Panasonic 65HZ1000 TV review: My eyes didn’t know telly could look this good

TELLY fans, behold true greatness: the Panasonic 65HZ1000.

I’ve been testing this monstrously impressive TV for a few weeks – and I’ll never be the same again.

Panasonic's gorgeous 65HZ1000 is a sight to behold — Panasonic’s gorgeous 65HZ1000 is a sight to beholdCredit: Panasonic

Like the luxury car or mountain lodge of my dreams, it’s big, beautiful and expensive. And warm. And full of Netflix?

Anyway, as you’d expect, it’s got a whopping great 65-inch 4K screen.

The 4K bit means it boasts four times the number of pixels of a standard Full HD telly.

But it’s not just any screen: it’s an OLED.

The OLED display is a masterpieceCredit: Panasonic

Most TVs out in the wild are LED-backlit LCDs.

That means a giant backlight shines light through a liquid-crystal display to create an image.

By contrast, an OLED has pixels that illuminate themselves.

So on an OLED telly, individual pixels can be turned on or off, creating a true black.

This greater control over pixels means you get significantly improved contrast and a wider range of colours to boot.

I lost around an hour just watching YouTube videos designed for OLED TVs, with pin-sharp objects set against total darkness.

Worth it.

Even in an animated film like Moana, the dark areas of scenes are brilliantly detailed – due to the range of tones visible.

And in a space movie like Gravity, I was wowed by the total darkness of space. It made it even more terrifying.

The wild colours of Thor Ragnarok popped brilliantly, and David Attenborough’s Planet Earth 2 was like being actually teleported to snow-capped mountains or the wilds of Africa.

OLED absolutely adds a new dimension to content you’re watching.

I’ll never look at a regular telly the same way again.

The profile of the telly is slim, and should suit any living room…if you’ve got room for the giant 65-inch displayCredit: Panasonic

Thanks to 4K upscaling, even older rubbish telly looks decent too.

And it’s got support for most of the TV standards you’ll ever want, including Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10 and HDR10+, as well as HLG (that’s the weird one you’ll want for BBC iPlayer).

Oh, and it’s even an official Netflix Recommend telly to boot.

Of course, it’s not just a spiffing display.

This TV has a generous four HDMI ports, three USB ports, and a host of other inputs including a headphones jack, aerial tuners and an ethernet slot.

The profile of the TV is slim (made possible in part by the lack of backlight), and it has a very useful swivel stand that makes plugging new stuff into the back very easy.

Panasonic’s TV remote is fairly hideous, but who cares – I almost never look at it.

So how much does this beastly model cost? £2,399.

I know what you’re thinking…blimey! If it helps, some retailers are now flogging it for between £1,999 and £2,199.

Still, this isn’t a TV for everyone – it’s for die-hard telly fans with money to burn.

If you’re a big movie buff who wants to watch movies the way they were intended to be seen, this is a great choice.

There’s no shortage of 4K HDR films and telly out there either, so it’s not a bad investment.

And even live sports has been getting the premium treatment lately too, handled brilliantly by the Panasonic HZ1000.

It's a smart TV, so you get all the best apps and connectivity — It’s a smart TV, so you get all the best apps and connectivityCredit: Panasonic

I’ve read mixed verdicts online about how good the HZ1000 is for gaming.

But I’ve been endlessly impressed by the quality of PS5 and Xbox Series X games on the TV.

Heck, even the Nintendo Switch – which isn’t exactly bleeding edge on the graphical front – has decent visuals on this gargantuan screen.

I was particularly impressed by the depth of colours and the density of detail on the PS5’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

And Forza Horizon 4 has never looked better than when I tried it on this mega-screen.

If you’re looking to spend about £2,000 on a TV, this is a brilliant buy.

For anyone upgrading to OLED for the first time, the difference is staggering.

And though the price seems high, OLED is quickly becoming more affordable.

After all, it wasn’t long ago that it was tricky to find a good OLED telly for under £2,000.

But it’s now becoming increasingly common, and we’ve even seen some low-end OLEDs dip below the £1,000 mark.

So don’t panic if OLED is out of reach for now: it won’t always be so.

The Sun says: An absolute beast of a telly for AV geeks and cash-flush Netflix addicts. Worth every penny, if you’ve got 200,000 pennies going spare… 5/5

Panasonic 65HZ1000 at LaptopsDirect for £1,999 – buy here

All prices in this article were correct at the time of writing, but may have since changed. Always doing your own research before making any purchase.

Prototype Panasonic OLED screen turns into transparent glass when not in use