Panasonic W95A mini-LED QLED TV review: dalicious brightness and color

Exciting news: Panasonic TVs are backmost successful nan U.S. I’ve looked guardant to this reappraisal for much than a decade.

First, location are 2 Panasonic models available: nan W95A mini-LED QLED TV, reviewed here, and nan Z95A OLED TV. And while I americium personally very excited to review nan OLED, much folks are apt to bargain nan W95A mini-LED, truthful I decided to tackle it first. Not only does it person a acold much approachable value — astir nan $1,500 people for a 65-inch exemplary — but it’s besides going to beryllium nan champion fresh for nan mean U.S. household.

Panasonic still has its gorgeous signature look.

For folks who whitethorn not remember, Panasonic was 1 of nan best brands successful TVs, starting backmost successful nan precocious 1980s (at least). Back then, RCA and Zenith sold much units, but Panasonic, Sony, and Toshiba were known for having nan champion exertion and image quality. Panasonic stayed adjacent nan highest of that value upland done nan CRT (tube TV) days, and correct done nan plasma days. In fact, nan past clip it introduced a plasma TV — nan Panasonic ZT60 — it was considered nan champion you could buy, toppling nan mighty Pioneer Kuro Elite from its perch.

That was successful 2013.

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We whitethorn not person seen its TVs astir for a while, but Panasonic ne'er slacked off. Its OLED TVs and, much recently, its mini-LED TVs person been racking up awards overseas arsenic we TV nerds could only dream that, 1 day, we’d get to cheque them retired successful person, connected U.S. soil.

Well, they’re here, and bully news: Panasonic still has its signature look. It’s prestigious and somewhat laid-back, yet precise and truthful inviting.

Video review

Panasonic W95 Series specs

Well-built, bully bass … but immoderate Fire frustrations

The W95A is Panasonic’s flagship mini-LED TV, and its value aligns pinch Sony’s Bravia 7, making it a bully action for comparison. (FYI: The Bravia 7 sits 1 tier beneath Sony’s flagship, nan Bravia 9 — a much, overmuch much costly TV.)

The Panasonic W95A is an charismatic and ostensibly well-built TV. It seems to beryllium made of value components, and though nan feet look a spot pedestrian, there’s a spot of heft to them and they consciousness good.

The 65-inch exemplary weighs astir 67 pounds pinch nan feet, and 60 pounds without. There’s besides a somewhat heavier weight to nan frame, which is moderately bladed and has an mean wide thickness. And nan bezels are thin.

Panasonic’s TVs, for illustration Sony’s, usage a MediaTek chipset, and that intends only 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, 1 of which functions arsenic nan eARC port. But nan TV is claimed to get up to 144Hz and supports adaptable refresh complaint (VRR) done those 2 HDMI 2.1 ports.

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For sound, nan W95A has a bass transducer connected nan backmost and 2 down-firing speakers. As acold arsenic onboard TV sound goes, it’s a small supra mean successful fidelity (keep successful mind, though, that nan mean benignant of stinks, truthful supra mean isn’t precisely precocious praise). We usually propose getting yourself a soundbar if nan built-in audio isn’t up to muster. The W95A’s small bass transducer makes a earnestly meaningful quality and nan TV puts retired immoderate remarkably decent virtual situation sound. However Panasonic did it, it’s impressive.

Now we get to nan Amazon Fire TV portion … and present I’m taking a heavy breath. Panasonic’s business pinch Amazon whitethorn beryllium related to its return to nan U.S., but I can’t beryllium definite of that. But see nan following: In nan much entry-level, affordable tier, nan licensed Toshiba marque sanction appears connected a TV brandishing Amazon’s Fire TV. Amazon has its ain branded Fire TV successful nan mid-tier. And now Panasonic has arrived to support nan precocious tier.

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Panasonic has created a civilization integration pinch Fire TV OS that gives users each nan powerful controls you would expect from Panasonic, and past some. (There are immoderate beautiful geeky settings options present for america TV nerds, truthful immense respect goes to Panasonic.)

A individual take: I don’t dislike Fire TV OS, but wide I don’t for illustration it — it’s not really I for illustration to interact pinch my TV and get content. However, galore group will astir apt for illustration it. If you’re heavy successful nan Amazon world aliases an Alexa powerfulness user, you mightiness emotion this TV. The screensavers, for one, are beautiful great.

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One point that folks will apt find frustrating: Periodically, and without doing thing typical erstwhile turning connected nan TV, nan promotional abstraction up apical will auto-play video pinch sound. That is conscionable a difficult nary from me. I besides don’t for illustration really it separates broadcast TV from alleged “Live TV.” While I tin get past that, I can’t get past auto-play pinch sound. (Do I really request to person a Fire TV stick marketed to maine while I’m utilizing a TV pinch Fire TV built-in?)

Numbers for Nit Nerds

First, location are a batch of image modes available, much than accustomed for nan Nit Nerd: Cinema, Filmmaker Mode, True Cinema, Professional 1 and Professional 2. Choice tin beryllium great, but it tin besides beryllium overwhelming.

I did astir of my testing successful Filmmaker Mode and Professional 1 and utilized nan Calibrite Display Plus HL pinch Calman master package to get a publication connected really nan TV performed successful its astir meticulous image modes, anterior to immoderate adjustments. And I classed it against different TVs based connected that criteria.

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In Filmmaker Mode SDR, nan TV’s highest luminance was conscionable awkward of 150. For those of you who are unaware, 100 to 150 nits is portion of nan Rec. 709 modular that was developed mostly successful statement pinch what CRT TVs could do.

The 2-point achromatic equilibrium was interesting. Max Delta E successful nan agleam achromatic was conscionable hardly complete 3, and 30% stimulus was good wrong spec. What’s interesting, though, is that nan achromatic equilibrium is almost nan other of nan Sony Bravia 7’s, which had a spot excessively overmuch reddish to spell pinch level bluish and green.

The colour accuracy is ridiculously good.

The 20-point grayscale told a akin story. Only nan brightest whites deviated from D.65 — and hardly astatine that.

The colour accuracy was ridiculously good. The colour gamut trial hardly registers errors — nan only errors were successful nan whites and grays. This TV moreover aced nan luminance sweeps test, which is ace impressive.

In Pro mode pinch brightness maxed, I sewage astir 1,100 nits highest for SDR. It was a akin communicative pinch achromatic balance. In grayscale, nan midtones sewage a small worse because everything is brighter. It still aced nan colour tests. It’s a coagulated master mode, for sure. It has nan brightness astir folks want, on pinch nan accuracy they whitethorn not cognize they want.

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In Filmmaker mode HDR, nan TV tracked conscionable ever-so-slightly precocious connected nan EOTF curve, which meant a mini spot of over-brightening. To nan mean viewer, that would make nan TV look to person amended protector detail. But successful reality, it’s conscionable somewhat over-brightening those super-low-luminance areas. (Oddly, though, erstwhile I tested nan Professional 1 HDR mode, it tracked nan EOTF perfectly. So I reran nan trial successful Filmmaker Mode HDR and it was precocious again.)

Peak brightness successful HDR was consistently successful nan 1,300 nits zone, which is overmuch little than nan Bravia 7 — and it’s a uncommon juncture erstwhile nan Bravia 7 looks brighter to me.

Panasonic W95A 9top) and Sony Bravia 7 Zeke Jones / Digital Trends

Colormatch and Color Checker were some excellent, though possibly not rather arsenic dialed successful arsenic nan Sony Bravia 7, but decidedly 1 of nan champion setup TVs retired of nan container I person tested.

DCI-P3 sum was astir 97% and BT.2020 colour was 80%. Sound familiar? Those are Bravia 7 numbers.

In conscionable astir each measurable area, Sony Bravia 7 and Panasonic W95A lucifer evenly, but pinch 1 exception: The Sony has higher measurable highest brightness – astir 500 nits aliases so. It’s visible, but not astir arsenic overmuch of a brightness quality arsenic you mightiness think. The brightness connected nan W95A is beardown capable to bring HDR alive, and Panasonic is judicious pinch its usage of brightness, truthful you get a comfortable image pinch conscionable nan correct magnitude of sparkle.

Gorgeous picture, earthy color, snappy transitions

When comparing nan 2 TVs broadside by side, nan Sony has a somewhat much magenta leaning — a small much blush to tegument tones, for example. The Panasonic tends to person a much natural, little sun-kissed look. But you’d beryllium hard-pressed to observe nan quality without a side-by-side review.

The achromatic levels are outstanding, pinch minimum blooming and halo. There whitethorn beryllium a mini spot of near-black chrominance overshoot, but it’s difficult to tell.

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Backlighting area transitions are beautiful snappy, pinch nary noticeable artifacts coming erstwhile watching content. You conscionable spot nan gorgeous picture, and not really it’s made.

This set’s colour is phenomenally meticulous if you want it to beryllium — nan out-of-box settings will present — moreover successful muted contented pinch tons of beiges and browns. Those muted colors often look forced, but not here. Everything conscionable feels natural.

The mobility connected this TV is my favourite part. Panasonic’s processing is conscionable stellar. I’m telling you, from shot to Fargo, erstwhile it comes to mobility resolution, this TV looks outstanding.

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If I ever travel down connected nan Sony Bravia 7 for having mediocre off-angle capacity and so-so reflection handling, nan Panasonic W95A seems to beryllium successful nan aforesaid camp. However, galore folks deliberation that immoderate off-angle and reflection issues successful nan Bravia 7 are overblown. Regardless, wherever you guidelines connected nan Bravia 7, nan W95A delivers successful kind.

This TV is straight-up beautiful. If you admit nan finer things successful life — if you spot movies arsenic creation arsenic overmuch arsenic you do intermezo — I deliberation nan W95A delivers nan equipment complete nan ever-so-slightly much affordable TCL QM8. The W95A is not arsenic intensely agleam arsenic nan TCL QM8, but what it lacks successful muscle, it makes up for successful velocity and agility. This TV is besides built to past a while. (I person nary nonsubjective information to backmost that up — it’s conscionable a gut feeling.)

If you’re choosing betwixt nan Sony Bravia 7 and nan Panasonic W95A, it’s going to dangle connected really you consciousness astir Fire TV. It will apt travel down to that because, from a picture-performance perspective, nan 2 are very evenly matched. Each has its ain flavor, and each is delicious.