Panasonic TV-65Z90B

Introduction

Panasonic is very good at making TVs – the problem recently is that it is not all that great at letting you know about these TVs.

It’s true that Panasonic has experienced some tough times in the TV market, but that hasn’t shaken its ability to make impressive TVs.

And the Panasonic TV I look forward to each year is not the flagship OLED but the step down model. The MZ1500 was fantastic, the Z90A was almost as good, and the Z90B…? It’s another fab TV from Panasonic.

Design

• Lightweight
• Easy to assemble
• Swivel stand

Usually with Panasonic TVs, I start with the notion that not much has changed. For the Z90B a few, slight changes have been wrung.

For one, the rear part of the TV occupies much more space than before, looking more like an LG OLED. The TV’s weight has gone up significantly from 24kg to 30kg, so something’s changed.

As per usual, the design is slim bezels and minimalism. The central stand swivels so you can angle it away from sunlight. Putting the TV together is fast, at just over a minute.

Viewing angles are excellent. I’m not sure which OLED panel this uses, but brightness and saturation of colours are almost the same wherever you sit. It only slightly fades at wider and more acute angles, but quite frankly, why would you sit there anyway?

User Experience

• Fire TV interface
• Freely integration
• Built-in Alexa

Set-up feels quicker than before. You can call up settings from previous Fire TV devices to get up and running quicker, and doing so through the Fire TV app over Wi-Fi is superior to using the remote.

The Fire TV interface is a fast and fluid experience with no lag. I’d still argue there are too many rows, and too much on each row to flick through too. One row had more than 50 titles before I gave up. There is such a thing as too much, Amazon.

It is still Amazon-centric despite the huge number of apps on Fire TV. One of the top rows is ‘Continue Watching’ for your Prime Video titles, while rows for Netflix and iPlayer only pop up ‘near’ the top once you’ve logged into those respective apps.

There are rows for Amazon Luna and Music apps, though Freevee is slowly being elbowed out, with the Free on Fire TV section gathering titles from all the free apps in one place.

Your ‘My List’ can include titles available on other apps, though there’s some incorrect tagging I spotted – both Kill Bill and Quantum of Solace were listed as 4K on ITVX – except ITVX doesn’t support 4K.

Hailing Alexa through the remote brings a quick response, although unlike TiVo, she doesn’t seem to understand the context of the search with further questions.

Some searches bring up odd results too – calling up Jim Carrey brings up a Bob Saget Netflix Special (who?) and Good Boy – a Korean film with seemingly no relation to Carrey and Street Kings… which stars Keanu Reeves. LOL what, indeed.

The Fire TV Ambient Experience is similar to what you’d find on the Fire TV Omni Mini LED with widgets and dynamic screens where the background changes – there are still images, motion, and dynamic options to choose from.

What’s a little less quick is the Freely part of Fire TV. Scrolling through the EPG is lag city, with text and images taking their time to load. At one point, audio started playing while the picture took ages to appear (and in some cases didn’t).

There’s another My List within Freely to keep track of shows you want to watch, though you can only add titles through Freely and not the UK on-demand apps (which have their own ‘lists’). It would be nice if, somehow, you could collate all these ‘My Lists’ into one.

The remote is still gigantic but easy to use and offers good feedback from presses. It still uses batteries – I’d love it if Panasonic could move towards USB-C charging.

Connectivity

• Four HDMI inputs
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth streaming

Little has changed on the connection front. There are four HDMI inputs, but only two support the HDMI 2.1 format, less than the likes of LG and Samsung, which offer four HDMI 2.1 inputs for their premium TVs.

Otherwise, there are three USB inputs, Ethernet, CI+ 1.4 slot, digital audio output, aerial and satellite ports, plus a headphone output that’s switchable to subwoofer output.

Wirelessly, you have Wi-Fi with AirPlay 2 and mirroring supported, though Google Cast looks like it’s off the table. Bluetooth is supported with the Audio Link feature returning to connect a pair of headphones to the TV.

Gaming

• Up to 144Hz refresh rates
• Game Control Board
• Fast input lag

Refresh rates stabilise at 144Hz for PC titles, which I’d say is fine enough, given the LG C5 hits 144Hz too. It’s the likes of the (less expensive) Hisense U8Q that might give Panasonic’s OLED some sleepless nights with its 165Hz support.

Input lag hasn’t altered either, hitting a fast 12.7ms in both its Game and True Game mode. Again, that’s more or less equal to LG’s C5 OLEDs.

You can edit the gaming HDR settings on the fly through the Game Control Board, as well as swap through specific picture and sound modes such RPG and FPS.

ALLM support automatically puts the TV into its lowest latency mode, while VRR support extends to HDMI VRR for console gamers, plus AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync for PC players.

Features

• All the HDR formats
• Dolby Atmos sound
• AI features

Like Panasonic has done for years, this model supports HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision IQ. There are also picture modes for specific apps, such as Netflix Adaptive Calibrated mode and Prime Video Calibrated mode, to go along with the Filmmaker Mode that offers the TV’s most accurate image out of the box.

The Auto AI mode adapts the image and sound depending on the content you’re watching – useful for the lazy couch fans out there; while 4K Fine Remaster upconverts low quality broadcasts and titles to look better.

AI HDR Remaster makes SDR content look more like HDR by creating more depth, enriching colours and beefing up those black levels. All these AI features are provided courtesy of Panasonic’s updated HCX Pro AI Processor MK II chip.

On the sound side, the Panasonic Z90B doesn’t feature the same Technics-tuned sound system as the Z95B, but its 60W powered system with built-in subwoofer and Dolby Atmos support should provide some welly to soundtracks. It’s a shame that Panasonic doesn’t support DTS soundtracks like Sony’s TVs do.

Picture Quality

• Some slight black crush
• Bright, colourful performance
• Natural but gorgeous HDR image

When I tested the Z90A, I spotted a green tint that affected the picture at wider angles. There’s no green tint here, so I can tick that issue off the list.

With Zero Dark Thirty (4K Blu-ray), the black levels are rich and deep – perhaps not the same level of detail as the 2024 W95A can reveal when viewed in a dark room; but the black levels remain tremendously deep without colours looking washed out.

Jumping to Alien Romulus and levels of dark detail seem well tuned, offering a glimpse of what’s hiding in all the dark places within this film. The overall image looks stunningly natural. Colours feel spot on, maybe not as punchy as the LG G5 OLED but watching films on the Panasonic Z90B feels very authentic.

The levels of detail are high but not gratuitous. All the grime, grease and dirt of the Romulus station, ironically, looks great. Skin tones are well presented– the Panasonic Z90B is a lesson in delivering a balanced, measured but still cinematic image.

With a 4K Blu-ray of The Flash and there’s perhaps some black crush (loss of detail) visible but it’s still a gorgeous looking image. Effects such as the Flash’s speedforce leap off the screen – colours, whether in HDR10/Dolby Vision, look fantastic, especially reds and blues.

In terms of brightness this OLED easily surpasses 1000 nits, though the Z90B’s Cinema mode provides the brightest figures.

Its Dynamic mode provides a handsome image. Bright and rich in colour, skintones look more towards the warm side; it still maintains a film-like image. For a Dynamic mode, it’s restrained, but I like that it provides a boost in the areas that require it.

The MAX setting with Panasonic’s Intelligent Frame Creation is still one to avoid. The lines around characters tear up in 1917 (4K Blu-ray), and while there’s judder and stutter to put up with; compared to the Z90A, the clarity and detail levels are very good. It feels like an improvement over the 2024 models.

The MID setting removes image tearing, though some stutter and edge noise are visible. The MIN setting remains the best one, adding just enough processing to keep the image smooth but without introducing distracting artefacts. With the Custom setting, 5/5 seems a good starting point.

Upscaling

• Not as sharp as rivals
• Good colour accuracy

Like with HDR content, SDR content looks good on this TV though arguably the likes of LG, Samsung and Sony deliver a higher quality upscaling experience.

Still, the Panasonic Z90B offers plenty of colour and punch. Black levels look strong with a Blu-ray of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but there’s perhaps a lack of detail in the darkest parts of the image.

Nevertheless, it’s a fine looking image, one that looks both natural and cinematic with high levels of detail and clarity that show off the film’s main stars – the apes – with aplomb.

Where it feels as if the Z90B is a little worse off compared to LG is with content lower than 720p. A DVD of The Dark Knight looks fine in isolation with strong levels of detail and clarity, but I still feel that LG’s upscaler is sharper and clearer with lower resolution content.

Colours look true and accurate, there’s no obvious noise or pixellation (though that’s not to say there isn’t any), and the film looks good in motion. Again, there are hints that black levels suffer from some crush as I can’t see all the detail of Batman’s suit, but for a 65-inch screen, The Dark Knight looks pretty good.

Sound Quality

• Big bass
• Goes loud
• Clear dialogue

I’ve been a bit baffled recently by LG and Samsung TVs sounding so underwhelming. The Z90B makes me believe that other brands should pull their finger out before. For a flatscreen TV, I’ve not heard a better sound system so far.

The warmth of the Z90A’s sound system is gone, replaced by a clearer, more detailed performance.

Dialogue sounds natural and comes from the correct area on screen – but I do think the Z90B’s soundstage could be better defined. The opening test tones of Civil War feel like a blast of sound that doesn’t come from a specific area of the screen, just a general sense of left and right. The weaker Samsung and LG TVs I’ve tested have been more specific than that.

Nonetheless, bass is really good. The blast in the film’s second chapter offers a good sense of punch and power. In the film’s trickier scenes there’s only the slightest distortion to pick up on, and the can go loud without breaking a sweat. It makes LG and Samsung TVs sound meek by comparison.

It won’t beat a soundbar/subwoofer combo but there is no rush to get one for this TV either in my view.

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