Exciting word : Panasonic TVs are back in the U.S. I ’ve await ahead to this review for more than a decade .
First , there are two Panasonic models available : the W95A miniskirt - precede QLED TV , reexamine here , and the Z95A OLED television receiver . And while I am personally very aroused toreview the OLED , more folks are probable to grease one’s palms the W95Amini - result , so I make up one’s mind to tackle it first . Not only does it have a far more accessible price — around the $ 1,500 mark for a 65 - in fashion model — but it ’s also going to be the good conniption for the average U.S. home .
Panasonic still has its gorgeous signature flavor .
For folks who may not remember , Panasonic was one of thebest brand in TVs , starting back in the late 1980s ( at least ) . Back then , RCA and Zenith sell more unit , but Panasonic , Sony , and Toshiba were live for having the best technology and image calibre . Panasonic stayed near the peak of that quality pile through the CRT ( vacuum tube television ) days , and right through the plasm days . In fact , the last time it insert a plasma TV — thePanasonic ZT60 — it was considered the best you could buy , toppling the mighty Pioneer Kuro Elite from its rod .
That was in 2013 .
We may not have project its TVs around for a while , but Panasonic never slacked off . Its OLED TVs and , more recently , its mini - LED TVs have been rack up awards overseas as we TV nerds could only hope that , one 24-hour interval , we ’d get to check them out in person , on U.S. filth .
Well , they ’re here , and adept news : Panasonic still has its theme song look . It ’s classy and somewhat laid - back , yet exact and so ask round .
Panasonic W95 Series specs
Well-built, nice bass … but some Fire frustrations
The W95A is Panasonic ’s flagship mini - LED TV , and its cost aligns withSony ’s Bravia 7 , making it a good choice for comparison . ( FYI : The Bravia 7 sits one tier below Sony ’s flagship , theBravia 9 — a much , much more expensive TV . )
The Panasonic W95A is an attractive and ostensibly well - establish goggle box . It seems to be made of quality components , and although the feet attend a bit footer , there ’s a bit of ponderousness to them and they experience sound .
The 65 - inch mannikin consider about 67 pounds with the foot , and 60 Egyptian pound without . There ’s also a slenderly heavy weight to the skeletal frame , which is middling thin and has an average overall heaviness . And the bezel are thin .
Panasonic ’s TVs , like Sony ’s , use a MediaTek chipset , and that means only two HDMI 2.1 ports , one of which functions as theeARCport . But the TV is take to get up to 144Hz and supports variable refresh rate ( VRR ) through those two HDMI 2.1 ports .
For sound , the W95A has a sea bass transducer on the back and two down - firing speakers . As far as onboard TV strait goes , it ’s a little above norm in faithfulness ( keep in mind , though , that the average kind of reek , so above norm is n’t precisely high praise ) . We usually suggestgetting yourself a soundbarif the built - in audio is n’t up to rally . The W95A ’s niggling bass transducer makes a in earnest meaningful difference and the TV put out some remarkably decent virtual surround phone . However Panasonic did it , it ’s telling .
Now we get to theAmazon Fire TVpart … and here I ’m taking a deep breath . Panasonic ’s partnership with Amazon may be pertain to its return to the U.S. , but I ca n’t be certain of that . But consider the following : In the more launching - level , affordable tier up , the licenced Toshiba stain name seem on a telly brandishing Amazon ’s Fire TV . Amazon has its own brandmark Fire TV in the mid - grade . And now Panasonic has arrived to underpin the upper tier .
Panasonic has make a custom integration with Fire goggle box O that gives user all the powerful control you would require from Panasonic , and then some . ( There are some pretty geeky preferences choice here for us video nerds , so huge respect goes to Panasonic . )
A personal take : I do n’t hate Fire telecasting OS , but overall I do n’t care it — it ’s not how I wish to interact with my television receiver and get content . However , many people will in all likelihood care it . If you ’re deep in the Amazon world or an Alexa king user , you might love this TV . The screensavers , for one , are passably great .
One matter that folk will probably receive thwarting : Periodically , and without doing anything special when turning on the telecasting , the promotional space up top will auto - play video with sound . That is just a hard no from me . I also do n’t wish how it separates broadcast television receiver from so - call “ alive TV . ” While I can get preceding that , I ca n’t get past auto - play with strait . ( Do I really need to have aFire TV stickmarketed to me while I ’m using a TV with Fire TV ramp up - in ? )
Numbers for Nit Nerds
First , there are a circumstances of delineation manner available , more than usual for the Nit Nerd : Cinema , Filmmaker Mode , True Cinema , Professional 1 and Professional 2 . Choice can be great , but it can also be consuming .
I did most of my examination in Filmmaker Mode and Professional 1 and used the Calibrite Display Plus HL with Calman professional computer software to get a read on how the TV perform in its most exact picture modes , prior to any adjustments . And I order it against other TVs based on that criteria .
In Filmmaker Mode SDR , the TV ’s peak light was just diffident of 150 . For those of you who are incognizant , 100 to 150 nit is part of the Rec . 709 standard that was developed mostly in transmission line with what CRT TVs could do .
The 2 - gunpoint snowy symmetricalness was interesting . Max Delta E in the bright Edward Douglas White Jr. was just scarce over 3 , and 30 % stimulus was well within spec . What ’s interesting , though , is that the white balance is almost the opposite of the Sony Bravia 7 ’s , which had a fleck too much red to go with tier blue and green .
The color accuracy is laughably good .
The 20 - point grayscale told a similar story . Only the brightest whiteness deviated from D.65 — and barely at that .
The color truth was ridiculously good . The color gamut test barely registers misplay — the only errors were in the whites and gray . This video even ace the brightness sweeps examination , which is super impressive .
In Pro mode with brightness maxed , I got about 1,100 nits eyeshade for SDR . It was a like story with white-hot symmetricalness . In grayscale , the midtones got a piffling bad because everything is brighter . It still ace the colour tests . It ’s a square professional modal value , for sure . It has the brightness most folks want , along with the truth they may not cognize they desire .
In Filmmaker modality HDR , the TV tracked just ever - so - slightly high on the EOTF curve , which meant a tiny bit of over - brightening . To the average viewer , that would make the TV seem to have good shadow detail . But in reality , it ’s just slightly over - lighten those A-one - low - luminousness areas . ( Oddly , though , when I essay the Professional 1 HDR mode , it tail the EOTF perfectly . So I rerun the trial in Filmmaker Mode HDR and it was high again . )
Peak brightness in HDR was consistently in the 1,300 nits zone , which is much lower than the Bravia 7 — and it ’s a rare social function when the Bravia 7 looks brighter to me .
Colormatch and Color Checker were both excellent , although maybe not quite as dialed in as the Sony Bravia 7 , but emphatically one of the best setup TVs out of the box I have essay .
DCI - P3 coverage was about 97 % and BT.2020 colour was 80 % . strait familiar ? Those are Bravia 7 numbers .
In just about every measurable expanse , Sony Bravia 7 and Panasonic W95A match evenly , but with one exception : The Sony has mellow measurable peak brightness – about 500 nits or so . It ’s visible , but not intimately as much of a brightness difference as you might think . The cleverness on the W95A is stiff enough tobring HDR alert , and Panasonic is judicious with its use of brightness , so you get a well-situated image with just the good amount of sparkle .
Gorgeous picture, natural color, snappy transitions
When liken the two tv set side by side , the Sony has a more or less more Battle of Magenta leaning — a little more blush to skin tones , for example . The Panasonic tends to have a more natural , less Dominicus - kissed look . But you ’d be hard - press out to detect the difference without a side - by - side review .
The inglorious grade are outstanding , with minimum blooming and halo . There may be a tiny routine of near - black chrominance overshoot , but it ’s difficult to say .
Backlighting geographical zone transition are pretty snappy , with no noticeable artifacts present when watching content . You just see the gorgeous film , and not how it ’s made .
This band ’s color is phenomenally accurate if you require it to be — the out - of - box configurations will deliver — even in muted message with good deal of beiges and Brown University . Those muted colors often front forced , but not here . Everything just feel natural .
The apparent motion on this television receiver is my best-loved part . Panasonic ’s processing is just leading . I ’m telling you , from football toFargo , when it comes to movement resolution , this TV looks outstanding .
If I ever hail down on theSony Bravia 7for having poor off - slant public presentation and so - so musing manipulation , the Panasonic W95A seems to be in the same coterie . However , many folks think that any off - angle and mirror image issues in the Bravia 7 are overblown . irrespective , wherever you stand on the Bravia 7 , the W95A delivers in variety .
This TV is unbent - up beautiful . If you appreciate the finer things in life — if you see movies as art as much as you do entertainment — I retrieve the W95A delivers the goods over theever - so - somewhat more low-priced TCL QM8 . The W95A is not as intensely bright as the TCL QM8 , but what it lacks in heftiness , it makes up for in pep pill and agility . This television receiver is also built to last a while . ( I have no objective data to back that up — it ’s just a intestine feeling . )
If you ’re choosing between the Sony Bravia 7 and the Panasonic W95A , it ’s break to depend on how you experience about Fire telly . It will in all likelihood come down to that because , from a delineation - performance perspective , the two are very evenly match . Each has its own flavor , and each is delicious .
