Professionals
- Attractive design
- Typically pretty commonplace and HDR photos
- Firefox OS good system is very intuitive
Cons
- Numerous backlight distractions with darkish HDR scenes
- Barely advanced image settings
Key Specs
- Assessment Value: £1300.00
- 50-inch LCD TV with edge LED lighting
- Native 4K decision
- HDR playback
- Firefox OS good system
- Large color phosphors and ultra-bright panel
What’s the Panasonic TX-50DX750?
The 50-inch TX-50DX750 is the primary mannequin I’ve examined from Panasonic’s 2016 collection of TVs. At £1,299, it sits in the course of the 4K/UHD vary, under solely the DX902 flagships and boldly designed DX802s. In addition to carrying a local 4K decision, it helps the brand new excessive dynamic vary (HDR) format and Panasonic’s Firefox Sensible TV interface.
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Panasonic TX-50DX750 – Design and Options
Whereas the TX-50DX750 doesn’t boast the design flare of the easel-based Panasonic TX-50DX800 sequence I’ve previewed, it nonetheless combines a pointy, crisp look with a sprinkling of innovation.
The “sharpness” may be seen within the type of its extraordinarily slim, angular design and its spectacular metallic-looking gentle silver end. The innovation comes from the “change” leg design, which lets you configure its two metallic desktop ft in at least 4 other ways.
For starters, they are often connected proper on the display screen’s edges or near the TV’s centre, relying in your choice and the width of the furnishings on which your TV will sit.
However you may even select which method around the ft are connected, forming both a near-complete half circle on the entrance of the TV with a subtler, straighter look to the rear, or vice versa.
Clearly, we’re not speaking a few actually bespoke TV design resolution right here, however any form of aesthetic flexibility is welcome on the TX-50DX750’s comparatively mainstream (for a 50-inch 4K HDR TV) worth level.
Connections on the TX-50DX750’s slim rear are pleasingly quite a few. To start there are 4 HDMIs, two of that are suitable with 60/50Hz 4K playback and the HDCP 2.2 protocols mandatory for handshaking with fashionable 4K sources. There’s built-in Wi-Fi for accessing both multimedia saved on networked gadgets or Panasonic’s on-line providers, plus three USBs for taking part in multimedia from USB storage gadgets or recording from the built-in Freeview HD tuner to a USB onerous drive.
The TX-50DX750’s good options are constructed on basically the identical Firefox working system Panasonic launched to such nice impact in 2015.
Sensibly, Panasonic has determined to vary little or no concerning the Firefox OS. Nevertheless, within the coming weeks it should apparently be introducing new methods to find net apps and save them to your TV, whereas additionally providing a brand new “Ship to TV” function that may allow you to extra simply share net content material from Firefox for Android to a Firefox OS TV.
I used to be happy to see that the 4K-capable model of Netflix and Amazon’s streaming apps are current and proper, and that the Amazon app performs Amazon’s HDR reveals too. This means that the TX-50DX750 will play Netflix’s HDR streams once they finally start, though Panasonic doesn’t but really feel capable of present 100% affirmation of Netflix HDR compatibility.
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Observe that the TX-50DX750 doesn’t assist Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR, so it gained’t play Dolby Imaginative and prescient streams from Amazon or Netflix, sticking as an alternative to the usual HDR 10 streams.
One final key good function of the TX-50DX750 is its assist for Freeview Play. This allows you to entry on-demand, catch-up TV content material from all the principle UK broadcast TV channels utilizing a easy digital programme information (EPG) interface. With it you may scroll again by means of reveals you’ve missed, in addition to ahead to approaching programmes. This actually is a neat addition for UK customers.
The TX-50DX750 has a fairly potent set of image specs for a £1,300 4K HDR TV. Admittedly, its LCD panel is lit by an edge LED array reasonably than the direct system that may have delivered the final word HDR expertise. Nevertheless, there’s a diploma of native dimming driving the sting LED engine to assist it hopefully ship the form of localised lighting HDR photos actually need.
Panasonic has additionally managed to suit the TX-50DX750 with certainly one of its highly effective new Studio Grasp HCX video processing engines, full with fine-tuning by Panasonic’s famend Hollywood Laboratory.
This engine extends its tendrils into just about each a part of the TV’s image efficiency – and, as ever with Panasonic’s high-end TVs, its focus is on producing “correct” photos that ought to look because the director or cinematographer supposed.
One other a part of the TX-50DX750’s processing engine claims to ship a pseudo-1,800Hz movement efficiency to make sure the display screen’s 4K readability doesn’t break down when there’s movement within the body.
The truth that the TX-50DX750 helps solely an 8-bit color depth, reasonably than the 10-bit really helpful for HDR playback, raises a query over whether or not the TV will actually be capable to ship HDR photos as administrators supposed them to look. Nevertheless, Panasonic’s color processing lately has been glorious, so the Studio Grasp HCX engine could possibly a minimum of minimise the influence of the lacking 10-bit assist.
The dearth of 10-bit color depth precludes the TX-50DX750 from having the ability to declare compatibility with the Extremely HD Premium set of HDR suggestions launched in January. Neither does the display screen hit Extremely HD Premium’s 1,000-nit brightness requirement.
Whereas this may occasionally forestall it from delivering a “pure” HDR efficiency, its mixture of broad color gamut phosphors and ultra-bright LCD panel design ought to nonetheless yield a transparent HDR expertise. Actually, the choice to not drive its edge LED array all the best way to 1,000 nits could become a wise one, given the difficulties concerned with precisely controlling such lighting programs at such luminance ranges.
A few closing options price mentioning are color and distinction remastering processes designed to provide commonplace dynamic vary sources an HDR face elevate in the event you so need, and 3D playback.
Help for 3D is one thing of a rarity now that Samsung and Philips have each determined to not construct 3D into their 2016 TVs. Observe, although, that Panasonic doesn’t provide the required energetic shutter 3D glasses within the field, so that you’ll must think about the price of them with the TV.
Panasonic TX-50DX750 – Setup
The TX-50DX750 guides you thru the preliminary setup levels with aplomb. It runs a brief however efficient interactive demo sequence that can assist you discover your method across the Firefox working system, despite the fact that Firefox is in reality so intuitive that you simply’ll require solely want a naked minimal of assist to be taught the ropes.
Getting the very best out of the TX-50DX750’s photos is a extra sophisticated course of, nevertheless. That is partially as a result of large roster of image setup instruments included, and in addition as a result of optimising the set’s HDR efficiency throws up a couple of tough challenges.
One factor to get clear instantly is that, in contrast to Samsung’s 2015 HDR TVs, the TX-50DX750 doesn’t dictate the image settings it makes use of for HDR. It does immediately alter every of its image presets when it detects HDR – specifically, backlight and distinction are each pushed as much as 100% – however you may change any setting you want. I’d counsel that there are a selection of changes you could want to make, starting with the image preset you utilize.
Every preset delivers fairly a unique HDR expertise, though the one two that I actually discovered myself torn between have been Regular and True Cinema.
True Cinema is confirmed by Panasonic’s engineers as giving probably the most correct HDR picture, whereas the Regular setting in its default state boosts colors with a Vivid Color possibility and “color remaster” processing. AV fanatics will favor True Cinema, however I think that many extra common customers will probably be unable to withstand the additional color saturation supplied by the Regular HDR setting.
Having chosen your most popular preset, there are numerous different settings I counsel you tweak. As an illustration, flip off all noise-reduction processing in the event you’re watching a 4K supply, or perhaps a good-quality HD one. Don’t use the Color Remaster setting increased than its Minimal setting – or don’t trouble with it in any respect. Equally, be certain that the Clever Body Creation function isn’t set increased than Minimal in the event you don’t need photographs to endure with distracting processing unwanted effects.
Essentially the most sophisticated space of adjustment issues the TV’s backlight. For causes mentioned within the efficiency part of the evaluate, it’s just about not possible to realize an ideal backlight arrange for HDR.
My very own view is that you simply’ll get the very best HDR outcomes in the event you set the Adaptive Backlight to Low, the backlight to round 88, and the distinction to round 95. Setting the backlight considerably decrease reduces the backlight consistency points I’ll discuss extra about later, but in addition makes photos look a lot much less “HDR”.
When watching commonplace dynamic vary content material, issues are extra simple. Merely scale back the backlight far more – to under its 50% degree – to resolve the backlight points with out leaving the images feeling too low on brightness.
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