor, in combination with its local dimming backlight, delivers 98 per cent of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) colour space, compared to 92 percent of Quantum Dot-based TVs. Of course, this is all moot until the industry settles on a standard for HDR TV pictures.
Related: HDR TV: What is it and should you care?
These two new models also feature the Firefox OS smart TV platform, which will ship only on Panasonic’s 4K TVs this year.
Panasonic is the first to adopt the open standards smart TV OS. It already has an app for popular services like Netflix and Deezer, while catch-up services will be delivered via the upcoming on-demand Freeview system that will be exclusive to Panasonic TVs during its launch window.
Panasonic couldn’t confirm a release date or price for the new models yet, but expect them to go on sale around May and June.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
