Panasonic Z85A OLED review: One of the best Fire TVs you can buy

Panasonic made some pretty major changes to its TVs in 2024, moving over to the Fire TV platform. With models running from the flagship Z95A OLED through to the Z80A OLED, and then spanning a range of LED TVs too, it’s a big commitment to Amazon’s TV platform.

The Z85A sits in the middle of Panasonic’s OLED offering for 2024, below the Z95A and above the Z80A. In the process it keeps much of the same hardware, but lacks the micro lens array (MLA) panel of the Z95A, while also dropping that model’s built in soundbar.

In many ways, the Z85A is the sensible choice, a direct rival for TVs like the hugely-popular LG C4 OLED.

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The Disconnekt Downlow

The Panasonic Z85A offers great performance, with that OLED display packing in the colours and offering fabulous blacks. There’s punch to the HDR performance with fair brightness, but it’s best suited to rooms where you can control the light to reduce reflections – it doesn’t have the same brightness that its more expensive Z95A sibling offers. It’s priced competitively against its rivals and well connected, making this TV really about the interface. Fire TV has its pros and cons while Freely brings advantages, giving this OLED TV unique appeal.   

Buy from £1,299 at John Lewis

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Design, connectivity, remote

There aren’t huge differences in TV design these days, with many OLED TVs offering a picture on glass effect, aiming to give you a design that’s slim through the display for a premium look. That’s true of the Panasonic Z85A (tested at 55-inches), where the top third of the screen is nice and thin at just 4mm, but the lower half houses all the brains and connections, so it’s a thicker, built out with plastic.

Unlike Samsung’s high-end TVs where the connections are housed in a separate box, all the Panasonic connections are on the TV itself. They are accessible around the left-edge, so even when wall-mounted they are still accessible, while the power cable goes in on the right-hand side.

There’s minimal bezel around the glass, but the picture doesn’t go quite to the edge of the panel, so when watching there’s still about 8mm overall that frames the display. The Z85A comes in 55 and 65 inch sizes, so it lands smack bang in the middle of popular TV sizes at the time of writing  – if you want larger, you’ll have to opt for the Z93A which is a 77-inch model.

There’s a pedestal stand in the centre of the TV which is always my preference as this makes it easy to place on furniture, especially in larger sizes. There’s no swivel on this stand, it just holds the TV up, but it’s finished in plastic, which detracts from the premium finish slightly.

In terms of connectivity, the Panasonic Z85A comes equipped with four HDMI (one offering eARC), but with HMDI inputs one and two designed for the more advanced gaming features, like FreeSync and G-Sync as they are HDMI 2.1. There are connections for the aerial or satellite, although one of the attractive things about the Panasonic Z85A is that it’s Freely compatible, so you can get terrestrial television over Wi-Fi, without the need for an aerial.

That means you can setup you TV where you want, as long as it has a good Wi-Fi connection, with worrying about running a cable from your roof aerial to it. If you want to add the TV to the kitchen, for example, all you need is a power supply. Of course, if you don’t have good Wi-Fi or your network goes on the blink, your TV won’t then do anything, which is the obvious downside.

You can add an aerial connection if you want one. There’s the potential to confuse the TV once you start changing how it receives broadcasts and having setup a wired aerial I found that Freely then didn’t want to work, so I had to setup Freely again to return to wire-free TV over the internet.

Panasonic’s remote is large, filled with buttons and doesn’t need line of sight to work. Many TV manufacturers are offering minimal remotes with less direct button control and it’s refreshing that Panasonic isn’t doing this. Sure, it’s a little old fashioned, but once you learn the buttons you can get to most things in a flash – and I’d say it’s easier to get to grips with than LG’s remote.

It features shortcuts to major services and in the UK that includes Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube and Freely. There’s a customisable button, as well as Alexa support for voice controls, which can make finding content easy.

Alexa, however, doesn’t understand what Freely is and it can’t open channels directly, so if you ask for BBC One, you’ll get the BBC iPlayer app. So there’s a slight disconnect between what Alexa knows about programmes in general and what you might ask of your TV.

Streaming and user interface: Fire TV and Freely

Panasonic’s move to Fire TV is a welcome one, presenting a comprehensive platform that’s built around delivering content. It incorporates all streaming services, it has access to a range of expanded apps for you to install and it’s slick and fast to navigate. I mentioned that Alexa makes Fire TV easier, but it also opens the door to a range of smart home functions on top of searching for content, delivering the full Alexa experience you’ll find on other devices.

I’ve found the streaming on the Panasonic Z85A to be nicely integrated. I’ve long been a fan of Fire TV’s interface, and yes, Fire TV does have some advertising in it, so you might find that there’s a advert on the top banner mixed in with recommendations for various programmes. Occasionally I’ve noticed that there’s an advert playing audio when the TV is turned on, which is a downside, but part of Fire TV.

Freely, however, is new to the equation. International readers need not worry about this side of the TV as Freely is aimed at UK TV viewers, providing access to terrestrial broadcasts over the internet. It provides an EPG, will allow you to restart some programmes by opening the respective catch-up service, but you can’t scroll back through the EPG to access programmes you’ve missed.

Changing channels on Freely takes about 5 seconds, which I didn’t find hugely different to switching channels on the Freeview tuner. However, I did occasionally find that Freely just gave me a blank screen, seemingly taking some time to wake up, although I found the Wi-Fi performance on the Z85A a little weak, which doesn’t help Freely.

One other thing I love about Panasonic’s interface is that you can access an information screen through the quick menu. This is ideal for checking that you’re getting the quality you expect – you can check the HDR format, the resolution and the audio that you’re getting.

Picture, sound, performance

Where the Panasonic Z85A really sets out its stall is in picture quality. It displays all the characteristics of an OLED TV, with wonderfully rich colours and deep blacks. There are plenty of picture controls too, with direct access to a full palette of picture modes through the Picture button on the remote. These modes change based on what you’re watching: if you’re watching Dolby Vision content for example, you’ll have the option to make that vivid or dark, or stick to Dolby Vision IQ; many movies will trigger Filmmaker Mode which pushes accuracy, but some might want to seek out something brighter based on where you’re watching this TV.

Rings of Power looked sensational viewed in Filmmaker mode, with Prime Video delivering HDR10+, the sweeping landscapes wonderfully presented in great detail. I watched Autumn Internationals rugby via Discovery+, which I found looked great, with no problems thrown up from motion on the display.

I returned to Prime Video to catch up on No Time To Die, which was a great showcase for Filmmaker Mode, with that noise that recent James Bond movies are known for still coming through. Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was full of vibrancy, the zany setting really taking advantage of Dolby Vision delivery on the Z85A and showing off the HDR skills.

With this TV only available in 55- and 65-inch sizes, the upscaling demands aren’t as great as they would be for 77- or 83-inch TVs that are becoming increasingly common, but I found those Freely broadcasts perfectly watchable and SD content upscaled nicely. Of course, in a world where streaming is becoming increasingly common, having access to 4K HDR content is easy now. If you’re lucky enough to have a pile of Ultra HD Blu-ray, you’ll be spoilt when it comes to performance.

There’s a stack of support for gamers, not just for the 120Hz support that Xbox and PS5 will get, but through the support for FreeSync and G-Sync support offered to PC gamers too. There’s a toolbar for gamers to customise settings quickly, there’s great response times and excellent HDR performance, making it an ideal choice.

I was lucky enough to have the Panasonic Z85A alongside the LG C4 when testing and LG’s TV is brighter and that’s perhaps the slight drawback for the Panasonic Z85A – it’s a TV that’s better suited for a darker room. While the display finish will reduce glare, it doesn’t cut through reflections quite as well as top-of-range MLA OLEDs, or even that popular LG C4 rival.

I’ve often found that TVs really don’t deliver much of a soundtrack and it’s true that I’d always opt to route audio through a soundbar or AV receiver to really get the most out of the soundtrack. But I found the speakers on the Panasonic Z85A to be pretty good. That’s not to say that you should forego other audio solutions, but if you don’t want the fuss, the sound that you’ll get from the Z85A is pretty good.

Should you buy the Panasonic Z85A?

Panasonic has a reputation for offering good quality OLED TVs, with great picture performance. The Z85A continues that, making this a great TV for those who love movies or want to connect to a console or PC, as it’s a great gaming screen too. But with a panel that’s close, but not quite as bright as the LG C4, Panasonic faces something of a struggle.

That could be resolved by the software offering. Fire TV is popular, offering a great streaming experience and for many people that could be the draw. This is one of the highest quality Fire TVs you can buy, bettered by Panasonic’s own Z95A. There’s appeal to UK buyers with Freely too – this recent evolution in television cuts the cable, meaning you can have everything delivered via the internet, without a roof aerial. Those things give this TV unique appeal: find your Panasonic Z85A for a good price and you’re onto a winner.

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