At CES we were shown Panasonic's flagship DX900 4K HDR TV and now we've been treated to the full range of its 2016 lineup, featuring the design-oriented DX800.
The Panasonic DX800 is part of the company's Art and Interior range, placing the TV's design ethos up there with image quality.
The gorgeous, OLED CZ952, with its Alcantara backing has been drafted in, as has the DX900, but it's the new DX800 which steals the show from a purely aesthetic standpoint.
With its metallic A-frame design the DX800 sits outside the traditional stand, producing a panel which almost seems to float. Sitting so far above the surface means Panasonic is bundling a soundbar-esque speaker in the box to sit below it.
The 40W speaker packs in six woofers, four squawkers, two tweeters and quad passive radiators to boost the low-end.
Compared with the down-firing speakers of traditional slimline TVs, the front-firing speakers of the DX800's pseudo soundbar sounds way, way better. It doesn't quite have the drive or bass of a dedicated soundbar/subwoofer combo, but even in the large showroom in which we had our demo it was impressively powerful.
Although the DX800 is still rated as one of Panasonic's 4K Pro Studio Master UHD displays it can't claim the same Ultra HD Premium badge as the top-end DX900. It doesn't have the same overall quality of panel as the flagship, though has still been through the rigorous THX certification tests and is still rocking the 4K HDR skills of Panasonic's top-end TVs.
The DX800 series is going to be available in either 50-inch or 58-inch screen sizes, though pricing and availability have yet to be announced.
And the rest...
Further down the stack are the DX700 series sets, still sporting those 4K HDR chops as well as an innovative approach to their stands, which Panasonic is calling Switch Design. This allows the end-user to customise the arrangement of the feet to suit them and their home.
On the DX700 series you can either have them at the widest point of the panel or, if your TV stand is too narrow, you can squeeze them together to have the feet more central.
With the smaller screen sizes it's not too much of an issue where the feet are placed, but with the 65-inch and 58-inch models having those feet at the extremities can be awkward.
It's a design choice Panasonic is offering throughout its Ultra HD DX700 and DX600 series of TVs and, according to the designers, changing the positioning doesn't affect the stability of the TV one jot. Time for a push test…
