Adventures in AV: Forget Sony and TCL – there's another cataclysmic shift on the horizon for home cinema aficionados

Lots of people argue that change is healthy, and in certain instances, that’s true.

Evolution? That’s pretty cool, I use my opposable thumbs every day after all. LGBTQ+ rights? A big thumbs up from said digits. Spotify launching its Lossless tier? Yep, big fan; even if it ain’t perfect yet, those digits are partying it up with their siblings as I’ve got my hands in the air like I just don’t care listening to Andrew W.K.'s classic track, Party Hard, on it.

But there are undeniably some changes I don’t like. Highlights include baggy jeans coming back into fashion, the constantly increasing prices of streaming services, and, this year, the fact that not one, but two big-name OLED TV makers are on the verge of ownership changes.

First up is the TCL and Sony merger, which, for obvious reasons, is currently getting most of the attention. The news that TCL has started the process in earnest to buy a 51 per cent share of Sony’s home entertainment division was, without a doubt, some of the biggest news this year – or potentially this decade – for OLED TV fans.

The deal is in its early stages, but it could mean TCL has a controlling share of Sony’s TV business, including its OLEDs – a key area it has no real experience in, as an ongoing champion of Mini LED, and the soon-to-be-launched RGB Mini LED panel tech.

As you’ll know if you read our previous future-gazing pieces on the deal, key details are unknown about quite what the merger would mean for Sony’s Bravia OLEDs in particular. But the fact remains that any changes to Sony’s OLEDs, period, would be a big deal for serious home cinema fans.

After all, the Sony Bravia 8 and Sony Bravia 8 II remain staple sights in our best OLED TV buying guide for a reason – they’re pretty darned good. Our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, openly describes the Bravia 8 II as the best OLED he's ever tested, period.

So the idea of TCL trying to change Sony’s five-star, Award-winning formula does leave me slightly concerned.

But for me, it’s the second, quietly forgotten company, that’s currently shopping for a buyer to take charge of its TV business that has me sweating bullets. Specifically, what’s in store for Panasonic.

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You may have missed it, but last year news broke via financial news outlet Nikkei that Panasonic is shopping around for a buyer to take its TV business off its hands. The firm then quickly put out a statement confirming it is “considering all possibilities”, including just closing it, as well as selling it.

And, to be fair, from a business perspective, I get it. The TV market is competitive and full of companies with deeper pockets. Hence why volume players, including Hisense, TCL and Samsung, are fighting for the top slot, not premium players like Panasonic.

But I’m scared because, despite them not selling anywhere near as well as the bigger players, Pansonic’s OLEDs have been constant personal favourites thanks to their overt focus on authenticity over razzmatazz.

Panasonic markets its TVs as being for movie fans who want an “as the director experience”. And as I’ve said numerous times before, after helping review pretty much every OLED from the company to pass through our viewing rooms in the past three years, including the Award-winning Panasonic Z90B from 2025, there is a lot of evidence to back that claim.

Sure, they don’t push their peak brightness as high, and yes, they can occasionally be a little too conservative with their processing, resulting in an occasionally less sharp and three-dimensional image than rivals – especially recent Sony sets.

But their consistency with contrast, colour volume and general even-handedness has meant that year-on-year it has always been a Panasonic set that has let me stay focused on what I’m watching, not what the TV is doing. And that, for me, is the be-all and end-all, and why I tend to favour them, even if I agree with my comrades in testing that the latest Sony sets are holistically better for most people.

And that’s always been the case – all the way back to the four-star Panasonic TX-55EZ952B in 2017, which was the first OLED I liked enough to buy (albeit heavily discounted, at the end of its shelf life and refurbished).

But, I know I’m rapidly becoming the minority and going against the grain with my insistence that consistency and control are more important than a big nit count, or a laundry list of clever AI features – two things most TV makers are obsessed with right now.

Which is why I can’t help but feel it’ll be a sad day for home cinema enthusiasts if Panasonic’s TV division closes, or is bought by a firm that doesn’t understand what makes it quite such a diamond in the rough for people like me.

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