Panasonic will launch four OLED TV ranges in 2019 – GZ2000, GZ1500, GZ1000, and GZ950. All four OLED ranges will support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The company is also adding Dolby Atmos to the mix.

Panasonic 2019 OLED TVs
At CES 2019 last month, Panasonic unveiled its GZ2000 flagship OLED TV for 2019. At the annual launch event in Frankfurt, the company has revealed three additional OLED TV ranges, GZ1500, GZ1000, and GZ950.

Panasonic touts GZ2000 as the “world’s most cinematic TV”, saying that it brings “Hollywood to your home”. The company explains that it has developed a new more powerful ‘HCX Pro Intelligent’ video processor and partnered with Hollywood colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld for color fine-tuning. The good news is that most of these features, including Sonnenfeld’s fine-tuning, will also be included in the more affordable OLED TV models.



Panasonic confirms that GZ1500, GZ1000, and GZ950 will be equipped with the HCX Pro processor and that all 2019 OLED TVs will support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, the two premium HDR video formats that utilize dynamic metadata to optimize HDR on a scene-by-scene basis. The TVs will also support the HDR10, HLG, and HLG Photo formats.

- “While the GZ2000 boasts a bespoke Professional Edition 4K OLED panel exclusively customised by Panasonic R&D engineers, all OLED models including the GZ950, GZ1000 and GZ1500 have state-of-the-art picture processing courtesy of the HCX PRO Intelligent processor – the most powerful ever made by Panasonic. They also all support HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG and HLG Photo, ensuring complete  compatibility with all current commercially available HDR formats,” said Panasonic.



Panasonic has high hopes for its new TVs, especially the GZ2000 flagship. It has repeatedly said that it sees OLED as a worthy successor to its much-acclaimed plasma TVs as pixel-by-pixel luminance control allows the displays to reproduce stunning SDR and HDR picture quality. Panasonic uses OLED panels from LG Display but points out that GZ2000 has a custom panel.

The 2019 Panasonic OLED TVs will go up against OLED TVs from LG, Philips, Sony and others. LG has full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports in its 2019 models, along with certain HDMI 2.1 features. Panasonic has confirmed one HDMI 2.1 feature, specifically ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) that enables the TVs to automatically switch to game mode when loading a console game.



Adds Dolby Atmos to the mix
In addition, all of the OLED TVs will be compatible with Dolby Atmos, which is Dolby’s object-based audio technology that delivers a more immersive listening experience.  

They will not include the up-firing speaker system found in GZ2000 but will have “sound systems equipped for Dolby Atmos”. The company explains that GZ1500 has a built-in soundbar (Blade Speaker) in the base while GZ1000 and GZ950 have hidden 50W speakers. The TVs support standard HDMI ARC but not eARC. Is this enough to deliver on the Atmos promise? We will hopefully find out later today in Frankfurt.



The company also highlighted a redesigned user interface as part of version 4.0 of My Home Screen. It explains that “the layout of the home screen can be reconfigured to allow customized layouts” and that “access to VOD and broadcast content is also easier thanks to a redesigned GUI that includes icons for decks that provide shortcuts to live TV, connected devices and apps such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube”. FlatpanelsHD will be taking a closer look at the new stuff later today.

All four TV ranges will also have a built-in twin tuner for recording, WiFi, Bluetooth, HbbTV, and four HDMI ports. 

Panasonic GZ2000, GZ1500, GZ1000 and GZ950 will all be available in 65 and 55-inch sizes. Availability and pricing details were not announced but we expect the new OLED TVs to become available sometime in the first half of 2019.

Panasonic 2019 OLED TVs - specifications
 Panasonic GZ2000 OLED:
- 65 and 55 inches
- 4K OLED Processional Edition panel
- OLED Superb Motion Drive
- Multi HDR support (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision & HLG Photo)
- HCX Pro Intelligent Processor
- Dolby Atmos
- 140W Sound Field Creation speakers + up-firing units
- 4x HDMI (ARC + ALLM)
- my Home Screen 4.0
- Twin tuner
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Voice assistant compatible

Panasonic GZ1500 OLED:
- 65 and 55 inches
- 4K OLED panel with Absolute Black Filter
- OLED Superb Motion Drive
- Multi HDR support (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision & HLG Photo)
- HCX Pro Intelligent Processor
- Dolby Atmos
- 50W Blade speaker
- 4x HDMI (ARC + ALLM)
- my Home Screen 4.0
- Twin tuner
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Voice assistant compatible

Panasonic GZ1000 OLED:
- 65 and 55 inches
- 4K OLED panel with Absolute Black Filter
- OLED Superb Motion Drive
- Multi HDR support (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision & HLG Photo)
- HCX Pro Intelligent Processor
- Dolby Atmos
- 50W speakers
- 4x HDMI (ARC + ALLM)
- my Home Screen 4.0
- Twin tuner
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Voice assistant compatible

Panasonic GZ950 OLED:
- 65 and 55 inches
- 4K OLED panel with Absolute Black Filter
- OLED Superb Motion Drive
- Multi HDR support (HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Vision & HLG Photo)
- HCX Pro Intelligent Processor
- Dolby Atmos
- 50W speakers
- 4x HDMI (ARC + ALLM)
- my Home Screen 4.0
- Twin tuner
- WiFi and Bluetooth
- Voice assistant compatible