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A good value mid-ranger with lots of new features and an advanced picture quality, the arrival of the TX-50CX700 will help push Panasonic up the TV food-chain once again.
4K and Full HD pictures are pin-sharp and spotless, while the colourful and brilliantly designed Firefox OS is all about customisation and ease of use.
Does that make-up for a slight lack of content? Perhaps not, though Freeview Play – when it arrives later this summer – ought to help make the TX-50CX700 a real standout telly. It's a shame the Freeview Play is delayed, but from what I can tell it will be nicely integrated into the core Firefox OS.
We liked
With an extra dose of brightness, and with great black levels and spot-on colours, the TX-50CX700 makes a fine canvas for 4K to impress.
The Firefox OS is impressively simple, well designed and easy to use, with customisation options making it a smart TV standout. Physically, build quality and design are exceptional, with the TX-50CX700's two tiny feet an engineering masterpiece.
The appearance of an SD Card slot on the side-panel is good news for photographer who want a quick slideshow rather than getting tied-up in Wi-Fi home networking for the sake of it.
We disliked
Fitting a centrepiece TV like the TX-50CX700 with only three HDMI inputs is stingy indeed.
Some will miss the chance to swivel the TV slightly, which those otherwise impressive fixed feet do not allow.
I also had an issue with USB sticks not being recognised, while other gripes include the provision of a poor quality web browser, so-so upscaling for standard definition, and the delay of Freeview Play.
Verdict
Making the most of its pixels and upscaling well from Blu-ray, the TX-50CX700 is bolstered by an extra dose of brightness, and convincing black levels and luscious, though natural colours that are as accurate as any I've seen.
However, a fourth HDMI is missing in action, and there's a question mark over its USB slots.
It's not often I can say this about a Panasonic TV, but the TX-50CX700 enjoys a ground-breaking design; not so much in its super-slim bezel and all-round professional-look, but in the design of its two barely-there, razor-sharp feet.
That's a no inconsiderate achievement that helps make the TX-50CX700 a good value all-rounder ripe for the 4K future.
Also consider
A similar effort to the TX-50CX700 is the Samsung UE55JU6400, which is five inches larger but doesn't have a 3D mode. However, a 50-inch version, the UE50JU6400, is also available.
