Panasonic MX950

Panasonic's first mini-LED TV is bright and sounds great too-but does it offer enough to keep its key competition at bay?

From £1,299 panasonic.com

If unfussy ergonomics and bright, vibrant and well-controlled images float your boat then this mini-LED TV from Panasonic is definitely one for your big screen wish list this year.

Is it perfect? No, but there's a lot to like about the MX950. It's currently available in 55-inch and 65-inch models, with the more expensive 65-inch on our test bench, coming in with an RRP of £1,599. You can get the smaller model for £300 less if your pockets won't stretch to the 65-inch. Although the TV market being what it is, we'd imagine it will be a little more affordable before long.

The MX950 is an LCD TV that uses a VA panel, backlit using mini-LED technology - an arrangement that promises superior brightness and better backlighting control than your standard LCD/LED arrangement. It also threatens the fidelity of off-axis viewing at the same time, mind you - so swings and roundabouts.

The well-regarded HCX PRO AI picture processing engine is running the show here. For this, Panasonic's first-ever mini-LED range, it's been tweaked in order to offer improvements in upscaling and motion handling. But given that Panasonic TVs (unlike so many of their competitors) offer compatibility with every worthwhile high dynamic range standard going (including HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision IQ), this is an area of performance that requires no tweaking whatsoever.

You've plenty of options when it comes to getting content on board for the HCX PRO AI to deal with, too.

Streaming is covered by dual-band Wi-Fi and an Ethernet socket, and there are further wireless possibilities thanks to Bluetooth (of an unspecified standard). Physical connections, meanwhile, run to a quartet of HDMI sockets, three USB slots, aerial posts for the integrated twin TV tuners, a composite video input and a CI slot.