Panasonic FZ952/ FZ950 (TX-65FZ952B) Review & Comments

@Phil Hinton I take from the review you feel the Panasonic FZ952 has 'a smidge' :D more Natural and cinematic image to the LG C8. Is this when playing SDR, HDR and Dynamic HDR? or does the C8 playing DV bring it to the Level of accuracy equal to the FZ952?
 
@Phil Hinton I take from the review you feel the Panasonic FZ952 has 'a smidge' :D more Natural and cinematic image to the LG C8. Is this when playing SDR, HDR and Dynamic HDR? or does the C8 playing DV bring it to the Level of accuracy equal to the FZ952?
With all content and no, the C8 doesn't match, even with Dolby Vision content.
 
Excellent review... now I've recently bought my ez952 (at long last) are there any major differences between this and the fz..?? Mainly in the picture quality..
Wondering if I should have waited but ez was too good a price.
Many thanks
 
... same with me, got my 55' EZ950 for 1550 € (1366 £) in december in France, and all I have read so far on the new 2018 range, doesn't make me regret not waiting for the new range, since no review speaks about a night and day difference, and the 2018 equivalent of the 2017 EZ950, the FZ800, comes with only one and much cheaper remote (contrary to the FZ950 that has the same remotes as our EZ950...) ...:D
 
Many thanks for the review @Phil Hinton. Can I ask how you feel it deals with colour banding and compression artefacts from the likes of streaming sources, and how it compares against Sony's smooth gradation and the c8 in this regard?
 
Phil, can you say whether you had f/w 3.052 on board? This has been reported elsewhere as fixing the slight black crushing that you mentioned (and improve stutter).
 
No doubt an excellent television. However, Panasonic's aftersales is a disgrace and I would discount this flagship from the running for that reason. With competing OLEDs so similar it's not worth the risk.
 
Many thanks for the review @Phil Hinton. Can I ask how you feel it deals with colour banding and compression artefacts from the likes of streaming sources, and how it compares against Sony's smooth gradation and the c8 in this regard?
In accurate picture modes (or calibrated mode) no issues to report with any of those points, it is excellent just like the Sony and LG. LG's version of smooth gradation is also part of the noise reduction suite so I don't use it. Didn't see any issues with the FZ952 to make me think I needed a specific setting and the Sony very good in this regard. They really all are very similar performance wise.
 
Phil, can you say whether you had f/w 3.052 on board? This has been reported elsewhere as fixing the slight black crushing that you mentioned (and improve stutter).
I can't say as the TV went back last week. I'll have the FZ802 soon so will double check then.
 
Pricewise, there is currently a massive difference between the OLED65C8 and the 65FZ952 - in favour of the C8. The 65FZ952 will cost me £3799 (RS with voucher code), but the OLED65C8 just £2399 (C&M £2999 with instant £100 off and LG's £500 Cash-back). Even comparing the 65FZ802, there's a grand difference in price - £3399 (RS with voucher).
Heart says Panasonic; head says LG! Tough call.
 
Pricewise, there is currently a massive difference between the OLED65C8 and the 65FZ952 - in favour of the C8. The 65FZ952 will cost me £3799 (RS with voucher code), but the OLED65C8 just £2399 (C&M £2999 with instant £100 off and LG's £500 Cash-back). Even comparing the 65FZ802, there's a grand difference in price - £3399 (RS with voucher).
Heart says Panasonic; head says LG! Tough call.

Panasonic.
 
When are these companies going to grow out of the practise of not giving their TVs entirely full-fat HDMI ports? Does it really save that much?

My LG has four and I use them all to their full capacity.
 
Thank you for the excellent review Phil.I have been looking forward to this since you talked about it in the podcast.
Panasonic certainly know how to give you that truly stunning cinematic picture (colour accuracy) above the rest. :smashin: Something I always loved with my now long gone ZT plasma..

I will be adding one of these to my set up soon. :D
 
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Great review Phil.

Glad to see Panasonic is still fighting to stay in/ahead of the game.
I was concerned when they pulled out of the US (and with the stutter niggles in 2017) that they may be leaving Europe soon too, but from what you have said, it certainly sounds like they are still top of the game regarding image/color accuracy.

It will be interesting to see how DV pans out.
Last year I'll admit that it was a must for me, but as more DV reviewers report only very slight improvement (while on paper it sounded like a no brainer to require it at the time) its maybe not the must have I once thought (especially if the tv has other features that excel compared to the competition).
It would be nice if they allowed Dolby Atmos pass-through from onboard apps though as it sounds like they wont budge on DV - see what CES '19 brings.
 
With all content and no, the C8 doesn't match, even with Dolby Vision content.

@Phil Hinton I take from the review you feel the Panasonic FZ952 has 'a smidge' :D more Natural and cinematic image to the LG C8. Is this when playing SDR, HDR and Dynamic HDR? or does the C8 playing DV bring it to the Level of accuracy equal to the FZ952?

Nice review So a smidge means slight ? . Your response suggests more of a smidge ? What makes the FZ more natural is it the more subtle color tones ?. that is what i noticed when i spent some time with the LG C8, Panny FZ802 AND Sony AF8 in the same room playing HDR movies on an Oppo 203.

Overall details of the C8 and Panny where very difficult to separate when watching Revenant and the newer Spiderman HDR discs. Both where on their respective best modes cinema user on the LG and Professional on the Panny. The Sony was just a little to dark for my liking and coming from a Flagship Panny plasma i do like a darker image so needed more time with the sony to adjust.

The LG did have a more impactful HDR image with its more vibrant colors without it looking unnatural compared to the more subtle colors of the Panny. What i did notice on Spiderman was that even though the LG is supposed to have the higher nit count than the Panny It had A nice contrast balance meaning it looked slightly darker, in a good way than the Panny which showed more details on the buildings not sure if that was down hours on the tv and being out of the box settings. Maybe it was the Tone mapping of the LG dimming the picture to improve details i don't know. Both looked amazing to my eyes. I am a Panasonic man and always take picture quality over user menu etc. I recently bought a LG65B7 temporarily for the world cup, while waiting on the FZ802. But with its webos and DV and most important a great image it will be a difficult choice to go for the Fz range.
 
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Pricewise, there is currently a massive difference between the OLED65C8 and the 65FZ952 - in favour of the C8. The 65FZ952 will cost me £3799 (RS with voucher code), but the OLED65C8 just £2399 (C&M £2999 with instant £100 off and LG's £500 Cash-back). Even comparing the 65FZ802, there's a grand difference in price - £3399 (RS with voucher).
Heart says Panasonic; head says LG! Tough call.

There's no way the panny is worth £1000 extra over the C8, get the C8 and get it calibrated and pocket the £700 safe in the knowledge you wouldn't be able to tell the difference without them side by side
 
Not really directly related to the TV but it doesn't say much for hdr10+ if you need an indication to come up on screen that your watching the hdr10+ version in order to know. What's the point of it if it's not obvious just from watching the content? I guess dynamic metadata really isn't all it's cracked up to be...
 
Pricewise, there is currently a massive difference between the OLED65C8 and the 65FZ952 - in favour of the C8. The 65FZ952 will cost me £3799 (RS with voucher code), but the OLED65C8 just £2399 (C&M £2999 with instant £100 off and LG's £500 Cash-back). Even comparing the 65FZ802, there's a grand difference in price - £3399 (RS with voucher).
Heart says Panasonic; head says LG! Tough call.

There's no way the panny is worth £1000 extra over the C8, get the C8 and get it calibrated and pocket the £700 safe in the knowledge you wouldn't be able to tell the difference without them side by side

The C8 has been out in retail stores for well over 2 months now and the FZ952/802 has been out for 1 month max. We all know when the best times to buy a TV are in terms of price, Black friday week, Boxing day clearances and April-May 'Reduced to clear' for best prices.

If your buying now The C8 is at a great price! But its not a 1 time offer it will be the same if not better on these dates

If you want the Panasonic just hold fire for Panasonic and retailers to offer deals. The FZ802 Price will match the C8 and the FZ952 will match the E8 I think.
 
I’m another person to recently get the EZ952. The one thing I would like to see improve is reflectivity. Apparently the FZ has a black filter that avoids the magenta reflections. But there is no mention of that.

To anyone considering an EZ, the reflectivity is actually OK, but everything else is so good that it just isn’t to the same standard.
 
@Phil Hinton thank you for the much awaited review. However, I am very surprised that you have drawn no comparisons with last year’s EZ1002B. I am quite sure that most of us here would like to understand what technological advancements have been made by Panasonic over last years’s EZ1002B which was also reviewed to be the most accurate “Prosumer” TV. Considering last year’s model was even embraced by mastering studios in Hollywood as a replacement to the very small screen Sony BVM X-300, I personally feel it was very, very essential to bring about this comparison. What makes this comparison all the more important and relevant is also due to the fact that EZ1002B was launched at £6999 whilst FZ952B has been launched at £3999. How did Panasonic manage to design a more superior TV at such a reduced price? Or is the FZ952B not as good as last year’s EZ1002B? So, whilst an absolute review that you have done is welcome, it did need a comparison with EZ1002B.
 
@Phil Hinton thank you for the much awaited review. However, I am very surprised that you have drawn no comparisons with last year’s EZ1002B. I am quite sure that most of us here would like to understand what technological advancements have been made by Panasonic over last years’s EZ1002B which was also reviewed to be the most accurate “Prosumer” TV. Considering last year’s model was even embraced by mastering studios in Hollywood as a replacement to the very small screen Sony BVM X-300, I personally feel it was very, very essential to bring about this comparison. What makes this comparison all the more important and relevant is also due to the fact that EZ1002B was launched at £6999 whilst FZ952B has been launched at £3999. How did Panasonic manage to design a more superior TV at such a reduced price? Or is the FZ952B not as good as last year’s EZ1002B? So, whilst an absolute review that you have done is welcome, it did need a comparison with EZ1002B.
I agree I would also like to know improvements over the EZ1002 especially seeing that the 77inch EZ1002 has continued in this year's range.
 
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As mentioned, the Panasonic is going to have to drop a good deal in price to make it a serious contender to the C8. If both were similarly priced I don’t think the C8 would be doing as well.

Good review though, my heart also lies with the Panasonic, but probably not enough to spend an extra grand. Hopefully by the time I’m ready to buy things will have changed.
 
... in France, there's a 500 € price difference between the FZ950 and the FZ800 ...

The FZ800 is the same TV, minus the Technics sound bar and the cheap looking remote (vs 2 brushed metal finish remotes for the FZ950, in fact the same as the 2017 EZ950 ...)
 

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