Samsung QN85F vs Panasonic W95B

Although more than twice the number of dimming zones compared to its predecessor did not result in a spectacular leap in black levels and contrast, we definitely felt it in the HDR effect itself. The QN85F is up to 50% brighter than last year's model and it makes a huge impression in dynamic scenes. Peak brightness can reach almost 1700–1800 nits, which is an impressively high result for this Mini-LED class. The best part is that almost regardless of the scene being watched, the HDR effect remains strong and vibrant. In four out of five test scenes, brightness was maintained around 1000 nits, a level that in most cases allows the viewer to feel the true magic of this format. Of course, in scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, the limitations of Mini-LED technology become apparent – the brightness of the helicopter's subtle light drops to around 500 nits. This isn't an outstanding result, but it is still much more acceptable than last year's model. Samsung deserves applause for the dramatic improvement in brightness with the QN85F compared to its predecessor. However, there's a certain trend visible in this year's televisions – the manufacturer has worsened colour gamut coverage. Although the QN85F has a QLED panel, its result at around 90% DCI-P3 is average, and in the most demanding films, it may lead to less vibrant colours than its predecessor. Despite this drawback, the overall HDR effect is at an excellent level and truly makes a big impression in this class of devices.

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.

Samsung QN85F offers several preset picture modes, but out of the box, the television starts in 'Eco' mode. We could almost end the discussion here, as using this setting on such a model makes little sense – the picture is washed out, unpleasant, and far from what we expect from a television of this class. Therefore, we conducted our tests in the best available mode, which is Filmmaker mode. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the directors saw during filming, and indeed, it is the setting that performs best among all factory options. However, this doesn't mean it's free from flaws.

Both in SDR and HDR, the QN85F prominently highlighted warm colours. This was due to a lack of white balance, where the blue colour was noticeably absent. Additionally, the image was sometimes overexposed – both the gamma brightness characteristic and the EOTF curve indicated that the television has a tendency to blow out scenes. In SDR, colour reproduction errors (Delta E around 4–5) were still acceptable, but in HDR, the inaccuracies became quite significant and clearly deviated from what the creators intended to show us. Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in its televisions, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration to see how much could be improved.

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.

After calibrating the movie mode, we managed to tame the colours in both modes almost to perfection – most of them did not exceed an error value of 3, which is the threshold of perceivability by the human eye. The image became more natural, fuller, and at the same time free of the overexposure that was noticeable right after taking the television out of the box. This demonstrates the significant potential that lies within the QN85F and how well it responds to precise settings. However, this does not change the fact that certain technological barriers cannot be overcome. Despite the enormous benefits of calibration, there are still limitations to the panel itself. Although the number of dimming zones has doubled compared to its predecessor, the algorithms controlling the backlighting can manipulate brightness in their own way. Sometimes this leads to slight colour inaccuracies or subtly visible halo effects around bright objects. Nonetheless, the viewing experience after calibration is really enjoyable and shows how good a screen the QN85F can be if we just take a moment for the right settings.

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.

Although the native tonal transitions on the QN85F perform excellently with 4K content, we don't always have to deal with the highest resolution material. This is where how the TV handles upscaling and digital image processing becomes crucial. This process is managed by Samsung's proprietary processor – AI NQ4 Gen2. In practice, it works very effectively. If visible colour banding or other undesirable phenomena appear on the screen, for instance with content from YouTube, they can easily be smoothed out using the "noise reduction" feature. Set to medium, it improves tonal transitions while not overly blurring desired details. However, it should be noted that – like in most Samsung TVs – this feature heavily interferes with film grain. Therefore, during movie screenings, it’s wise to use it cautiously to avoid losing the natural character of the image.

The upscaling itself looks very good. Test materials in lower resolutions were displayed sharply and clearly, with a lot of details. The only drawback remains the issue with overscan, which cuts off the edges of the screen. In most situations, this isn't noticeable, but with very old materials below HD quality, there may be instances where a fragment of the image from the left side gets slightly cut off.

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.

Motion blur and fluidity of movement in the QN85F is a topic worth discussing further because the TV is equipped not with a standard 120 Hz panel but with a 144 Hz one. The extra hertz will mainly be appreciated by PC gamers, but the very fact of having such an option can be seen as a nice addition and a sign of the times – it's hard to complain about the trend of faster panels since in practice, each of us would like the picture to be as smooth as possible. However, the most important thing is how the TV performs with typical 120 Hz refresh rates – in the case of consoles, sports, or films recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. And here, the QN85F performs really well. In films, you can easily adjust the character of the picture thanks to the "image clarity" feature, where you'll find two control sliders. Key in the case of screenings is the one responsible for reducing motion judder. Lower values give the image a more cinematic character with preserved "frame-ness," while higher values lead to strong smoothing, reminiscent of television theatre.

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.

Samsung QN85F makes a really great impression in terms of features for gamers. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect several devices at the same time. There's also Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to prevent screen tearing, as well as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to automatically switch to the appropriate settings when we start the console. Additionally, it supports refresh rates of up to 144 Hz – something that PC gamers will particularly appreciate, but the very fact that such an option is available shows that Samsung is committed to full support for gamers. The Game Bar panel also deserves praise. It provides a quick overview of the most important parameters – from frame count to refresh rate mode, and even shortcuts to picture settings. Instead of digging through the entire menu, everything is at our fingertips, which proves to be really convenient in practice. However, the most interesting addition is the Game Motion Plus feature. It is nothing more than motion smoothing, adapted for the gaming world. When it’s turned on, the image becomes smoother, sometimes looking as if we’re getting several more frames, and importantly – the response delay doesn’t increase enough to interfere with gameplay. This is a solution that truly sets Samsung's 120Hz TVs apart from the competition.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial gaming feature HGiG.

The only significant downside remains the lack of proper support for HGiG. This is a standard responsible for accurate tone mapping in HDR games, ensuring that brightness and contrast are displayed as intended by the creators. Without HGiG, we have to set brightness manually, which doesn’t always yield perfect results. This feature was available in previous models, but disappeared from the QN85F after one of the updates. We hope that Samsung will quickly fix this issue, and we will be monitoring to see if they succeed.

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.