Introduction and features
4K versus Full HD; can you tell the difference?
4K is all about huge TVs, it's about sitting closer to the TV and it's about coming face-to-face with an eight megapixel TV image instead of two megapixels.
That's the maths behind the 3840x2160 pixels of 4K material, but what happens if everything – including the price – is shrunk down to 40-inches?
That's a conundrum tackled head-on by the Panasonic TX-40CX680B, comfortably the smallest 4K TV to be reviewed so far. At £669, it's also one of the very best value, with an all-new Firefox OS and Freeview Play adding to the package.
However, it's not the best-looking.
It's 47mm in depth with a 10mm gloss black bezel around three sides and 18mm across the bottom tapering backwards. Compact and serious-looking, it's another business-like design from Panasonic.
Features
On the Panasonic TX-40CX680B the all-new Firefox OS, which forms the basis for an all-new version of Panasonic's my Home Screen smart TV user interface, is making its debut. Just as enticing is that it's all powered by a Quad-Core Pro processor, which ought to make it easy to navigate and quick to load apps.
Its other characteristics and features are fast moving from the 'wants' to the 'needs' list; LED local dimming, a Freeview HD tuner and Wi-Fi. However, there is one expected feature missing from the TX-40CX680B - 3D.
Whether or not that will trouble anyone though is doubtful.
Aside from Firefox OS, the key new features are with the LED panel itself; a newly developed LED backlight and Wide Colour Phosphor tech claim to produce more than 90% of DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) standards for movie directors, though it's local dimming that's much more important.
However, HDR is nowhere to be seen.
Surely one of the biggest must-haves about the TX-40CX680B is Freeview Play, though sadly it wasn't quite ready at the time of this review.
Already at the centre of the Firefox OS is a Freeview Play Catch-Up app, though Freeview Play itself is not expected to appear on the TX-40CX680B (and all UK models of Panasonic TVs at its level and above) until later this summer.
Apps
Though the strength of the new Firefox OS isn't really about apps, there's a decent choice nonetheless.
Netflix, Amazon Instant, YouTube, AccuWeather and the BBC iPlayer all appear on the default home screen, with an online store adding hundreds of others from Facebook, Dailymotion and BIGFlix to TuneIn, Deezer, Eurosport Player, Picasa, BharatMatrimony, Al Jazeera, CNBC Real-Time, Meteonews TV, Withings, Bild, CineTrailer, Rovi Guide, HappyTrips and dozens more.
The TX-40CX680B also has a HEVC decoder so is compatible with 4K content from Netflix and Amazon Instant.
Ins & outs
Despite the low price the TX-40CX680B is packed with inputs and outputs.
On the rear is a RGB Scart (though to use such an old-fashioned standard definition-only connection would almost be criminal), component video slots, and a set of left and right phonos. Directly underneath are two down-facing HDMI inputs alongside a wired LAN slot, an optical digital audio output, and an RF slot to power the Freeview HD tuner.
A side panel adds a headphones jack, a Common Interface slot, and a third HDMI input, though that's perhaps one short for many living rooms. However, all the HDMIs are compatible with HDCP 2.2 for Ultra HD Blu-ray, and there's no such complaint about the side panel's three USB slots.
Also available
The 40-inch TX-40CX680B is the smallest in Panasonic's UK-only CX680 Series, which all include the Firefox OS and Freeview Play. The other two sizes available are the 50-inch TX-50CX680B and 55-inch TX-55CX680B.
It's only when you drop down to the CS500 Series (as with the TX-32CS510) that you lose Firefox, and Freeview Play is replaced by Freetime.
Picture quality
The TX-40CX680B is very small for a 4K TV. Received wisdom has it that a 4K TV should be about 55 inches in size and be viewed from around six feet away, at least according to THX.
It's also without 4K Studio Master Processor, a suite of finessed picture processing that graces the upper echelons of Panasonic's LED TV range.
None of that matters; the TX-40CX680B makes use of every one of its pixels. A blast of Marco Polo on 4K Netflix is super-sharp and clear, detail within the gloomy court of Kublai Khan illuminated well. Black levels and contrast are highly impressive, with punchy colours, and characters in the shadows standing out.
Some detail is blanked by the lack of fine shadow detailing, but overall that LED backlight is doing a great job, and there's no blue-ish tinge or annoying LED leakage to worry about either.
Colours are great whatever the material; the vast desert vistas of Marco Polo are well saturated, though I did tweak the colour downwards a tad in Cinema mode, the most accurate preset out of the box. It's also worth using the Intelligent Frame Creation mode on the mid-strength setting to knock the edge off film judder, which it does cleanly.
It's not just 4K that excels on the TX-40CX680B.
A Blu-ray disc of Gravity impresses, too, while even some live tennis on BBC Two HD from the Freeview HD tuner likewise impresses. There's perhaps a touch of picture noise in anything less than Full HD, though you have to go even lower down the video food chain before the TX-40CX680B's upscaling tech begins to break ranks.
That same tennis broadcast on BBC Two is dominated by fizzing around the players, a sheen of picture noise and soft, ill-defined edges that are all far more noticeable here than on a regular HDTV.
It's not unexpected, but it is disappointing.
That said, the TX-40CX680B remains a highly impressive TV when judged on picture quality alone, thanks just as much to its advanced LED panel as its 4K resolution.
Is 4K at 40-inches worth having? Absolutely – and it will be a default feature at this size by 2016.
Usability, sound quality and value
When it comes to living with the TX-40CX680B, the Quad Core Pro processor is a huge help, making the new Firefox OS a highly impressive smart TV hub.
Colourful and easy to customise, Firefox OS is one of the best-looking smart TV platforms of all, though it does lack content. The new interface is actually called my Home Screen 2.0, though it bears no resemblance to version 1.0 from 2014.
Much like the other major TV brands, Panasonic has abandoned the concept of having a separate smart TV homepage in favour of pop-up icons. Press the Home button on the distinctly old-fashioned remote control (save for a dedicated Netflix short-cut) and Firefox puts up a carousel of large, round icons in the middle of the screen against a transparent backdrop; everything underneath continues to play.
The first four are Live TV, Apps, Freeview Play Catch-Up and Devices, which gives one-touch access to the TV's core functions.
That's some excellent work.
Carry on through that carousel and you'll come to various icons representing recently used apps and services, such as YouTube or Netflix, before a long list of TV channels is presented. Finding BBC 1 is therefore pretty easy.
However, press the Apps button on the remote and the Firefox OS takes you to a dedicated page of apps. Unlike previous incarnations of Panasonic smart TV hubs, this page is distinctly uncluttered and contains just 14 key apps, among them Netflix, Amazon Instant, YouTube, AccuWeather, and links to the TV's internal features and services including a calendar, inputs, TV channels and a web browser provided by – you guessed it – Firefox. However, it's a fairly basic browser. Up front is a link to Panasonic's apps market, too.
Though it does lack the content and endless apps offered by Android TV, Firefox OS is by far the easiest smart TV interface to customise; anything from an app or device to a web page or a TV channel can be 'pinned' to the carousel in seconds.
Panasonic also has an ace up its sleeve. Just as Sony is about to unleash YouView to its Bravia TVs, the Viera line-up is about to get Freeview Play, which will integrate catch-up TV services the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 into the core user interface.
Finally, there's Info Frame, which is activated by a long press of the Home page.
It's a completely transparent screen that gives you four options tight to each side of the screen; a TV guide, Weather, Notifications and Recommended.
Though the list of TV channels is nicely executed, it's a little long-winded to find it, while the Recommended section merely lists random videos on YouTube and Viewster; Info Frame is the least successful part of the Firefox OS.
However, since it's well hidden, most people will probably never find it.
Without Google Play, the Firefox OS doesn't compare to Android TV on content, but in terms of simplicity and customisation of basic features, Panasonic's Firefox OS remains one of the best attempts yet at smart TV.
USB sticks and network devices are supposed to appear in the Devices section of the Home page, but during our review the TX-40CX680B detected their presence but did not display an icon, leaving me no way to test digital file playback.
Sound quality
The TX-40CX680B's 20W speakers are impressive, with a bass boost option adding some grunt to proceedings.
However, the virtual surround mode merely increases the background noise, as does the ambient mode.
Though stronger than most TVs and more than good enough for everyday TV and some music, just as integral is the TX-40CX680B's optical digital audio output for routing sound to a home cinema or sound-bar.
Value
Are you kidding?
Most decent Full HD 40-inchers cost about £600, so the addition of an all-new Firefox OS that's among the finest smart TV platforms of all, a talented LED panel and those 4K pixels make the TX-40CX680B a bargain at just UK£669.
With Freeview Play incoming, this TV is only going to get better value.
Value
Is the TX-40CX680B too small to show-off its 4K panel? This highly talented and great value TV swerves that elephant in the room with some pin-sharp pictures to add to its impressive smart TV OS.
We liked
Making good use of its 4K panel, the TX-40CX680B offers excellent black levels, bold colours and mostly fluid motion sequences. It also manages upscaling from Blu-ray to 4K exceptionally well too.
The new Firefox OS impresses on both simplicity and customisation potential, while the upcoming arrival of Freeview Play won't hurt this TV's excellent value package.
We disliked
The provision of only three HDMI inputs is a slight concern, as is its disappointing upscaling from standard definition TV channels and DVDs, both of which look exposed on this relatively small screen.
I also had a problem with USB sticks not being recognised, while the Firefox OS does lack a decent web browser.
Recording to a USB stick or HDD from the Freeview HD tuner appears to have dropped-off the spec sheet for 2015, too, which is also a shame.
The lack of 3D might put some people off, too.
Verdict
Though the TX-40CX680B's 4K resolution is the headline-grabber, the emphasis from Panasonic on this 40-incher is on better pixels rather than more pixels.
Overall that rings true on the TX-40CX680B, though the standout exception is standard definition, which does look soft and noisy. Great colours and black levels help mark this TV out as something special, though if nothing else its 3840x2160 pixels offer proof that the 4K revolution is all-encompassing.
Will we even have non-4K TVs in a couple of years? Probably not.
Not solely because 4K proves irresistible, but because TVs like the TX-40CX680B are already the entry-level for other must-have features like smart TV, though few will get close to the new Firefox OS.
As impressively simple as the Firefox OS is, it's Freeview Play that will entice UK buyers. It was on the brink of availability at the time of this review, but judging by its canny integration into the TV's core user interface, it's raring to go.
From its low price-per-pixel to the latest in smart TV and catch-up apps, the TX-40CX680B could turn out to be one of the bargains of year.
from TechRadar: Technology reviews http://ift.tt/1e1m48A
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