Verdict
Although it ’s deserving step up to Panasonic ’s MZ1500 range if you may afford it , the 55MZ980 still delivers attractively subtle , polished and natural pictures that really do feel like they ’ve come straight from a professional Hollywood mastering suite .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Propelled by years of honour - deliver the goods experience with plasma TVs , Panasonic is a force to be reckoned with with itsOLED TVs , too .
instauration such as developing processing and screen tuning in collaboration with existent Hollywood creatives , using brightness boost heat swallow hole hardware long before other mark followed cause , and introducing feature of speech normally only find on professional - grade surmount monitors to consumer products has won the Japanese brand a driven buff base prepare to dig comparatively abstruse for pictures as the filmmakers intended .
Happily at £ 1549 , the 55 - column inch TX-55MZ980 in reality does n’t require you to savvy as deep as common to get your hand on a slash of Panasonic ’s OLED goodness . But does this think of there ’s a big performance cost to pay ?
Availability
The £ 1549 price Panasonic ’s own website presently demand for the 55MZ980 , a £ 200 vantage over the stride up 55MZ1500 .
That ’s enough of a divergence to buy you a4 K Blu - ray musician , or a ( smallish ) pile of 4 K Blu - rays with which to unlock the 55MZ980 ’s full execution capabilities . As we ’ll see by and by , though , saving £ 200 does cost you one potentially substantial public presentation related feature .
The 55MZ980 ’s price does n’t compare favorably at the sentence of writing with OLED challenger like LG ’s OLED55C3 and Samsung ’s QE55S90C both of which can presently be bought for £ 1199 .
To be sightly , these prices are essentially last of life-time fire - sale terms , with the two mannikin ’ replacements , the OLED55C4 and QE55S95D , already available and trade for £ 1899 and £ 1999 respectively .
Panasonic does n’t presently sell telly in the US or Australia , though ‘ close relative ’ MZW98 models can be found in Europe for around € 2249 .
Design
The 55MZ980 looks and feels more like a premium TV than a lower middle range one . Though of course of study , even a downhearted mid compass Panasonic OLED is in reality quite a high - death proposition by the standards of the TV world at large . Its bezel and the knocked out edges of its rear are both extremely lithe , and I was struck while attaching it to its heavy - duty plate - style standpoint by how sizeable and well built it is .
The screen and its frame are cover by a glass flat solid that attractively makes them seem to be on the same level , leaving as the only aesthetic gremlin the depth of the central incision of the TV ’s hind end .
To be fair , when the TV is place on its stand you wo n’t notice this chunky ‘ midsection ’ unless you ’re sat at a middling wide slant to the screen . It does make the TV a slightly clunky - looking rampart - hang option , though .
Operating System
The 55MZ980 ’s voguish features and user interface mark potentially the swan song for Panasonic ’s proprietary My Home Screen system .
While I know that some referee do n’t get along with its simplistic design and relatively bumpkinly stage set of feature , I treasure how easy the eighth multiplication of My Home Screen is to use and customise , and have fiddling dubiousness that many even users will like its relatively aboveboard ( though certainly not basic ) approaching to substance determination and prioritisation .
Panasonic has decided it ’s time to move on , and will be shifting to a mixture of Amazon Fire TV andGoogle TVinterfaces for its next genesis of TVs .
The 55MZ980 ’s picture and sound set up menus are quite convoluted compared with its smart menus , but then it ’s arduous to kick too much about this when part of the reason they ’re so longwinded is that they contain a much foresightful range of enthusiast - friendly adjustment than most TVs deign to ply .
Features
look the right way away for reasons why the 55MZ980 is cheap than the 55MZ1500 reveals that while the cheaper model benefits from a fairly premium OLED EX panel , it does n’t get the MZ1500 ’s heat sink element .
This means it wo n’t be as bright as the step up models – a fact confirmed by measure peak brightness on a 10 % window of just over 704 nit , versus the 1000 + nits measured from the MZ1500 . Though it does poke at close to 800 nit with a much smaller 2 % window .
The 55MZ980 does n’t gain from theMicro Lens Array technologyused in Panasonic ’s current flagshipMZ2000series to deliver even more brightness than the MZ1500 .
The 55MZ980 ’s 4 K panel is powered by the same HCX Pro AI processor used in the more insurance premium MZ1500 and MZ2000 OLED offer . As its name suggest , this adds machine learning AI know how to the brand name ’s venerable HCX Pro system in its bid to optimise all view of pic quality , from coloring material and counterpoint through to clarity and motion .
The 55MZ980 also link up its more expensive siblings in corroborate all four of the key high dynamic range video formats : HDR10 , HLG , HDR10+andDolby Vision .
A build - in lightheaded sensor intend the 55MZ980 even offer the HDR10 + Adaptive andDolby Vision IQmodes , where the two exchange premium HDR formats accommodate their output based on the ambient light in a room . This excellently unpolitical glide slope to the man of HDR assure the TV will take in the dear version of any substance source you exhibit it with .
Also continuing down from the MZ2000 and MZ1500 is picture tune up input from renowned Hollywood colorist and founder of professional mastering studio Company 3 Stefan Sonnenfeld , and corroborate over two of the offer four HDMI ports for all the late gaming feature .
SoXbox Series X , PlayStation 5and microcomputer owners can enjoy 4 K at 120Hz , variable refresh rates including both the NVidia and AMD FreeSync data format , andauto low latencyswitching so the TV mechanically kick into its degraded reply Game modal value ( which gets stimulant dawdle down to a pretty good 14.5ms with 60Hz informant ) when a secret plan source is detected .
Gamers can also take vantage of a Game Control Board computer menu , register game - specific signal information and feature film , and choose between two audio configurations specifically configure for RPG and FPS game types .
While Panasonic ’s self - laud focus with itsOLED TVs(and its plasm ones before ) has long been to ‘ get Hollywood home plate ’ by trying to agree as close as possible the looking at film creatives achieve in professional mastering studios , the 55MZ980 actually has an admirably long array of picture presets that cater for an imposingly blanket range of viewing conditions and tastes . I ’m all in favour of such an open - minded approach to picture caliber .
Especially when the telecasting ’s most accurate style , True Cinema and the UHD Alliance - designedFilmmaker mode , are understandably labelled as such .
Picture Quality
Let ’s get the bad newsworthiness out of the way first : namely that the 55MZ980 really does reckon observably less vivid and dynamic than Panasonic ’s MZ1500 and , especially , MZ2000 do . This is not on the dot a surprisal , of class ; the clue ’s in its lower cost and luminance measurements .
But the reduction is arguably meaning enough to make the extra £ 200 needed to pace up to the 55MZ1500 smell like money well drop if you’re able to afford it . particularly if you typically find yourself catch goggle box in a brilliant room .
In almost every other regard , though , the 55MZ980 ’s pictures are really quite beautiful , sweating the little stuff in picture quality to the sorting of sumptuous , immersive level that professional colorist deploy while crafting filmmakers ’ visions .
The degree of light mastery from the 55MZ980 is in particular prima . While it ca n’t achieve the cleverness levels the MZ1500s can , its combination of special image analysis / discernment and salient control of organic light-emitting diode ’s self - emissive picture element delivers pictures that look punchier and more dynamic than our calculated light figures would conduct you to await .
Dark area of the picture bask cryptical , productive , natural and convincing smuggled tier at all clip , and benefit from spectacular delivery of the near black color and details that can cause a noisy headache to TVs with less granular control over their organic light-emitting diode picture element . Even the fainthearted shadow details always look intelligibly , cleanly and with just the correct arcdegree of weight – especially with the boob tube switched to one of its most cinematic picture presets .
As well as guarantee that you feel confident you ’re fancy every detail of a 4 K HDR skipper , no matter how modest or faint , the 55MZ980 ’s ability to annul fizz interference and black crush in the darkest country means that dark-skinned shots delight as much of a sensation of profundity as brilliant ones . This give to one of the most reproducible look at experiences I ’ve ever had . And there ’s nothing in the idiot box cosmos that contributes more to immersion in what you ’re watch out than consistency .
The 55MZ980 ’s supreme control over its OLED panel means that it really can deliver its rank brightest blossom pixels right alongside it absolute darkest black pixels , without a clue of compromise between the two . This is specially rightful with Dolby Vision author , but Panasonic ’s HDR tone mapping of HDR10 content is also so dead attuned to the screen ’s capabilities that every HDR source always finger like it ’s look as active as it maybe could on a TV with a 700 - 800 nit brightness demarcation .
The 55MZ980 ’s excellent light precision contributes , too , both to a beautifully lifelike sense of sharpness and detail with native 4 chiliad sources , and gorgeously balanced and naturalistic coloring . Panasonic ’s decades of experience working with both ego - emissive instrument panel and plastic film industriousness creatives feels irresistibly apparent in every peel tone , every dappled shade of woodland verdure , every metric grain of sand in a desert , every ghost of every hair on every nature documentary critter
alfresco of a couple of the 55MZ980 ’s most strong-growing presets , every tone is purpose with what find like total assurance and realness – and without any tone standing out too powerfully against the quietus .
The HCX Pro AI processor delivers some outstanding upscaling of sub-4 KiB sources , as well as cater an effective judder reduction organization with the relatively mild preferences of its Intelligent Frame Creation apparent movement processing locomotive .
As usual with OLED screens , the 55MZ980 ’s good viewing angles are pretty much infinite , and I was pleasantly surprise by how little its screenland was involve by reflection . A strength that facilitate takes the edge off the telecasting ’s relative want of cleverness .
There is one other flaw with the 55MZ980 ’s pictures beside their slight lack of luminousness : some occasional striping or banding over what should be smooth colour blends in HDR contentedness . This comes as a surprise give how well Panasonic ’s boob tube handles every other subtle depiction component – but luckily shots and scenes that get it are quite uncommon .
Sound Quality
The 55MZ980 ’s sound recording set up does n’t feature a advancing facing speaker array like Panasonic ’s MZ1500 ambit does . As a effect it does n’t deliver as much direct audio impact and way - filling ducking as its step - up sibling .
That does n’t intend it ’s really a big audio performer , . On the contrary , it typically sound rather good by regular 55 - inch television standards .
For one thing , it ’s capable of getting seriously loud – and it achieves this loudness without starting to sound brittle or overloaded until you get to a volume level well beyond anything most people will be well-fixed with .
It also has enough world power to combine its cutting meretriciousness with the power to throw sound effects and scoring a good length beyond the TV ’s left and proper side , make a convincingly large sound point . The 55MZ980 ’s sound recording processing even manages to father a thin good sense of some effect fare from above the screen when you ’re watch something with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack .
The utterer are tender enough to submit even the subtlest audio effects , but the auditory sensation processing is also aware enough to insure that insidious effects remain subtle rather than produce too much prominence .
There ’s a decent amount of bass profundity and exponent to underpin the 55MZ980 ’s speech sound , too , and this is typically delivered without aberration or crackling interference .
manlike voices can go slightly duncical and hummy from clock time to time , but neither this nor the want of forward protrusion stop the 55MZ980 from sound good enough to makeadding a soundbarsomething to consider at your leisure , rather than an exigent necessary .
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Should you buy it?
Your maximum budget is £ 1,550 and you want to get pictures that have the same kind of nuance and residue as a professional mastering monitor .
you may afford to mistreat up to the brighter MZ1500 chain of mountains , or you have a usually bright keep elbow room to repugn with .
Final Thoughts
The Panasonic 55MZ980 does n’t put on the same sort of blaze sparkle show that some of today ’s premium OLED telecasting do . A fact which perhaps make the step up 55MZ1500 look like a good time value stride - up alternative .
If £ 1600 is as far as your budget will elongate , the arresting subtlety , balance , naturalism and ( if you want it ) truth of the 55MZ1500 ’s pictures is moderately much impossible for serious home base cinema fans – the sort of mass who would n’t dream of watching a film without drawing the curtain or dimming down the light – not to love .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every television we review thoroughly over an extended period of prison term . We use industry received tests to compare feature film decently . We ’ll always distinguish you what we happen . We never , ever , accept money to review a product .
chance out more about how we test in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
The MZ980 range use premium EX panels , but do n’t gain from either passion sinkhole or micro lens regalia brightness - boost technologies .
This is Panasonic ’s proprietary scene processing locomotive , contain contributions from cinema industriousness experts and AI machine scholarship systems .
The 55MZ980 can sustain all four of the main HDR formats : HDR10 , HLG , HDR10 + , and Dolby Vision .
