Panasonic Z95A vs Hisense U6NQ

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.

Hisense U6NQ offers a stable HDR effect, which is a rarity in TVs with local dimming. On most streaming platforms, in films and series recorded in 4K, the TV delivers consistent performance – in every tested scene, regardless of difficulty level, brightness is around 450 nits. This is a pleasant surprise, as many models in this class exhibit distinct differences – some scenes are well-lit, while others are heavily dimmed by dimming algorithms. However, the Hisense U6NQ prioritises maintaining higher brightness, which comes at the cost of blacks, as noted in the paragraph about the contrast test.

The HDR effect on the U6NQ is satisfying, offering a noticeable 'punch' of light in bright moments, although it's worth remembering the aforementioned blooming, which can be visible in challenging scenes. In terms of colour, the TV also performs adequately – the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is 89%, while BT.2020 is 71%. While these are not results that would impress more demanding users, for beginners in the world of high-quality materials, the U6NQ is a solid choice. As such, it presents an interesting option as an 'entry-level' TV for home cinema.

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 U6NQ in Filmmaker mode offers really decent colour reproduction, although it's worth remembering that differences between individual units can be noticeable. The model we tested was pleasantly surprising, especially with HD content in SDR quality. The white balance was correct here, and errors in the range of 3–4 ΔE should be acceptable for the average viewer. The television performed slightly worse in reproducing colours with 4K HDR material. The dominance of blue tones led to unnatural cool shades on the Colour Checker chart, giving the image a "store" character. Combined with issues in brightness characteristics – gamma and EOTF curve caused some parts of the image to be too dark – the Filmmaker mode in this case loses some of its credibility. Although the factory settings of the tested unit deserve praise, particularly in SDR, there were still minor shortcomings that would require adjustments to fully utilise the television's capabilities.

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.

Although the factory settings of the Filmmaker mode on Hisense U6NQ were quite good, we decided to undertake calibration to fully assess the capabilities of this model. Only after such a procedure can one see how the television performs under ideal conditions. In the case of SDR content, which was already at a high level, we managed to further improve the white balance. However, the biggest change came from adjusting the brightness characteristics – gamma was optimised and no longer causes excessive darkening of the image, which improves its naturalness.

For 4K HDR content, calibration also yielded positive results. We eliminated the issue of blue dominance, which resulted in a more balanced and natural image. However, managing brightness in HDR materials remains a more complicated issue. The EOTF curve, although it had problems with image darkening in the 10–30% brightness range under laboratory conditions, reveals other shortcomings in real scenes. The television tends to overly brighten the smallest elements on the screen. As a result, this leads to noticeable halo effects around bright objects. This phenomenon, which we mentioned earlier in the context of contrast and HDR, arises from the technological limitations of the model and is often difficult to eliminate.

In short: although the Filmmaker mode with factory settings performed decently, calibration allowed us to achieve an even better effect – minor adjustments resulted in a more balanced image, particularly in HDR content. For users seeking the highest quality picture, calibration will be a beneficial step.

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.

With high-quality materials like 4K, tonal transitions on U6NQ look really good – colours blend nicely and the image is consistent. Unfortunately, when we switch to lower resolution content, the television doesn’t offer any extra features that could improve this aspect. An example is the test with the light bulb, where it’s clearly visible that the television struggles with reproducing subtle tonal transitions.

On the other hand, digital processing performs quite well. The image looks lively, is pleasantly soft, and free from excessive artifacts. Moreover, thanks to the sharpness settings, it can be tailored to individual preferences – whether towards a softer or sharper image. Overall, while upscaling lower quality materials could be better, the television handles image processing well.

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 U6NQ offers native refresh rates of 60 Hz at a 4K resolution, but the manufacturer has added a feature that allows for an increase in refresh rate to 120 Hz, at the cost of reducing the resolution to Full HD. This is a solution we have previously seen in TCL televisions, such as C655 or C655 PRO. This gives the user the option – higher motion fluidity or full resolution. This makes sense, especially considering that many new generation console games do not achieve full performance in 4K at 120 Hz.

When it comes to movies, the television is equipped with a motion smoother feature, which allows you to adjust the motion characteristics to your own preferences. This enables a more cinematic effect or increases fluidity in dynamic scenes. Overall, Hisense U6NQ offers sensible solutions in terms of motion fluidity that should satisfy both gamers and movie enthusiasts.

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.

Hisense U6NQ gives the option to choose between 4K at 60 Hz and Full HD with 120 Hz refresh rate. This solution may appeal to gamers who want to decide what is more important to them – higher resolution or smoothness. The TV supports features like ALLM and VRR, which help in providing smoother gameplay. A nice addition is the GameBar – an easy-to-use panel that allows quick adjustments to picture settings and checking statistics. We also find the Dolby Vision Game mode here, which operates with low input lag, a big plus for console enthusiasts. Unfortunately, it lacks HGiG, which could further improve HDR quality in games. Nevertheless, the Hisense U6NQ performs quite well as a gaming TV, especially for those who play occasionally and do not require the highest refresh rate in 4K. It is a solid choice for less demanding users.