Home Cinema Choice – September 2019

VERDICT

HOME CINEMA CHOICE SEPTEMBER 2019

42 REVIEWS

highly dynamic, with no obvious compromise in HDR
delivery. Play this when your mates come round, as the
sheer impact of that sequence belies the TX-50GX800’s
mid-range ticket price.
It should be stressed that this Panasonic isn't a
light-cannon. But what it has is a well-balanced, believable
HDR presentation.

Dynamic delivery
There are genuine benefi ts in having dynamic HDR
metadata support on a mid-brightness screen like this.

The application of intelligent tone mapping largely
prevents unwanted clipping of bright highlights.
I measured HDR peak brightness at around 500 nits
using a 10 per cent HDR test window, which is
impressive for this calibre of TV. There
is a signifi cant caveat,
however, when it comes to
this performance.
It transpires that HDR peak
brightness is only achievable
using the Dynamic preset

• and the Dynamic setting
  generally wouldn't be my fi rst
  viewing mode choice when it
  comes to kicking back on the
  sofa. If you switch to Normal
  or Cinema modes, specular
  highlights drop to around
  400 nits. Despite this, I still
  found myself gravitating
  to the Normal mode when
  watching HDR10 content.
  Furthermore, I doubt many
  would even notice the HDR
  diff erence during everyday viewing.
  Panasonic gets the overall balance and
  punch consistently right.
  Importantly, the set also looks vivacious with
  regular SDR material (and you’ll still be watching more
  of that than UHD for some time to come). Even if your
  content sources are still primarily HD (maybe regular
  Blu-ray, and a streamer like the Now TV box), there’s
  still a compelling reason to invest. The set's colour
  fi delity is so good, an afternoon cooking show had me
  positively salivating.
  Screen uniformity is surprisingly fi ne for an edge-lit
  model. This isn't an OLED, so by defi nition can't deliver
  true blacks, and consequently letterbox movie bars veer
  towards grey. But you can mitigate against this by not
  viewing in a fully dark room, as a modicum of ambient
  light improves the subjective black level.
  Panasonic should also be applauded for the
  improvements it's seemingly made to motion handling.
  Proprietary Intelligent Frame Creation (IFC) processing
  (here rated 1600Hz BMR in Panasonic's confusing
  marketing speak) has always been aggressive, but the

Min setting works well. There

are more obvious motion

artefacts on the Mid and Max

options. Still, if you’re after

smooth panning, that’s

certainly what you get.

For sports, I'd advise

leaving IFC turned on, but

with movies quickly opted to

switch it off , happy to suff er

mild panning judder in return

for a more fi lmic image.

The TX-50GX800's audio

quality is passable, even

impressive, considering just

how thin the TV is. The

onboard 2 x 10W sound

system proves fi ne for casual

listening. However, given that

the set’s compatible with

Dolby Atmos, it makes sense

to bitstream Netfl ix or

Amazon Prime Dolby

Atmos audio out to an

external sound system/

soundbar to make the most of it.

HDR humdinger

Panasonic's TX-50GX800 is a humdinger of a 4K UHD

screen. Reasonably priced, it off ers a top-fl ight

specifi cation with fan-friendly multi-HDR compatibility,

Dolby Atmos audio (remember there’s no shortage of

Dolby Vision and Atmos available now from Netfl ix,

Rakuten and others) and solid network functionality.

Overall, I rate it a brilliant buy Q

SPECIFICATIONS

3D: No 4 K: Yes. 3,840 x 2,160 HDR: Yes. HDR10; HDR10+; Dolby Vision; HLG

TUNER: Yes. Freeview Play CONNECTIONS: 3 x HDMI inputs; 2 x USB; composite/AV

input; digital optical audio output; Ethernet; headphone output SOUND (CLAIMED):

2 x 10W BRIGHTNESS (CLAIMED): N/A CONTRAST RATIO (CLAIMED): ‘Brilliant

Contrast’ DIMENSIONS (OFF STAND): 1,120(w) x 708(h) x 236(d)mm

WEIGHT (OFF STAND): N/A

FEATURES: Built-in Wi-Fi; USB multimedia playback; HCX processing engine; Dolby

Atmos audio support; My Home Screen v4.0 smart portal; two-way Bluetooth;

local dimming; Dynamic, Normal, Cinema, True Cinema and more presets

PANASONIC DP-UB 450 :

Partner this aff ordable

multi-HDR TV with an

aff ordable multi-HDR disc

player. Panasonic's HDR10+/

Dolby Vision 2019 model

sells for around £200.

Includes twin HDMI outs

and hi-res fi le playback.

PARTNER WITH

Panasonic TX-50GX 800

« £800 « http://www.panasonic.co.uk

WE SAY: With multi-HDR, Dolby Atmos support and a consistent

picture presentation, this no-compromise mid-range 4K screen

ticks all the right home cinephile boxes.

'Panasonic gets the overall

balance and punch

consistently right, while

colour fi delity is excellent'

2. Connections include
   three HDMIs, but no

(^3) satellite input