How To Get the Best Picture from Your Panasonic TV: Change These Settings

If you've watched reviews from Digital Trends TV, you are aware that the TVs we examine produce stunning images. However, even the top-rated models often require adjustments to reach their full potential. Before we record any content, we first implement specific adjustments to ensure each television delivers the best picture quality possible, regardless of brand, including Panasonic.

Panasonic is making a significant comeback in the US market, and we're thrilled. However, this revival doesn't imply that these TVs are ready to use right out of the box. To truly benefit from what Panasonic offers, particularly with the impressive Z95A OLED, the modifications outlined below will enhance your viewing experience immensely.

Here are some straightforward adjustments you can make to your Panasonic TV to elevate its performance.

Turn Off These Default Settings Now

The optical sensor on your TV gauges the ambient light levels and its color temperature. When this feature is activated, the TV attempts to automatically adjust brightness and color settings based on the environment. Instead of allowing the TV to make these decisions, it’s better to manually control these adjustments.

Disabling the optical sensor in the Panasonic menu is easy. Hit the Settings button on your remote, navigate to Picture, then select Ambient Sensor. Make sure both Auto Brightness and Auto White Balance are turned Off.

With these essential settings now under your control, select a picture mode. Press the Settings button again, go to Picture, and choose Picture Mode. Among the options available, we recommend either Filmmaker or True Cinema, as both offer a warmer, more natural look. The Cinema mode is slightly cooler and brighter. For those who prefer an even cooler setting, Normal is a good option. Avoid Sport or Dynamic modes, as they often result in an overly enhanced picture, leading to unnatural visuals.

Better Brightness, Lush Luminance

You can fine-tune the brightness of your Panasonic TV in several ways. Some viewers prefer a brighter setting during the day while others opt for a softer brightness for evening viewing. The Panasonic TV allows you to assign different brightness levels to various Picture Modes, so you can set one for daytime use with higher brightness and another for nighttime viewing that is dimmer.

Keep in mind that you'll be viewing different types of content; sometimes, it will be standard dynamic range (SDR) content and other times it will be high dynamic range (HDR). You'll want to adjust your preferences accordingly.

To modify the brightness for SDR content: From the home screen, press the Settings button on your remote, navigate to Picture, and select Brightness. Use the slider to adjust the Luminance Level to your desired brightness.

To adjust for HDR, you'll want to find some HDR content to test. This could be a show or movie on a streaming service with HDR support, or you can check out HDR videos on platforms like YouTube. While viewing HDR content, navigate again to Picture, then Brightness, and adjust the Luminance Level. For HDR content, we recommend setting the Luminance to its maximum of 100.

Additionally, you can enhance the brightness of your Panasonic TV further. While still in the Brightness settings, scroll down to Advanced Settings and select Peak Luminance. This feature boosts the overall brightness, allowing for brighter highlights in the image.

You'll notice distinct differences between the Low, Mid, and High settings. For the best contrast and to make bright sections pop in HDR content, we suggest using High Peak Luminance along with the maximum brightness setting.

Super Smooth Movement

Adjusting motion smoothing is largely a matter of personal taste. Some individuals appreciate the effect, while others find it creates an artificial look, often referred to as the soap opera effect. If you're not a fan, you'll want to make adjustments.

To adjust the motion settings on your Panasonic TV, access Settings, navigate to Picture, and find the Motion section. You'll want to experiment with the Intelligent Frame Creation feature, which can be set to Min, Mid, Max, Custom, or turned Off completely.

In the Custom setting, use the sliders to adjust both Blur Reduction and Film Smoothing from 0 to 10. Additionally, there’s a Clear Motion feature that minimizes motion blur during fast-paced scenes. For content typically displayed at 24 frames per second, like movies and shows, you might want to disable the Clear Motion setting. For higher frame rate content, such as live sports, enabling it might be beneficial.

Effortless Connectivity and Control

A few settings can streamline the usability of your TV and any connected devices.

When connecting devices such as a soundbar, Blu-ray player, or gaming console, it’s often convenient to control everything with a single remote. To set this up, from the home screen, navigate to the Settings cogwheel, then go to Display & Sounds, and find HDMI-CEC Device Control. To manage all devices through your TV, activate all the available settings. The ARC/eARC setting allows the TV to send audio to your soundbar or receiver, Power Control ensures your soundbar turns on simultaneously with your TV, and Remote Control Pass-Through enables your TV remote to adjust the volume of your soundbar or navigate basic menus on your gaming system.

Finally, another setting that you might want to adjust is the autoplay feature prevalent on Panasonic TVs, which run on Amazon’s Fire TV platform. If you don’t want videos and sounds to play automatically on the home screen, you can disable this feature. Access the All Settings menu, then go to Preferences, and select Featured Content. Turn off both Allow Video Autoplay and Allow Audio Autoplay.

In summary, while most modern TVs, particularly those in the higher-end range, can display excellent visuals, a few quick adjustments can transform their performance, making them look truly exceptional.

Do you own a different brand of TV and want to carry out similar enhancements? Many contemporary TVs share features with Panasonic, but their terminology may differ, which could be a bit confusing. If you’re searching for adjustments for LG, Samsung, Sony, Hisense, or TCL, we have guidance for those brands as well.