Aaaannnnndddd.... welcome back to another episode on this HDTVTest Youtube channel.
It's great to see you here, joining me on whatever it is we're trying to do within the
confines of this box... this is not VAR by the way.
I'm your host Vincent Teoh, and I'm a TV reviewer and professional calibrator.
Today we're taking a quick look at the Panasonic FZ952, also known as the FZ950 in Europe and
Australasia, which is the flagship OLED TV from the Japanese brand for the year 2018.
This is the 65-inch version, model number TX-65FZ952B which is the UK set with Freeview
Play, but it also comes in a smaller 55-inch screen size.
What differentiates the FZ952 from the more affordable FZ802 or FZ800 are two things.
One, there's a Technics-tuned soundbar on the FZ952, similar to the one found on last
year's flagship EZ1000 or EZ1002...
Panasonic calls it Dynamic Blade Speaker.
This delivers superior sound quality to the inbuilt speakers on the FZ802.
Two, the Panasonic FZ952 comes with a more premium remote with brushed metallic silver
finish, which can be backlit with one click of a button in the dark.
A Smart remote is also provided, but like the game show, it's pointless.
Before we move on to talk about picture quality, I'd like to take a moment to thank UK electrical
retailer Crampton and Moore for sponsoring this video.
They sometimes loan me TVs to review, and they also know their TV products very well
and so can give you unbiased, independent advice for your purchase.
If you're interested in buying a new TV, even if it's not this Panasonic FZ952, please support
this channel by supporting our sponsor.
Call Crampton and Moore on 01302 365760 and ask for Richard, and he will take care of you
with great price and service.
Thanks again for your support.
After running our comprehensive array of tests and measurements on the FZ952, I can tell
you that the picture quality is identical to that delivered by the step-down FZ802...
any difference is going to be caused by panel-to-panel variation.
So rather than go through the same things I went through in my review of the Panasonic
FZ802, I will give an indepth summary of the strengths and weaknesses of Panasonic's 2018
OLED televisions including this 65-inch FZ952.
Strength number one is undoubtedly its colour accuracy, both out of the box and also after calibration,
in both SDR and in HDR.
As you can see from this colour checker SG chart where we measure 140 different colour
patches, which is more demanding than the 6-point or 24-point colour checker charts
that many other technical publications measure, you can see yourself that none of the 140 measured
colour patches exhibited inaccuracy that exceeded delta error three, the commonly accepted humanly
perceptible threshold for moving video content.
In fact, the average delta error across 140 different measurements on our review unit was only 0.67, the
lowest we've recorded on a consumer OLED to date.
Now this is in SDR, let me show you the HDR colour checker SG chart which I rarely measure
because it's usually all over the place.
Look at this, this is a stunning level of colour accuracy, with no errors above three
if you exclude white which has a higher error because it takes into account luminance, and
we know that current OLED TVs still cannot reach 1000 nits on a 10% window after calibration.
Until LG and Portrait Displays fix their 3D LUT Autocal problems, the Panasonic 2018 OLEDs
deliver the most realistic and natural colours for all types of content on a consumer television.
Strength number two is HDR10 static metadata tone-mapping.
As I've explained numerous times before, tonemapping is needed to display 1000-nit or even 4000-nit
HDR content on a television with lower peak brightness. Our 65in FZ952 reached a peak
brightness of 700 nits on a 10% window after calibrating to D65 white point.
As you can see from these PQ EOTF tracking charts, the Panasonic FZ952 modifies its tone-curve
appropriately depending on the static metadata, striking an excellent balance between maintaining
overall brightness and preserving specular highlight detail without introducing excessive
posterisation or colour striping.
Sony's tone-mapping algorithm used to clip a lot of highlight detail, but now after they've adjusted the algorithm, it can look
a bit dark.
Samsung's is generally too bright unless they wait to fix the overbright EOTF issue with a firmware
update, and there's also more posterisation unless you use [Digital Clean View] which
can reduce fine detail and film grain.
LG's dynamic tone-mapping is good but inconsistent, sometimes it's too bright, sometimes it's
too dark, and gradation isn't as smooth as the Panasonic.
Among the big 4 TV brands in the UK - LG, Samsung, Sony & Panasonic - I like Panasonic's HDR10 static metadata tone-mapping
the most.
Strength number 3 is low input lag for gaming...
Panasonic has lowered lag time even further to 22ms in both SDR and HDR modes, and the
bonus is that you can get extremely accurate colours too when playing games, because you
can enable [Game Mode] directly inside any picture preset... let's say ISF Night or True
Cinema.. which has been professionally calibrated.
Now that we've covered the key strengths of the Panasonic FZ952, let's talk about some
weaknesses.
There's definitely some black crush going on even in the most accurate picture mode
out of the box, maybe Panasonic thinks it's better to sacrifice some shadow detail than
to expose the near-black noise and posterisation that is typical of consumer OLED television.
A skilled calibrator like myself can reduce the black crush using a combination of the
TV's Brightness setting & also the newly-implemented 2.5IRE and 5IRE gamma controls, but out of the box, Sony's
A1 or AF8 OLEDs are better at correctly showing shadow detail without excessive fizziness,
thanks to Sony's superior near-black gradation.
Another weak point on Panasonic OLEDs is the occasional motion stutter with certain frame
rates and Intelligent Frame Creation or IFC setting, an issue which has been present since the
introduction of the HCX processor, an issue which has proven very difficult for Panasonic
to nail down and eradicate completely.
After the latest firmware update of 3.052 on our FZ952 review unit, the stutter is very
rare, it's very subtle... in fact many owners may not even spot it... but it is actually
still there, and will be most obvious during slow movements in a cloudy or foggy scene,
for example this one from Planet Earth 2.
But the biggest factor that may put prospective buyers off purchasing a Panasonic OLED is definitely
the lack of Dolby Vision.
Some may argue that vanilla HDR10 is good enough, and you don't need Dolby Vision.
Ok, let's take one step back and think for a minute.
HDR10 is static metadata where there's one set of metadata for the entire movie, while
Dolby Vision is dynamic metadata where more information can be fed to the TV on a scene-by-scene
or even frame-by-frame basis to accurately portray the creator's intent.
If dynamic metadata is not better than static metadata, then why is Panasonic and Samsung
pursuing HDR10+, the open-standard dynamic metadata format?
Now if you can start accepting that dynamic metadata is better than static metadata, then the choice
is between HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.
And at the time I filmed this video in July 2018... I know this month I've been a bit slack because of the World Cup going on... Dolby Vision is by far more widely available
to the general public... it's on Netflix, it's on Apple TV 4K box, it's on 4K Blu-rays.
I cannot find a single piece of HDR10+ content, available to consumers, where I can say, right,
this is definitely, 100% HDR10+, and if you compare side-by-side against HDR10, you can
see the improvements here, here and here.
Even on Amazon Prime Video where all HDR programmes are supposed to be delivered in HDR10+ format on
compatible televisions, there is currently no logo, no sign, no notification to say that you,
the viewer, are actually getting HDR10+.
Which brings us back to Dolby Vision which is the most widely available dynamic metadata
format.
I've heard some technical reviewers and even professional calibrators claiming there's little to no difference between
Dolby Vision and HDR10.
Well, how many of them have compared two TVs at the same time, using two OPPO 203 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players,
or have broadband connection fast enough to support two separate Netflix UHD streams?
How many of them are stupid or mad enough to buy two copies of the same movie, even if it's
Power Rangers?
Here I'm going to use Earth: One Amazing Day as an example.
It's the first documentary available in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos I believe... a producer
at the BBC has been kind enough to send me two copies of the 4K Blu-ray for this comparison,
so thanks a lot Stephen.
The screen on your left is the Panasonic FZ952 displaying it in HDR10, the screen on your
right is an LG C8 displaying it in Dolby Vision.
Some will complain that this comparison is not valid, it's not even using the same TV,
but that's the reality facing Panasonic OLED owners, that's what you're going to get when
you watch this disc...
HDR10 static metadata... even if the FZ952 has the best HDR10 tone-mapping on the market.
And in this snakes versus iguana sequence, the Dolby Vision presentation to my eyes just has more depth and pop,
retaining the colour fidelity on the pebbles, whereas the HDR10 presentation
looks more washed out, with the colours on the pebbles turning white.
Maybe you can adjust the EOTF and colour management controls on the Panasonic to match the Dolby
Vision presentation, but the match will only hold true for this specific scene, and not in another
darker or brighter scene.
And that's the beauty of dynamic metadata... the video source contains information that
allows a compatible TV to use the correct tone-curve for any particular scene within
the display's capabilities, and we haven't even started talking about ICtCp colour space
yet.
Is the difference between Dolby Vision and HDR10 night and day?
Well it depends on where you're coming from... an AV enthusiast like me is always chasing
the nth degree of perfection, wanting the best viewing experience...
I'm just a grumpy old perfectionist.
I believe dynamic metadata is better than static metadata, and at this moment in time,
I can easily find more Dolby Vision content than HDR10+ content, and that's all there is to it.
Right, I don't know how I managed to turn a review of this Panasonic FZ952 into a Dolby
Vision vs HDR10 comparison, but if you're deciding between the FZ952 and the cheaper FZ802, know that the picture
quality is the same, and if you buy the FZ952, you're paying more for the Technics-tuned soundbar and premium
remote control.
On account of class-leading colour accuracy, the Panasonic TX-65FZ952B earns our "Highly
Recommended" award.
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