The Panasonic Z85A, unlike the flagship Z95A MLA OLED, uses a standard WOLED panel. Therefore, it is a direct competitor to TVs such as the LG C4 OLED and Sony BRAVIA 8 OLED. The TV is equipped with modern features such as HDMI 2.1 ports, 4K 120Hz and support for all VRR technologies.
It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, but does not decode DTS audio formats. The TV uses the Panasonic HCX Pro AI Processor MK II, which can analyze content to automatically adjust colors, clarity, contrast, and sound. It runs Fire TV OS, supports Alexa and Airplay, and contains a 50-watt 2.1-channel audio system. In our Panasonic 65Z85A 4K OLED HDR review, we will look at the main consumer qualities of the new product.
Design
The Panasonic 65Z85A TV has a premium design and looks fantastic in any room. The thin bezels give the TV a sleek look when viewed from the front. The stand is made of metal and is surrounded by a plastic frame. It holds the TV well and raises the screen about 7.5 cm off the table, so most soundbars will fit underneath without blocking the picture.
The bezels around the screen are no more than 0.9 cm thick. The back, where the inputs are, is quite thick and made of plastic. When viewed from the front, the ports are located on the left side of the TV, but they are easily accessible even if the TV is mounted on the wall. There are clips on the back panel that help group the cables. The thickness of the case in the area of the electronics unit is slightly more than 6 cm.
The build quality is outstanding. With the exception of the back where the inputs are located, the Panasonic Z85A is made entirely of aluminum, giving it a premium feel. There is some slight flex near the VESA mounting points, but this is typical and does not cause any issues.
Remote controls vary by region. Overseas, it’s a small remote with no number pad and quick access buttons for the most popular streaming services. You can use the built-in microphone to switch inputs, change apps, search within apps, and ask for the weather and time. Unfortunately, you can’t use voice commands to change settings.
Image quality
The 65Z85A has a virtually infinite contrast ratio. With self-illuminating pixels, OLED displays bright highlights alongside pitch-black perfection, making for a very impressive picture in a dark room. Because OLED displays do not use local dimming, there is no blurring when bright elements are surrounded by deep blacks.
The Panasonic Z85A series has good HDR brightness, bringing out bright areas in dark scenes. In a 10% window, peak brightness is around 850 nits. Combined with excellent contrast, this TV delivers a good HDR viewing experience. Unfortunately, its aggressive automatic brightness limiter (ABL) causes large bright scenes to be significantly dimmer than smaller, more reflective bright areas.
When viewing SDR content, the screen brightness is decent – around 460 nits in a 10% window. Unfortunately, this value is not enough to display bright points on the screen well in a well-lit room. As with the Z95A , when setting the TV to game mode, there is no noticeable difference in the brightness of HDR, as well as SDR.
The Z85A has a great color gamut. It covers almost the entire DCI-P3 color space, but most colors are a little undersaturated and inaccurate. Coverage of the Rec.2020 color space, which is mostly used in some nature documentaries and animated films, is good, but all colors are also undersaturated and inaccurate, with greens and blues being the worst.
That said, the Z85A’s color volume is very good. Dark, rich colors are displayed well. Unfortunately, like all WOLED panels, bright colors are a bit washed out, as the TV uses a bright white subpixel to produce the brightest details, which dilutes the color purity. This washout is very noticeable at the highest brightness levels.
The Panasonic Z85A has excellent gray uniformity. If you look closely, there are a few very faint vertical lines on the panel, but they are not noticeable from a normal viewing distance. And because the OLED panel can turn off individual pixels, the TV delivers incredible black uniformity without any blooming or halo effect around bright objects.
The glossy finish of the panel does a great job of reducing reflections, significantly reducing the intensity of indirect reflections. For example, when you have glare from a ceiling light that is not aimed directly at the screen. The TV also does a great job of reducing the intensity of direct reflections, such as from a lamp located in front of the screen.
Motion and Game Processing
The Z85A series has a near-instantaneous panel response time, which delivers incredibly sharp motion with virtually no blurring of fast-moving objects. There is still some blurring at 60Hz, but it’s not noticeable at higher refresh rates. There is a slight dip in brightness that corresponds to the TV’s refresh rate.
This is different from the PWM flicker on LED TVs and is present on every OLED. The effect may bother people who are particularly sensitive to flicker. To reduce the likelihood of blurring, the Z85A uses black frame insertion (BFI). However, only at 60Hz.
The optional motion interpolation feature improves motion clarity. The TV does a good job of smoothing out slow-moving scenes, with only a few minor artifacts. In fast-moving scenes, it can’t quite keep up, with distracting artifacts, image duplication, and halos.
The Panasonic Z85 supports FreeSync, HDMI Forum VRR, and G-Sync , ensuring virtually tear-free gaming from any VRR-enabled source. It works great across a wide range of refresh rates and supports Low Frame Compensation (LFC) sources. This ensures that your games stay smooth even when frame rates drop very low.
When set to True Game mode, this TV has an incredibly low input lag of around 14ms at 60Hz and 6ms at 120Hz. This provides a very responsive gaming experience with minimal delay between your controller or mouse button presses and the results of that action on the screen.
Smart TV
The Z85A OLED TV runs Fire TV OS. It’s a smooth and easy-to-use operating system. Unfortunately, it has a lot of built-in ads that you can’t get rid of. Fire TV has a large selection of apps, so finding your favorite content is easy. You can also stream content from your mobile device or play videos from a USB drive.
Alexa works really well on your TV. It lets your Fire TV control volume, launch apps, and search based on what you ask it to do. You can also use the virtual assistant to tell you the weather, play music, and more—all the same things you can do with an Alexa speaker.
Sound
The Panasonic Z85’s audio system has a mediocre frequency response. Like most TVs, it barely produces bass, but the speakers get loud enough. The sound is well balanced at mid-volume levels, making dialogue easy to understand. Unfortunately, the sound becomes unbalanced as you approach maximum volume. So if you’re a movie buff at home, you might want to consider a soundbar.
Connections
The Panasonic Z85A has HDMI 2.1 passthrough on two of its four HDMI ports, both of which support 4K 120Hz. Unfortunately, HDMI 2 is also an eARC port , so you lose the 2.1 port when you connect a soundbar. There are two USB ports, one of which is version 3.0. There’s a digital optical audio out, a 3.5mm headphone out, and a LAN port. Dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth are supported.
Conclusion
The Panasonic Z85A is an excellent TV suitable for multiple purposes. It boasts contemporary gaming capabilities, making it an ideal choice for use with the Xbox Series X and PS5. In dimly lit environments, the picture quality is impressive due to its exceptional black levels. Additionally, its wide viewing angle enhances the experience for group watching. While the screen effectively reduces glare in moderately lit spaces, it falls short in bright rooms, where reflections can still be an issue.