Sorry, this will be long. I hope people find it useful.
A few quick points. This post isn’t about Dolby Vision IQ, which should be avoided due to undefeatable processing. This is about Panasonic’s wider DV implementation. I have a 55HZ1500 and Panasonic 820 BDP. All firmware is up to date. I’d imagine the below applies to earlier Panasonic OLED models, based on what I’ve read. With those observations out of the way…
After a good amount of viewing (and toggling Dolby Vision on and off on my BDP), I’ve concluded that Dolby Vision is best avoided on my HZ1500.
To start with, the frame drop issue mentioned in reviews only seems to happen with Dolby Vision content. I’ve seen frame drops in every DV film I’ve watched on this TV (some films more than others). I’ve never seen frame drops with any other kind of content. As far as I can tell, frame drops are strictly an issue with Dolby Vison playback.
Frame drops with DV aren’t as rare as reviews suggest, either. For instance, I saw about 20 frame drops watching The Fellowship of the Ring (extended). There are five frame drops in the opening sequence of The Shining. Watching UHD discs with Dolby Vision off, there isn’t a single frame drop. The issue goes away completely.
I think there’s another argument for avoiding Dolby Vision on Panasonic OLEDs, at least if you own a Panasonic 820 or 9000 BDP. There’s no adjustable tone mapping option for Dolby Vision content. Settings are fixed. Specular highlights are somewhat blown out with DV material. You only realise this after doing the following:
One last point on tone mapping. You can check what the BDP is outputting by pressing “playback info” twice on the remote. Peak brightness and average brightness numbers are identical with DV both on and off. This means you’re not losing brightness by switching DV off. Instead, disengaging Dolby Vision gives you greater balance across the contrast range.
Is there any disadvantage to switching DV off? I can think of an obvious one, which is that DV offers 12 bit colour, while HDR10 and HDR10+ offer only 10 bit. Can you tell the difference? Well, yes, but that difference is less pronounced than you’d think and, in my humble opinion, is outweighed by the gains I’ve described.
All things considered, then, I think it’s better to switch Dolby Vision off if you own both a Panasonic OLED and 820 or 9000 BDP. It’d be great if Panasonic fixed these Dolby Vision issues on their OLED TVs. Unless or until that happens, I think this is the best way for Panasonic OLED TV owners to view UHD material.
If you’ve read all of that, thanks for sticking with me. It’d be good to know what other people think, especially if they can experiment as I’ve done.
A few quick points. This post isn’t about Dolby Vision IQ, which should be avoided due to undefeatable processing. This is about Panasonic’s wider DV implementation. I have a 55HZ1500 and Panasonic 820 BDP. All firmware is up to date. I’d imagine the below applies to earlier Panasonic OLED models, based on what I’ve read. With those observations out of the way…
After a good amount of viewing (and toggling Dolby Vision on and off on my BDP), I’ve concluded that Dolby Vision is best avoided on my HZ1500.
To start with, the frame drop issue mentioned in reviews only seems to happen with Dolby Vision content. I’ve seen frame drops in every DV film I’ve watched on this TV (some films more than others). I’ve never seen frame drops with any other kind of content. As far as I can tell, frame drops are strictly an issue with Dolby Vison playback.
Frame drops with DV aren’t as rare as reviews suggest, either. For instance, I saw about 20 frame drops watching The Fellowship of the Ring (extended). There are five frame drops in the opening sequence of The Shining. Watching UHD discs with Dolby Vision off, there isn’t a single frame drop. The issue goes away completely.
I think there’s another argument for avoiding Dolby Vision on Panasonic OLEDs, at least if you own a Panasonic 820 or 9000 BDP. There’s no adjustable tone mapping option for Dolby Vision content. Settings are fixed. Specular highlights are somewhat blown out with DV material. You only realise this after doing the following:
- On your BDP (820 and 9000 only), switch Dolby Vision off and tone mapping on. Make sure the TV type selected in the BDP settings menu is OLED.
- On your Panasonic OLED, switch tone mapping off, so the BDP is doing all the work.
One last point on tone mapping. You can check what the BDP is outputting by pressing “playback info” twice on the remote. Peak brightness and average brightness numbers are identical with DV both on and off. This means you’re not losing brightness by switching DV off. Instead, disengaging Dolby Vision gives you greater balance across the contrast range.
Is there any disadvantage to switching DV off? I can think of an obvious one, which is that DV offers 12 bit colour, while HDR10 and HDR10+ offer only 10 bit. Can you tell the difference? Well, yes, but that difference is less pronounced than you’d think and, in my humble opinion, is outweighed by the gains I’ve described.
All things considered, then, I think it’s better to switch Dolby Vision off if you own both a Panasonic OLED and 820 or 9000 BDP. It’d be great if Panasonic fixed these Dolby Vision issues on their OLED TVs. Unless or until that happens, I think this is the best way for Panasonic OLED TV owners to view UHD material.
If you’ve read all of that, thanks for sticking with me. It’d be good to know what other people think, especially if they can experiment as I’ve done.