Panasonic Z85A vs SAMSUNG S90F (WOLED)

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.

Does the S90F handle not only blacks but also bright parts of the image? Definitely. The stories about OLEDs as "dark screens" can slowly be regarded as myth. The Samsung S90F, like the LG C5 based on a very similar panel, achieves brightness exceeding 1000 nits. This is a value more than enough to enjoy impressive and dynamic HDR images – both in movies and series. Most of the scenes we tested look stunning, with well-defined highlights and high contrast. Of course, OLED technology still has its limitations – in very bright, full-screen sequences, such as the test card from the movie The Meg (photo 5), the television may noticeably dim the image. However, it should be emphasized that such scenes are rare. It can be said that the HDR effect is good enough that even mid-range OLED models like the S90F can provide a cinematic experience in the home living room.

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!

Samsung S90F, like most modern televisions, offers many picture modes, but – following our testing tradition – we checked it out in the best one, which is the Filmmaker mode. Thanks to this, the image looks much more natural than in the default, often oversaturated settings. It was neither overly saturated nor artificially dimmed – simply closer to what one should see. Of course, “more accurate” doesn’t mean “perfect”. Unfortunately, our S90F had significant issues with white balance, particularly in the blue color range, resulting in a slightly yellowish filter being applied to most scenes. Someone might say it looks more “filmic” – because it’s warmer – but let’s not kid ourselves, George Lucas didn’t film Star Wars in sepia 😉 (you’ll find a comparison with the scene below as always).

Additionally, in HDR materials, there was an issue with brightness management. The EOTF curve showed a clear “spike” in brightness – the television brightened the image more than it should have, causing some effects to look too intense and deviating from the reference. Fortunately, some of these problems can be eliminated through professional calibration – you’ll read about its effects later in the review.

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.

After calibration, we managed to eliminate practically all the previously mentioned errors. Older movies in SDR quality finally look like they should – without the sepia effect or artificial aging of the image. The atmosphere of the classics is back in place (no thanks needed, Star Wars fans), and the colours no longer resemble an Instagram filter.

One of the key changes was also the improvement of brightness characteristics in HDR content. We managed to control the EOTF curve in almost a reference manner. Admittedly, the most demanding users may detect minimal deviations in brightness, but honestly – most viewers won't even notice that. And it's no surprise because the vast majority of errors fall below the ΔE 3 value, which is below the threshold of visibility. After calibration, the S90F (WOLED) becomes a truly excellent display – one on which you can enjoy nearly perfect image quality.

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.

Digital Image Processing in S90F:

Fortunately, Samsung, like in most of its models, manages to effectively tackle the unwanted posterisation effect in the S90F. The function responsible for this element is noise reduction, which does a pretty good job of smoothing tonal transitions and eliminating unnatural colour blending – of course, within its capabilities. Unfortunately, it works quite aggressively, so using it comes with trade-offs. In addition to improving gradation, it can also remove film grain or slightly soften facial features. In this case, the choice is yours – do you prefer a more "clean" image, or do you care about preserving the original texture of the material.

Image Scaling in S90F:

In this year's model, Samsung has implemented its proprietary AI processor – NQ4 Gen3, which really handles upscaling quite well. In our test scenes, the TV effectively "pulled up" lower quality towards artificial 4K – the image was more enjoyable to view, and the differences in sharpness between native and scaled content were minimal. Unfortunately, behind all this AI marketing façade lies a certain shortcoming. The S90F struggles with overscan. If you reach for truly archival material – e.g. a VHS tape of your parents' wedding – you have to reckon with the fact that the lower part of the image may get cut off. The function to adapt the image to resolution simply does not work as it should here.

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.

S90F really handles motion excellently – after all, it’s an OLED with a 144 Hz panel, so sports and games look absolutely stunning on it. The image is smooth, clear, and there’s no room for ghosting or blurring, which can sometimes plague cheaper LCDs.

The TV also comes equipped with motion smoothness settings that allow you to customise everything to your liking. We have motion blur reduction and judder reduction – you can set it so that the image is super smooth (even to the point of looking a bit soap opera-like), or more cinematic, with the classic “jumpiness” of 24 frames. The choice is yours, Samsung imposes nothing.

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.

When it comes to gaming features – the S90F has absolutely nothing to complain about. Aside from the lack of Dolby Vision, which is already the norm for Samsung. The television operates at 144 Hz, has four HDMI 2.1 ports, so you can easily connect more than one console or PC. Onboard, we also find Game Bar – a practical tool that allows you to quickly preview picture settings, VRR status, ALLM mode, and other useful options. Game Motion Plus deserves special mention – Samsung's proprietary motion smoother that actually works sensibly in games. The image appears smoother, but without any artificial effects or slowdowns.

It's also worth mentioning the HGiG feature, which – and this may be a slight surprise – works correctly. We bring this up because Samsung clearly messed something up in one of the recent updates, and in some models, the option responsible for HGiG simply... disappears from the menu. Setting it up becomes almost impossible. Fortunately, our S90F unit did not have this issue, but the situation is dynamic, so it's worth keeping this in mind and regularly checking for new software versions and information from the manufacturer.