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

Doh!

We told you at the time to go for the 65", but you wouldn't listen to us!:facepalm:;)

In fairness to you, you agonised over your decision and you did say your viewing distance was so short that you would have to physically turn your head to following any panning shots across the screen.

Does 55" feel too small now or have you made changes to your room to accommodate 65"?

I know .. I know... :facepalm: ha ha.. thanks..
I think part of it is if this new Panasonic is that good an upgrade would be better if its bigger.. I've sat in a couple of the other seats and think I could poss go larger.. I guess I have got use to the size too.. on letterbox films feel definitely can go bigger but whilst a full screen it seems fine.. I moved the central seats back a few inches ..:rolleyes: so... ???
 
The power supply is at the opposite side of the rear panel and is hardwired.

Oh no. I was expecting to plug in an IEC 13 (kettle lead). Just like I do with my Panasonic Plasma. All my power cables are buried in the wall...

I guess I can just cut off the UK plug and a fit a IEC 13 female socket, and connect this to my existing IEC 13 plug - please tell me there is no separate power brick???

Also, I'm assuming I can use use my existing standard (large) VESA Mount to wall mount any 2019 Panasonic OLED?. There no mention of this in the review.

I'm assuming that all 2019 Panasonic OLEDs are the same?


Thanks & regards,
James.
 
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The power supply is at the opposite side of the rear panel and is hardwired.

Oh no. I was expecting to plug in an IEC 13 (kettle lead). Just like I do with my Panasonic Plasma. All my power cables are buried in the wall...

I guess I can just cut off the UK plug and a fit a IEC 13 female socket, and connect this to my existing IEC 13 plug - please tell me there is no separate power brick???

Also, I'm assuming I can use use my existing standard (large) VESA Mount to wall mount any 2019 Panasonic OLED?. There no mention of this in the review.

I'm assuming that all 2019 Panasonic OLEDs are the same?


Thanks & regards,
James.

Only thing be bit concerned about cant remember where I actually saw it is sometimes invalidates any sort of warranty if you go cutting off any plug ..??
Happened to someone a while ago.. had panel problems and when manufacturer found out plug had been altered they used the cable (tampering) as a get out..
 
No he was a Sony man,showing me the new Sony OLED,its only when i told him my viewing habit he mention image retention,and maybe OLED wasn't for.
I told him i have a Panasonic 902,he said that was still a great TV,and to hold of as newer tec was just down the road.

the worst salesman in history..i would be telling you its the dogs bollox and to buy one immediately
 
Also, I'm assuming I can use use my existing standard (large) VESA Mount to wall mount any 2019 Panasonic OLED?. There no mention of this in the review.

I'm assuming that all 2019 Panasonic OLEDs are the same?


Thanks & regards,
James.

Here you go:

950.png
 
Only thing be bit concerned about cant remember where I actually saw it is sometimes invalidates any sort of warranty if you go cutting off any plug ..??
Happened to someone a while ago.. had panel problems and when manufacturer found out plug had been altered they used the cable (tampering) as a get out..

It's a very flimsy excuse and unreasonable grounds to a refuse a warranty claim, but I'll make sure that I get it in writing that cutting off the plug will not invalidate the warranty. Sadly some companies try to riddle-out of their responsibilities...

Alternatively, I might see if I can find a UK Plug to IEC 13 adapter, but not sure I'll have room for this behind the telly...
 
It's a very flimsy excuse and unreasonable grounds to a refuse a warranty claim, but I'll make sure that I get it in writing that cutting off the plug will not invalidate the warranty. Sadly some companies try to riddle-out of their responsibilities...

Alternatively, I might see if I can find a UK Plug to IEC 13 adapter, but not sure I'll have room for this behind the telly...


Yep.. true I know.. just means can flat out get involved in any problems with the panel.. hope works out ok..
 
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Alternatively, I might see if I can find a UK Plug to IEC 13 adapter, but not sure I'll have room for this behind the telly...
If you have the room, something like this would be an easy solution.

Paul
 
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Thanks for the review Phil,one big ? for me,speaking to a salesman in John Lewis,and telling him my viewing habit,he reckon OLED were not for me due to my viewing habits (image retention)

99% of my viewing is movie only,blu ray or 4K UHD,maybe the odd bit of netflix,as a fair amount of movies come in a ratio of 2.35.1,and i tend to watch 4 to 6 hours of movies a day,and every now again up to 8 hours.
He said on any OLED i could very easily get image retention,due to the black bars being their on nearly all my viewing ?

What would your opinion be,is he right ?

Thanks :)
Sounds like b*llocks to me, 99% of my viewing on my B6 is black bar movies/Netflix and I haven’t had a single issue in 3 years! Seriously not even mild retention.
 
What the differences between this over the 950 and what does it lack compared to the 2000?
 
What the differences between this over the 950 and what does it lack compared to the 2000?
this has built in soundbar,2000 has atmos sound and custom panel.
 
Only thing be bit concerned about cant remember where I actually saw it is sometimes invalidates any sort of warranty if you go cutting off any plug ..??
Happened to someone a while ago.. had panel problems and when manufacturer found out plug had been altered they used the cable (tampering) as a get out..
This is a real issue for me as I have my VT60 wall mounted and was hoping to use the existing cable that I’ve hidden within the cavity. Shame. I may well now go for AG9.
 
This is a real issue for me as I have my VT60 wall mounted and was hoping to use the existing cable that I’ve hidden within the cavity. Shame. I may well now go for AG9.
You haven’t got/can’t make space for a single socket in the cavity?
 
You haven’t got/can’t make space for a single socket in the cavity?
Unfortunately not. I have about 5cm space between plasterboard and breeze block. I had to channel out a groove to put existing kettle plug in and reskim. It’s now been decorated so no more diy...orders!!! If I was able to unscrew cable from tv I could possibly thread cable through existing conduit but no room for plugs, just hdmi, usb size.
 
Unfortunately not. I have about 5cm space between plasterboard and breeze block. I had to channel out a groove to put existing kettle plug in and reskim. It’s now been decorated so no more diy...orders!!! If I was able to unscrew cable from tv I could possibly thread cable through existing conduit but no room for plugs, just hdmi, usb size.
Hmm,I hear you;I know I’m lucky my OH let’s me do what I like around the ‘man kit’!
I still wouldn’t let this dictate what display I get,especially at this level:Why not just surface mount a single socket behind the screen,above the OLED ‘gubbins’ if it’s that close?
I have an electrical background and I wouldn’t remove the fitted plug for reasons already mentioned.
 
Hmm,I hear you;I know I’m lucky my OH let’s me do what I like around the ‘man kit’!
I still wouldn’t let this dictate what display I get,especially at this level:Why not just surface mount a single socket behind the screen,above the OLED ‘gubbins’ if it’s that close?
I have an electrical background and I wouldn’t remove the fitted plug for reasons already mentioned.
Nice idea I’ll look into that. Luckily my wall mount sticks out quite a bit as it’s hinged so I can tilt screen down a little to reduce reflections. The gap from the wall is far than the thickness of a plug. Cheers.
 
1. Colourists are not engineers and routinely ruin calibrated settings in grading rooms.
2. I have seen pillar box image retention on Sony X300s used primarily for UHD.
If there isn't a screen refresh option I would find a way to run a full white 100nit panel for 20 mins once a week to be extra sure. You are far more likely to cause image burn leaving a hdr still on the screen, so don't pause and make a cup of tea!
I think ultimately Oled will go the way of plasma. Dolby monitors are not oled. New hdr reference monitors are not Oled. Someone just make a full array backlight led. Shame as for SDR and 600nit hdr they are perfect! I'm not convinced they will ever accurately hit even 2000 nits.
 
1. Colourists are not engineers and routinely ruin calibrated settings in grading rooms.

Ruin? How? They work closely with the director to achieve what said director wants.

It's not as if Sonnenfeld is some amateur, have you seen the list of what he's worked on?
355 credits in the last 20 years: Stefan Sonnenfeld - IMDb
 
Yes, he's a great colourist. But engineers calibrate monitors to set standards. Colourists then make the grade they want, knowing that is correct. Bad colourists are always tweaking sets, ruining this set up. Lewis Hamilton isn't the best person to fix your car, but it would look good in an advert.
 
A couple of questions:

I’ve come across of number of websites saying that the 950, 1000 and 1500 use the same panels. Does this mean their picture performance is (theoretically) identical and it’s only the aesthetics (don’t really care) and the onboard audio (never use) that differ?

I have a 55EZ952B from a couple of years ago which I’ve never really liked. At the time of purchase it had dreadful stuttering issues, particularly on 50Hz material through the HDMI inputs, but also the native Netflix app (which I presume is mostly running at 24fps). I don’t believe these issues were ever fully resolved by Panasonic’s firmware updates. None of the initial reviews mentioned this though, presumably because the material that’s assessed is not what most people spend their time watching (4k HDR discs vs. 1080i/50Hz Sky+HD). It also can’t produce a nice saturated red through the inputs, regardless of how much (unprofessional) tweaking I do; it’s always comes out as pink or orange.

Has anyone done enough (low quality) viewing of the 1500 to confirm whether these legacy Panasonic OLED issues have been fixed?

Thanks.
 
A couple of questions:

I’ve come across of number of websites saying that the 950, 1000 and 1500 use the same panels. Does this mean their picture performance is (theoretically) identical and it’s only the aesthetics (don’t really care) and the onboard audio (never use) that differ?

I have a 55EZ952B from a couple of years ago which I’ve never really liked. At the time of purchase it had dreadful stuttering issues, particularly on 50Hz material through the HDMI inputs, but also the native Netflix app (which I presume is mostly running at 24fps). I don’t believe these issues were ever fully resolved by Panasonic’s firmware updates. None of the initial reviews mentioned this though, presumably because the material that’s assessed is not what most people spend their time watching (4k HDR discs vs. 1080i/50Hz Sky+HD). It also can’t produce a nice saturated red through the inputs, regardless of how much (unprofessional) tweaking I do; it’s always comes out as pink or orange.

Has anyone done enough (low quality) viewing of the 1500 to confirm whether these legacy Panasonic OLED issues have been fixed?

Thanks.

Hi. I’m no expert but I have the 950 and these are my thoughts.
Firstly, all the GZs use the same panel. The 2000 is intercepted by Panasonic earlier in the manufacturing process but the other 3 all use the finished panel from LG display. It is only the design and sound that varies.
I mainly watch sky 1080i content but have watched anywhere from SD to uhd from different sources.
I use the tv with settings out of the box and find the colours to be stunning and natural looking. The reds on football shirts for example look very accurate to me.
As far as motion is concerned I think the main reviews I trust suggest that stutter is still present, but now so rare that you either have to go looking for it, or be very sensitive to it, to see it in real life content.
I’ve had the tv for weeks and have honestly not noticed it once, although I’m not saying it’s not been there.
The Sony’s have the reputation for motion (for oleds) but I wasn’t prepared to pay the huge premium, when in general to me the 950 is every bit as good, and maybe better in some areas.
Just my personal views :)
 
As far as motion is concerned I think the main reviews I trust suggest that stutter is still present, but now so rare that you either have to go looking for it, or be very sensitive to it, to see it in real life content.
Thanks for the reply. It’s good to know that the panel can do red properly!
When I mentioned stutter on the old 952 , it isn’t really motion stuttering that’s the issue (we’ll, it’s dreadful, but consistently dreadful and I hardly watch any sport), but it had (and still has) problems with dropping frames. This happens at all resolutions and refresh rates, but was particularly bad with 50Hz inputs. Although that was mostly sorted with a couple of firmware updates, it’s still there on the inbuilt Netflix and Amazon apps. I bought an Apple TV and a Fire stick so that I could use their native frame rate settings to force 24fps, but it drops even more frames with these (and all the reds are really orange ).

I might have to go and park myself in front of a 950 or a 1500 in John Lewis for a few hours and see what I spot!

Thanks again.
 
Thanks for the reply. It’s good to know that the panel can do red properly!
When I mentioned stutter on the old 952 , it isn’t really motion stuttering that’s the issue (we’ll, it’s dreadful, but consistently dreadful and I hardly watch any sport), but it had (and still has) problems with dropping frames. This happens at all resolutions and refresh rates, but was particularly bad with 50Hz inputs. Although that was mostly sorted with a couple of firmware updates, it’s still there on the inbuilt Netflix and Amazon apps. I bought an Apple TV and a Fire stick so that I could use their native frame rate settings to force 24fps, but it drops even more frames with these (and all the reds are really orange ).

I might have to go and park myself in front of a 950 or a 1500 in John Lewis for a few hours and see what I spot!

Thanks again.

Yes I was really meaning that sorry. I think it’s best if you can have a look. I just don’t notice the frame drops, as I don’t think they happen very much at all now.
I hope you get a chance to have a good look at one of the models so you can be sure one way or another :smashin:
 
Thanks for the reply. It’s good to know that the panel can do red properly!
When I mentioned stutter on the old 952 , it isn’t really motion stuttering that’s the issue (we’ll, it’s dreadful, but consistently dreadful and I hardly watch any sport), but it had (and still has) problems with dropping frames. This happens at all resolutions and refresh rates, but was particularly bad with 50Hz inputs. Although that was mostly sorted with a couple of firmware updates, it’s still there on the inbuilt Netflix and Amazon apps. I bought an Apple TV and a Fire stick so that I could use their native frame rate settings to force 24fps, but it drops even more frames with these (and all the reds are really orange ).

I might have to go and park myself in front of a 950 or a 1500 in John Lewis for a few hours and see what I spot!

Thanks again.

I haven't noticed any of the issues you mentioned on my 952 but I don't have Sky (and don't want it either!) so maybe that's a reason? Reds look great on mine I can assure you!

I don't see any need to upgrade just yet because Im still very happy. Perhaps in a couple of years or so. I could easily buy the 2000 right now but Im resisting! :)
 

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