TCL C655 Pro vs Panasonic Z85A

In the HDR effect quality category, the television TCL 655 PRO shows decent capabilities, achieving 550 nits of peak brightness. This allows for enjoying HDR effects, which can be clearly seen in scenes such as the first one from the movie Life of Pi or the final shot from The Meg. However, the limited number of dimming zones causes some issues. While in bright scenes the television performs better than its lower model, in more demanding scenes, such as the second and fourth scenes from Sicario 2, it struggles more. The dimming algorithm aims for deep blacks, but at the cost of brightness – which at those moments can cause a drop in brightness of even half. In these more challenging scenes with small elements, it's hard to find any praise, and the HDR effect resembles SDR. Nevertheless, the coverage of the colour palette deserves recognition, which, like in the version without the PRO suffix, is at a very good level.

The Panasonic Z85A is an OLED television, so you can immediately expect excellent effects in films. And indeed – our tests showed that the WOLED panel can achieve around 800 nits of peak brightness in optimal conditions. This is a solid result, performing well in most demanding HDR scenes, allowing viewers to enjoy a dynamic and detailed picture. However, like every OLED, the Z85A also has its limits. In very bright scenes that fill the entire screen – like the final sequence from the movie The Meg – the television reduces brightness to around 400 nits. This is standard behaviour for this technology, so if someone plans to watch films in a heavily sunlit living room, it is worth keeping this in mind. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 98% also deserves high praise. This allows the television to reproduce a wide range of colours that stand out with vibrancy and depth, while details in HDR scenes are sharp and precise. In short – the Panasonic Z85A delivers a solid HDR effect that will satisfy any film enthusiast.

Each of our TV tests is conducted in movie mode, which usually offers the best colour reproduction. However, even this mode is not free from issues, as we noted in the TCL 655 PRO model.

In the case of HD content, the white balance clearly shifts towards red, and this effect becomes particularly noticeable in a scene from Star Wars, where the white elements of the scenery take on a pink hue. For 4K HDR material, the situation looks better, but there is a tendency to overly emphasise the colour blue. As a result, the image can give a sense of artificial sharpness, which proves to be uncomfortable for the eyes over a longer period. The brightness characteristics also leave much to be desired. The Gamma chart indicates serious difficulties with excessive brightening, making the overall presentation appear washed out. Additionally, the EOTF curve reveals significant problems with reproducing very small elements – they are overly dimmed, as we have detailed in the paragraph regarding HDR effects.

The Panasonic Z85A offers many picture modes, but the Filmmaker mode definitely stands out from the rest. It's rare for a TV straight out of the box to be so well calibrated, and the unit we had the opportunity to test truly impressed us.

However, there were some minor shortcomings. In the SDR signal, we noticed a slight deficit of red and blue, which made the picture appear cooler than it should have been. This is particularly evident in the comparison image. In contrast, with 4K HDR material, the situation was the opposite – the surplus of red made the image seem warmer than intended by the creators. In terms of brightness characteristics (gamma) and maintaining an appropriate EOTF curve, it's hard to find faults. There are slight deviations, but they are so minimal that the average viewer is unlikely to notice them.

It's also worth highlighting that our observations relate to a specific unit of the TV. Two identical models may differ from each other due to natural production variances. Nevertheless, the piece we had in hand looks really solid and deserves praise. Now it's time for our calibration – we'll see if we can squeeze even more out of this screen!

After calibrating the TCL 655 PRO television, there is a noticeable improvement in white balance, where the tendency for the screen to be overly pink has been completely eliminated, which was previously noticeable in factory mode. The picture has taken on more natural tones, especially in white and bright elements, which positively affects the overall image perception. Regarding brightness characteristics, the Gamma chart has also improved – the screen is no longer excessively bright, which previously made the image appear washed out. Nevertheless, there are still some issues with the EOTF curve, which are difficult to eliminate due to the television's construction and its limited number of backlight zones. These limitations prevent achieving perfect results in this regard. However, despite this minor fault, the overall effect after calibration is truly outstanding, providing high picture quality and very good colour reproduction.

The Panasonic Z85A offers truly wide-ranging capabilities when it comes to picture settings, so we eagerly set about calibrating it. Although we mainly focused on adjusting the white balance, the final effect exceeded our expectations. Both HD and 4K HDR content now showcases nearly perfect colour reproduction, with minimal errors that are hard to catch with the naked eye. Well-calibrated TVs are a rarity, and we must admit – it’s truly satisfying. While the gamma and EOTF curve didn't require drastic adjustments, we managed to further stabilise their characteristics across the entire brightness scale. After calibration, the Panasonic Z85A is a true gem for home cinema enthusiasts. The picture is precise, the colours are natural, and every scene looks exactly as the director intended.

The TCL 655 PRO television handles tonal transitions quite well in lower-quality material. The "Gradual Smoothing" feature at low settings effectively smooths tonal transitions, but this comes at the cost of losing some essential details, such as the texture of objects. On the plus side, it doesn't negatively affect film grain, which helps maintain a natural look to the image.

In the context of digital processing, the television adds artificial sharpness. This may appeal to users who prefer a bolder image. However, individuals who favour a softer, more subtle look may find this a drawback. Additionally, a downside is the image cropping due to overscan, which limits the field of view and cuts off the edges of the frame. This can be problematic in certain scenes - for example, news tickers.

Now that we know how the Panasonic Z85A handles tonal transitions in 4K material, it’s time to take a look at its "Gradation Smoothing" function. It works, but unfortunately not entirely effectively. Regardless of the chosen value – whether it’s low, medium, or high level – we couldn’t achieve perfectly smooth tonal transitions in our test sequence. We recommend setting this function to an intermediate level. While this may slightly blur fine details, at least it avoids the problem of losing film grain, which can be crucial for many viewers when watching classic productions.

When it comes to image scaling, the TV performs quite well. It’s noticeable that the image is slightly sharpened, and thin lines can sometimes appear a bit jagged. However, this is standard for most TVs, and fortunately, it can be adjusted using the sharpness slider. This gives us full control – we can achieve a more vivid, blurred image or a clearer one, although it may appear more "harsh" and artificially sharp. It all depends on the user's preferences and the type of content we’re watching. Overall, the scaling is at a solid level and should satisfy most users who are using lower resolution material.

The TCL C655 PRO television is equipped with a 4K display with a refresh rate of 60 Hz, making it ideal for watching movies. Additionally, the "Flicker Reduction" feature allows for adjusting the smoothness of the picture, giving the user the choice between smoother motion and a cinematic, frame-by-frame effect. Furthermore, the television performs well with lower resolution content, such as Full HD and 2K, offering a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which will surely appeal to gamers who can enjoy a smoother image, albeit at the cost of lower resolution.

The Panasonic Z85A features a 120 Hz panel, which will surely please both gamers and sports fans. Sure, it’s not 144 Hz like some gaming TVs, but in practice, the difference is really hard to notice. In games, the picture is stable and sharp, and during fast action, there’s no sign of any blurring. The same goes for sports – a player’s quick run or a car’s dynamic maneuver looks smooth and natural. The TV also has an “Intelligent Frame Creation” feature, which is a motion smoother. There are two sliders here – one controls motion blur reduction, while the other adjusts motion smoothness. With these, you can tailor the picture to your own preferences – whether you prefer a more cinematic effect with gentle transitions between frames or a maximally smooth image ideal for watching sport.

The TCL C655 PRO TV offers an almost perfect set of features for gamers, supporting all key technologies that significantly enhance gameplay comfort. The ALLM feature automatically switches the TV to low-latency mode, improving responsiveness and minimising signal delay – particularly important in fast-paced titles. VRR synchronises the screen refresh rate with the frame rate generated by the console, eliminating screen tearing and ensuring smoother gameplay.

Support for Dolby Vision in game mode enables more detailed colour and contrast representation in games that support this format, while the Game Bar provides quick access to essential settings, such as response time and latency level. Unfortunately, the model does not support 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which may disappoint the most demanding gamers. However, for those willing to forgo 4K, support for Full HD and 2K at 120 Hz offers exceptionally smooth visuals, making it an attractive alternative for high refresh rate enthusiasts.

Panasonic is mainly associated with home cinema televisions, but the Z85A shows that it can also step into the gaming world with a truly strong punch. It's a device that can easily be called a gaming beast – it has everything needed for comfortable gameplay.

Even though it has only two HDMI 2.1 ports, both operate at full bandwidth, so we can easily connect both a next-gen console and a gaming PC. All the key features are supported: ALLM automatically switches the television into game mode, VRR provides smooth visuals without stuttering and tearing, and with properly implemented HGIG and Dolby Vision, HDR games look really good – colours are vivid, details are sharp, and dark scenes are clear. We also find a Game Bar in the form of a transparent, circular menu. It may not look as impressive as the competition's, but it's intuitive and includes all the most important settings we’d want at hand during gameplay.

In summary – the Panasonic Z85A is a device that truly surprises with its gaming capabilities. It's a television where both console gamers and PC gamers will feel at home. It's smooth, dynamic, and just good.