Hisense E7NQ PRO vs Panasonic W85

Based on the luminance chart, which indicates around 550 nits, it can be said that Hisense E7NQ PRO theoretically has the potential to somewhat "magically" enchant us with its image in HDR. While testing various scenes from films, we noticed that the television continually tries to balance maintaining appropriate brightness with preserving the deepest blacks possible. In favourable conditions – for instance, during a scene from “The Meg,” where the screen is flooded with bright light – this brightness can indeed impress us. In such moments, we feel that HDR actually adds that "something" to the image. Unfortunately, when more challenging shots appear on the screen with small, bright elements on a dark background, the situation looks significantly worse. The brightness then drops to 200-300 nits, which is decidedly too little to truly distinguish HDR from standard SDR.

It is clear that the television tries, but hardware limitations – mainly the limited number of local dimming zones – prevent it from fully spreading its wings. The final effect is therefore often quite uneven and just as mediocre as in the contrast tests. However, it deserves credit for its impressive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 97%. Thanks to this, the television can display a truly wide range of colours, which, in suitable scenes, can give us at least a taste of the true HDR effect. It’s just a shame that the overall experience is not complemented by better control of brightness and contrast.

Unfortunately, we do not have good news here. The Panasonic W85B is rather dim – its peak brightness does not exceed 300 nits, so it’s hard to talk about any true HDR effect. In practice, this means that scenes which can “shine” and make an impression on other screens simply look like ordinary SDR with a slight boost in colours here. Our measurements and film tests confirmed this – regardless of the content, the W85B will not extract anything more from HDR. Therefore, if someone is looking for a television specifically for HDR, it is better to look towards other models. As consolation, the fact remains that in terms of colours, the W85B performs quite well. It is a QLED television, so its colour gamut coverage is wide, and most films and series look natural, without a distinct “washed-out” effect. The colours are saturated, so in everyday viewing, there is no sense that something is strongly amiss.

When we took our copy of Hisense E7NQ PRO out of the box, we immediately began to check the available picture modes. Among them, the Filmmaker mode seemed the most promising, although it too was not without its flaws. With standard SDR content, we noticed a clear tendency for excessive red enhancement, which made the image unnaturally warm. This was particularly evident in the comparative photo attached below. Conversely, when we switched to HDR content, the situation went in the opposite direction. This time, blue was dominant, and red was scarce, resulting in a cool effect, at times almost "shop-like" — although not as drastic as in those modes that are actually intended for display in exhibitions. As a result, in our tests assessing colour reproduction, these disturbances in colour balance led to significant errors.

Additionally, the television had issues with reproducing brightness characteristics. At lower resolutions, it noticeably brightened the darkest elements of the image, and with HDR content, the brightness curve (eotf) simply wouldn't conform as it should. Initially, the television excessively darkened the smallest details, only to then overly brighten larger areas. Fortunately, the E7NQ PRO provides us with plenty of calibration tools, so knowing that there is potential within it, we decided to take matters into our own hands and try to adjust it to eliminate these problems.

When testing the Panasonic W85B, we obviously started with Filmmaker mode, as this is today’s gold standard when it comes to watching content “as the director intended.” The problem is that this television is quite far from those intentions. The biggest issue turned out to be an excess of red – both in SDR and HDR. The image often appeared too warm because of this, and in some scenes, it was almost “blazing.” Additionally, there is the issue of brightness management. When we looked at the gamma or EOTF charts, it was clear as day that in most scenes, the television brightens the image more than it should. The effect was simply predictable. Details can get lost, there is flattening, and highlights are blown out across the entire screen. We know, of course, how to correct this, but it must be said honestly that it requires a lot of work during calibration. Out of the box, the W85B does not provide a picture close to reference – it is rather a television that will always interpret colours and brightness a little “in its own way” without professional adjustments. Unfortunately, this is to the viewer’s detriment.

Thanks to the tools available in E7NQ PRO, we managed to extract quite a decent image from it, especially with lower quality content. After refining the white balance of the SDR materials, the colours look much more natural, and what we see on the screen seems closer to the vision that the manufacturer intended to present. Additionally, we improved the brightness characteristic (Gamma), which means the television is no longer prone to excessive brightening, and everything presents itself distinctly better than before our intervention.

We also managed to achieve some results with HDR materials, although it isn’t quite as rosy here. Indeed, the white balance has approached an acceptable level, but the problem lies elsewhere. It concerns the EOTF curve, which is the way the television manages brightness and tonal range of the image. At first glance, it might seem that the biggest issue only relates to mid-tones being overly brightened. However, after more detailed testing and enabling the filters for displaying the EOTF curve, it becomes apparent that the receiver tends to brighten the entire screen. This appears to be a limitation arising from the small number of local dimming zones and generally modest brightness management capabilities. Such hardware limitations are simply insurmountable. Despite this, after our calibration, the image is noticeably better than at the outset. One just needs to be aware that in terms of contrast and brightness management, this model has its limits, which even good calibration cannot fully overcome.

Fortunately, calibration made a significant difference for the Panasonic W85B, particularly in SDR content. Here, the improvement was really noticeable – we managed to balance the whites and somewhat tame the tendency of the television to excessively brighten the entire image. The picture became more coherent, and the colours gained a naturalness that was lacking in the factory settings. Admittedly, the results from the Color Checker are not perfect, as the W85B has visible issues with green saturation, but overall, we evaluate the post-calibration effect in SDR very positively. The situation is a bit different with HDR. Here too, we managed to reduce the tendency to warm up the entire scene, so the image performed significantly better than in the factory settings. However, the same issue we mentioned earlier is still evident – the television interprets the image too much "on its own" and brightens the entire screen. The lack of local dimming only exacerbates this effect. In summary, briefly in SDR content, the W85B performs really well after calibration and is more than suitable for daily viewing. However, in HDR, even after adjustments, it remains difficult to unequivocally recommend it for serious viewing sessions.

When it comes to the function of smoothing tonal transitions in lower quality materials, the "smooth and gradient image" feature in Hisense E7NQ PRO unfortunately does not impress. At the lowest setting, the change is hard to notice at all – it is rather a cosmetic improvement. Switching to "Medium" mode yields a noticeable effect, but it is still nothing special, and in the process, the television begins to excessively interfere with other elements of the image, which can look unnatural.

Moreover, image scaling is rather average. On the test screen, where a portrait of a model and text are displayed, slight jagged edges are visible, making the overall appearance less smooth and aesthetically pleasing than one would expect in this class of device. It's simply difficult to talk about truly effective improvement in the quality of lower resolution.

With native SDR content, the Panasonic W85B performs very well – tonal transitions are smooth and natural, without artificial bands or prominent contours. However, the situation is worse when it comes to lower resolution materials. It is precisely there that the television has the most difficulty with "enhancing" the image. The lack of any option in the menu that would allow for improving gradation means that with older films or materials from YouTube, one can sometimes notice slight issues with colour blending.

Fortunately, upscaling, or raising the quality of lower resolution content, performs much better. This is definitely a strong point of this model – the image is scaled cleanly and in detail, and the television handles this better than one might expect from such an inexpensive piece of equipment. This is thanks to the HCX processor, which Panasonic has been developing for years, and it is noticeable that even in the lower series it can do a good job.

Thanks to the use of a 144 Hz panel, E7NQ PRO performs excellently with nearly every type of content. Whether we are watching fast-paced matches, dynamic games or action films – the smoothness of motion leaves a good impression. When it comes to films, the manufacturer has equipped the television with two key tools: "motion blur reduction" and "judder reduction". Each of these functions can be adjusted on a scale from 1 to 10.

At lower values, the processing is subtle, barely noticeable, and gently smooths out motion without compromising the cinematic quality of the image. The higher we move up the scale, the more the television interferes with the presented material, smoothing out motion more intensely, and consequently – minimising any judders or micro-cuts. Conversely, the highest settings can resemble the so-called "soap opera effect", which makes the image appear excessively smooth, slightly losing its filmic atmosphere. However, with such a scale, we can find a happy medium, adjusting the smoothness of motion to our own preferences.

At first glance, everything looks good – the Panasonic W85B has a 120 Hz panel and even a 144 Hz mode, so it seems that it should cope well with smooth motion. The problem arises when we look into the settings. The options for improving fluidity are supposedly present in the menu, but in practice… they don't change anything. No matter what we choose, the image looks the same. On top of that, there is a lack of BFI, or the black frame insertion mode, which on many televisions helps sharpen motion. And suddenly it turns out that despite the strong panel, the W85B offers us no real tools to adjust motion according to our needs. It’s only good when the source itself operates at a higher frequency – for example, games at 120 Hz. But when it comes to films or sports, we simply have to accept what the television shows us, because nothing more can be done about it.

If we sometimes enjoy turning on the console and immersing ourselves in the world of games for long hours, E7NQ PRO can make quite an impressive impact. Thanks to the 144 Hz refresh rate, gameplay is surprisingly smooth, and support for HDMI 2.1 and VRR ensures that the picture doesn't 'tear' even during the most dynamic actions. Additionally, there's ALLM, which automatically sets the lowest latency as soon as we switch to the console – so we don't have to fiddle with the options ourselves.

A major plus is also the ability to run games in Dolby Vision, making colours and contrast simply look better. Hisense has also added a clear 'gamebar', allowing us to constantly monitor the most important parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only thing we might regret a bit is the lack of HGIG support. While it may not be a crucial element, it could matter to some gamers aiming for the most faithful representation of the creators' vision. Nevertheless, in practice, the E7NQ PRO performs excellently and provides truly enjoyable gaming experiences.

On paper, the Panasonic W85B looks really solid. It has two full HDMI 2.1 ports, support for ALLM, variable refresh rates, Dolby Vision in games, and of course, a high refresh rate of the panel itself. Additionally, it features Panasonic's characteristic game tools bar – a "game bar" that allows you to preview key parameters and quickly change them if needed with a single click. This sounds great, but the problem arises when we turn on HDR. Here, the W85B suffers significantly, as there is practically no HGiG implementation – the television poorly manages brightness, and instead of an accurate picture, we get scenes that are too bright, sometimes even blown out. The solution? The simplest one – turn off HDR in the console settings and leave everything in SDR. And this is where it gets really interesting, as in this scenario, the W85B shows its better side. Low input lag, high fluidity thanks to 120 Hz – all of this makes gaming look phenomenal. Indeed, HDR can be forgone, but if the priority is responsiveness and smooth gameplay, the W85B offers a lot of fun.