Panasonic W80A and MX800: what they ship with and what can come off
· 8 min read
| Year | 2024 for the W80A; 2023 for the MX800 |
|---|---|
| System | 'Fire TV' on the W80A sheet; 'Fire OS' on the MX800 one |
| Resolution | 4K Ultra HD, 3,840 × 2,160 |
| Panel | 4K QLED on the W80A; 4K LCD on the MX800, two panels by size |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz on the W80A; the MX800 declares none at all |
| HDR | All four names, but without Dolby Vision IQ or HDR10+ Adaptive |
| Brightness | Not one nit published; the MX800 quotes 'Picture Index 1,800' |
| Dimming | 'High Contrast' on the W80A; the MX800 leaves the box blank |
| Memory | Panasonic declares neither RAM nor storage |
| Sound | 20 W on the W80A, 24 W on the 65"; 20 W on every MX800 |
| Processor | HCX Processor on both, with no 'Pro AI' and no 'MKII' |
| Connections | 3 HDMI on the W80A; 4 HDMI on the MX800 |
| eARC | On input 2 on the W80A; on input 4 on the MX800 |
| Gaming | VRR on inputs 1 and 2 of the W80A; the MX800 does not declare it |
| Sizes | 43", 50", 55" and 65" the W80A; 43" to 75" the MX800 |
On the Z95A and W95A pages the contradiction was easy to state: a panel tuned with Panasonic's rigour and a home screen designed to sell you things. Down here it dissolves on its own, because what drops is not only the price.
The W80A and the MX800 are the affordable Panasonics that also switch on into Amazon's store, and they answer the question that matters to anyone buying on price: does what made the W90A worth having survive down here? The system, yes. The ports, no. And that costs money if you find out after the set is on the wall.
The port split is no longer the one from above
On the Z95A, the W95A and the W90A it is identical: four HDMI, eARC on input 2, VRR and 4K at high frame rate on inputs 1 and 2, ALLM on all of them. Down here it breaks, and in two different ways.
The W80A keeps the split and loses a port. It declares
eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) (Input 2), ALLM (All inputs) and
VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) (input 1 & 2), exactly as the W90A does. But
"HDMI Inputs" reads 2 (side), 1 (back): there are three, not four. With
the soundbar on 2 you have one port left with VRR, and one HDMI fewer for
everything else.
The MX800 keeps four ports and moves eARC. It declares
HDMI Inputs: 4 (side: 4),
eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) (Input 4) and ALLM (All inputs).
eARC is on input 4, not on input 2. Of VRR it says nothing: the
HDMI 2.1 VRR Support box carries a dash.
If you plug the soundbar into the MX800's HDMI 2 out of habit, you get no eARC. Nobody warns you.
What they are, in two lines
The W80A is from 2024, in 43, 50, 55 and 65 inches. A 4K QLED panel,
with Panel Refresh Rate: 60Hz (this matters: the VRR on inputs 1 and 2 works
over a 60 Hz panel, not a 120 or a 144) and HDMI 2.1 HFR Support: N. Sound
is 20 W, and 24 W on the 65 inch.
The MX800 is from 2023, in 43, 50, 55, 65 and 75 inches, and it is the
odder of the two: its sheet has no refresh rate box at all, and the panel
changes within the same series: 4K LCD/HDR Bright Panel Plus on the 43 and
the 50, 4K LCD/HDR Cinema Display from the 55 up. The same 20 W on all five
sizes.
Fire TV comes down the range, but not all the way
On the W80A the "Smart TV" box reads Fire TV; on the MX800, Fire OS. It is
the same family under two wordings, and on both you switch on into Amazon's
launcher.
The interesting part is the next rung down. In the same 2023 range the MX650
declares Smart TV: Android TV (v.11) with Google Assistant Built-In, and
the MX950 (the Mini LED above) declares Smart TV: my Home Screen8.0,
Panasonic's own system. In the 2023 LED range, Fire OS is an island, and the
island is the MX800. Do not assume the system: read the box.
The four HDR formats survive, but trimmed
Both declare HDR10+/HDR10/HLG/Dolby Vision. Four names, as above. The
difference sits in the two boxes next door.
The W80A reads Dolby Vision IQ: N, Dolby Vision and
HDR10+ Adaptive: HDR10+ (not Adaptive). The MX800 leaves both with a dash.
You have the formats, but not the variants that adapt to the light in the
room, which is what the Z95A and the W90A carry.
More drops with them: the processor is HCX Processor on both, with no "Pro
AI" and no "MKII", and isf Mode and Calman READY are blank.
Filmmaker Mode: Y holds on both.
"Picture Index 1,800" is not nits
The MX800 declares Panasonic Picture Index: 1,800, and it deserves a warning
because it is the kind of figure that ends up quoted as though it were nits:
it is not. It is Panasonic's own index, with no unit, which on the MX950
reads 2,500. It ranks the brand's models against each other, and nothing
else. In nits, neither of them publishes anything.
What changes because it is Fire TV and not Google TV
If you have just read the page for a set with Google TV, forget the names you learned there:
There are no Google packages. No com.google.android.tvlauncher, no
com.google.android.gms. Here the prefix in charge is com.amazon.. Both
sheets confirm it by omission: "Google Assistant Built-in" and "Works with
Google Assistant" carry a dash.
There is no Play Store. The store is Amazon's Appstore
(com.amazon.venezia), with a smaller catalogue. If you overdo the clear-out,
going back is less comfortable.
ADB works the same. Fire OS is Android underneath: the commands are those of every other page on this site. The list of names changes, not the method.
What Panasonic does not say
Not the Android version underneath Fire OS, nor the RAM, nor the storage. At this price the storage gap weighs double, because it decides how many apps fit and for how many years the set can update itself. It does not get filled in here with what circulates on forums.
Oddly, the MX800 does publish its consumption (energy class G in SDR and in
HDR, and from 130 W on the 43 inch to 310 W on the 75) while the W80A leaves
Rated Power Consumption with a dash: the old model documents more than the
new one.
The microphone, and where it lives
The W80A declares Alexa Built-in: Y (with Remote) and, among the
accessories, TV Remote (Bluetooth/embedded microphone): microphone in the
remote, with a button. The MX800 declares a bare Alexa Built-in: Y and its
accessory is a plain TV Remote. Where that microphone sits, Panasonic does
not say; check the set itself.
What ships from the factory
Amazon's part. The launcher (com.amazon.tv.launcher), the store
(com.amazon.venezia), Prime Video and a good number of services with the
com.amazon. prefix. It decides what you see when you switch on.
Everyone else's part. Netflix, Disney+ and the rest arrive installed, and the remote usually carries dedicated buttons. The button stays even if the app goes.
Panasonic's part. Little. The picture modes and the processing live in the firmware, below Fire OS, and no package list reaches down there.
What comes off without much thought
The streaming apps you do not use: they take up room, update themselves, show up in the recommendation row and talk to their servers. If you subscribe tomorrow, they are back from the store in two minutes. And the games you have never opened.
What to look at first
Two settings take away a good part of the noise with no ADB and no risk: under Settings → Preferences → Privacy Settings you turn off device usage data collection and interest-based ads. Start there.
What not to touch
The launcher (com.amazon.tv.launcher), as long as you have no other one
installed and working. The store (com.amazon.venezia): without it you
reinstall nothing.
Everything to do with HDMI and the control of external devices: ALLM, and on the W80A the VRR, pass through there.
And anything starting with com.android. that you cannot identify:
com.android.systemui is the system interface and com.android.settings is
the settings app itself.
Write down what you remove
On a Fire TV this counts double: Amazon reinstates things with updates more often than Google does. Keep the list in a text file with the command beside it, and save the complete package list before you touch anything.
How to tell whether this page is about your set
Under Settings → My Fire TV → About you will find the model and the Fire
OS version. With ADB connected, getprop ro.product.model returns the
internal identifier, which here begins with AFT.
Panasonic documents TV-43W80AEY, TV-50W80AEY, TV-55W80AEY and
TV-65W80AEY on its UK site, and TX-43MX800B, TX-50MX800B, TX-55MX800B,
TX-65MX800B and TX-75MX800B. The trailing letters change by country, and
watch the prefix: the W80A starts with TV- and the MX800 with TX-.
What you actually notice
A considerably less commercial home screen, some storage recovered and less background activity. The picture is untouched: it lives in the firmware. That matters less here than above, because there is less picture to protect; what pays off on these two is the time you spend on the ports.
All of this comes undone
Packages disabled over ADB come back with one command, and a factory reset returns the television to the state it left the box in. You are only telling it not to load something already installed.
If you own one
The app list from your own W80A or MX800, exactly as the set reports it, is especially valuable: on the top of the Fire TV range something is written; on the affordable end, almost nothing. If you send it, the next person searching for this model finds the work already done.