Panasonic Z8BA OLED Calibration Settings

We used the following calibration settings to test the 77-inch Panasonic Z8BA OLED (77Z8BAP), which is the only size available. Our settings apply to most types of content, except for gaming or use as a PC monitor, which requires a few additional changes, listed below.

These settings are meant to provide a starting point; they're not meant to be copied 1:1. They provide the most accurate image in a moderately lit room, but you should adjust them to match your personal preferences and viewing conditions.

For SDR content, you can choose a few different preset picture modes. We used the 'Professional 1' Picture Mode because it's the most accurate out of the box and allows for the most customization. For our peak brightness test, Luminance Level was set to maximum with Peak Luminance on 'High', but you should adjust these based on your viewing conditions. Below are the settings we used for SDR. All other settings were either disabled or left off.

• Picture Mode: Professional 1
• Ambient Sensor: Off
• Peak Luminance: High
• Contrast: 90
• Gamma: 2.2
• Color Temperature: Warm 2

HDR is automatically enabled for native apps. When you start playing HDR content, a small HDR icon appears in the picture settings menu. Once you start playing HDR content, some of the settings change automatically. Below are the settings we used for HDR10. All other settings were either disabled or left off.

• Picture Mode: Professional 1
• Ambient Sensor: Off
• Luminance Level: 100
• Contrast: 100
• Peak Luminance: High
• EOTF Type: Auto
• HDR Tone Mapping: Normal
• Color Temperature: Warm 2

The TV supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision from native apps and external devices. As with normal HDR content, when you start playing HDR10+ or Dolby Vision content, some settings change automatically. Since we don't specifically test either of these HDR formats, we don't have exact settings for them, but they should be the same as our HDR10 settings.

The following are the old results of calibrating our unit's white balance to 6500K in HDR using the 2-point method. We don't publish the values we used for our 20-point calibration.

They are provided for reference and shouldn't be copied as the calibration values vary per individual unit, even for the same model and size as the TV we reviewed, due to manufacturing tolerances. If you want to try them, you'll need to enter all values shown, as all of them are active at the same time. If you have worse picture quality, simply reset them to the default values.

From the base SDR and HDR settings, very few changes are required for the best gaming experience. When you start gaming, it is best to enable True Game to get the lowest input lag. The rest of our gaming settings are identical to our regular settings for SDR or HDR. For chroma 4:4:4, you must have Pure Direct enabled in the HDMI Settings. 

To make eARC work, Digital Audio Format must be set to 'Passthrough' in the Audio Output settings found in the Display & Sounds menu. 

For our upscaling test, we set Sharpness to '30' with Resolution Remaster maxed out. Sharpness processing was calibrated with no over-sharpening for low-resolution content.

This TV automatically removes judder from all 24p and 60p external sources and from the internal apps. To remove judder from 60i sources, Accurate IFC must be enabled. 

Setting Intelligent frame creation to 'film Smooth: 3' outputs a framerate equivalent to 30fps, which helps to reduce stutter in 24fps content.

The unit we bought and tested was calibrated on software version Fire OS 8.1.5.7 (RS8157/3604). The TV has about 9.5GB of total storage. 

For information on any other settings or features that fall outside of the scope of our testing, please refer to the user manual found on Panasonic's website.