TechTvsPanasonic LZ980 review: 42-inches of OLED fineryThe TX-42LZ980 on review here is a stunning TV, and if 42-inch is too small you can buy the LZ980 up to 65-inches insteadWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Panasonic)T3 VerdictThe LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR supportReasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezyWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
TechTvsPanasonic LZ980 review: 42-inches of OLED fineryThe TX-42LZ980 on review here is a stunning TV, and if 42-inch is too small you can buy the LZ980 up to 65-inches insteadWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.(Image credit: Panasonic)T3 VerdictThe LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR supportReasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezyWhy you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
The TX-42LZ980 on review here is a stunning TV, and if 42-inch is too small you can buy the LZ980 up to 65-inches instead
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Panasonic)T3 VerdictThe LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR supportReasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezy
(Image credit: Panasonic)
(Image credit: Panasonic)
T3 VerdictThe LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR supportReasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezy
T3 VerdictThe LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.
T3 Verdict
The LZ980 isn’t much to look at, until you look at its picture quality - and then this 42-inch Panasonic stops being a small TV with rather too much depth to its chassis, and starts being an extraordinarily accomplished and enjoyable watch. If you’re after a 42-inch OLED then this is a cracking option.
Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR supportReasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezy
Reasons to buy+Effortlessly believable and properly refined images+Understated smart TV interface+Thorough HDR support
Effortlessly believable and properly refined images
Understated smart TV interface
Thorough HDR support
Reasons to avoid-‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets-Not particularly bright-Sounds a bit wheezy
‘Only’ two full HDMI 2.1 sockets
Not particularly bright
Sounds a bit wheezy
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Why you can trust T3Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about how we test.
Despite being a figure of some importance in Hollywood, and despite turning out some of the best pound-for-pound televisions ever made, Panasonic has never seemed all that keen to draw attention to itself. The products, it seems to think, will speak for themselves. And to a lesser or greater extent, that’s true - but would it do any harm for the company to blow its own trumpet every now and then?
This TX-42LZ980 on review here is the smallest model in Panasonic’s LZ980 OLED TV range, and the LZ980 range is just one step up from ‘entry-level’. Exactly the sort of television Panasonic tends not to make much of a fuss about, in fact. But that doesn’t mean we can’t make a fuss about it instead…
Panasonic TX-42LZ980: Price & Availability
The Panasonic TX-42LZ980 is on sale now, and in the United Kingdom it sells for £1199 or thereabouts. Panasonic has abandoned any attempt to sell its TVs in the United States, and they’re not available in Australia either.
The LZ980 is Panasonic’s entry-level OLED range, and it’s also available in 48-, 55- and 65-inch screen sizes too. While 42-inch OLED TVs are still a bit of a novelty, both LG andSonyhave lately started offering OLED screens of this size, so it’s not as if Panasonic has the field clear…
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B dealsNo price informationCheck AmazonWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B dealsNo price informationCheck AmazonWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B deals
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No price informationCheck Amazon
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We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Panasonic LZ980 review: Features & what’s new?
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Panasonic is equally grown-up and customer-centric when it comes to picture processing, too. The LZ980 range may be far from the top of the shop where Panasonic’s OLEDs are concerned, but it’s still fitted with the company’s high-achieving HCX Pro AI picture processing engine - Panasonic has been a big figure in Hollywood for decades, and this processor was developed in collaboration with Hollywood creatives as well as the company’s own experts.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
One of those 2.1 inputs also featureseARC- in an ideal world, all four HDMI inputs would be of the full-fat variety, but as it stands only the most passionately committed gamers will think the LZ980 comes up short - and even they will see the merit in Panasonic’s new Game Control Board, which displays detailed game-related info from one button-press.
Panasonic LZ980 review: Performance
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
It’s the attention to detail it demonstrates that’s initially most striking. No subtlety of tone or shade is too minor to elude it, and even in scenes of what might at first appear uniform colour the LZ980 has no difficulty in offering variation and insight. Allied to the crisply defined edges it draws, its images look natural and believable to the point it makes some perfectly capable rivals look overprocessed.
It’s not the brightest OLED TV you ever saw, to be sure, but the white tones it generates are clean, detailed, and carry just as much variation within them as the rest of the colour palette. In conjunction with its typically OLED black levels, contrasts are wide and convincing - and the Panasonic is capable of properly differentiating ‘black’ from ‘almost black’ from ‘very dark grey’ without any apparent effort.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Motion is handled with the same sort of authority, everything from Villenueve’s trademark glacial pans to rapid, truncated and unpredictable motion described with real clarity. Depth of field is considerable, and even the dreaded ‘Filmmaker Mode’ doesn’t suck too much of the life out of the pictures the Panasonic serves up.
It’s a remarkably adept upscaler, too, able to give even quite antiquated content decent definition and detail. Edges remain composed, motion stays stable, and variation in skin tones and skin textures is always impressive.
All of this good stuff carries over to the way the LZ980 deals with games, too. In ‘Game’ mode its latency runs at a respectable-if-not-class-leading 14ms or so, but it’s the way it offers lighting effects, contrasts on on-screen motion such expression and certainty that’s most remarkable.
Panasonic LZ980 review: Design & Usability
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
‘Unremarkable’ is a good thing where the design of your new TV is concerned, right? Even a TV as (relatively speaking) small as this one is a fairly big piece of furniture, and very few people want a TV that draws attention to itself. So it follows that the TX-42LZ980 is discreet to the point of anonymity.
There’s just a sliver of that OLED skinniness right at the top of the screen when seen in profile, but smaller OLEDs need just as much electronic equipment as bigger ones - and it’s got to be kept somewhere. So in case you fancy wall-hanging your new TV, it’s worth noting this Panasonic is, to all intents and purposes, 67mm deep. Which is quite a lot for an OLED really.
It’s all very competently put together, of course - this is Panasonic we’re talking about, after all. The pedestal the LZ980 stands on if it’s not going on the wall is 514 x 250mm, so the TV doesn’t need a big surface to stand on - and it lifts the screen just about enough to slide a compact soundbar in without it getting in the way. Seen from dead-ahead, three of the LZ980’s bezels are very brief indeed, while along the bottom it’s a bit broader in order to accommodate mics, IR sensors, and some nicely understated branding.
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
As far as control is concerned, Panasonic has bucked the current trend for providing two small remote control handsets and has, instead, served up one big one. It’s comprehensive, its relative bulk means its buttons are of workable size, and there are ‘direct’ buttons taking you toNetflix,Disney+,Amazon PrimeVideo and the like. It’s nice and positive in its action, and won’t easily get lost. There’s a nice big ‘mic’ button in more-or-less the centre of the handset - the LZ980 has bothAmazon AlexaandGoogleAssistant built-in.
Whether you decide to use the remote control or just shout at your TV, you’ll be in charge of some very nicely judged set-up menus and what is easily Panasonic’s best smart TV interface so far. My Home Screen 7, as it’s called, features every worthwhile streaming and catch-up service app, is simple to navigate and doesn’t hog the entire screen when it’s running. And set-up can be as brief or as in-depth as you choose - semi-pro (or pro, for that matter) calibrators will find numerous opportunities for tweakery, while a great selection of picture presets keeps things nice and simple for the rest of us.
Panasonic TX-42LZ980 review: Verdict
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Also consider
LG was first out of the blocks with an OLED TV of this size - and itsOLED42C2is a dynamic and vibrant watch, a full-on treat for gamers, and has now dipped down to under the £1K in the UK. It’s sound is no great shakes, it’s true (although its doomed attempts to deliver low-frequency information make it differently poor to the TX-42LZ980), and it’s giving away the last drop of picture fidelity to the Panasonic too - but it’s nevertheless a great TV at a great price.
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B and LG OLED42C2 dealsLG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B and LG OLED42C2 dealsLG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B and LG OLED42C2 dealsLG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
Today’s best Panasonic TX-42LZ980B and LG OLED42C2 deals
LG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all prices
LG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all prices
LG OLED42C2$996.95ViewSee all prices
LG OLED42C2
LG OLED42C2
$996.95View
$996.95
$996.95
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We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices
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