Hisense A6N vs Panasonic Z95A

The HDR performance on A6N is unfortunately underwhelming. A peak brightness of just 250 nits doesn't allow for spectacular highlights, and HDR looks rather washed out, more like standard SDR. This won't satisfy more demanding users who want to enjoy high-quality film content. Additionally, colour gamut coverage isn't very impressive either, with DCI-P3 at 82% being a mediocre result that doesn't let you fully enjoy vibrant colours in HDR material.

Panasonic Z95A shows class when it comes to HDR performance. In luminance tests, it achieves a level of 1800 nits, which has a real impact on movie watching. Scenes from Life of Pi or Gemini Man look fantastic – the television effortlessly reproduces details and the intensity of bright spots, making a strong impression with its power. In more demanding moments, like the final scene from The Meg, you can see how bright light floods the screen. In such moments, brightness drops, which is typical for organic panels. Nevertheless, a result around 1000 nits can still be considered excellent, still providing very good picture quality. Additionally, the television offers great coverage of wide colour gamuts – up to 98.6% for DCI-P3 and 74.5% for BT.2020. This means that colours are not only vibrant but also deeply saturated, allowing full appreciation of the richness of details, especially in HDR scenes. Such coverage makes colours look more realistic, and the HDR effect gains intensity and accuracy. All this impressive HDR effect is thanks to MLA technology, which enables such high luminance and excellent image detail. With it, the Panasonic Z95A offers HDR at a level that truly makes a difference.

In the colour reproduction category, the Hisense A6N in Filmmaker Mode leaves much to be desired. Although the mode's name suggests we should expect faithful rendering of cinematic colours, the reality is different, and the TV has considerable picture-quality issues. The problem with white balance is particularly noticeable for both HD and 4K material, with a strong bias toward blue. This results in artificial, cool tones, clearly visible in the comparison image below. The ColourChecker test further confirms these errors, which are compounded by low colour-gamut coverage.

The gamma luminance curve shows a serious problem maintaining a 2.4 target. The curve sits well below the reference value, leading to excessive image brightening and washed-out blacks. The EOTF curve for 4K material also indicates brightness issues, with a significant early overshoot caused by the TV's excessive brightening that negatively affects picture quality. This picture profile prevents fully enjoying films and requires manual adjustment.

The best picture mode on the Panasonic Z95A is undoubtedly the Filmmaker mode. This mode offers quite good image reproduction, but it is not without certain flaws that need addressing. Primarily, the white balance, for both 4K and HD content, tends to be dominated by red and blue hues. This leads to a slight pink tint in the image, particularly noticeable in bright, white scenes. Such discrepancies can be seen in the comparative image below, which illustrates the issue well. The Colour Checker test also confirms these inaccuracies, showing slight shifts of dots towards the mentioned shades.

In terms of gamma brightness characteristics, it performs very well, with only minor issues when brightening small details. A greater challenge arises with the EOTF curve, which is responsible for controlling brightness in 4K HDR content. Here, there is a slight boost in brightness above the reference value, which sometimes makes the image overly bright, especially in more demanding scenes. While the Filmmaker mode is definitely the best choice on the Z95A, these aspects require refinement to fully harness the television's potential.

Hisense A6N offers options and tools in its settings for adjusting many picture settings that we utilised. When it comes to white balance, we managed to eliminate excess blue – this effect is clearly visible in the comparison image below, where the boy in the picture almost "comes to life." A significant improvement can also be noticed in the gamma brightness characteristic – the television no longer has serious issues with excessively brightening the entire image. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for 4K materials, where the EOTF curve could not be fully corrected due to the exceptionally low brightness of this model. For HDR content, we use dynamic tone mapping, which allows for the recovery of many details despite the boosting of midtones in the image. For this television, this provides more benefits than drawbacks. The errors that are still visible in the test with the colour palette and Colour Checker for 4K content arise from low colour gamut coverage and are difficult to eliminate due to the television's characteristics. Nevertheless, the tonal quality of the image is significantly better, which is why we recommend calibrating the factory settings, which are far from ideal.

After calibration, Panasonic Z95A showcases its full potential, delivering an almost perfect image. The television offers extensive adjustment capabilities, which we have fully utilised. The white balance post-calibration is absolutely flawless, and the errors in SDR content at 0.5 are at an exceptionally reference standard. The same goes for 4K HDR content – the screen tint has been completely eliminated, and the white balance is now exemplary.

The colour palette and Colour Checker test confirm the excellence of the calibration. Errors below 2 are a result that will satisfy both professional calibrators and cinema-quality image enthusiasts. Significant changes have also occurred in the brightness characteristics – the EOTF curve has been aligned, eliminating previous issues with excessive brightness. Additionally, a small error in gamma has been reduced.

Before calibration, the image was acceptable, but now it's in a completely different league. It's a true feast for the eyes, and the quality is hard to compare to anything else. Once fine-tuned, the Panasonic Z95A becomes a true master of colour reproduction.

Let's see how A6N handles low-quality sources. When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, the lack of features for reducing posterisation or smoothing such transitions in low-quality material like television or DVD may be noticeable to more demanding viewers. As for digital processing, the model was presented correctly and the branches were free of the characteristic jaggedness. The picture has strong three-dimensional modelling and a soft look, which may appeal to viewers who prefer this kind of image style.

In the case of lower quality materials, the "Gradation Smoothing" function is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. The best results are achieved with an intermediate setting – while they are not spectacular, the function works correctly and does not introduce unwanted effects into the image. It can be evaluated as average, but sufficient for improving the quality of tonal transitions.

As for digital processing, or upscaling, the picture looks surprisingly good. It is flexible and pleasant to the eye, which makes lower quality content, such as standard television or YouTube, look quite decent. However, minor issues can be observed, such as "aliasing" on edges, e.g. branches in the background. Nevertheless, this does not significantly affect the overall viewing experience, and the television handles these materials in an acceptable manner.

The 60 Hz panel in Hisense A6N will probably satisfy people who like watching movies, because the TV offers an "ultra motion smoothing" feature that lets you adjust the image's judder, making it more choppy or smoother, with a soap‑opera effect. When it comes to motion blur, it’s rather average; there’s quite noticeable smearing, especially on dark backgrounds, which is a fairly typical trait for this class of TVs.

Panasonic Z95A, with a 144 Hz panel, offers excellent image smoothness. For movies, there is an "Intelligent Frame Creation" feature that allows for improved smoothness and reduction of blurring. Users have two sliders at their disposal: "Motion Blur Reduction" – responsible for clearer and sharper details in fast-moving scenes. "Film Smoothness" – adds smoothness by creating additional frames between the originals, making motion appear more fluid and natural with the effect of "soap opera"

As a result, viewers can adjust the settings to their own preferences. Movies and less dynamic content look smooth and natural, which should satisfy most users.

Hisense A6N is a TV that will likely appeal to casual gamers, mainly because of its 60 Hz panel, which may not satisfy more demanding users. Still, it offers a few features that can make gaming more enjoyable. The TV supports ALLM (automatic low latency mode), VRR (variable refresh rate) and Dolby Vision, allowing for better picture quality and smoother motion in games that support those technologies. What's more, the low input lag means in-game reactions are quick, which is crucial, especially in fast-paced titles. Thanks to these features, although the TV is not an ideal choice for demanding gamers, it offers solid support for those who value comfortable gaming without complicated settings. It's an ideal solution for people who want to enjoy gaming without heavy hardware requirements, while still having access to modern technologies that improve the gaming experience.

Panasonic Z95A this year shows that the manufacturer has made a huge leap forward in support for gamers. The television offers practically everything you can expect from a device in this range. Support for ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) ensures smoothness and no tearing in dynamic games. The 144 Hz panel allows for incredible fluidity, and the additional support for resolutions other than 4K provides greater flexibility, which is a big plus for gamers using various configurations.

Also noteworthy is the unique and rather specific "Game Bar." Its bubble interface stands out from the competition and allows quick adjustment of key settings such as VRR, brightness level, or picture mode, without the need to interrupt gameplay.

However, in this class of devices, there has been a slight disappointment – Panasonic Z95A only offers two HDMI 2.1 ports instead of four. This is definitely too few for a premium television, especially in times when many people have more than one device requiring full HDMI 2.1 support, such as a next-gen console or a high-end computer. In this category, it's hard to accept, especially given the high aspirations of this model. Despite this, the television is an excellent choice for gamers, offering versatility and functionality at the highest level.