Panasonic has announced that the top-shelf AX900 and AX850 Series of 4K Ultra HD TVs will start shipping next month. The new THX-certified 65-inch AX900 and 85-inch AX850 (shown here) use full-array LED backlight systems with Panasonic's Local Dimming Ultra technology, and they offer both HDMI 2.0 (with HDCP 2.2) and DisplayPort connections. Pricing has not yet been announced.
From Panasonic
Panasonic, a leader in 4K Ultra HD technology, announced today that the much anticipated 65-inch class AX900 and 85-inch class AX850 4K Ultra HD LED LCD TVs will make their U.S. debuts next month at www.panasonic.com. Pricing and overall availability will be announced at a later date.
The TC-65AX900 and TC-85AX850 4K Ultra HD LED LCD TVs carry on Panasonic's rich heritage of design and engineering excellence with superior picture quality coupled with advanced features and functions to deliver the smartest and most intuitive home entertainment experience available.
The AX900 and AX850 are equipped with next generation picture quality technologies which as a package seek to achieve:
• Accurate, rich, and robust blacks that also retain fine detail.
• Color reproduction which is true to the director's intentions and calibrated to be correct at every brightness level.
• Picture quality performance which perfectly matches the environment in which it is being viewed.
Accurate, Rich, Robust Blacks
Reproducing deep, rich blacks while also retaining rich colors in dark scenes has been a long standing weakness of LCD TVs. In order to deliver best-in-class black performance, the AX900 use a Direct LED with full-array local dimming complemented with Panasonic-unique Local Dimming Ultra technologies. Other full array local dimming systems suffer from a 'halo' effect around moving bright objects because their local dimming fields lack sufficient brightness control or are either entirely on or off. The AX900 analyzes the incoming video signal not in traditional 3 x 3 matrices, but across 5 x 5 matrices of local dimming fields and adjusts the brightness level of each individual field by extremely fine degrees (i.e. not just on/off), providing smooth motion of bright objects, a high contrast ratio, deep, rich blacks and extremely fine gradation which retains detail even in the darkest scenes.
True Color Reproduction at Any Brightness Level
Color reproduction in dark scenes has been another weakness of LCD TVs. In order to allow viewers to enjoy films as the directors intended, the AX900 and AX850 engineers have also worked together closely with the renowned Panasonic Hollywood Laboratories in Los Angeles to ensure that the colors on the AX900 and AX850 are exactly the same as the director intended. To achieve this, Panasonic has adopted color management technologies which have until now only been used to the same degree by professional studio monitors which allow calibration of color reproduction at extremely fine brightness steps so it is reproduced accurately at any brightness level. Panasonic is the first company to use this professional technology at the same level in a consumer television.
Furthermore the use of a highly transparent LCD panel on the AX900 also produces outstanding brightness and allows the AX900 to achieve an extremely high dynamic range, with richer more nuanced colors in both dark and bright scenes.
Picture Quality Performance Which Perfectly Matches Your Environment
To deliver the very best picture performance, it is also necessary to analyze the lighting conditions in the room in which the TV is placed. Accordingly, in another industry first, the AX900 and AX850 explicitly link its video signal processing to ambient light levels in order to deliver picture quality which is a perfect match for your living room.
The AX900 and AX850 are THX 4K Certified Displays
THX 4K certification is an assurance of image quality and consistency, confirming that the AX900 and AX850 not only meet industry 4K performance guidelines, but that they maintain content accuracy true to the original HD image.
THX 4K Certified Displays endure 400 laboratory tests to ensure they deliver movie experiences with the stunning clarity and detail found in the studio. As the only performance benchmark for TVs, THX certification is reserved for TVs with best-in-class picture quality.
Beyond Smart Features
The AX900 and AX850 models are Panasonic's first TVs to employ our quad-core Pro5 super-high speed processor which further enhances Panasonic's 'Beyond Smart' feature set.
The my Stream function, which learns users' preferences and displays a list of content recommendations, has also further evolved. A flowing user interface display and video playback in thumbnail form make it even easier to find desired content.
The Info Bar quickly and conveniently displays new and useful information without even requiring the user to turn on the TV due to a proximity sensor coupled with Face Recognition.
Connectivity
A host of network functions allow full enjoyment of this picture quality performance for a wide spectrum of 4K content.
Four 4K60p-supporting HDMI terminals and one DisplayPortTM enable simultaneous connection of a 4K-compatible home cinema, a set-top box, a PC, and more.
Future use is assured by the AX900 and AX850 ability to play content with HDCP2.2 copyright protection and its H.265 (HEVC) decoder can decode 4K content from a variety of providers.
Design
The AX900 and AX850 were designed based on the concept of Premium Furniture Design. This cutting-edge design concept removes redundant elements to achieve a simple elegance, and provide an authentically luxurious touch.
Additional Resources
• Panasonic Life+Screen Web Platform (2014) Reviewed at HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Panasonic Brings Back the Technics Brand at HomeTheaterReview.com.
