Panasonic MZ980: Two-minute review
ThePanasonicMZ980 is the brand’s mid-rangeOLEDTV offering from 2023.
Panasonic does not currently sell its TVs in the US or Australia.
The MZ980s are, unusually for a mid-range OLED series, only available in relatively small screen sizes.
This is still a very serious TV just one aimed at people who dont have cavernous living rooms.
The same spirit of trying to cater for everyone extends, happily, to the MZ980s HDR format support.
Well cover the TVs gaming abilities in more detail later.
Smart features are provided by the eighth generation of Panasonics own My Home Screenoperating system.
This finesse is at its peerless best when it comes to the MZ980s handling of dark scenes.
Dark scenes on the 55MZ980 are as clean and pure as bright ones, in fact.
Again you actually feel like youre getting a gorgeously full sense of the subtleties of the professional masterers art.
Despite this TV costing just 1,399 versus the many tens of thousands of pounds a professional mastering display costs.
The only major elephant in the room with the MZ980s pictures is their brightness - or lack thereof.
This lack of directness might also explain why male voices can sometimes sound a little muffled and contained.
Theres even a slight sense of height to some effects when playing Dolby Atmos soundtracks.
There are, of course pros and cons to this.
In fact, lag drops to a very respectable 14.5ms with 60Hz sources.
There is some pretty tough competition around, though.
Though it doesnt provide quite the same picture subtlety as the Panasonic.
Value score: 4 / 5
Should I buy the Panasonic MZ980?
An issue for wall hangers, perhaps.
Including support for cutting edge gaming features across all four of its HDMIs.
Its slightly brighter than the 55MZ980 too.
Its pictures arent quite as refined, though, especially in dark scenes, and it doesnt support HDR10+.
Its brighter than the Panasonic 55MZ980 too, and offers full 4K/120Hz gaming across all four of its HDMIs.
It lacks some of the control and nuance of the Panasonic, though.
The 55A80L also sounds great thanks to its Acoustic Surface technology, where the screen functions as the speakers.
Its not as well featured for gaming, though.
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