Panasonic shows MZ2000 OLED TV and claims higher peak brightness due to microlenses
Panasonic unveils the MZ2000, the upcoming top model of the OLED TVs that the manufacturer will release this year. Like its predecessor LZ2000, the new model is available in 55, 65 and 77 inches. The company says that the MZ2000 achieves a higher peak brightness, partly by applying microlenses.
In the press release, Panasonic claims a peak brightness that would be 150 percent higher than last year’s models, although it is not entirely clear to which model that 150 percent would apply. The manufacturer also reports that the average brightness has also improved, but no percentages are mentioned. The increased brightness will probably be most noticeable with the 55 and 65 inch formats, as only those formats have a ‘multi-layer thermal management system’. That is probably some kind of heatsink; the LZ2000 already has this.
Only such a system to dissipate heat faster is not enough to really make a leap in terms of brightness. To this end, the MZ2000 is also equipped with a micro lens array. This technology uses small lenses that ensure that the light emitted by the OLEDs is focused more efficiently, sending light that would normally bounce back and forth within the panel directly to the viewer. For example, the overall brightness should improve considerably. The power consumption could then also be reduced, which benefits the life of the panel. Presumably more OLED TV manufacturers use these microlenses, as LG probably does with the G3.
The website FlatpanelsHD shows that the MZ2000 achieves a brightness of 1466cd/m² during a Panasonic presentation with a window of 10 percent of the total image area. It is not clear whether this was achieved in the Vivid image mode, which usually does not lead to the most beautiful or accurate images, but does lead to the highest brightness. In addition, during the demonstration it was found that the new television could maintain a brightness above 1000cd/m² in larger areas than the 10 percent windows compared to last year’s LZ2000. The LZ2000 achieves about 1000cd/m² and 1200cd/m² in Vivid mode.
The MZ2000 is a 4k OLED TV that supports all common HDR formats and HDMI 2.1, although the application of Dolby Vision is still limited to 4k60 and the filmmaker mode now takes the environment into account. According to the manufacturer, the television can better detect the color temperature of the ambient light and the amount of ambient light and adjust the image on the television accordingly. With a lot of light, dark tones become brighter and if there is warm ambient light, the color temperature will be lowered.
Panasonic also says that the performance of the Dolby Atmos speaker system has been improved, which now includes three so-called Sound Focus modes that allow sound to be focused on a single point, or to a specific part of the room, or that the sound is amplified at one point while others can still hear the sound.
The MZ2000 will receive version 8.0 of the My Home Screen OS and will be released in Europe sometime this autumn. It is not yet clear what price tag the new model will get. Panasonic will also introduce lower-positioned new OLED TVs at a later date.