Panasonic GZ1500 (TX-55GZ1500B) 4K OLED TV Review & Comments

Good to see DV and HDR10+ available side by side at last, let's hope other manufacturers follow suit.
 
Knowing where you're based Simon, and having previously attempted to have a sensible technical conversation with that particular Sony sales rep, I would tend to take anything he says with a hefty pinch of salt...

However, observations about menu bars on phones with AMOLED displays may have a little significance. I could understand the possibility of uneven wear having the potential to becoming noticeable - but isn't that what the built-in 'compensation cycles' are intended to address to some degree?

For me, apart from the convenience, the turn-offs about this particular model are:

- I would effectively be paying £500 extra for a built-in soundbar which would not come close to the performance of a separate at the same price. Indeed, a sound bar (or associated processing) which exhibits the 'crackling' problems found by Phil and a number of GZ2000 owners already. How soon Panny get around to fixing this issue is anybody's guess...

- it is JL-only - and JL only offer a 5-year warranty. I intend to make the jump from plasma to OLED this year - and a Panny model at that - but will get mine from RS (6-year warranty) when prices have settled down a little.

For me, it will be a question as to whether the much larger price difference between the GZ2000 and GZ950 can be justified by the difference in picture quality? Ideally, I would wait until Vinny has done an A-B comparison - but that may never happen...

In my case, as well as movie watching, the TV will be the daily driver for general TV - so all of the panel pixels will get regular illumination. I would like to know how the TV upscales SD broadcasts and older DVD sources. The former because local news programmes and some other interesting channels are still broadcast in SD; the latter because I have a number of favourite music concert videos on DVD, that were never ported across to Blu-Ray. However, for discs, I can see if my OPPOs do a better job of upscaling. In this respect, from what I have seen so far, the Sony AG9 does a perceptibly better job of upscaling SD - but that would not persuade me to consider the Sony, which still has flaky DV implementation and can't offer the dual HDR format processing of the Panny.

Having seen them side by side in a controlled environment all I'm going to say is your poor wallet :D;). The GZ2000s picture is special, like the CZ952 and the DX902 Before it it looks like Panasonic have gone that extra mile and more with this TV.

It will undoubtedly win 'the blind shootout' next week aswell
 
Very interested in hearing how the gz2000 performs and if its MUCH better than other models.. if all the others use the same panel/processing etc then the cheaper one will be more appealing...no need for sound as just used as a monitor.. will def stick with Panasonic as like the cinematic plasma look.. bought the ez952 in a 55 in some ways regret not going bigger but be interesting the difference between the ez952 and newer models..
 
Very interested in hearing how the gz2000 performs and if its MUCH better than other models.. if all the others use the same panel/processing etc then the cheaper one will be more appealing...no need for sound as just used as a monitor.. will def stick with Panasonic as like the cinematic plasma look.. bought the ez952 in a 55 in some ways regret not going bigger but be interesting the difference between the ez952 and newer models..
I was in John Lewis Milton Keynes today and it looked fantastic and had a very bright screen the design of the TV looked gorgeous too. The contrast was amazing too between blacks detail and brightness it looked like the best TV I have ever seen.
 
Would of liked more info on the inbuilt soundbar quality tbh, also no mention of the Amazon Prime bug (are Panasonic ever going to fix this !), as some one else says no mention of the lack of a 7 day epg now it now longer supports freesat and no mention of what audio codecs the ne Panasonic can and cannot play.
 
Think if get the money I'll check it out in Richersounds demo room so I can play with settings again in a dark room so closer to a home environment and buy there.. not so keen on bright shop floors..
 
Another very informative review. Thanks.

TPS offer a 7 year warranty and have already had the 55" GZ950/ GZ1000 at £1595 and the 65" at £2295.

Paul

TPS a possibility - but I prefer dealing with a retailer who has a store presence nearby. I have always had great service from RS in Norwich, and great response on the one occasion in fifteen years when I had a faulty piece of kit :)
 
Would of liked more info on the inbuilt soundbar quality tbh, also no mention of the Amazon Prime bug (are Panasonic ever going to fix this !), as some one else says no mention of the lack of a 7 day epg now it now longer supports freesat and no mention of what audio codecs the ne Panasonic can and cannot play.
Yeah, that's about the only thing I feel is "missing" from the review. It'd be nice to hear more about the sound aspect of the TV, since the integrated soundbar is the main selling point of this model over its little brothers.
 
Can't watch the video but can't see any mention of whether eARC is supported? Can live without other HDMI 2.1 features but not that
 
I do not understand why Panasonic TVs have hardwired power cords. Having seen the picture improvements on my parents's modest Samsung 40' MU6400 when I changed the power cord to an 2m £100 entry level one, honestly, it is unbelievable that you can not do that on a Panasonic one.
 
Can't watch the video but can't see any mention of whether eARC is supported? Can live without other HDMI 2.1 features but not that
There is no eARC. Only ALLM.
 
Would of liked more info on the inbuilt soundbar quality tbh, also no mention of the Amazon Prime bug (are Panasonic ever going to fix this !), as some one else says no mention of the lack of a 7 day epg now it now longer supports freesat and no mention of what audio codecs the ne Panasonic can and cannot play.

What's the Amazon Prime bug?
 
I wish someone would just do a top spec panel like the old days. No freeview rubbish smart apps soundbar etc....
The panel wouldn't be any better if you removed the soundbar. And the apps are now essential. You couldn't sell a television without them, even if set top boxes can fulfil the same function.
 
The panel wouldn't be any better if you removed the soundbar.
But it might be cheaper. Panasonic used to sell just panels on occasion.

I'll never switch on the smart apps, tuner or speaker on my 950.
 
I wish someone would just do a top spec panel like the old days. No freeview rubbish smart apps soundbar etc....

No problems with smart apps YouTube Netflix but no speakers would be handy like old kuros or even last yrs fz802 OLED.. plenty have surround setups and save money on something I do not need or want
 
You're living in a dream world if you think they'd make a set especially for enthusiasts and charge less.

They certainly used to. No dream, just cheaper ;)

But clearly there is more profit in selling fully loaded TVs than panels.
 
There is no eARC. Only ALLM.
Shame, that's easily the most useless feature for them to have opted for. I'm assuming they had a choice of features to support just based on reading that Sony can do eARC without the full HDMI 2.1 spec.

The only benefit to ALLM that I can see is if you're someone who uses your console as a Blu-ray Player, then it has some convenience for users when switching between games and films.

I think most who go for the GZ range however will have a dedicated UHD Blu-ray Player to take advantage of Dolby Vision/HDR10+, which the Xbox One X/S does not support for discs. Although I guess DV/HDR10+ disc support will likely be present for the next-gen PS5/Xbox, so it may yet prove useful next year.

In my case I have a 2018 FZ OLED paired with the UB420 UHD Player for HDR10+, and my consoles like Xbox One X and PS4 Pro are set in Game mode, and they stay set in that permanently.

ALLM just seems like a rather insignificant addition in my view when compared to the alternatives of eARC or VRR.
 
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TPS a possibility - but I prefer dealing with a retailer who has a store presence nearby. I have always had great service from RS in Norwich, and great response on the one occasion in fifteen years when I had a faulty piece of kit :)

I've always had the same from the Norwich RS, but interestingly this time around when i went in a few weeks back they were advising me strongly against OLED, whatever my uses of the tv. They were so against it, in the end i bought from the Norwich JL... good luck though...
 
You're living in a dream world if you think they'd make a set especially for enthusiasts and charge less.

Not necessarily charge less.. the krp plasmas were more than the 5090 and 6090s.. just a panel.. they did it only last yr with the Panasonic fz802..
 
TPS a possibility - but I prefer dealing with a retailer who has a store presence nearby. I have always had great service from RS in Norwich, and great response on the one occasion in fifteen years when I had a faulty piece of kit :)
Both RS and JL should match this.
 

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