Panasonic Z85A vs Hisense U7Q PRO

The Panasonic Z85A is an OLED television, so you can immediately expect excellent effects in films. And indeed – our tests showed that the WOLED panel can achieve around 800 nits of peak brightness in optimal conditions. This is a solid result, performing well in most demanding HDR scenes, allowing viewers to enjoy a dynamic and detailed picture. However, like every OLED, the Z85A also has its limits. In very bright scenes that fill the entire screen – like the final sequence from the movie The Meg – the television reduces brightness to around 400 nits. This is standard behaviour for this technology, so if someone plans to watch films in a heavily sunlit living room, it is worth keeping this in mind. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 98% also deserves high praise. This allows the television to reproduce a wide range of colours that stand out with vibrancy and depth, while details in HDR scenes are sharp and precise. In short – the Panasonic Z85A delivers a solid HDR effect that will satisfy any film enthusiast.

U7Q PRO is truly a bright television. In synthetic tests, it achieved over 1500 nits, which is an outstanding result for this price bracket. Such brightness – at least in theory – allows it to display HDR content as intended by the creators, even in more demanding scenes with strong lighting. In practice, it performs very well, but not always perfectly. In bright scenes with large areas – like the test screen with intense sunlight from the film "Pan" – the U7Q PRO makes a huge impression. It can even dazzle with its light, which is definitely an advantage in the context of HDR content. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always manage to maintain this when there are many small bright details on a dark background. In such moments, the local dimming algorithms tend to dim some bright elements to maintain good blacks – and the side effect is that some details simply vanish from the frame. This is a classic compromise in mini-LED televisions – and the U7Q PRO is no exception. With such a large number of dimming zones, however, one could have hoped for a slightly more mature algorithm responsible for their control. Fortunately, the overall perception of HDR content is very positive. The U7Q PRO is not only bright but also colourful, thanks to the PFS LED (QLED) coating, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette is at 95%, and BT.2020 around 73%.

The Panasonic Z85A offers many picture modes, but the Filmmaker mode definitely stands out from the rest. It's rare for a TV straight out of the box to be so well calibrated, and the unit we had the opportunity to test truly impressed us.

However, there were some minor shortcomings. In the SDR signal, we noticed a slight deficit of red and blue, which made the picture appear cooler than it should have been. This is particularly evident in the comparison image. In contrast, with 4K HDR material, the situation was the opposite – the surplus of red made the image seem warmer than intended by the creators. In terms of brightness characteristics (gamma) and maintaining an appropriate EOTF curve, it's hard to find faults. There are slight deviations, but they are so minimal that the average viewer is unlikely to notice them.

It's also worth highlighting that our observations relate to a specific unit of the TV. Two identical models may differ from each other due to natural production variances. Nevertheless, the piece we had in hand looks really solid and deserves praise. Now it's time for our calibration – we'll see if we can squeeze even more out of this screen!

We tested the U7Q PRO in the best possible picture mode that this model offers – Filmmaker Mode. And indeed, this mode performs the best in terms of colour reproduction. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. In our test unit, both in SDR and HDR content, the image had a slightly cooler tone. The white balance was shifted towards blue, which made the overall image feel a bit "cooler." It may not be glaring, but it is definitely noticeable – particularly on white backgrounds, which instead of being neutral, seemed slightly bluish. Additionally – as we mentioned earlier – the television has a tendency to slightly brighten and oversaturate the image, which is also confirmed by the gamma and EOTF charts. All of this together means that without calibration, the image may appear somewhat unnatural – too cool, with slightly exaggerated dynamics. That’s why we decided to perform our own calibration – and you can see its effects and charts below.

The Panasonic Z85A offers truly wide-ranging capabilities when it comes to picture settings, so we eagerly set about calibrating it. Although we mainly focused on adjusting the white balance, the final effect exceeded our expectations. Both HD and 4K HDR content now showcases nearly perfect colour reproduction, with minimal errors that are hard to catch with the naked eye. Well-calibrated TVs are a rarity, and we must admit – it’s truly satisfying. While the gamma and EOTF curve didn't require drastic adjustments, we managed to further stabilise their characteristics across the entire brightness scale. After calibration, the Panasonic Z85A is a true gem for home cinema enthusiasts. The picture is precise, the colours are natural, and every scene looks exactly as the director intended.

Thanks to calibration, we've managed to tame the white balance in SDR and HDR content. For SDR material, the effect is really quite good – the image becomes neutral, cohesive, and simply pleasant to watch. Everything looks the way it should.

HDR performs a bit worse. Although the white balance looks correct and overall the image gains naturalness, unfortunately, the delta E errors are still noticeable. Why? Because Hisense's U7Q PRO model does not give us full control over how the television manages brightness in HDR mode. And this is where the limitation arises. When we look at the EOTF curve for HDR content, it clearly shows what we mentioned earlier – at the beginning of the graph, there’s a noticeable drop, meaning the television darkens the smallest portions more than it should. On the other hand, those brightest elements can be overly bright. As a result, some details are lost, others are too aggressive, and overall control over brightness doesn't always align with what we’re trying to achieve during calibration.

Does the image look better after calibration? Definitely, yes, in terms of colour. But when it comes to brightness management in HDR, one must accept that the Hisense U7Q PRO will still do it in its own way.

Now that we know how the Panasonic Z85A handles tonal transitions in 4K material, it’s time to take a look at its "Gradation Smoothing" function. It works, but unfortunately not entirely effectively. Regardless of the chosen value – whether it’s low, medium, or high level – we couldn’t achieve perfectly smooth tonal transitions in our test sequence. We recommend setting this function to an intermediate level. While this may slightly blur fine details, at least it avoids the problem of losing film grain, which can be crucial for many viewers when watching classic productions.

When it comes to image scaling, the TV performs quite well. It’s noticeable that the image is slightly sharpened, and thin lines can sometimes appear a bit jagged. However, this is standard for most TVs, and fortunately, it can be adjusted using the sharpness slider. This gives us full control – we can achieve a more vivid, blurred image or a clearer one, although it may appear more "harsh" and artificially sharp. It all depends on the user's preferences and the type of content we’re watching. Overall, the scaling is at a solid level and should satisfy most users who are using lower resolution material.

If someone happens to come across older materials where the banding issue arises – Hisense has a solution for that. In the U7Q PRO, we find a feature called "Smooth and Gradient Picture". Set to the "Medium" level, it works really well – eliminating most gradient problems without smoothing the entire image like a blur in Photoshop. 😉 Film grain remains, details don't disappear – that's exactly how it should work. Well done on the implementation!

As for scaling weaker materials, it's simply good. It's not at the level of the most expensive TVs with advanced upscaling, but older content looks good. There is some minor banding at very low resolutions, but that's perfectly normal and hard to avoid. On the plus side – even with the oldest materials, there is no overscan effect, the image isn't cropped or artificially stretched.

The Panasonic Z85A features a 120 Hz panel, which will surely please both gamers and sports fans. Sure, it’s not 144 Hz like some gaming TVs, but in practice, the difference is really hard to notice. In games, the picture is stable and sharp, and during fast action, there’s no sign of any blurring. The same goes for sports – a player’s quick run or a car’s dynamic maneuver looks smooth and natural. The TV also has an “Intelligent Frame Creation” feature, which is a motion smoother. There are two sliders here – one controls motion blur reduction, while the other adjusts motion smoothness. With these, you can tailor the picture to your own preferences – whether you prefer a more cinematic effect with gentle transitions between frames or a maximally smooth image ideal for watching sport.

“Speed” – this word was most frequently mentioned during our tests of the U7Q PRO. The television is equipped with a 165 Hz panel, which in itself is impressive – especially considering we’re talking about a mid-range model. Of course, PC gamers will benefit the most from its full capabilities, but even during everyday viewing, it’s clear that this is a fast and efficient panel. Like most modern televisions, the U7Q PRO can also enhance the smoothness of films that were originally recorded at 24 frames. In the menu, we find a slider that allows us to adjust the effect to our own preferences – from a more cinematic feel, with subtle motion, to a stronger smoothing with the characteristic “soap opera effect.”

Panasonic is mainly associated with home cinema televisions, but the Z85A shows that it can also step into the gaming world with a truly strong punch. It's a device that can easily be called a gaming beast – it has everything needed for comfortable gameplay.

Even though it has only two HDMI 2.1 ports, both operate at full bandwidth, so we can easily connect both a next-gen console and a gaming PC. All the key features are supported: ALLM automatically switches the television into game mode, VRR provides smooth visuals without stuttering and tearing, and with properly implemented HGIG and Dolby Vision, HDR games look really good – colours are vivid, details are sharp, and dark scenes are clear. We also find a Game Bar in the form of a transparent, circular menu. It may not look as impressive as the competition's, but it's intuitive and includes all the most important settings we’d want at hand during gameplay.

In summary – the Panasonic Z85A is a device that truly surprises with its gaming capabilities. It's a television where both console gamers and PC gamers will feel at home. It's smooth, dynamic, and just good.

Hisense U7Q PRO is a TV that seems to have been designed with gamers in mind. We have practically everything that can be expected from a gaming screen: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic mode (ALLM), and as many as four HDMI 2.1b ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s. Additionally, there’s a clear and quite functional Game Bar, as well as a well-implemented Dolby Vision GAMING mode that works seamlessly with Xbox Series S and X consoles.

Sounds like the ideal? Well, almost. Unfortunately, Hisense has still not implemented the HGiG feature, which is the system's tone mapping limitation on the TV's end. This means that when configuring HDR brightness on the console, we do it “by eye” or look for settings in online guides, as the screen does not display its actual brightness range. It’s a shame – because HGiG makes it easier to match the console to the TV and helps avoid overexposed or too dark scenes in HDR games.

Fortunately, the other elements work very well. Input lag is low, responsiveness is excellent, and the handling of other features is faultless. And although not everything worked perfectly, the U7Q PRO can still be confidently recommended to gamers.