Panasonic HZ2000 Flagship OLED TV Review & Comments

Phil Hinton

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Thanks Phil great review just what you'd expect from Panasonics flagship oled, out of my price range but I'm still very happy with my 65inch GZ950
 
Thing is, even if you just watch movies, how on earth can an extra £1900 over a 65" LG CX be worth it?

The HZ1000 also has the same excellent bit starved processing at £1600 less.....
 
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Is there any difference in performance between this and the GZ2000, as it reads like the same tv apart from the name.

Not even updated the speaker system, feels like they treading water with this release.

Without 2.1 wouldn't it be better to try and buy last years model and save yourself some money?
 
Thing is, even if you just watch movies, how on earth can an extra £1900 over a 65" LG CX be worth it?

The HZ1000 also has the same excellent bit starved processing at £1600 less.....

Sometimes you have to pay for all the extra work it takes to squeeze out every bit of performance out of these OLED panels

You will never put a CX next to the HZ2000 and go 'hmm yes I see £1600 difference'. You are paying for the extra engineering it takes to get an OLED to perform to this level
 
Is there any difference in performance between this and the GZ2000, as it reads like the same tv apart from the name.

Not even updated the speaker system, feels like they treading water with this release.

Without 2.1 wouldn't it be better to try and buy last years model and save yourself some money?

New OLED 2020 Panel with variable 120hrtz BFI.
Dobly vision IQ
Filmaker mode with ambient sensor
Slight picture refinement
New menu look

If you don't need these then yes if you can get a GZ2000 go for it!
The 65GZ2000 was released at £5k last year. This is being released at £4.3k
 
Sometimes you have to pay for all the extra work it takes to squeeze out every bit of performance out of these OLED panels

You will never put a CX next to the HZ2000 and go 'hmm yes I see £1600 difference'. You are paying for the extra engineering it takes to get an OLED to perform to this level
I do totally agree. I got a 65HZ2000 and I am extremely happy for its performance, and also happy to pay for that extra that actually makes the difference.
 
Sometimes you have to pay for all the extra work it takes to squeeze out every bit of performance out of these OLED panels

You will never put a CX next to the HZ2000 and go 'hmm yes I see £1600 difference'. You are paying for the extra engineering it takes to get an OLED to perform to this level

You're paying almost 2X the price of a CX, because firstly Panasonic don't make the panels, and second they are refined on top of that. They are obviously decent but when every reviewer says, side by side with a competitors OLED there isn't much in it at all, and coupled with the fact that way cheaper Panasonic models are doing the same job with noise reduction etc....reminds me of buying snake oil honestly.
 
New OLED 2020 Panel with variable 120hrtz BFI.
Dobly vision IQ
Filmaker mode with ambient sensor
Slight picture refinement
New menu look

If you don't need these then yes if you can get a GZ2000 go for it!
The 65GZ2000 was released at £5k last year. This is being released at £4.3k
As far as I remember, the Gz2000 had the same launch price as the Hz2000. I don't remember the Gz2000 being 5k at any time in the UK.

I remember buying my gz2000 for 4.3k then a week later it dropping to 3.5k which I got currys to refund 800.

Other than BFI there wont be much difference, filmaker mode is nothing to write home about.

Hz2000 will be a stunning tv but not much better vs other sets around,and in some instances it will be inferior to the latest sets
 
As far as I remember, the Gz2000 had the same launch price as the Hz2000. I don't remember the Gz2000 being 5k at any time in the UK.

I remember buying my gz2000 for 4.3k then a week later it dropping to 3.5k which I got currys to refund 800.

Other than BFI there wont be much difference, filmaker mode is nothing to write home about.

Hz2000 will be a stunning tv but not much better vs other sets around,and in some instances it will be inferior to the latest sets
I came from a 65GZ2000, and one of the important improvements to me implemented in HZ2000 is more details in dark scenes. And yes there is differences to other OLED TV sets, when it comes to the picture quality, and even the sound. I do not (anymore), wants a 5.1 surround system. So the sound solution in both GZ2000 and HZ2000 is just great for me.

Edit: It is very easy to state that the customer do not get much for the extra price you got to pay when buying a GZ2000/HZ2000. The differences in my opinion lies in details. And the details is rather important to me, as it get me closer to perfection.
 
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This really could be my new TV going forward... reading Phil's review with real interest. :)
 
SRP price, wow!
You could buy a LG 65" and a 55" OLED for that money.
 
Thing is, even if you just watch movies, how on earth can an extra £1900 over a 65" LG CX be worth it?

The HZ1000 also has the same excellent bit starved processing at £1600 less.....


It's a niche product so the pricing is very aggressive especially towards early adopters. Money wise if you look at it objectively on paper its a tough pill to swallow. I'm trying to comprehend the pricing in the U.S. doing a conversion...you can buy right now on sale a 77"CX for cheaper than a 55" HZ2000. Obviously the HZ2000 will drop in price but it's one of those things where if you start looking at it on paper you can't comprehend it compared to other TVs. With that said it's the best of the best for movies those a lot of this very small so financially speaking waiting a while for good sales is the best move or you simply get the GZ2000 which is fantastic or a lower end Panasonic 2020 model which are also amazing.
 
I think there needs to be a wider conversation about hdmi 2.1..is there a shortage in parts? Does hdmi 2.1 cost significantly more to produce than hdmi 2.0b, does it increase the price of av products because it has to do more? Im still baffled by the reluctance of manufacturers to install hdmi 2.1, and im talking about future proofing before anyone jumps in, and says you dont need it as there nothing to connect to. Most cant upgrade our TV every year, and would likely keep it for 3 /5 years and that's my reason. Its been out a few years now and other than mainly the LGs...it just hasn't materialised

Its a shame Panasonic isn't able to get there lag down and also fit at least one full hdmi 2.1 with VRR 4k/ 120, as they could market there tv Best for Movies AND gaming because lets be honest hdmi 2 1 currently is about gaming with the PS5 and XBox series X on the horizon

Thanks for the review Phil, excellent and fair as always...one other point, panasonic in recent years have had issues with framerates, i know my 4 year old DX902 caused stutter in my oppo as at one point was forcing a 24 fps image on a 23.976 4k bluray, im hoping they have solved issues like that in this tv.
And in comparison to the HZ1500 how close are they and what are the differences?
 
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Purely my two pennerth, but I really think Panasonic have been caught between two stools here.
What I mean is, the wonderful panel and it's incredibly accurate picture quality will certainly appeal to serious AV devotees, but then I'm guessing that this market will already have the sounds side of things taken care of by a home cinema setup, so the extra expense of a finely-tuned all-singing-all-dancing Technics upward-firing thingummyjig is simply adding the best part of a grand for something they'll never use.
I get that the great unwashed probably don't have home cinemas, but then they are the kind of folks who stick the set on Sports or Vivid mode to 'impress' the neighbours with garish bright colours that look like a bad acid trip and give you migraine after ten minutes.
And I doubt they'd pay this much for a telly anyway.
If Panasonic put one of these sets out but left off the bells-and-whistles soundbar I'd consider buying one, but I'm buggered if I'm going to pay a bag of sand more for a feature that's nowhere near as good as my existing surround sound.
 
Great review Phil. :thumbsup:

Still happy with my LG 55" C6 as I play the occasional 3D blu ray. Starting to come to terms with the fact that once this TV dies then I will have to live without 3D. :(
 
I'm just relieved that I'm one of those people who doesn't really notice a difference in OLED picture quality. I've yet to see this in action, but I saw a GZ2000 and it looked the same as the competitors to my ageing eyes. Rival OLEDs from Sony and LG looked pretty much identical for picture quality.

£1600 more than the LG CX..(?) Utter madness. Each to their own i guess...
 
Great review Phil. :thumbsup:

Still happy with my LG 55" C6 as I play the occasional 3D blu ray. Starting to come to terms with the fact that once this TV dies then I will have to live without 3D. :(
Nope. There are not only 3D projectors but you can also watch 3D blu-rays with VR. In both cases you get a screen much bigger than the largest TV.

As for this TV, with the features it has and the engineering it definitely worth the money, especially for those who prefer OLED. But it is also definitely not value for money.
 
I'm just relieved that I'm one of those people who doesn't really notice a difference in OLED picture quality. I've yet to see this in action, but I saw a GZ2000 and it looked the same as the competitors to my ageing eyes. Rival OLEDs from Sony and LG looked pretty much identical for picture quality.

£1600 more than the LG CX..(?) Utter madness. Each to their own i guess...

£1900, you can pick up a 65" CX for £2399 o_O
They should have just gimped the HZ1000, the bit starved handling is just as excellent, I couldn't even tell you, aside from a 150nit advantage over the others, what this TV brings to the table? It's quite unbelievable.
 
This model should have 4x hdmi 2.1 and full support for that standard.
This way is not future proof at all.
 
This model should have 4x hdmi 2.1 and full support for that standard.
This way is not future proof at all.

Its not marketed as a gaming TV.

Btw, this now confirms that the peak brightness on 2020 panels have dropped since last year. Not sure if this is to combat burn-in or the sub-pixel structure.
 

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