Panasonic is best known for its premium OLED televisions—designed for home cinema enthusiasts and often priced accordingly. But the new Panasonic W85B series aims to change that perception. It’s Panasonic’s most affordable 120Hz TV, offering smooth performance and solid image quality for a much broader audience.
At first glance, it may not compete with the brand’s flagship OLEDs, but the Panasonic TV-55W85B proves that a well-balanced, mid-range model can still deliver a great experience for movies, sports, and gaming—all without costing half as much as a luxury model.
Looking at the Panasonic TV-W85B from the front, it’s hard to find any serious complaints. It’s a mid-range model, but it looks quite elegant – the thin bezels are a dark graphite color, and the distinctive thickening at the bottom of the screen doesn’t detract from the overall look. It looks simply neat in the room, and at first glance, you wouldn’t call it a budget TV.
Design and Build Quality
From the front, the W85B looks elegant and modern. The slim graphite bezels and slightly thickened bottom frame give it a refined, balanced appearance. It’s not flashy, but it fits perfectly into most living rooms without screaming “budget TV.”
The back tells a different story. The casing is made of plastic and metal and feels quite substantial. At 2.6 inches thick, it’s not designed for ultra-slim wall mounting, but the center stand is sturdy and stable—ideal for placement on narrower TV units.
Panasonic’s classic remote returns, complete with a numeric keypad, quick access to picture settings, and a programmable “My App” button. You can assign it to a favorite streaming service, Alexa command, or gaming shortcut. There’s no built-in microphone in the TV, but voice control via Alexa is available through the remote.
Picture Quality
Despite its budget-friendly nature, the Panasonic W85B supports all major HDR formats: HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. That’s rare in this price range. The 55-inch model features a VA QLED panel with a 4000:1 contrast ratio, delivering deep, rich blacks—though not quite OLED-level.
The Panasonic 55W85B is quite dim—its peak brightness doesn’t exceed 300 nits—so it’s difficult to see any true HDR effect. In practice, this means that scenes that might “shine” and impress on other screens simply look like standard dynamic range (SDR) here, with a slight boost in color gamut.
In a fully dark room, you’ll notice that the blacks can lean toward dark blue due to the absence of local dimming. Still, compared to typical IPS panels, the VA display offers much better contrast and a punchier image.
The main weakness is brightness. With a peak of about 300 nits, HDR highlights lack impact, and bright scenes don’t “pop” the way they do on more expensive TVs. Essentially, HDR content looks more like SDR with a slightly boosted color gamut.
Color Performance and Calibration
Out of the box, the colors are vivid but a little too warm, with an excess of red in both SDR and HDR. Filmmaker Mode gives the most accurate image, but calibration makes a noticeable difference.
After tuning white balance and brightness, the W85B produces a much more natural and balanced image. In SDR, the picture becomes sharper and more lifelike. HDR benefits as well, though the TV still tends to overexpose some scenes.
If you want perfect color accuracy, the W85B won’t give you reference-level performance—but for everyday content, it looks surprisingly good, especially at this price.
The Panasonic W85B performs very well with SDR content: tonal transitions are smooth and natural, without artificial banding or sharp edges. However, with lower-resolution content, the picture is less clear. When watching older films or YouTube content, you may sometimes notice slight issues with color transitions.
Motion and Gaming Performance
Here’s where the Panasonic W85B truly shines. It features a 120Hz refresh rate, HDMI 2.1 support, ALLM, VRR, and even Dolby Vision for gaming. Input lag is impressively low—around 8–10ms at 120Hz and 17–20ms at 60Hz—making it a strong choice for competitive gamers.
There’s no black frame insertion (BFI) mode, and motion smoothing options are limited, but gameplay remains fluid and responsive. Panasonic’s Game Bar makes it easy to check or tweak settings on the fly.
HDR gaming, however, is less successful. Without proper HGiG implementation, brightness mapping is inconsistent, leading to overexposed visuals. The simplest fix? Turn off HDR in your console or PC and stick with SDR for better consistency.
Smart TV Features
The W85B runs Amazon Fire OS, a significant step up from Panasonic’s previous proprietary systems. It includes AirPlay support, screen mirroring, and Alexa voice control from the remote.
Fire OS feels modern and user-friendly, though not as polished as Google TV or Tizen. Occasionally, the interface lags or feels clunky. The biggest downside is that the Fire TV app library isn’t as extensive as competitors’.
Still, for everyday streaming—Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, YouTube, etc.—it’s perfectly adequate.
Two HDMI 2.1 ports (with eARC ) and one HDMI 2.0 port, one analog and one digital audio output, two USB ports, and a CI slot should be enough for most users. Networking capabilities are also paramount, as the Panasonic connects either wirelessly via Wi-Fi or securely via a LAN port. Bluetooth is also included.
Sound Quality
Audio performance is the W85B’s weakest point. Despite featuring a small subwoofer, the sound is flat and lacks depth. Dialogue is clear, but bass and cinematic punch are missing.
If you care about sound quality, you’ll want to pair this TV with a soundbar or external speaker system—something like the Klipsch Flexus Core 300 ($499) would be an ideal match.
Connectivity
The Panasonic W85B offers a practical set of connections:
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2x HDMI 2.1 (with eARC)
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1x HDMI 2.0
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2x USB 2.0
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Optical and headphone outputs
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Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6
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Bluetooth 5.3
It supports both wired and wireless network connections, ensuring stable streaming and smooth device pairing.
Panasonic W85B Price (October 2025)
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Panasonic TV-43W85B: $749
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Panasonic TV-50W85B: $799
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Panasonic TV-55W85B: $849
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Panasonic TV-65W85B: $1,099
These prices make the W85B lineup one of the most accessible ways to experience Panasonic’s image processing and 120Hz smoothness.
Verdict
The Panasonic W85B is not a perfect TV—but it’s an excellent all-rounder for the price. It offers superb SDR picture quality, excellent gaming performance, and broad HDR format support in a sleek, reliable design.
However, brightness limitations and lack of local dimming mean that true HDR performance isn’t its strong suit.
If you want a smooth 120Hz QLED TV under $900, and your focus is everyday entertainment rather than home cinema perfection, the Panasonic W85B is a smart and satisfying choice.
