News

The sets, which will be available next month, slot into the brand's 4K OLED lineup below the HZ1000, HZ1500 and flagship HZ2000.

With pricing beginning at £1,700 for the 55in HZ980, the screens will offer a sizable saving over the brand's costlier sets – the 55HZ1000, by comparison, sells for £2,000.

As with all of Panasonic's OLED TVs, the HZ980 range is multi-HDR compatible, with support for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ (as well as HDR10 and HLG). The sets also offer Filmmaker Mode and Dolby Vision IQ functionality.

Where the models differ from the step-up HZ1000s is in the OLED panel, which is no longer given 'Master HDR status by Panasonic. The onboard processor remains the HCX Intelligent Pro iteration, however.

The sets also miss out on 'swivel design' desktop stands of the HZ1000s.

On the audio side, the HZ980's is Dolby Atmos compatible, and offers eARC to stream lossless audio to external hardware.

Smart features include Bluetooth headphone support, voice interaction via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant devices, and Panasonic's My Home Screen 5.0 UI. Freeview Play tuner integration brings with it the major UK catch-up TV apps.