Subtitles and audio description information displayed on electronic programme guide more info panel The consistency with which the LZ980 handles and balances all of the many elements that go into a great picture is also a joy to behold. It’s this consistency, in fact, that ultimately joins its cheaper price in winning us to the TX-55LZ980B’s cause slightly ahead of Sony’s also fantastic (full review coming soon) XR-55A80K. Starting out by looking at the LZ980 in its most ‘accurate’ modes, the amount of subtlety, balance and detail it manages to eke out of even the toughest sources is as spectacular in its own lovable way as the most aggressively bright, explosively colourful and over-sharpened experiences available elsewhere. Subtitle and audio description information spoken on the electronic programme guide more info panel

It doesn’t harm the sense of clarity and detail, either, that the LZ980 delivers better motion performance than any previous Panasonic OLED TV generation. This is true regardless of whether you prefer to ‘go native’ without any image processing, or you call in Panasonic’s motion processing on its low setting to take the edge off the 24p judder. Percentage luminance drop at 20 degree vertical angle from the centre of the screen with 100% white output Also potentially simplifying your route to optimal HDR pictures is the LZ980’s support for both the Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive systems. This sees the two premium HDR formats drawing on measurements taken by a built-in light sensor to deliver images continually adjusted in response to ambient light conditions so that they maintain a consistent level of HDR impact.

Panasonic TX-55LX650BZ 55" LED UHD SMART TV Overview

On the downside, its sound doesn’t have much forward impact, so it doesn’t fill your room as well as TVs with front facing speakers (including Sony’s OLED TVs, which use their actual screens to make their sound). Everything seems to happen to the side of the screen or on the screen, not around your seating position. Bass is only so-so in terms of its depth and impact too, making the idea of adding a subwoofer via the provided sub line out something you really might want to consider.

The Panasonic TX-55LZ980B feels a touch lightweight compared with the brand’s more premium sets, and doesn’t sport the obvious speakers that define the flagship LZ2000. Apart from when you’re actually lifting it around, though, you’ll struggle to spot much difference between the design and finish quality of the LZ980 and its more premium LZ1500 sibling. Energy consumption XYZ kWh per year, based on the power consumption of the television operating 4 hours per day for 365 days. The actual energy consumption will depend on how the television is used. I’d also recommend leaving Panasonic’s Intelligent Frame Creation processing turned off for most types of content. The ‘mid’ and ‘max’ settings cause noticeable artefacts. While it might not boast the sort of fancy, multi-channel speaker systems that are suddenly all the rage on premium TVs these days, the LZ980 still sounds pretty good. Better, actually, than some of those supposedly more sonically advanced models. There are a couple of areas where the LZ980 comes up a little short of more expensive rivals – including more expensive Panasonic OLED models. In particular, it’s not as bright and vibrant in any preset mode with either full screen bright HDR footage or peak HDR highlight areas as QD OLED TVs or OLED models that use heat sink technologies.Languages (English, German, French, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Greek, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Turkish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Gaelic, Macedonian, Kazakh, Thai, Belarussian) Percentage Luminance drop at 35 degree horizontal angle from the centre of the screen with 50% white output When a Bluetooth device is connected to the TV, it is possible that the Bluetooth audio output may not be synchronized (i.e. be delayed) with relation to the images on the screen. This is not a defect of the TV or the device. The delay time will differ depending on the device.

Percentage luminance drop at 35 degree horizontal angle from the centre of the screen with 100% white output This feature highlights, too, the LZ980’s exceptional spread of HDR support. While many TV brands still only support either Dolby Vision or HDR10+, all of Panasonic’s OLED TVs support both. So no matter what sources you play, you can rest assured that the LZ980 will always be able to receive the best version available.

Compare Similar Products to Panasonic 55" 4K HDR Smart Android TV - TX-55LX650BZ

The lower contrast and brightness of the LZ980 panel versus Panasonic’s more premium OLED TVs will, presumably, limit how closely it can get to achieving the brand’s oft-stated ambitions of delivering pictures as closely matched as possible to those created on professional mastering monitors. Experience suggests, though, that Panasonic’s Hollywood-tuner processing should still help the LZ980 get closer to that director’s-intent goal than most if not all rivals at the same price.

We’re definitely not saying here you should merrily go around turning everything up to 11, of course. But we do appreciate a set that cares about trying to be all things to all men. Especially when it tries to simplify this process with an excellently wide-ranging set of picture presets. Max light output HDR (high dynamic range) while displaying a live scene and white square taking up 10% of the screen (measured in Nits) Subtitles and audio description information displayed on electronic programme guide programme banner Gaming mode ensures top-level performance with compatibility for the newest console generation and PC Max light output HDR (high dynamic range) while displaying small white square taking up 10% of the screen (measured in Nits)File formats that are not supported by your Network Contents server (DLNA compatible server, etc.) cannot be played.