Panasonic Z95A vs Samsung Neo QLED QN70F / QN74F / QN77F

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.

QN70F is a television that can positively surprise when it comes to brightness. In ideal testing conditions, it reaches even 800 nits, which – for this price range – is a really solid value. Of course, that’s a result from test patterns, so we decided to check how it performs in practice, on real films. Here, the television somewhat tempers its capabilities. In most of the tested scenes – e.g. in "The Meg" – the actual HDR brightness remained around 500 nits. That’s still a decent result, allowing you to enjoy HDR effects, although it’s far from perfection. On the other hand, we have a QLED screen with a quantum dot layer, which means very good colour reproduction capabilities. Colours are vivid and saturated. QN70F covers about 94% of the DCI-P3 colour space, and in the wider BT.2020 palette, it exceeds 75%, so in this respect, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

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.

We tested the QN70F in the best default picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. And it must be admitted that in this particular test unit, the factory settings performed quite well. The picture was calm, natural, and despite slight deviations – pleasant to watch. The biggest error was a slight dominance of red in the white balance, which caused a slight pinkish tint over the entire scene. However, it wasn't a glaring flaw – rather subtle and only noticeable when directly compared to a properly calibrated screen. A slightly bigger issue arose in the brightness characteristics. The TV tends to lower the brightness of parts of the image that should be displayed brighter. As a result, some details can appear slightly dimmed – they don't completely disappear, but they don't stand out as clearly as they should. Nonetheless, as for a TV in this range and in these settings – we consider the result a good starting point for further calibration.

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.

After calibration, the QN70F shows that it can offer a really high level of colour reproduction. It has managed to nearly perfectly balance the white point, and the values in the Color Checker test dropped below level 3 – that is, below the threshold at which the average eye can notice differences. The image looks natural, and the colours are faithfully reproduced, without excessive saturation or the coolness known from factory settings. It must be acknowledged that Samsung provides very extensive calibration options – not only for enthusiasts but also for professionals. The QN70F takes advantage of this potential and, after appropriate settings, can come close to significantly more expensive models in terms of colour accuracy. The only thing that could still be picked on is the brightness characteristic. There is still a tendency to brighten the smallest sections of the image – particularly those that should remain darker. However, this is a design feature of this model, not a calibration error. Despite this, the final result definitely deserves recognition.

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.

Samsung QN70F offers a distortion reduction feature that improves the smoothness of tonal transitions. In "Standard" mode, it works quite well – smoothing out problematic transitions without significantly interfering with the structure of the image. Film grain is partially removed, but details like texture and skin structure remain visible. "High" mode operates much more aggressively. The smoothing is stronger, but at the cost of a noticeable loss of detail. Therefore, in practice, we recommend sticking with the "Standard" setting or turning off this feature altogether. The improvement in gradation may be less spectacular, but the image retains more naturalness.

When it comes to upscaling low-quality content, the QN70F performs very well. Tests with lower resolution images went really well. Despite some slight aliasing of contours, everything looks clean and clear, even if the original content was very poor quality. It's just a pity that the television has an overscan issue that cannot be completely turned off. As a result, images with very low resolution may be slightly cropped, which is mainly noticeable on subtitles or the interface.

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.

The QN70F is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself places it among the best when it comes to image smoothness. Whether we're watching fast-paced sports broadcasts or gaming on a console – the picture looks fantastic. There's no sense of stuttering, clipping, or the typical "judder" seen in lower-end models during fast motion. Samsung also allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences. In the picture clarity settings, we find options such as motion blur reduction and judder reduction – each of which can be adjusted independently. This is especially useful when we are watching content with a lower frame rate and want to give it a smoother, more cinematic feel – or conversely, maintain the natural filmic "feel" of 24 frames.

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.

Samsung QN70F is a really solid choice for gamers. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, which means full support for gaming in 4K at 144 Hz refresh rate. Plus, it has all the basic features we expect today: automatic game mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR), and a very well-designed, intuitive Game Bar that displays information about the mode, resolution, and frame rate.

The Game Motion Plus feature is also worth noting, as it allows for the addition of artificial frames to games running at 60 fps or less. It works surprisingly well and improves gameplay smoothness in many titles—especially in those where consoles struggle to maintain a stable frame rate—without significant latency.

Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks. The lack of support for Dolby Vision mode is not surprising—it’s a standard for Samsung. However, the absence of the HGiG feature is far more disappointing. Worse still, it was removed in a software update, which might catch users who previously relied on it off guard. Without HGiG, one cannot manually set the maximum HDR brightness from the console, resulting in some games looking slightly overexposed—especially if the TV misinterprets the tonal range. Why Samsung, a brand that has set the standards for gaming features for years, decided to take such a step is hard to say. At the time of writing this review, the tested TV was running on software version 1110—and frankly, if you care about full support for gamers, it’s better to hold off on updates for now.