Panasonic HZ2000 OLED TV replaces one of last year's best TVs

Panasonic has a new television darling for 2020: the HZ2000 OLED, available in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes. The successor to last year’s GZ2000, which garnered a full five stars in our review, it again features a custom-made OLED panel and broad HDR support, with a few enhancements that could again make these some of the best TVs in their price range.

The first is Filmmaker Mode, which we first heard about in late 2019, promising to display movies ‘as intended’ by their directors and creators. 

These attempts at color control often make for flat viewing experiences, though, as they don’t allow home televisions to necessarily play to their strengths, or cover up their weaknesses with savvy processing techniques – as we saw with Netflix Calibrated Mode. 

But if there’s one thing Panasonic is serious about, it’s cinematic-quality TVs. The Japanese manufacturer famously partnered with Hollywood colorist Stefan Sonnenfeld (A Star is Born, The Force Awakens) to ensure that its range of premium OLED televisions were outputting the kinds of images suitable for a production studio monitor, closing the gap between domestic and professional viewing.

Now you see me

Panasonic’s cinematic credentials could bode well for viewers' home theater experience, and we’ll be keeping a sharp eye on the HZ2000 to see how this new viewing mode performs.

We also know that the HZ2000 will be brighter than previous OLEDs put out by the TV manufacturer, though how big a jump it gets, and whether it will make a meaningful difference is yet to be seen: you'll have to check out our hands on Panasonic HZ2000 review to see what we make of it.