- Matching (Score) |
- Our verdict |
- Competing TVs |
- TV appearance |
- Where to buy |
- Contrast and black detail |
- HDR effect quality |
- Factory color reproduction |
- Color reproduction after calibration |
- Smoothness of tonal transitions |
- Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions |
- Blur and motion smoothness |
- Console compatibility and gaming features |
- Input lag |
- Compatibility with PC |
- Viewing angles |
- Daytime performance |
- TV features |
- Apps |
- Playing files from USB |
- Sound |
- Panel details
Panasonic W92C (Google TV) Review
W92C / W94C
Available screen sizes:
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Panel type: LCD IPS Refresh rate: 144Hz Brand: PANASONIC Resolution: 3840x2160 System: Google TV Model year: 2026
This review is an English translation of the Polish original. Read the original on Wybierz.tv.
Panasonic W92C is the brand’s first Mini LED model following major changes in its TV business, in which Skyworth has taken on a significant role. It’s a good time to see what that shift means for the TVs themselves. Has Panasonic kept the character we appreciated in its earlier models? The W92C also stands out with its matte screen and Google TV. That combination may appeal to people looking for a TV for a bright living room who want a wide selection of apps. On paper it looks promising. We put the new Panasonic to the test to see how it performs in practice.
PANASONIC W92C - Our verdict
7.0
Overall rating
W92C is the first Panasonic made in collaboration with Skyworth that we've tested. And it's about the change we expected: a little less of the old Panasonic, but also some new things that work in its favor. The biggest plus is the move to Google TV. The system is fast, gives access to the apps you need, and on a daily basis convinces us more than the previous Fire TV. Combined with a matte screen that handles reflections well, this makes for a comfortable living-room TV where you don't always want to close the curtains before watching. The longer we used the W92C, the more we appreciated its versatility. It can noticeably improve weaker content, and after calibration the picture gains a naturalness it sadly lacks on the factory settings, as was the case with older Panasonic models. It also works well with consoles and PCs. It responds quickly to input, and the high refresh rate provides smooth motion. So Panasonic makes sense in a home where one screen is used for TV, movies, gaming, and sometimes even for... working with text. 🙂 The limitations become clearer during evening viewing. Blacks can look good, but a more challenging scene is enough for halos to appear around bright objects and for the bars above and below the image to glow. The small number of local dimming zones makes it hard to keep deep black levels and bright details at the same time. Dolby Vision helps pull more out of this panel, but it doesn't remove those limits. The default picture tuning is also disappointing, and the automatic brightness changes we encountered during testing further spoil the experience. This is where the refinement you'd expect from the Panasonic name is most lacking. So ultimately the W92C's appeal will come down to price. It's an entry-level Mini LED and should be priced similarly to competing models with basic local dimming. At that level it will be a sensible choice, especially for people moving up from a regular LCD. They'll get better black levels, a convenient OS, and a versatile screen that works for both TV and gaming. If, however, you have to pay a clear premium for the Panasonic badge, it will be hard to justify that extra cost. The W92C has enough positives to stand as an affordable, all-purpose TV, but too few advantages to sell itself on the brand alone.
Advantages
Matte screen effectively reduces reflections
Fast Google TV system with a large selection of apps and features
Natural colors after calibration
Supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+
Very smooth tonal transitions
Effective enhancement of lower-quality material
A good choice for gamers: 144 Hz and low input lag, 3x HDMI 2.1 (48 Gbps)
Very good text readability from a computer
Disadvantages
Imprecise local dimming (limited number of zones)
Poor out-of-the-box color accuracy
Software bugs
Problems with motion smoothness: motion blur and lack of advanced motion interpolation controls
Mediocre sound despite the subwoofer
Movies and series in UHD quality6.2
Classic TV, YouTube6.3
Sports broadcasts (TV and apps)6.4
Gaming on console7.8
TV as a computer monitor9.0
Watching in bright light6.8
Utility functions6.6
Apps9.6
Sound quality6.7
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PANASONIC W92C - Competing TVs in this price range
PANASONIC W92C - TV appearance
HDMI inputs: 0 x HDMI 2.0, 3 x HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) Outputs: Toslink (Optical audio), eARC (HDMI), ARC (HDMI), Mini-Jack (Headphones) Network Interfaces: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Ethernet (LAN) 100Mbps
Build quality: Good
Stand type: Central
Bezel color: Graphite
Stand: Fixed
Flat design: No
Accessories: Stand
Panasonic W92C has a fairly classic look. On the front there are narrow, dark bezels and a slightly wider bottom edge with the manufacturer's logo. The set sits on a central stand shaped like a rectangular frame. It looks tidy and doesn't require as wide a piece of furniture as models with feet positioned at the edges of the screen. From the side it's already clear that the W92C isn't a particularly slim TV. The rear is fairly thick and feels very plasticky, although its surface is broken up by a geometric texture. A woofer is also located in the central section. Overall Panasonic looks good, but in terms of appearance it doesn't particularly stand out from the competition.
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PANASONIC W92C - Contrast and black detail
5.2/10
Local dimming function: Yes, number of zones: 91 (7 x 13)
Result
24,900:1
Result
5,050:1
Result
9,150:1
Result
2,000:1
Result
900:1
Black levels on the Panasonic W92C generally look pretty good. That's thanks to the VA panel and local dimming, which in the 65-inch test unit uses 91 zones. In simpler scenes the TV can effectively darken the background, and in our easiest test it reached a contrast ratio of nearly 25,000:1. To get that level of black you need to set dimming to high. Lower settings leave the backlight too bright.
That comes at a cost in bright parts of the image. The separation of individual lights remains visible, though you have to look closely to spot it. A lower dimming level lets those details appear more clearly, but the degradation in black level is too great to call it a better compromise.
Even on the high setting you can see the limitations of the relatively small number of zones. What bothered us most were the bright bands above and below the picture, which in HDR material sometimes turned almost navy. Small, bright objects also show visible bright halos, the so-called halo effect. On the plus side, the backlight is stable: in the helicopter scene we didn't notice jittery brightening and dimming of individual zones. More zones would help, and the control algorithm needs refinement. Moving up from a basic LCD without local dimming can still offer a noticeable improvement, but for a Mini LED the result leaves a lot to be desired.
Halo effect and black detail visibility:
PANASONIC W92C - HDR effect quality
4.8/10
Supported formats: HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HLG
Luminance measurements in HDR:
Result
508 nit
Result
175 nit
Result
348 nit
Result
169 nit
Result
428 nit
Panasonic W92C reaches a peak of about 750 nits with local dimming set to high. That brightness is enough to show a noticeable HDR effect, but in movies the TV does not always manage to use it. In brighter scenes we get around 500 nits, while small highlights on a dark background can fall to just 160 to 250 nits. In practice this means the sun in a bright shot looks fairly convincing, but a flashlight or small flares in a night scene lose intensity. This is another cost of local dimming, which with a limited number of zones also dims bright elements to preserve the black around them.
During testing we also noticed a strange software bug. After switching to HDR the TV would automatically change the backlight level, setting it for example to 53 or 81 instead of the maximum. As a result the image was darker than the panel’s capabilities. All presented measurements were made after manually restoring the maximum backlight.
Colors
The wide color gamut in the Panasonic W92C comes from the PFS phosphor, which produces an effect similar to the quantum dots used in QLED screens. We measured DCI-P3 coverage at about 94% and 74% of the wider BT.2020 gamut. Importantly, results on film material were practically identical to those on test patterns. That’s a good outcome, allowing HDR movies to show richer, more saturated colors than a standard LCD panel.
The luminance of the colors themselves is somewhat weaker. In our measurements red reached about 58% of its target value, while green and blue were around 66 to 67%. The TV can therefore display a wide range of colors, but the brightest, highly saturated parts of the image do not have the same punch as on RGB screens.
BT.2020 color gamut coverage and primary color luminance
| Data set | BT.2020 | P3 | R | G | B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic patterns | 74.0% | 94.3% | 59% | 67% | 67% |
| Film measurements | 74.0% | 94.2% | 58% | 66% | 67% |
BT.2020 BT.2020 and P3 – average color gamut coverage (percent of the target gamut).
R, G, B – average primary color luminance relative to target (percent).
Scene from the movie “Pan” (about 2800 nits)
Scene from the movie “Billy Lynn” (about 1100 nits)
The Panasonic W92C does a pretty good job of mapping HDR content to the capabilities of its screen. In a scene from "Billy Lynn" that peaks at about 1100 nits, it preserves a large portion of the detail in the bright highlights. However, it doesn't reproduce brightness proportions perfectly: dark and mid tones are slightly lifted, making the scene look a bit brighter than it should.
A more demanding sequence from the film "Pan", reaching around 2800 nits, exposes the TV's limitations more clearly. The W92C still retains some detail in the whites, but the very brightest parts begin to wash together. With such a large gap between the source's brightness and the screen's capabilities, compromises are hard to avoid. Overall, the tone mapping is decent. Despite its relatively modest peak brightness, the Panasonic can show details that are often not visible on other screens.
HDR luminance chart:
Even in plain HDR10 the W92C already looks pretty good. You can see plenty of detail in the snow and in the background, so Panasonic deserves praise here. We've seen TVs that in this scene mostly showed a white blotch. Here, even without Dolby Vision it simply looks good. That said, there's no denying that turning on Dolby Vision improves the image considerably. It's easier to make out the texture of the snow, the grass poking through it, and trees in the distance. The whole scene is less flat and looks more natural. The dynamic metadata helps pull a bit more out of this panel, and it's good that Panasonic gives us that option.
Static HDR10
Dynamic: Dolby Vision
Factory color reproduction
4.1/10
We measured the factory colors in Film mode. The W92C also has a "Filmmaker" mode, i.e., Filmmaker Mode, but it locked almost all picture settings, so for further testing and calibration we used the film mode closest to it. It's better than the other available presets, though unfortunately that doesn't mean it's well tuned. It's one of the weaker film modes we've tested this year. A shame, because Panasonic has accustomed us to much better out-of-the-box settings. In SDR content the image's cool tint is immediately noticeable. The white balance has too much blue, and an excess of red relative to green gives whites a slightly pink cast. You can also see this on faces, which don't look as natural as they should. An even bigger problem is the severely lowered gamma. Instead of the target 2.4, it stays around 1.9-2.0 across most of the range. In practice the picture is too bright, shadows lose depth, and almost every scene looks a bit flat. In HDR there's even more blue, especially in the bright areas. Here too the TV boosts the brightness of darker and midtones, which is shown by the EOTF curve going above the reference value. This makes it easier to see some shadow detail, but the scene loses its proper atmosphere. So we have a similar problem as in SDR: colors that are too cool and an image that is too bright. For a brand like Panasonic, the W92C's factory settings are simply... disappointing.
Color reproduction after calibration
7.7/10
After calibration, the W92C looks decidedly better, especially with SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance and eliminate the cool tint that had previously spoiled the look of almost every scene. White is now neutral and faces have a much more natural tone. We also improved the gamma, which now stays much closer to the target of 2.4. As a result the picture has regained depth and no longer appears so overly bright. Color measurements confirm this improvement, with small errors and little cause for concern in SDR.
In HDR we also reduced the excess blue, though some imperfections remain in the brightest shades. A bigger problem is how the TV handles brightness. Shadows and midtones are boosted, while the brightest highlights appear darker than they should. That causes the image to lose some contrast between dark backgrounds and strong light, which is an important part of the HDR effect. Unfortunately, we don't have enough control over that behavior in the settings. Calibration improves the colors, but it won't fix the tone mapping and backlight control. That's a characteristic of the W92C that Panasonic needs to refine.
PANASONIC W92C - Smoothness of tonal transitions
9.7/10
The smoothness of tonal transitions on the W92C is outstanding. It’s one of the best results we’ve seen this year. Regardless of the scene, colors flow smoothly from one to another and you can practically see no banding separating individual shades. Panasonic handles both bright skies and darker, more demanding parts of the image very well. There’s really nothing to fault here.
Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions
7.8/10
Smooth transition function
Image without overscan on the SD signal
The "Contour Smoothing" feature is used to reduce banding in lower-quality sources. On the medium setting it works very effectively and removes visible bands between shades. It can occasionally lose some fine detail, but those aren’t things that draw much attention. The low setting is more cautious and doesn’t affect the rest of the image, but the smoothing itself is much weaker. We would stick with the medium setting. Another plus is that the feature leaves noise and film grain alone. Scaling itself also performs quite well. In our shot with the model, clothing and tree details remain discernible, so lower-resolution content looks decent on a large screen. There is one drawback: with an SD signal the TV crops the edges of the image, meaning it applies so-called overscan. As a result we lose a small portion of the frame.
PANASONIC W92C - Blur and motion smoothness
7/10
Maximum refresh rate of the panel: 144Hz
Film motion smoothing option: Yes
Blur reduction option: Yes
BFI function 60Hz: No
BFI function 120Hz: No
Panasonic W92C has a 144 Hz panel, which will be most useful for PC gaming. For consoles and sports, what matters more is how the screen handles 120 Hz. Motion is smooth, though moving objects aren't perfectly sharp. In our UFO test you can see a distinct trail behind it, especially on dark backgrounds. Despite that, the W92C is still a better option for dynamic content than a typical 60 Hz screen. The higher refresh rate provides a noticeable improvement in smoothness, though the panel itself could respond faster to color changes.
Blur (native resolution, maximum refresh rate):
Blur (4K@144Hz):
For movies and TV there's also MEMC motion smoothing, but its settings are fairly limited. You can turn it off or choose one of three modes: "Standard", "Sport", and "Smooth". These settings affect both 24 Hz films and 60 Hz content. However, there’s no user mode with two separate sliders, so you can’t independently adjust smoothing for films and faster material. The smoother itself works; you just have to accept one of the preset options. It’s also a shame there’s no BFI, or black frame insertion, which can improve motion sharpness.
PANASONIC W92C - Console compatibility and gaming features
8.1/10
- ALLM:
Yes
- VRR:
Yes
- VRR range:
48 - 144Hz
- Dolby Vision Game Mode:
Yes
- Correct implementation of HGIG:
No
- 1080p@120Hz:
Yes
- 1440p@120Hz:
No
- 4K@120Hz:
Yes
- Game bar:
Yes
The Panasonic W92C has quite a bit to offer gamers. It has three HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth, supports 4K gaming at 120 Hz, and when connected to a PC can even run at 144 Hz. It also offers VRR from 48 to 144 Hz, which helps keep the image smooth when frame rates fluctuate, and ALLM that automatically switches to low-latency mode. On top of that, it supports Dolby Vision for gaming. The new Game Bar deserves special praise. The large circles known from Panasonic sets with Fire TV have been replaced by a much more organized panel. At the top you see the most important signal information, and at the bottom shortcuts to gamer settings. It looks more modern and is much closer to what the biggest competitors offer. Definitely a change for the better. Not everything is perfect, though. It lacks a properly working HGiG, which helps match HDR in games to the screen's capabilities. The W92C also doesn't support 1440p at 120 Hz. That's a shame, since that mode is especially useful on a PC when you want more frames than in 4K but keep better detail than Full HD.
PANASONIC W92C - Input lag
9.9/10
The input lag on the Panasonic W92C is very low. At 60 Hz we measured about 15–16 ms, and at 120 Hz only 7 ms. The controller response is therefore quick, and even in fast-paced games there’s little to complain about. Dolby Vision also performs well: 17 ms at 60 Hz and 9 ms at 120 Hz. You can safely use any format without worrying that controls will become noticeably slower.
| SDR | HDR | Dolby Vision |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p60: 16 ms | 2160p60: 15 ms | 2160p60 DV: 17 ms |
| 1080p120: 7 ms | 2160p120: 7 ms | 2160p120 DV: 9 ms |
| 2160p60: 16 ms | ||
| 2160p120: 7 ms |
PANASONIC W92C - Compatibility with PC
9/10
Chroma 444 (max. resolution and refresh rate): Yes
Font clarity: Very Good
Readability of dark text and shapes: Very Good
Input lag in PC mode (4K, max. refresh rate): 7ms
Matrix subpixel arrangement: RGB
Max refresh rate: 144Hz
G-Sync: Yes
Working with a computer is one of the W92C’s stronger suits. Fonts look really great. They’re sharp, easy to read, and don’t lose fine details. That also applies to dark text on dark backgrounds, which some TVs struggle with. It’s one of the few VA panels that handled our font test so well. The RGB subpixel layout and proper support for chroma 4:4:4 help here, including at maximum resolution and refresh rate. There’s also a lot on offer for gamers: 4K at 144 Hz, working G-Sync, and input lag of about 7 ms. So the Panasonic performs well for both text work and gaming. You just need to remember the smearing mentioned earlier and the lack of 1440p support at 120 Hz. The overall readability of the computer image, however, is excellent.
PANASONIC W92C - Viewing angles
3.2/10
Brightness drop at an angle of 45 degrees: 80%
The viewing angles on the W92C are fairly average, which is typical for VA panels. Sit a bit to the side and the colors start to lose saturation and the image loses contrast. So it's best to watch the Panasonic straight on. With widely spaced seating or a large sectional, people sitting at the edges will see noticeably poorer picture quality.
PANASONIC W92C - Daytime performance
6.8/10
Panel finish: Matte
Reflection suppression: Very Good
Black levels during daytime: AbsorptiveBlack-Decent
A matte panel is a big plus for the W92C when watching during the day. It disperses reflections very well, so instead of a clear image of a window or lamp you see a more blurred glow. Added to that is an average brightness of around 555 nits, which is easily enough for watching TV in a typical bright living room. That doesn’t mean light falling on the screen stops being an issue. The matte coating spreads it over a larger area, which makes blacks look grayish and the picture lose some contrast. You’ll notice this most easily in dark scenes. Even so, the combination of decent brightness and effective reflection suppression makes the Panasonic quite suitable for everyday viewing without having to cover the windows.
Panel brightness
Panasonic W92C (Google TV): 555 cd/m2
PANASONIC W92C - TV features
6.6/10
System: Google TV
System performance: Good
- HDMI inputs: 0 x HDMI 2.0, 3 x HDMI 2.1 48Gbps
- Outputs: Toslink (Optical audio), eARC (HDMI), ARC (HDMI), Mini-Jack (Headphones)
- Network Interfaces: Wi-Fi 2.4GHz, Wi-Fi 5GHz, Ethernet (LAN) 100Mbps
- TV reception: DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-C
Classic features:
- Recording to USB (terrestrial TV): No
- Recording programming: No
- Picture in Picture (PiP): No
- RF remote control (no need to aim): RF
- Backlit remote control: No
- Teletext: Yes
- Audio only mode: Yes
- Bluetooth headphones support: Yes
- Simultaneous Bluetooth headphones & TV audio: Yes
Smart features:
- AirPlay: No
- Screen mirroring (Windows Miracast): Yes
- Voice search: Yes
- Voice search in native language: Yes
- Ability to connect a keyboard and mouse: Yes
Google TV
Google TV is a major improvement over Panasonic’s older systems and even over the newer Fire TV, which didn’t fully convince us. On the W92C everything runs very smoothly. We navigate the menu quickly, apps launch without long waits, and among the available services we found all the ones we were interested in. There is also Polish voice search and Chromecast, which makes it easy to cast content from your phone. It’s a pity AirPlay isn’t working; we couldn’t use it with our newer iPhone.
However, there were a few minor issues. Some Polish translations in the menu sound rather clumsy, and the previously described automatic backlight changes show the software still needs fixes. Despite this, daily operation is good, and the inclusion of Google TV is definitely one of this model’s strengths.
Classic features
Among classic features we have EPG, teletext, and the ability to listen to audio simultaneously through Bluetooth headphones and the TV speakers. Missing, however, are USB recording and picture-in-picture. The remote is simple, has a numeric keypad, and does not need to be pointed at the screen. It’s a shame it’s not backlit, and the build quality could be a bit better. There are three HDMI 2.1 ports with 48 Gbps bandwidth for connecting devices. There is also an optical output and eARC, but note the standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. This is an increasingly rare addition, and it’s useful for wired headphones or an older audio system with an analog input.
Sound connection options
HDMI audio:
Other audio outputs:
- Toslink: Yes
- Stereo (Mini-Jack): Yes
Wireless audio:
- Bluetooth: Yes
Supported audio formats (external HDMI eARC audio):
- Dolby Digital Plus 7.1: Yes
- Dolby True HD 7.1: Yes
- Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus (JOC): Yes
- Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD: Yes
- DTS:X in DTS-HD MA: No
- DTS-HD Master Audio: No
Senior accessibility
- Numeric keyboard on TV: Yes
- Font size adjustment: Yes
- Audio description: Yes
PANASONIC W92C - Apps
9.6/10
PANASONIC W92C - Playing files from USB
8.7/10
| Maximum photo resolution: | Supported photo formats: |
|---|---|
| 4 Mpix | JPEG |
| 6 Mpix | HEIC |
| 8 Mpix | PNG |
| 10 Mpix | GIF |
| 12 Mpix | WebP |
| 16 Mpix | TIFF |
| 20 Mpix | BMP |
| 24 Mpix | SVG |
| 28 Mpix | |
| 32 Mpix |
USB playback on the W92C works smoothly. Content loads quickly, the interface is simple, and the built-in player handles most popular video, photo, and music files. It’s more than enough for an occasional movie or for browsing photos from a flash drive. Just watch out for subtitles. In our tests the TV would not read .sub and .txt files. It’s best to convert them beforehand to .srt, which worked correctly, including Polish characters.
PANASONIC W92C - Sound
6.7/10
94dB
Maximum volume
Supported codecs (TV speakers)
Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Dolby True HD 7.1
Dolby Atmos in Dolby Digital Plus (JOC)
Dolby Atmos in Dolby True HD
DTS:X in DTS-HD MA
DTS-HD Master Audio
The sound on the Panasonic W92C is fairly average. Considering the additional subwoofer on the back of the cabinet, we expected a somewhat fuller sound. However, there’s still a lack of bass, which is particularly noticeable in music and more intense movie scenes. The subwoofer itself doesn’t deliver as much as you might expect. On the plus side, the volume is good. In our measurements the W92C reached about 94 dB, so there’s plenty of headroom. For regular TV watching that setup is sufficient, but simply turning up the volume won’t replace the missing low end.
Sound Quality Test:
Acoustic Measurements
94dBC (Max)
75dBC
PANASONIC W92C - Panel details
Software version during testing: UKN6.260116.086
Panel uniformity and thermal imaging:
Backlight Type: Mini-LED PFS LED
Founder and originator of the "ChooseTV" portal
Journalist, reviewer, and columnist for the "ChooseTV" portal
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