Panasonic's new DX-900 TV range hits the UHD Premium heights

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The Ultra High Definition Alliance's criteria are pretty stringent, but Panasonic's 2016 flagship screen meets them all in some style.

Panasonic today used its press conference at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada, to announce its flagship DX900 LED TV.

The company claims it's the first screen to meet the uber-stringent picture performance criteria set out by the Ultra High Definition Alliance, and consequently is the world's first 'Ultra HD Premium'-specification television. That said, the 'world's first UHD Premium TV' has also been claimed by both LG and Samsung today.

In essence, this means the DX900 has the resolution, image precision, colour gamut and high dynamic range performance to handle all of the new standards of picture format 2016 promises.

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And fundamentally, it means the DX900 has the ability to combine extreme brightness with deep, detailed black-level response that's essential to make the most of the imminent High Dynamic Range content.

By using an innovative 'honeycomb' structure to control hundreds of rigorously isolated backlighting and local dimming zones, the DX900 is claimed to be able to produce high contrast whites and blacks in the same image with none of the 'halo' or 'bloom' effect commonly associated with LED/LCD TV technology. This should result in images far more dynamic and vibrant than we'd ordinarily associate with LED/LCD TVs.

In addition, the DX900 is a 4K, THX-certified screen with a smart new Firefox-powered operating system and a speaker array that includes four passive radiators in an effort to liberate meaningful bass from a slim, lightweight frame.

The DX900 goes on sale in the spring of 2016 and will initially be available in 58in and 65in screen sizes. Prices are yet to be confirmed.

MORE: CES 2016 highlights

Simon Lucas

Simon Lucas is a technology journalist, with a strong emphasis on the audio/video side of consumer electronics and home entertainment, and has been since 2003. He worked for more than 14 years at What Hi-Fi?, the last six of which were spent as the editor of the magazine and website. Since then he's written for Wired, The Guardian, TechRadar, Stuff, GQ and many more besides. 

In the course of his career he's developed a pretty deep understanding of the way both the publishing and the electronics industries function, as well as the sort of intimate knowledge of audio products (both specific and general) that can make people very wary of him at parties.