Panasonic 55 inch LX650 Android TV with Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and Voice Control, Compatible with Ok Google and Alexa

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The LZ980 turns out to be a seriously good gaming screen too. Its immaculate light and colour control joins with Panasonic’s new-found sharpness and improved motion performance to play beautifully with even the most challenging and cutting-edge game graphics. The TV is pleasingly responsive, too, in its Game mode, getting input lag down to a very respectable if not world-beating 14.2ms with 1080p 60Hz content. Gaming mode ensures top-level performance with compatibility for the newest console generation and PC The sharpness and detailing is particularly striking, as this feels like the single biggest area of improvement over Panasonic OLEDs of the past. And to be clear, stunning though it looks, this new-found crispness does not look in the slightest bit forced. Rather it just appears to be the natural result of the image’s ability to bring out every last drip of subtlety a good source contains. Total purity, in other words.

Percentage luminance drop at 35 degree horizontal angle from the centre of the screen with 100% white output This feature highlights, too, the LZ980’s exceptional spread of HDR support. While many TV brands still only support either Dolby Vision or HDR10+, all of Panasonic’s OLED TVs support both. So no matter what sources you play, you can rest assured that the LZ980 will always be able to receive the best version available.

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Percentage luminance drop at 20 degree vertical angle from the centre of the screen with 100% white output Starting out by looking at the LZ980 in its most ‘accurate’ modes, the amount of subtlety, balance and detail it manages to eke out of even the toughest sources is as spectacular in its own lovable way as the most aggressively bright, explosively colourful and over-sharpened experiences available elsewhere. The consistency with which the LZ980 handles and balances all of the many elements that go into a great picture is also a joy to behold. It’s this consistency, in fact, that ultimately joins its cheaper price in winning us to the TX-55LZ980B’s cause slightly ahead of Sony’s also fantastic (full review coming soon) XR-55A80K.

Shifting attention to the 55DX650's rear, the set sports a solid rather than spectacular set of connections. Three HDMIs will provide the main port of call for most external sources – although you should note that only two of these HDMIs are equipped with HDCP 2.2 anti-piracy protocols, and the capability to play 4K at up to 60 frames a second. Connectivity Subtitles and audio description information displayed on electronic programme guide programme bannerHowever, the LZ980 can get pleasingly loud without suffering distortion or harshness, and while the sound might not project forward, its soundstage spreads impressively far to the left and right. There’s even a vague sense of height to the sound ‘wall’ with Atmos sources too, and vocals are impressively clear and convincing even during dense action scene moments.

Firefox is also one of the most attractive, customisable and intuitive smart TV systems available. A full review of Firefox TV can be found here. When a Bluetooth device is connected to the TV, it is possible that the Bluetooth audio output may not be synchronized (i.e. be delayed) with relation to the images on the screen. This is not a defect of the TV or the device. The delay time will differ depending on the device. For starters, while it may not benefit from one of Panasonic’s Master OLED or Master OLED Pro panels, it does still carry Panasonic’s latest HCX Pro AI processor – a processor tuned with the help of Hollywood creatives alongside Panasonic’s own decades of experience with screen technologies. Max light output HDR (high dynamic range) while displaying a live scene and white square taking up 10% of the screen (measured in Nits) It doesn’t harm the sense of clarity and detail, either, that the LZ980 delivers better motion performance than any previous Panasonic OLED TV generation. This is true regardless of whether you prefer to ‘go native’ without any image processing, or you call in Panasonic’s motion processing on its low setting to take the edge off the 24p judder.

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Energy consumption XYZ kWh per year, based on the power consumption of the television operating 4 hours per day for 365 days. The actual energy consumption will depend on how the television is used. Also potentially simplifying your route to optimal HDR pictures is the LZ980’s support for both the Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive systems. This sees the two premium HDR formats drawing on measurements taken by a built-in light sensor to deliver images continually adjusted in response to ambient light conditions so that they maintain a consistent level of HDR impact. Max light output HDR (high dynamic range) while displaying small white square taking up 60% of the screen (measured in Nits) I’d also recommend leaving Panasonic’s Intelligent Frame Creation processing turned off for most types of content. The ‘mid’ and ‘max’ settings cause noticeable artefacts.

Subtitle and audio description information spoken on the electronic programme guide more info panel Percentage luminance drop at 20 degree vertical angle from the centre of the screen with 50% white outputHID (Human Interface Device Profile) compliant keyboards are available. A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) compliant audio devices are available. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Panasonic Corporation is under license. Subtitles and audio description information displayed on electronic programme guide more info panel Following plenty of trial and error across multiple source types, here are my settings for best all-round results. There are a couple of areas where the LZ980 comes up a little short of more expensive rivals – including more expensive Panasonic OLED models. In particular, it’s not as bright and vibrant in any preset mode with either full screen bright HDR footage or peak HDR highlight areas as QD OLED TVs or OLED models that use heat sink technologies. The lower contrast and brightness of the LZ980 panel versus Panasonic’s more premium OLED TVs will, presumably, limit how closely it can get to achieving the brand’s oft-stated ambitions of delivering pictures as closely matched as possible to those created on professional mastering monitors. Experience suggests, though, that Panasonic’s Hollywood-tuner processing should still help the LZ980 get closer to that director’s-intent goal than most if not all rivals at the same price.