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Peter Griffin’s consumer tech columns appear fortnightly on listener.co.nz
If you buy a laptop or desktop PC, chances are it will have Windows installed, as about 75% of the world’s computers run Microsoft’s ubiquitous operating system (Apple’s MacOS runs most of the rest).
But it’s a different story in the world of TV operating systems where there are more options. Google TV is the closest thing to Windows in the TV world but has more limited uptake. The likes of Sony, Hisense and TCL opt for the operating system from the creator of Android, which is used on billions of smartphones.
Samsung, which claimed 16% of the global TV market last year, has invested heavily in its own Tizen operating system; LG has done the same with webOS, and Panasonic, which has withdrawn from the US and Australian TV markets but remains a popular brand in New Zealand, has its own bespoke smart interface dominated by My Home Screen for its high-end OLED TVs, but uses Google TV to run its LED TV line-up.
As a Panasonic OLED TV owner, I’ve come to grips with the pros and cons of this operating system. It’s simple to use and provides ultimate flexibility in adjusting TV settings, but it doesn’t have the richness of content options, voice assistance and home automation options built into its user interface that you’ll find available via Google TV or Amazon Fire TV.
The latter is the giant e-commerce operator’s equivalent operating system, which has been available locally for years as a streaming stick you can plug into your TV to replace its operating system. Amazon claims that 200 million people were using Fire TV in 2023 across streaming sticks and natively on TVs, making it the most popular way to access streaming content.
This month, Panasonic launches its flagship OLED TVs like the Z95A, Z93A, Z85A and W95A with the Fire operating system built into them for the first time. It’s a big move for Panasonic. NZ has had high uptake of Amazon’s Echo smart speakers powered by the Alexa voice assistant, but we don’t have the Amazon Prime delivery service here, which bundles in the Prime Video service.
But Fire’s arrival on Panasonic’s premium TVs came just in the nick of time, as the TV maker’s own operating system was looking increasingly dated compared to its competitors. App support is very good, as the Freeview streaming app and local streamers like Neon, Sky Sport Now, TVNZ+, Three Now feature on the TV, as well as Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, YouTube and Amazon’s own Prime Video. Music apps like Spotify and Apple Music are also supported.
Content aggregation and personalisation
The main advantage of moving to Fire OS, as touted by Panasonic, is the aggregation of content across streaming services on its user interface and the ability to call up content using Alexa.
“The primary purpose of Alexa on Fire TV is helping you get straight to the content that you want with speed,” said Patrick Walker, Amazon Devices country manager, Australia and New Zealand, at the launch of the Amazon-powered OLED TVs in Auckland.
“We’re now in a world where most people are subscribing, on average, to a minimum of three paid streaming services. We’re in that space where we’re trying to remember which one of those content providers was serving me up my show, or where I go back to continue watching. It has become quite difficult,” Walker added.
Fire TV allows for viewer profiles to be created, a bit like when using a Netflix household subscription, where logging in shows your tailored viewing history and presents you with shows and movies it thinks you’ll like.
Logging in under your profile name on Fire TV offers this across all the streaming apps you have on your Panasonic TV and have current subscriptions to. As a subscriber to Netflix, Sky Sport Now and a heavy user of TVNZ+ and Three Now, that’s incredibly useful. You can password-protect profiles so the kids can only access child-friendly content via their own profile.
Alexa on demand
Alexa has now been built into Panasonic’s high-end TVs. Often TVs feature Alexa or Google Assistant as a service that can be triggered by speaking into a microphone on the TV’s remote. Panasonic has dispensed with that, instead embedding a “far field” microphone that can pick up your command from across the room.
Alexa can be used to access a show in a streaming app, change channel and control home automation devices integrated into the Alexa ecosystem. There’s also a hard mute button on the bottom of the TV for those who don’t like the idea of Alexa constantly listening in your lounge room for the “Alexa” trigger word to respond to your command.
I’ve found voice assistants to be hit and miss on the TV, so I don’t use them. In the noisy environment of a crowded Auckland apartment, where Panasonic’s new TVs were set up, Alexa seemed to respond quickly to voice commands, but it will take some extensive testing to see how well it performs for day-to-day TV use.
Automating cameras, lights and thermostats
The big advantage Fire TV brings for lovers of home automation is slick integration of device control into the TV user interface. There’s a screen devoted to managing these devices. The most useful for me would be the Ring doorbell video camera I have mounted above my door. It’s a valuable safety feature if I can see a pop-up picture appear on my TV screen showing me who is at my front door.
Being able to control my Philips Hue and Nanoleaf smart light bulbs from the TV would also be handy, allowing me to shift my Echo device into another room. With thousands of smart devices supported, the Fire-powered TV basically becomes a smart hub for controlling devices in your home.
Fire TV also supports Apple HomeKit and Siri, so you can control integration with Apple devices via the interface, too.
“As an added benefit, [screen] casting comes to the game as well,” said Ben Watson, product manager - TV, audio and visual at Panasonic New Zealand.
“For those of you in the Apple world, we’ve got voice with Airplay, meaning that you can cast your Apple phone straight to the TV. If you’re using Siri as your own integrated product for voice control, the TV can be controlled by that as well. For those of you on Android, you can use that as well,” he added.
An “ambient mode” the TV goes into when not in use effectively turns your TV into a large Echo Show screen, showing artwork, the weather forecast or sticky note reminders.
What are the down sides?
While streamlining access to content and fancy voice assistants is of genuine value to the modern TV-viewing experience, the risk is a loss of simplicity and ease of use when a TV maker hands over some control to Amazon or Google.
Panasonic has integrated its existing menu into Fire TV, which will take some getting used to for existing Panasonic TV owners who upgrade and get a new TV interface in the process. It can also be frustrating to be presented with content viewing options that then require you to subscribe to view. This is an annoying aspect of the Google Chromecast interface I regularly use on my second TV. But with curation of the apps via Fire TV, this is something you can cut down on. Naturally, Amazon Prime and Amazon Music are front and centre in the Fire TV experience but aren’t as popular here as in other markets.
Ultimately, the operating system is one factor to consider in making a TV purchase. The real deciding factor is the picture quality the screen delivers, the audio options and aspects of the hardware that will be resident in your lounge for the best part of the next decade. I’ll hopefully be having a closer look at the new Panasonic line-up in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, Fire TV’s debut on Panasonic screens in this part of the world is a welcome development. If you aren’t in the market for a new TV, you can still buy a 4K Fire TV streaming stick to upgrade your TV’s user interface. That’s what I’ll be doing to breathe new life into my Panasonic TV. The integration with the TV’s features won’t be there, but I’ll be able to get the content and home automation features that have just been added to the latest generation of Panasonic TVs.
Price: From $2699 (Panasonic W95A series - 55 inch) to $6299 (Z95A series - 65 inch) Amazon Fire TV stick 4K Max $129.
