I honestly wasn’t sure that it would ever happen, but Panasonic finally returned to the U.S. television market this fall and I was — perhaps excessively — excited. Even though Panasonic TVs have been available in Europe for a while (and selling very well), it’s been more than 10 years since they’ve graced this side of the pond after the company ended production of its plasma TV line. For us videophiles who loved those Panasonic plasmas of old, it’s been long time coming, but the company is back with both the Z95A OLED and the W95A mini-LED. And they’re already on sale during Cyber Monday for up to 33% off.
Panasonic has a long pedigree in the world of TVs. Not only did it produce the best plasmas the planet Earth has seen — even better than the Pioneer Kuro, according to many of us — but a string of excellent CRT displays before that. It stood alongside the likes of Sony Trinitron, Toshiba, and ProScan (a premium sub-brand of RCA). It’s a lot to live up to, but so far it’s delivered.
Even right out of the box, the Panasonic W95A has extremely accurate, natural color in Filmmaker mode. HDR hits around 1,300 nits peak brightness — not a groundbreaking feat, but enough to hold up in most bright viewing situations. A close competitor, the Sony Bravia 7, gets about 500 nits brighter, but even during Cyber Monday sales, it’s also a couple hundred dollars more expensive.
It’s fantastic to see Panasonic back in the U.S. market, and with a sale on such a great-performing set. As Caleb Denison said in his review of the W95A: “This TV is straight-up beautiful. If you appreciate the finer things in life — if you see movies as art as much as you do entertainment — I think the W95A delivers the goods.” And for a $1,200, 65-inch TV, that’s a pretty strong statement.
