Panasonic AX900
Image credit Panasonic
Product Profile:
Panasonic’s highly anticipated premium series of 4K displays will be introduced to the U.S. market in November 2014.
The 65″ TC-65AX900 and the 85″ TC-85AX850 4K LED TVs are claimed by Panasonic to have superior picture quality combined with advanced features and functions designed to deliver the best home entertainment experience available.
The AX900 and AX850 picture quality technologies are designed to deliver the best in performance which includes accurate, rich and deep blacks that also retain fine shadow detail. This is accomplished in part by these TV’s Direct LED full-array local dimming coupled with Panasonic’s unique Local Dimming Ultra technologies. This ultra dimming feature allows these displays better control over their LEDs for more precise dimming in the form of brightness control; not just an on and off state.
The end result is these sets are claimed by the company to produce picture quality as good as its best plasma TVs.
Other picture quality features include true color reproduction at any brightness level. To achieve this, Panasonic has adopted color management technologies that have until now only been used 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 as a consumer television.
In addition, on the AX900, Panasonic uses a highly transparent LCD panel which allows this display to achieve a very high dynamic range for more vibrant and refined colors in both bright and dark scenes.
For better picture quality in your home environment, these televisions will analyze your lighting conditions by using special internal video processing, which in turn will allow these sets to deliver the best image quality for your viewing area.
To assure you will get the best in image quality for the AX900 and AX850, these displays are THX 4K Certified. This means these set have endured rigorous laboratory tests to ensure they meet the qualifications for the best in image reproduction.
These sets are the first to employ Panasonic’s own quad-core Pro5 super-high-speed processor for the best in smart TV performance and 4K video processing including 4K upscaling of all non-native video content.
Connectivity will include 4 HDMI 2.0 inputs which allow for 60fps 4K video signals and increased bandwidth. HDCP 2.2 copy protection is also on board as well as H.265 (HEVC) decoding for 4K video streaming content from providers such as Netflix and Amazon Instant.
Panasonic is also providing a DisplayPort connection which will allow connecting to such equipped PCs MACs and professional 4K cameras.
Pricing for the AX900 and AX850 are not officially available, however some sources and suggesting a price of $8,000 for the AX900 and $13,000 for the AX850. I will update this info when pricing is officially released.
If the TC-65AX900 and TC-85AX850 can live up to Panasonic’s claim of image quality as good as its best plasma HDTVs, then I believe the company will continue its well-known tradition of “best in class” picture performance, which in turn will crossover into the 4K Ultra HD LED TV market. Stay tuned.
Panasonic AX850 – Image credit Panasonic