This week we had the privilege of getting a fresh look at Panasonic's 2023 line of TVs, including its hotly anticipated rival to the LG C3, the MZ1500.
Now for readers new to the world of TVs, this is a big deal as, if you jump to our best TV guide, you'll see we're big fans of the C-series from LG, with the latest 42-inch LG C3 set earning a perfect 5-stars when we reviewed it earlier this year.
And while I found plenty to get excited about after chatting to What Hi-Fi?'s TV and AV editor Tom Parsons about his experience with the set at Panasonic's demo event, there was one big flaw I couldn't escape from. Specifically, it only has two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which doubles as an eARC connection.
We've been pretty open about our disdain for this connectivity set-up on any TV, let alone ones marketed at gamers. Staff writer Lewis Empson penned a similar piece explaining why he was so disappointed that the new MediaTek Pentonic 1000 chip, which is set to power many new TVs in the not-too-distant future, only supports up to two HDMI 2.1 inputs.
TVs with this set-up are a pain as most mainstream next-generation boxes, including game consoles such as the PS5 and Xbox Series X, need an HDMI 2.1 connection to fully function. Without it, you don't get key things such as VRR or the ability to play games over 60fps in 4K - which makes a huge difference when playing reaction-based online games.
Dolby Atmos soundbars and speakers also need the eARC input to work. So if you have lots of boxes and a Dolby Atmos soundbar, you're likely going to be spending a lot of time faffing around with cables.
A few years ago we could have forgiven this, but jump over to our best gaming TV guide and you'll see that there are now TVs with four HDMI 2.1 connections. The most prominent of these is the LG C3. In fact, LG's top OLED TVs have had four HDMI 2.1 sockets for years.
The reason I'm slightly disappointed with Panasonic specifically in this instance - it's one of many companies still pushing TVs with only two HDMI 2.1 connections - is that outside of that, the MZ1500 looks amazing for gamers.
For starters, there's a new True Game Mode that's designed to bring the same brilliant "as the director intended" colour accuracy that we've enjoyed while watching movies on recent Panasonic sets, to gaming. For hardcore purists, it includes the ability to manually calibrate the TV using the Calman calibration system.
But even out of the box, it has a pretty rich feature set including source-oriented HDR tone-mapping and G-Sync certification. So even if you don't go down the calibration route, it should make games run smoother and look better.
This could have made the MZ1500 a "game changer" and one of the first TVs in recent memory with the chops to challenge LG's C-line for price and performance. But sadly it looks like that won't happen this year.
Roll on 2024, eh?
MORE:
Read the full Panasonic MZ1500 hands-on
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