OPINION : Mid - way through 2023 when Panasonic launched its full television line - up , I wrote about how it was a sensitive estimation to offer a reach ofdifferent interface to appeal to customers .
niggling did I get laid then that the introduction of its first Fire television receiver good example was a precursor to the Nipponese electronics manufacturer adding Fire TV to its 2024 flagship OLED . Panasonic may not be quite the mover and mover and shaker it once was in the TV populace having withdrawn from North America and other territories , but this is still self-aggrandizing news .
My abode Screen was its own bespoke smart port – tailored to be a simple affair , one that avoided the complicatedness of others . The demarcation between it and Amazon ’s Fire TV is Brobdingnagian , and as I mentioned before CES 2024 , thefocus on UIs grow ever more each year .
Surely this should be viewed as a win for both side , right ? And yet , there ’s something nag me . Maybe I ’m a perennial pessimist , first withartificial intelligence activity in my sights , and now Panasonic / Amazon ’s collaboration .
While it ’s a smart move for Panasonic , and one it arguably should have made earlier , there are potential proceeds that justify a mention .
allow me flesh out the serious degree before I get to my concerns .
The first positive is that this team up with Amazon gives Panasonic all the apps it was miss . reexamination after review , I wrote that My Home Screen ’s range of apps covered all the big streaming video gas – Netflix , Prime Video , Apple TV+,Disney+ – but in other surface area it was skint , like someone empty their pockets to find nothing but cobwebs and penny .
This union pass on the company everything it was missing . The Z95A and Z93A OLEDs now have an overfilling closet full of apps that covers sport , medicine , news program , games , and more besides . It also throws Alexa in the mix – the world ’s most popular interpreter assistant – built - in and accessible through the remote or far - sphere microphone . If you manage about smarts , Panasonic ’s TVs are now on a similar level as other brands .
The move to Fire TV also builds on the Modern features Panasonic introduce in late twelvemonth . Amazon ’s Fire TV Ambient Experience replaces My Scenery easy enough . Panasonic ’s own computer menu system seems to have been exchange ( though I have a slight business organization about that ) , and of course , there ’s the upside for Amazon .
As mentioned by Steve May in his preview of theZ95A for this site , this is the first unfeignedly high - end Fire telecasting on the market place , the user interface mated to a TV serial that ’s won ourbest telly awardon more than a few occasions . In short , Amazon has partner with TV excellency .
While this matrimony is convenient however , there are the issues I have , and they ’re most if not all concerned with Fire telecasting itself . If these tv set office like other Fire TVs , you will need an Amazon Prime subscription to make the most of the experience – although you’re able to place - up a spare report and revel the other apps on offer .
If you ’re already an Amazon Prime customer then no worries . If not , then Panasonic ’s OLEDs have gone from an port that was accessible as before long as the TV power on , to one where you ’ll call for to make an news report for it . Not everyone wants to be tie into another service with more passwords to remember .
The next issue is that the Fire TV interface could benefit from another makeover . When the newfangled Fire TV Experience first arrived , I think it was well than what came before ( I can hardly remember the previous embodiment ) .
A few class later on and there ’s an untidiness about Fire TV that seems to jam discovering content through any substance other than Alexa . Scrolling through untold rows of substance is a chore but Alexa can do it for you . After all , why hunt when you may employ your vocalisation and Alexa will see it ? Want to open an app – use Alexa . There are two different Fire TV experience – one with Alexa and one without .
To be fair , Alexa is ready and reactive , but there are times where I like to go off the beaten way and not have titles waved in front of me . If there ’s a fault about AI helper , it ’s that their cognition of you is based on past behaviour . They can never foreknow the humour you ’re in , so you ’ll be served a alike set of titles unless you switch it up , and the only path AI help seem able to aid is to give them unfettered access to all the TV services you practice .
Another result ? Fire TV is a relentless plugger of all things Prime Video andFreevee , almost to the expulsion of other cyclosis platform .
Fire video is , after all , Amazon ’s platform ; so it ’s well within its right to flex its sword muscles , but when you look at Roku orSky ’s Entertainment group O , there ’s a democratization that allows you distinguish new things alternatively of being boxed into Prime Video . That does n’t imply I wo n’t find out what ’s on Prime Video , but I do n’t like being fenced in .
Then there ’s Fire television receiver / Prime Video ’s disconnected personality , proffer pick from pelt services , programme that you may buy unlimited or other titles that you may rent ; as well as all the other additional channels that require an additional subscription . It ’s a gated streaming community that becomes confusing when you ’re just looking for something , anything to watch over . snap on a title and find it ’s lock behind a paywall is thwarting , and Fire TV is not the only one guilty of this sinning .
The terminal , perhaps least important issue , is the computer menu setting . While Panasonic ’s menu were canonical , they allowed for fine tuning . Will they be same or as in - profundity ? As this moment in meter , I ’m not too indisputable .
Panasonic will get deal of benefits , Fire TV is an port that does a lot – at times too much . The move from My Home Screen to Fire tv set is ( with some irony ) a saltation from a simple user interface to one that ’s more complicated , so it ’s a chic move to a level , but it could finish up being two steps forward and one step back .
