Panasonic W95B vs Hisense E7Q / E79Q

The Panasonic W95B is truly a bright screen, capable of achieving peak luminance levels of around 1400 nits. In brighter, well-lit movie scenes, this value translates into spectacular HDR effects that can leave a big impression. However, knowing our test setup, you probably see that in very demanding shots – such as the moon in the distance or the lights of a helicopter in a scene from Sicario 2 – the television doesn’t impress. In such situations, brightness drops to around 200 nits, making the HDR effect much less noticeable. This happens because Panasonic focuses on maintaining deep blacks, not illuminating the background – which shouldn’t be a concern for many users. However, it’s important to remember that in such moments, the picture starts to resemble SDR content. The coverage of the colour palette also deserves praise, as it reaches around 93% of the DCI-P3 space thanks to the use of the PFS filter (also known from QLED technology). This means that most films look very good in terms of saturation and colours, maintaining a cinematic quality to the image.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a mid-brightness TV, with a peak luminance level of around 350-380 nits. This is the absolute minimum that allows viewing HDR content in a way that's close to the creators' intentions, though without a distinct "wow" effect. The results of synthetic tests on white test patterns were confirmed in practice – in movie scenes, the bright parts of the image are stable and fairly even, but it's hard to talk about a true "burst of light" here. In everyday use, such as when watching Netflix or YouTube, the HDR effect is acceptable and is more than sufficient for most users. However, it must be said clearly – this is not the level of top-end screens, and one shouldn't expect that at this price. Fortunately, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q has an advantage that allows it to score quite a few points: it's a QLED panel of the PFS LED type, using an additional phosphor layer that improves colour reproduction. The measured range of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is around 92%, which means that the colours in most scenes are vibrant, well-saturated, and pleasing to the eye, especially for this price bracket.

In Filmmaker mode, the Panasonic W95B offers an image with quite accurate colour reproduction, although it is not without minor imperfections. The white balance slightly leans towards red, which can cause a subtle warm tint to the image, and the gamma curve is slightly elevated, making the screen appear a bit brighter. It's good that the manufacturer has included this mode – even in its factory configuration, it provides a fairly natural look for films. However, knowing how susceptible Panasonic televisions are to calibration, we decided to check how much the image could be improved after professional tuning.

In Filmmaker mode, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q television really managed to impress. After the first measurements, it turned out that the white balance was quite well tuned, with the only minor deviation being a slight tendency towards a purple hue, which we mentioned earlier. However, this did not significantly impact the overall character of the image – it remained cohesive and pleasant to view. A much bigger issue was the brightness characteristics (gamma) in SDR content and the EOTF curve in HDR films. The television clearly brightened the image, flattening contrast and taking away depth. Gamma values could drop from the reference 2.4 down to around 1.9, making the image look as though it was covered with a thin, milky layer. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be relatively easily corrected through calibration.

After professional calibration, the Panasonic W95B shows what it’s really capable of. Colour errors have mostly dropped below values of 2–3, making them practically invisible to the human eye. The excess red in the white balance has also been corrected, which means the image is no longer slightly tinted pink, and details in dark areas no longer get lost due to excessive dimming in the gamma. The improvement in HDR content is also noticeable – colour saturation is now more stable and doesn’t lean towards blue as distinctly as it did before. It’s truly a fantastic television for watching movies and series in the highest possible quality. While we know that Mini LED screens are not always perfectly suited for this, the W95B is a prime example that with proper tuning, a result close to OLEDs can be achieved.

The biggest beneficiary of calibration in the case of the Hisense E7Q / E79Q was undoubtedly the SDR mode. It managed to achieve almost perfect image quality – most of the errors in the Color Checker test dropped below a value of 3, and often even 2, which is a remarkable result for this class of equipment. The biggest improvement came from aligning the brightness characteristic (gamma), which made the image no longer look blown out and regained natural depth. In HDR content, it was also possible to improve the colours and eliminate the purple tint that we mentioned earlier, but errors in the Color Checker measurements were still noticeable. This is due to the fact that – as is often the case with Hisense televisions – the screen manipulates brightness quite strongly, overexposing some colours. This was also indicated by the EOTF curve, which was slightly above the reference values, suggesting these minor issues with excessive brightening. Despite this flaw and the construction limitations that arise with HDR content, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q gained quite a bit after calibration. In everyday use, the television presents a coherent, natural, and pleasant-to-the-eye image, and the difference compared to the factory settings is indeed huge.

In terms of image processing, the Panasonic W95B performs exceptionally well. The proprietary processor responsible for digital image processing effectively upscales lower resolution content to 4K, maintaining a high level of detail and a natural look to contours. The end result is impressive – the upscaling is truly top-notch, and Full HD content can look surprisingly good. Also noteworthy is how the TV smooths tonal transitions in low-quality materials. The algorithm doesn’t operate as aggressively as in some competing models, which helps avoid the loss of detail or the blurring of film grain.

In the case of Hisense E7Q / E79Q, upscaling and digital image processing are not the strongest points of this television. It is evident that the manufacturer has opted for simplicity rather than advanced image processing algorithms. The television does not offer any features that smooth tonal transitions or systems that enhance image clarity, which makes lower resolution materials look quite raw. Subtle compression edges can be seen on the screen, which better processors in other models can effectively hide.

During the testing of HD materials, we noticed that the E7Q tries to artificially boost detail, which sometimes works and other times has the opposite effect – the image becomes soft, slightly blurred, and at times even "watery." There is no aggressive sharpening that ruins naturalness, but there is also a lack of finesse in detail integration that better image processors provide.

The 144 Hz panel used in the Panasonic W95B offers excellent smoothness, although in practice, given how television content looks or how new-generation consoles are limited, it’s worth looking at its performance when refreshing at 120 Hz. In this mode, the television performs exceptionally well – despite being a VA panel, which is not known for the fastest pixel response times, motion blur is minimal and difficult to detect with the naked eye.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a television with a 60 Hz screen, so sports fans in 4K may feel a slight disappointment – you simply won’t see such smooth images here as in more expensive models with higher refresh rates. Fortunately, when it comes to movies, the situation is much better. Cinematic materials recorded at 24 frames per second can be displayed here using a motion smoothing feature, allowing the user to adjust the picture to their own preferences – more cinematic with visible frames or smoother, in a theatrical style.

Aside from the previously mentioned issue related to VRR mode, where local dimming does not work, the Panasonic W95B is a true gaming beast. The TV offers practically everything that gamers could expect – perhaps apart from four HDMI 2.1 ports, as there are only two available. On board, we find automatic low latency mode (ALLM), correctly implemented HDR modes for gamers, including HGiG, as well as support for Dolby Vision in games. The whole package is complemented by an interestingly designed Game Bar, presented in the form of circles. It may not be the most visually attractive, but it fulfills its purpose – allowing quick access to key game parameters and adjusting settings without diving into the system menu.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a really good TV for gamers, even though it doesn’t support 4K signal at 120 Hz. However, the manufacturer has included a set of features that until recently could only be found in more expensive models. There's ALLM, which is auto-switching to low latency mode, allowing the TV to activate game mode with very low input lag automatically. We also have VRR, working up to 60 Hz – while this may not look impressive on paper, in practice it is fully sufficient, as most console games don’t exceed this limit anyway. All these settings can be quickly found in the Game Bar panel, a convenient menu created specifically for gamers. From this level, you can change picture modes, turn on a frame counter, or even… an on-screen crosshair – in the Vidaa system amusingly called a “target point,” which is the result of a clumsy translation from the Chinese manufacturer.

Special praise should go to the ability to play in 1080p at 120 Hz, which significantly improves the fluidity and responsiveness of the image. This means that if someone wants to play a few titles at a higher refresh rate, they can simply lower the resolution and enjoy much smoother motion. Despite the lack of 4K@120Hz, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q really performs well as a gaming TV – especially for those who aren’t looking for perfection but a solid and fast screen for everyday gaming.