Samsung S85D vs Panasonic Z85A

Brightness is a key parameter in televisions, and the S85D Samsung model offers levels comparable to other OLEDs from a few years ago. Although it does not impress in this regard, its enormous advantage is the very competitive price. A peak brightness of 600 nits ensures good image quality in HDR conditions, giving users a taste of cinematic experiences in the comfort of their home. However, as with many budget OLED models, the biggest issue is very bright, full-screen scenes – in such moments, like the final scene from the film “The Meg,” the television can lose even half of its brightness, which is noticeable compared to more expensive OLED models. Despite this, the television offers impressive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 99%, allowing for vibrant and accurate colours to be displayed.

The Panasonic Z85A is an OLED television, so one can immediately expect great effects in films. And indeed – our tests have shown that the WOLED panel can achieve around 800 nits of peak brightness in optimal conditions. This is a solid result that performs well in most demanding HDR scenes, allowing viewers to enjoy a dynamic and detail-rich image. However, like any OLED, the Z85A has its limits. In very bright scenes covering the entire screen – such as the final sequence from the film 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 brightly sunlit living room, it is worth keeping this in mind. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 98% also deserves high praise. Thanks to this, the television reproduces a wide range of colours that stand out with vibrancy and depth, and details in HDR scenes are sharp and precise. In short – the Panasonic Z85A delivers a solid HDR effect that will satisfy any film enthusiast.

The Filmmaker mode on the Samsung S85D does offer quite good factory settings, but it is not free from errors, particularly evident in colour reproduction. The white balance chart for HD and HDR content shows clear issues – both red and blue colours are significantly weakened, leading to a dominance of green. The result is an unnatural yellowish hue that can affect the perception of realistic scenes. The Color Checker test clearly shows that the colour samples deviate from expected values – for HD material, the colours can be overly saturated, with a noticeable shift towards green, which is also evident in the white balance chart. Conversely, for 4K HDR content, the colours appear too dull, lacking depth, making the image less appealing and natural. This effect is particularly noticeable in delicate scenes where colour precision plays a key role, which can be disappointing for discerning viewers who expect faithful reproduction of details and colour intensity.

As for brightness, the gamma chart for HD content looks quite good; however, there is a noticeable jump at the end, exceeding a value of 2.4. While this is not a major issue in most scenes, in more demanding sequences it may affect the clarity of bright details. For 4K content, the EOTF curve, responsible for delivering brightness, turns out to be problematic. The initial part of the chart shows a small jump. This phenomenon can result in excessive boosting of brightness in the brightest areas of the image, leading to loss of detail in very bright scenes.

Although Samsung S85D offers quite decent factory settings, especially in Filmmaker mode, it is worth considering manual adjustment of settings to improve some imperfections, particularly in colour reproduction.

The Panasonic Z85A offers many picture modes, but the Filmmaker mode definitely stands out from the rest. It is rare for a television to be so well tuned straight out of the box, and the unit we had the opportunity to test really surprised us positively.

However, there were a few minor shortcomings. In the SDR signal, we noticed a slight deficit of red and blue, which resulted in the image having a cooler hue than it should have. This is especially noticeable in the comparative photo. Conversely, in 4K HDR content, the situation was the opposite – an excess of red made the image appear warmer than the creators intended. In terms of brightness characteristics (gamma) and the maintenance of the appropriate EOTF curve, it's hard to find fault. There are slight deviations, but they are so minimal that the average viewer is unlikely to notice them.

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

After calibration, the Filmmaker mode on the Samsung S85D truly impressed. The white balance, regardless of the type of content, has significantly improved, resulting in more natural colours. The Color Checker test shows that colour reproduction errors are now minimal and rarely exceed acceptable values, which indicates accurate colour rendering. The factory colour reproduction left much to be desired, but the situation has now significantly improved – the colours are natural, precise, and look as if they were rendered exactly according to the creators' intentions. This is a huge step forward compared to previous generations, where colours were often distorted or too intense.

The brightness characteristics also benefited from the calibration – it is now more vivid and precise. The gamma, although fairly good previously, has become even more stable, providing a deeper, more natural image. The EOTF curve has been aligned, allowing details in dark areas to be more visible and the contrast more balanced. With all these improvements, the television delivers an image close to reference quality, greatly enhancing the enjoyment of watching films and HDR content.

The Panasonic Z85A offers truly wide possibilities when it comes to image settings, so we enthusiastically set about calibration. Although we mainly focused on correcting the white balance, the final result exceeded our expectations. Both HD and 4K HDR content now display nearly perfect colour reproduction, with minimal errors that are hard to catch with the naked eye. Well-calibrated televisions are a rarity, and we must admit – it is truly gratifying. Although the gamma and EOTF curve did not require drastic adjustments, it was possible to further stabilise their characteristics across the entire brightness range. After calibration, the Panasonic Z85A is a true gem for home cinema enthusiasts. The image is precise, the colours are natural, and every scene looks exactly as the director intended.

Samsung S85D performs excellently in scaling images and smoothing tonal transitions. Like in other Samsung models, the television offers three noise reduction modes: off, standard, and high. Although it effectively improves gradations, it unfortunately also removes film grain, which many viewers desire to give the image a cinematic character. This grain often adds authenticity and a certain rawness to films, which is lost after smoothing. Removing the grain can make the image look too sterile and smooth, which detracts from the charm of the original film material. When it comes to scaling images, the Samsung S85D handles lower resolution content beautifully – the model in the picture and the branches in the background were displayed correctly, with no major issues with edge aliasing. The only noticeable drawback is the presence of overscan, which can sometimes cut off parts of the image, which may not please everyone.

Now that we know how the Panasonic Z85A performs with tonal transitions in 4K content, it’s time to take a look at its "Gradation Smoothing" feature. It works, but unfortunately not entirely effectively. Regardless of the chosen value – whether it’s low, medium, or high – we were unable to achieve perfectly smooth tonal transitions in our test sequence. We recommend setting this feature to an intermediate level. Although it may slightly blur fine details, at least the issue of film grain loss does not occur, which for many viewers can be crucial when watching classic productions.

As for image scaling, the television performs quite well. It’s noticeable that the image is slightly sharpened, and slim lines may at times appear a bit jagged. However, this is standard in most TVs, and fortunately, it can be adjusted using the sharpness slider. This gives us complete control – we can achieve a more plastic, blurred image or a clearer one, although it may be more “harsh” and artificially sharp. It all depends on user preference and the type of content we are watching. Overall, the scaling is at a solid level and should satisfy most users who are using lower resolution materials.

As befits an OLED television, Samsung S85D offers excellent motion fluidity. Equipped with a 120 Hz panel and fast response time, the television provides very smooth playback of dynamic scenes without visible ghosting. For movie enthusiasts, there is a feature called "Image Clarity Settings," which allows adjusting the fluidity of the image to individual preferences on a 10-point scale. Motion blur reduction enhances the sharpness of rapidly moving objects, while motion smoothing smooths out movement, eliminating the "judder" effect. This way, every user can set the appropriate level of clarity that best suits their taste, from a more cinematic effect to sharper, smoother movements.

The Panasonic Z85A features a 120 Hz panel, which will certainly please both gamers and sports fans. Admittedly, it is not 144 Hz like some gaming TVs, but in practice, the difference is really hard to notice. In games, the image is stable and clear, and during fast action, there is no sign of any blurring. The same applies to sports – a fast-running footballer or a dynamic car manoeuvre looks smooth and natural. The TV also has the “Intelligent Frame Creation” function, which is a motion smoother. There are two sliders here – one is for reducing blur, and the other is for motion smoothness. With these, you can adjust the image to your own preferences – whether it be more of a cinematic effect with gentle transitions between frames, or a maximally smooth image ideal for watching sports.

Samsung S85D OLED is an excellent choice for gamers, thanks to its many modern features that facilitate and enhance gameplay. The television has four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing you to connect the latest consoles without worrying about image quality or frame rate limitations. This means support for 4K resolution at 120 Hz, which is ideal for modern titles. Additionally, the Samsung S85D has an ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature that automatically activates low latency mode when it detects a gaming device. This means you don’t have to manually switch settings – the television takes care of ensuring a fast response time, which is crucial in games where every second counts.

The VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) feature and G-Sync support are additional elements that make gameplay smoother. VRR adjusts the refresh rate to the number of frames generated by the console or computer, eliminating screen tearing and stuttering. This is particularly useful in dynamic games where the frame rate can fluctuate. Auto Motion Plus Game is a feature that Samsung has introduced with gamers in mind, and it is worth appreciating. With it, the image in games becomes smoother – 30 frames per second look like 45, and 60 Hz gains in fluidity, creating an effect close to 90 Hz. At the same time, there is no significant increase in input lag, which remains below 25 ms, making this feature stand out among others available on the market. Gamers can enjoy a smoother image without worrying about a decline in responsiveness.

Samsung has also ensured something extra – the television has a built-in Xbox Game Pass app, which means you can play in the cloud without needing to own a console. This is a great solution for those who want to enjoy gaming without investing in additional hardware. All you need is internet access, and you have a huge library of games at your fingertips. This makes Samsung S85D a fantastic choice for both casual gamers and those who are more advanced.

Panasonic is mainly associated with home cinema televisions, but the Z85A demonstrates that it can also step into the gaming world with a really strong impact. This hardware can easily be called a gaming beast – it has everything needed for comfortable gameplay.

Although there are 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 key features are supported: ALLM automatically switches the television to game mode, VRR ensures smooth images without stuttering or tearing, and with correctly 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 clear, circular menu. It may not look as impressive as the competition's, but it is intuitive and contains all the important settings we would like to have at hand during gameplay.

In summary – the Panasonic Z85A is equipment that truly surprises with its gaming capabilities. It is a television on which both console gamers and PC players will feel at home. It is smooth, dynamic, and simply good.