Panasonic Viera 4k Television Review #VieraVIPClub

For the past year and a half I have been learning about 4k Ultra High definition television with the Panasonic Viera VIP Club.  This past few weeks I've finally been able to experience the difference that UHD 4k makes in my own home - I've been borrowing the TX-55CR852B, a 55 inch curved TV featuring Panasonic's 4K Pro technology.

The TV is stunning.  We love our existing Panasonic 55 inch model but the CR852 is even more beautiful (and noticeably lighter!)  Sleek, dark and with a very thin surround so that you can make the most of the picture.  It comes with two remote controls and even they look stunning.  The main controller is a brushed steel effect and the first button that jumps out at me when I use it?.. the NETFLIX button!

And that's important because Netflix are one of the few UK providers who are currently streaming 4k ultra high definition content.  I must admit that when we upgraded our Netflix account I was expecting there to only be two or three things that we could watch in 4k but in fact, many of the latest Netflix original series from Narcos to Breaking Bad and Marco Polo are all filmed and available in 4k if you upgrade your account.  There are a few "moving art" shows you can watch - and very stunning they are too, really showing off the power of 4k to demonstrate detail and depth.

When we first started using the new Viera television, I instantly noticed the difference in colour.  It is amazing how in one year Panasonic have made such big leaps forward in terms of colour reproduction.  Most of the television we watch during the day is CBeebies animations which demand bright colours and crisp lines - while CBeebies might not be pushing this TV to its limits, it REALLY is a noticeable difference in picture quality.

Once the girls are in bed, then the TV really comes into its own.  Over the past few weeks we have watched a lot of different materials on the television and we've used several of the different pre-set colour options (you can totally customise the colour display and brightness of the backlight but it comes with some handy pre-sets to get you started).  Here's our verdict...

SPORTS: Mr. B. watches a lot of football and rugby.  We don't think we can see a noticeable improvement over our existing HD TV for regular HD sports footage but, when you use the 4k power to watch some of the UHD material available on youtube (for instance, FC Barcelona material) then the difference in image quality is amazing.

NATURE: Watching nature and geography programmes on this TV is awe-inspiring.  We've tried some of the Netflix art materials such as "oceans" which are designed to showcase 4k in all its glory but we have also watched a few regular BBC programmes in regular HD and still been impressed.  If you experiment with the backlight settings you can really bring a programme alive.  The 4k pro televisions from Viera feature professional-grade colour accuracy that has previously only been used in monitors for the TV and film industries.  Using CMYK as well as RBG means that there are over 8000 different colours that this screen can display!

DRAMA: The most memorable content I've watched on the CR852 is Batman: The Dark Night.  It is a long time since I've seen the movie but I remember it being frustratingly dark and gloomy in places.  On this television, even the dark areas of the screen are visible.  I know, having seen the next wave of Panasonic Viera OLED technology being shown off at IFA late last year, that black colour reproduction ( the art of displaying black, and things approaching black) is going to become even more impressive in the coming years but I was still very impressed with how the movie displayed.

One more thing to note about the TX-55CR852 is that this year's move to use a mozilla browser and a more visual menu system is a MASSIVE step forwards for Panasonic.  Lara (6) finds the interface easy to use and navigate and I've used the apps on it, and the freeview channel browser a lot more in two weeks than I've ever used on our existing TV - when a user interface is easy, you use it!  We haven't really explored the power of Freeview Play as we have a BT box that does many of the things that Freeview play can - but when we have dabbled, it has been easy to navigate.

The only negative I have to say about the CR852 is that it's curved!  I can honestly say that it hasn't contributed anything to my viewing experience.  Even when playing on the kids consoles I haven't really noticed it.  When I sit in my seat on the sofa at the edge of the room, I am just aware of the curve and infact, it ever so slightly interferes with my viewing.  I think I'd choose a flat screen myself!

#VieraVIPClub - Why 4k?

This week, the sale of the world's first commercially-available 8k television made the BBC news headlines - 8k??? I've only just got my head around 4k!

Before I lose you all, let me explain.  4k television is Ultra-high-definition television content such as movies or photography which had been recorded in, and can be displayed in high definition with about 4 times as many pixels as Full-HD content.  Most television sets in households up and down the country can display Full HD content such as that broadcast by the BBC and Sky on their dedicated HD channels (and once you've started watching in HD, you find it very hard to go back).  

In the past year, 4k Ultra HD (which shows around 4 times as many pixels as Full HD) has really taken off and many new televisions in the Panasonic Viera range now feature their 4k pro technology as standard.  Broadcasters such as Netflix are now committing to a wave of new 4k content and even home 4k video and still cameras are becoming more affordable.  8k however seems like a very long way off!  Only a trickle of movie content is starting to be filmed in 8k.  I don't think I'll be saving for an 8k TV for some years to come!

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be invited, as part of the Viera VIP Club, to explore the world of 4k televisions at IFA in Berlin.  We met the men behind the technology that makes Panasonic's 4k pro technology stand streets ahead of the other 4k televisions.  Trust me, I saw enough TVs that day and not one of them came close to the Panasonic Viera OLED CZ950 4k Pro television.

The secret, they say, is that the "pro" in their 4k pro technology explains how they spend many long hours working with film making professionals from Hollywood to make sure that their TVs represent the colours of the pictures exactly as the director originally intended.  Until the massive screens and huuuuge data storage requirements of 8k can be shrunk to fit into our front rooms, 4k pro is as close as you or I can get to the full cinematic experience.

#VieraVIPClub - Experience OLED (and other shiny things) at IFA in Berlin

This weekend I was off gallivanting at IFA, the mahoosive technology trade show in Berlin, thanks to Panasonic UK who had lots of shiny things they wanted to show me.

If you've never heard of IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung) before then let me tell you that it is Europe's showcase for consumer tech - from washing machines to smart watches, from digital cameras to showstopping televisions.

And by show-stopping, I mean the sort of television whose picture literally takes your breath away. I was at IFA last year to see the current range of Panasonic Viera 4K televisions on show and was impressed but this year Panasonic are launching their first consumer OLED television and it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Blacker blacks, brighter brights and stunning colours you can't see on any other TV screen on the planet.

Clearly the new 65 inch CZ950 is going to be a bit beyond many people's budget (and let's face it, we don't all need our TVs to be backed with suede-effect fabric) but the good news is that 2015 sees the inclusion of Panasonic's 4K Pro technology on the wider Viera range.  I'd predict that, within a couple of years, 4K content will be widely accessible and 4K TV's will be the norm, whatever your TV budget.

At IFA I got the chance to hear from the Japanese engineers whose role is to ensure that Panasonic's TVs represent your 4k Ultra-high definition movies and TV programmes in exactly the way that the director originally intended them to be.  Hearing the lengths that they go to in order to make sure that each pixel on the screen does exactly what it needs to was, quite simply, astonishing.

Elsewhere on the mind-bogglingly huge Panasonic booth I spied the Nubo compact 4G portable video camera (perfect as a portable baby monitor), pink-trimmed nose-hair clippers (one of life's essentials?), and the impressive new Panasonic IPL hair reduction device (now this really is a life-changer). Keep your eyes peeled for new, smarter bread makers and the dawn of the "slow" juicer.

You can read more about IFA at pansonic.com/IFA

#VieraVIPClub 2015 - a new era of smart TVs

Today I've been schmoozing with other tech bloggers and family bloggers at Panasonic's UK headquarters.  This year I'm continuing as a member of the Panasonic Viera VIP Club, as part of which I get to learn about all the exciting new advancements in the world of smart TVs.

As a family blogger, I'm big on family-friendly features of home televisions and I'm so glad to see for myself what MASSIVE changes have been made to the user interfaces and smart TV offerings at Panasonic since this time last year.  The new Mozilla Firefox operating system has revolutionised the user interface on the Panasonic Viera televisions and has transformed what was previously a clever-but-clunky interface into something bright, bold and fully accessible to people of all ages.  Over the next twelve months I'm looking forward to getting a chance to road test the new interface with my 3 year old and 6 year old.

This year, Panasonic have three BIG themes they're really shouting from the rooftops about.

1. Picture quality (this, after all, is what Viera's 4K Ultra High Definition LED TVs are all about)

2. Their shiny new user interface and browser

3. The forthcoming launch of Freeview Play; Panasonic TVs will be the first televisions to host this new era of Freeview which allows internet streaming of freeview programmes you may have missed.

Panasonic are, quite rightly, very proud of the quality of the picture on their 2015 range of Viera televisions.  Stand next to one of their 4K HD Pro televisions when it is showing something like this (below) and you'll understand why.  The colour is stunning and the contrast is astonishing, even compared to last year's offerings.

At the kick-off event for the 2015 Viera VIP Club activities we got to have a try at making our very own 4k Ultra High Definition movies using Panasonic Lumix cameras.  It was great fun trying to capture the very moment that a droplet of liquid splashes, or the gentle hum of a bumble bee's wings. I can't wait to share some of our creations with you (of course, they'll look their most impressive if you watch them directly from the camera on a 4K-friendly Panasonic Viera television!)

Exploring the exciting world of Panasonic Tech!