HDTVTest 2018 TV Shootout Award winners; Panasonic FZ802 Best Home Theater TV

[DCI forum]

Renowned Television review site HDTVTest.co.uk conducted its annual TV Shootout, yesterday Sunday July 15. The Panasonic FZ802 took home both the main price of Best TV, and that of Best Home Theatre TV.

The 2018 TV Shootout Award winners and runners up in each category are the following:
Winner Runner-up
Best Home Theatre TV: Panasonic FZ802 (14.93 points) Sony AF8 (13.27 points)
Best Living Room TV: Sony AF8 (15.82 points) Panasonic FZ802 (15.69 points)
Best Gaming TV: Samsung Q9FN (4.23 points) LG C8 (4.10 points)
Best HDR TV: LG C8 (4.15 points) Panasonic FZ802 (4.13 points)
Best TV of 2018: Panasonic FZ802 (32.59 points) LG C8 (31.49 points)



Vincent Teoh of HDTVTest explained the results as follows:

Best Home Theater TV: Panasonic FZ802 has the most accurate colors, providing the closest match to the Sony BVM-X300 reference monitor.
Best Living Room TV: The Sony AF8 handles less-than-pristine off-air broadcasts in the cleanest manner, as well as boasting the best motion for watching sports.
Best Gaming TV: The Samsung Q9FN has the lowest input lag, supports Auto Game Mode switch and VRR (variable refresh rate), and poses no burn-in risk.
Best HDR TV: LG C8's looks generally brighter than other OLEDs thus giving more HDR impact. Samsung suffered in dark scenes where local dimming could be too aggressive causing loss of shadow detail.

The four TVs were calibrated by HDTVTest’s Vincent Teoh with assistance from Portrait Displays’ Tyler Pruitt and Marcel Gonska, and HDTVPolska’s Maciej Koper. The TVs were all running the latest firmware. Two Sony OLED studio displays (BVM-X300) were used as reference monitors. The TVs were easily identifiable by logo and design. It was not meant to be a blind test, HDTVTest explained in a statement.

The 4 TVs included in the 2018 TV Shootout were:
65” LG C8 OLED – $3000 / £3000
65” Panasonic FZ802 (FZ800) OLED – £3500
65” Samsung Q9FN LCD – $2900 / £3300
65” Sony AF8 (A8F) OLED – $3000 / £3100



These TVs were rated on eight criteria by 26 participants:

Category parameter scores
Winner Runner-up
Contrast performance: Panasonic FZ802 (4.58 points) Sony AF8 (4.45 points)
Colour accuracy: Panasonic FZ802 (4.36 points) Sony AF8 (4.31 points)
Motion: Sony AF8 (4.27 points) Panasonic FZ802 (4.18 points)
Video processing: Sony AF8 (4.27 points) Panasonic FZ802 (3.87 points)
Uniformity: LG C8 (4.19 points) Panasonic FZ802 (4.05 points)
Bright room performance: Samsung Q9FN (4.52 points) LG C8 / Panasonic FZ802 (3.43 points)
Gaming: Samsung Q9FN (4.23 points) LG C8 (4.10 points)
HDR: LG C8 (4.15 points) Panasonic FZ802 (4.13 points)

[donaldk]

[member=509]ARROW-AV[/member] did you manage to attend this year? If so what do you think? Anyone else took part in the shoot-out?

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

[member=509]ARROW-AV[/member] did you manage to attend this year? If so what do you think? Anyone else took part in the shoot-out?
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Not this year, partly because there's not been a huge evolution forwards with respect to consumer TVs over the course of the past 12 months (e.g. no top emission OLED, or MicroLED technology TVs, or Micro-Dimming-Zones technology TVs released yet etc.); albeit Samsung has very much stepped up their game... and partly just because I'm so damn busy right now 

[donaldk]

I saw HiSense announced its 5376 zone LCD TV at the Worldcup. But as you say not available yet, as are the other new display technologies. When will the Samsung (Uhm should be more precise 'The Wall') ship? Still q3 or has that been moved backwards?

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

I saw HiSense announced its 5376 zone LCD TV at the Worldcup. But as you say not available yet, as are the other new display technologies. When will the Samsung (Uhm should be more precise 'The Wall') ship? Still q3 or has that been moved backwards?
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Samsung will shortly be releasing LED/LCD TVs with over 10,000 dimming zones... and rumour has it that there's a successor to the Sony ZD9/Z9D in the works from the Sony camp

Samsung has kinda soft-launched the first generation The Wall product with shipping imminently. But it's the Luxury model that's the version of particular interest, which is over 2000 nits peak luminance and up to 292" 16:9 at 8K resolution, as well as other customized sizes and aspect ratios; and that's due for release early 2019. Hoping to see this at IFA and/or CEDIA and/or CES 

[donaldk]

Otherwise in Amsterdam.

I notice how Samsung is now co-marketing the IF series to (residential) users with The Wall. You should be able to get an 4x package on the Commercial version, but it would still be limited to current spec. including the 500 nits limit.

Brochure spec. list does not include thermal load nor power draw info. Those are just available for the associated mediaplayer. Let us know when you learn more.

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

Otherwise in Amsterdam.

I notice how Samsung is now co-marketing the IF series to (residential) users with The Wall. You should be able to get an 4x package on the Commercial version, but it would still be limited to current spec. including the 500 nits limit.

Brochure spec. list does not include thermal load nor power draw info. Those are just available for the associated mediaplayer. Let us know when you learn more.
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Yeah, I'm not too impressed by the IF range to be honest... The pixel pitch is too large and the peak luminance too low etc. etc.

By the way the IF series is in fact 600 nits and 800 nits peak luminance depending on the model, which is not as bad as 500 nits but still way too low for the price tag IMO. 

Also the uniformity isn't perfect and at ISE I could see the seams. The 110" and 130" consumer iterations are only HD 1080p resolution and cost $99,999

Why the hell would anyone buy either  of those when you can buy a 100" Sony ZD9/Z9D for $59,999? Anyone who does so needs to see a shrink, stat. 

[donaldk]

The Director of Hollywood for Samsung mentioned Samsung is selling 0.9 mm pitched LED displays, but I have never seen any information about it. The 1.25 was new at ISE, Samsung stuck to selling faster running displays,1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and larger.

Yes 110 inch is HD only. Modularity would be the only reason, 30K-40K does knock a wall down, but does not rebuild it.

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

The Director of Hollywood for Samsung mentioned Samsung is selling 0.9 mm pitched LED displays, but I have never seen any information about it. The 1.25 was new at ISE, Samsung stuck to selling faster running displays,1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and larger.

Yes 110 inch is HD only. Modularity would be the only reason, 30K-40K does knock a wall down, but does not rebuild it.
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The Wall is 0.8mm... I wonder if he meant that? 

Here's the full details and specs for the IF range:

[donaldk]

Don't thinks so. It is indeed 0.84 mm equivalent from what I heard/read, with 80 micron LEDs.

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

Don't thinks so. It is indeed 0.84 mm equivalent from what I heard/read, with 80 micron LEDs.
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Interesting 

[donaldk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKGQpLvcxA

[Absolute Ultimate AV]

I'm looking forward to the future giant-sized video wall shootout events 

I guess bigger venues will be in order 

[donaldk]

Did not manage to catch the ISE press conference stream today. But apparantly even the Rai is too small, lol.