Hisense E7NQ PRO vs Panasonic Z85A

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.

The Panasonic Z85A is an OLED television, so one can immediately expect great effects in films. And indeed – our tests have shown that the WOLED panel can achieve around 800 nits of peak brightness in optimal conditions. This is a solid result that performs well in most demanding HDR scenes, allowing viewers to enjoy a dynamic and detail-rich image. However, like any OLED, the Z85A has its limits. In very bright scenes covering the entire screen – such as the final sequence from the film 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 brightly sunlit living room, it is worth keeping this in mind. The coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 98% also deserves high praise. Thanks to this, the television reproduces a wide range of colours that stand out with vibrancy and depth, and details in HDR scenes are sharp and precise. In short – the Panasonic Z85A delivers a solid HDR effect that will satisfy any film enthusiast.

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.

The Panasonic Z85A offers many picture modes, but the Filmmaker mode definitely stands out from the rest. It is rare for a television to be so well tuned straight out of the box, and the unit we had the opportunity to test really surprised us positively.

However, there were a few minor shortcomings. In the SDR signal, we noticed a slight deficit of red and blue, which resulted in the image having a cooler hue than it should have. This is especially noticeable in the comparative photo. Conversely, in 4K HDR content, the situation was the opposite – an excess of red made the image appear warmer than the creators intended. In terms of brightness characteristics (gamma) and the maintenance of the appropriate EOTF curve, it's hard to find fault. There are slight deviations, but they are so minimal that the average viewer is unlikely to notice them.

It is also worth emphasising that our observations pertain to a specific unit of the television. Two identical models may differ from each other due to natural production variances. Nevertheless, the unit we had in our hands looks really solid and deserves praise. Now it's time for our calibration – we'll see if we can extract even more from this screen!

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.

The Panasonic Z85A offers truly wide possibilities when it comes to image settings, so we enthusiastically set about calibration. Although we mainly focused on correcting the white balance, the final result exceeded our expectations. Both HD and 4K HDR content now display nearly perfect colour reproduction, with minimal errors that are hard to catch with the naked eye. Well-calibrated televisions are a rarity, and we must admit – it is truly gratifying. Although the gamma and EOTF curve did not require drastic adjustments, it was possible to further stabilise their characteristics across the entire brightness range. After calibration, the Panasonic Z85A is a true gem for home cinema enthusiasts. The image is precise, the colours are natural, and every scene looks exactly as the director intended.

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.

Now that we know how the Panasonic Z85A performs with tonal transitions in 4K content, it’s time to take a look at its "Gradation Smoothing" feature. It works, but unfortunately not entirely effectively. Regardless of the chosen value – whether it’s low, medium, or high – we were unable to achieve perfectly smooth tonal transitions in our test sequence. We recommend setting this feature to an intermediate level. Although it may slightly blur fine details, at least the issue of film grain loss does not occur, which for many viewers can be crucial when watching classic productions.

As for image scaling, the television performs quite well. It’s noticeable that the image is slightly sharpened, and slim lines may at times appear a bit jagged. However, this is standard in most TVs, and fortunately, it can be adjusted using the sharpness slider. This gives us complete control – we can achieve a more plastic, blurred image or a clearer one, although it may be more “harsh” and artificially sharp. It all depends on user preference and the type of content we are watching. Overall, the scaling is at a solid level and should satisfy most users who are using lower resolution materials.

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.

The Panasonic Z85A features a 120 Hz panel, which will certainly please both gamers and sports fans. Admittedly, it is not 144 Hz like some gaming TVs, but in practice, the difference is really hard to notice. In games, the image is stable and clear, and during fast action, there is no sign of any blurring. The same applies to sports – a fast-running footballer or a dynamic car manoeuvre looks smooth and natural. The TV also has the “Intelligent Frame Creation” function, which is a motion smoother. There are two sliders here – one is for reducing blur, and the other is for motion smoothness. With these, you can adjust the image to your own preferences – whether it be more of a cinematic effect with gentle transitions between frames, or a maximally smooth image ideal for watching sports.

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.

Panasonic is mainly associated with home cinema televisions, but the Z85A demonstrates that it can also step into the gaming world with a really strong impact. This hardware can easily be called a gaming beast – it has everything needed for comfortable gameplay.

Although there are 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 key features are supported: ALLM automatically switches the television to game mode, VRR ensures smooth images without stuttering or tearing, and with correctly 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 clear, circular menu. It may not look as impressive as the competition's, but it is intuitive and contains all the important settings we would like to have at hand during gameplay.

In summary – the Panasonic Z85A is equipment that truly surprises with its gaming capabilities. It is a television on which both console gamers and PC players will feel at home. It is smooth, dynamic, and simply good.