Another week and another TV launch, as Panasonic unfurled its banners and presented a preview of its 2024 range.
And despite rumours circulating that perhaps Panasonic wasn’t as interested in the TV market as it has been in the past, it brought out its entire range of models for the UK and Europe at a preview event in Dusseldorf, including its flagship Z95A OLED TV all the way down to its HD Ready 24-inch model.
As has been previously announced, Panasonic has teamed up with Amazon to provide Fire TV across its premium TVs, which means its My Home Screen interface has been quitetly shuffled off to a peaceful sleep, especially as the remainder of Panasonic’s TVs will take up either Google TV or TiVO depending on where you’re based.
Both the Z95A and Z93A will feature Panasonic’s HCX Pro AI Processor MKII, which appears to be a big enough jump to allow each model to support Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail; a feature that until now only certain LG OLEDs were powerful enough to support.
There’s also the 360 Soundscape Pro, which has been tuned by the expertes over at Technics to ensure “immersive 3D surround sound” from a flatscreen TV.
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More OLEDs appear (five in total) with the Z90A, Z85A, and Z80A. The first model includes the Master OLED Pro panel and the same processing that’s found in the flagship mode. The Z85A comes with 120Hz refresh rate, and the advanced MkII HCX Pro AI processor.
The step down Z80A is, we believe, more of a standard WRGB OLED TV, and gets the less powerful HCX Processor. While prices haven’t announced yet, we’d expect this model to hit a fairly affordable price for an OLED.
Next up are the LED models, of which the W95A tops the range. This is effectively replacing the MX950 from 2023 with its Mini LED panel for a brighter image, and better processing with the MkII processor onboard. Like with the OLEDs the Fire TV interface is built-in, enabling Alexa voice control, and you get premium game features too, with the 144Hz Game Mode Extreme (for PC gamers) and the colour accurate True Game mode.
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The W90A is a Full Array Local Dimming (FALD) model, keeping the same processor and gaming features as the model above.
We swiftly move onto the W80 and W60, the former supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats, as well as the colour accurate Filmmaker mode; with Fire TV build into this model to offer a wide range of streaming options. The W60 is powered by TiVo, and will offer just as wide a streaming experience with its comprehensive line-up of content.
Lastly, there’s the HD models in the S55/S50, S45/S40 and N30. The top S-series models come with Fire TV built-in, with the step down models get TiVo. If you choose to get the N40, this is primarily a TV to watch TV on and doesn’t come with smart features.
Pricing and availability haven’t been revealed yet, but we’d imagine Panasonic’s latest line-up will launch towards the summer months as has been the case for the last several years.
