A new year, another CES and another launch of a Panasonic flagship OLED TV. The Japanese electronics brand has announced the LZ2000, and for the first time, its top OLED model is available in a 77-inch version.
The LZ2000 takes the baton from the JZ2000, furthering its ambition to be an all-in-one system with its integrated Dolby Atmos sound system and high-performing OLED panel.
The headline is the new 77-inch model, dubbed the ‘Master OLED Pro – Cinema Size’. The 55-, 65-, and new 77-inch model all use the latest generation of the company’s Master OLED Pro panel, delivering “more brightness to improve picture quality processing”. Panasonic claims the increase in mid-level brightness produces more pop with HDR content and improved accuracy in the reproduction of details in brighter areas.
The flagship OLED is once again colour-tuned by Hollywood colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld, who has worked on recent projects such as Disney+’s Dopesick and The Book of Bobba Fett, while also lending his talents to upcoming films such as Michael Bay’s Ambulance and Top Gun: Maverick.
The LZ2000 continues to support a wide range of HDR formats with Dolby Vision IQ, Dolby Vision, Filmmaker Mode, HDR10+ Adaptive, and HLG Photo looking to refine the visual fidelity on any source plugged into the set.
After introducing Auto AI mode in 2021, Panasonic has tweaked it with its latest picture optimisation feature. Using advanced sensors, the LZ2000 can detect the ambient room light colour temperature and adjust the image to deliver “a natural experience” throughout the day. It works with the HCX Pro AI processor to adjust tones in “the most realistic way”, able to deliver, for example, a more comfortable night-time viewing experience without the viewer having to change the settings.
The Auto AI mode can also auto-detect what you’re watching to automatically optimise picture and sound “more seamlessly”.
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Improvements can be found in the audio performance, with directional sound introduced to the LZ2000 in addition to the 360° Soundscape system. The system features up-firing, side-firing and front-firing speakers to produce a wide Dolby Atmos soundstage, with Panasonic claiming the speaker array offers more precision and better clarity.
The loudness and directionality of the speaker system can be adjusted through three modes: Pinpoint, Area and Spot. Pinpoint directs sound to a specific point; Area allows the audio to be shifted to accommodate a group of people while Spot boosts the volume in one particular area while still make it audible for anyone else in the room.
2021 saw Panasonic make confident strides in the gaming space and it’s bringing more improvements to the LZ2000. The Game Control Board apes the likes of LG’s Game Optimizer by collecting the relevant gaming settings and overlaying them on the screen, accessible by just a click on the remote. Modes within this new feature include the Dark Visibility Enhancer (to make it easier to see what’s in the darker parts of the image), HDR Tone-map (to decide whether the TV or console is adjusting the HDR performance), as well as customising input lag and VRR settings.
Panasonic also says the input lag for 60Hz games has been reduced with its new `60Hz Refresh Mode’. HDMI 2.1 features such as High Frame Rate (HFR) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) are supported at 120Hz in 4K.
My Home Screen is upgraded to 7.0, with support for the major video streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV+) and improvements to accessibility such as voice control, audio descriptions, audio dialogue enhancements and hard of hearing subtitle features.
No release date or price were mentioned but the LZ2000 can be expected to break cover later in 2022. Considering how fantastic the previous models have been, we’re hoping for another terrific set from Panasonic.
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Editorial independence
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.
