TOKYO: Panasonic’s Ultra HD will appeal to fans. Super-slim LED televisions like the LG look amazing in your lounge room but they make sacrifices in terms of picture quality. The LED backlighting shines in from the sides, unlike thicker “Full Array” LED televisions like this Panasonic which have the backlighting actually behind the screen. The Panasonic is six-times thicker than and almost twice as heavy as the LG, but this might not bother you if you’re more concerned with picture quality than aesthetics.
Having abandoned the plasma TV market, Panasonic is pitching the AX900 LED range as plasma’s equal a bold claim. The advantage of Full Array backlighting becomes clear when you pay attention to the local dimming features, which turn down the backlight in some areas of the screen to offer blacker blacks and amazing contrast.
This new model Panasonic offers 5 x 5 matrix local dimming, breaking the screen into smaller areas than typical 3 x 3 local dimming. The results are more precise, so you see less of a halo around bright objects on a dark background. Watching a werewolf movie, the full moon in the top corner of the screen is nice and bright, while the sky and shadows of the forest remain a deep black. On a lesser television the brightness of the moon would bleed into the surrounding picture like a halo.
Videophiles will argue that LED can never quite match the performance of OLED – screen technology which isn’t hampered by a backlight. That may be so but, with Ultra HD OLED televisions yet to reach Australia; Full Array LED deserves to be on the short-list of discerning television shoppers.
In the right conditions you can clearly see the back-lit Panasonic’s improvement over the side-lit LG. The Panasonic doesn’t eliminate local-dimming halos completely when you’re looking at bright white objects on a pure black background, but they’re much more localised. On the LG, such halos take up large sections of the screen.
To be fair to the LG, this backlighting issue is only really noticeable in a dark room when you’re looking at white objects on a black background. You won’t see it during most scenes certainly not watching during the day, even with the blinds drawn, and perhaps not at night with the lights on low.
It’s worth noting that Panasonic’s Full Array backlighting also helps with viewing angles. If you’re sitting off to the side looking at the LG then the local dimming halos become much more striking and the Panasonic’s advantage shines through – another selling point during family movie night when you’re gathered around the big screen.
Ultra HD
This Panasonic can take advantage of Netflix Ultra HD streaming, if your broadband connection is up to the task. Feed this television Ultra HD content and it sings images are sharp, colours are vivid and you eliminate pesky image problems which annoy videophiles such as motion blur, colour banding and noise in the shadows.
It’s not just about raw resolution; the Panasonic’s extended colour palette also comes into play when watching Netflix Ultra HD adding depth to the image. Unfortunately there’s no Netflix High-Dynamic Range support.
The television can tap into other internet video services, although none offer Ultra HD streaming at this stage. Your options include Quickflix and FreeviewPlus along with standalone catch up apps for ABC iView and SBS on Demand.
The arrival of Netflix in Australia has taken some of the pressure off TV makers to deliver Ultra HD content on physical media, but it will come eventually.
Hollywood has finally settled on the “Blu-ray 4K” disc standard for shipping Ultra HD content, but we won’t see it in Australia until at least next year. Thankfully Panasonic’s AX900 range offers a level of future-proofing in that it features a DisplayPort connector as well as the new HDMI 2.0 supporting Ultra HD at 60 frames per second.
Upscaling
Of course the sad fact is that most of the content you’ll be watching over the next few years won’t be in Ultra HD resolution. If you watch a lot of free-to-air television then you’re often stuck with standard-def. This means you’re relying on the television’s upscaling abilities to help the picture look its best on the big screen. The bigger the screen the more important upscaling becomes and unfortunately the Panasonic stumbles slightly in this department.
Watching standard-def digital television broadcasts, skin tones and fine detail looks underwhelming on the Panasonic. The LG look much more natural with more detail and less grainy noise in the picture.
Switch to Blu-ray and the LG still looks better than the Panasonic the improvement is more subtle but you’ll see it if you pay attention to people’s faces (you’ll want to tweak the LG’s sharpness settings to taste).
To be fair to the Panasonic, LG has only this year upgraded to new 6-step upscale processing. Your average viewer would be satisfied with the Panasonic’s picture, but if you’re fussy enough to appreciate Full Array backlighting then you’re fussy enough to care about upscaling. You’ll need to decide where your priorities lie.
The Panasonic certainly offers a fantastic Ultra HD picture, but you’re paying extra for the Full Array backlighting so you need to be confident that you’ll appreciate it.
At the end of day it comes down to what you value in a television picture and what you’ll be watching. If you’re looking for an all-rounder to watch in varied lighting conditions then I’d lean towards the LG’s better upscaling to help sub-par content look its best. But if you’re fussy about picture quality and you want to overhaul movie night, watching Blu-ray and Ultra HD movies in the dark with a box of popcorn, then this Panasonic’s superior Full Array backlighting will shine through.
