Hisense U6NQ vs Panasonic W95B

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 television delivers consistent performance – in every tested scene, regardless of difficulty, the brightness is around 450 nits. This is a pleasant surprise, as in many models of this class, there are notable 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 expense of black levels, as mentioned in the contrast test paragraph.

The HDR effect on the U6NQ is satisfactory, offering a noticeable "burst" of light in bright moments, although it is worth noting the previously mentioned blooming, which may be visible in more challenging scenes. In terms of colours, the television also performs decently – the coverage of the DCI-P3 palette is 89%, and BT.2020 is 71%. Although these are not results that would impress more demanding users, for beginners in the world of high-quality materials, the U6NQ serves as a solid choice. Therefore, it presents an interesting proposition as an "entry-level" television for home cinema.

The Panasonic W95B is truly a bright screen, capable of achieving a peak luminance of around 1400 nits. In brighter, well-lit film scenes, this value translates to spectacular HDR effects that can make a big impression. However, knowing our test setup, you can probably see that in very demanding shots – such as the moon in the distance or the lights of a helicopter in the scene from Sicario 2 – the television does not impress. In such situations, brightness drops to around 200 nits, which makes the HDR effect much less noticeable. This happens because Panasonic prioritises maintaining deep blacks, not illuminating the background – for many users, this shouldn't be a cause for concern. However, it is important to remember that in these moments the image begins to resemble SDR content. The coverage of the colour palette also deserves praise, as it reaches about 93% of the DCI-P3 space thanks to the use of a PFS filter (also known from QLED technology). As a result, most films look very good in terms of saturation and colours, preserving the cinematic character of the image.

Hisense U6NQ in Filmmaker mode offers really decent colour reproduction, although it's worth noting 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 around 3–4 ΔE should be acceptable for the average viewer. The television performed slightly worse with colour reproduction in 4K HDR materials. The dominance of blue shades led to unnatural cool tones on the Colour Checker chart, giving the image a "store-bought" character. Combined with issues in brightness characteristics – gamma and EOTF curve caused some parts of the image to be too dark – the Filmmaker mode loses some of its credibility in this case. Although the factory settings of the tested unit deserve praise, especially in SDR, there were still minor shortcomings that would require correction to fully exploit the capabilities of the television.

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 veers towards red, which may cause a subtle warming of the image, and the gamma curve is slightly elevated, making the screen appear a bit brighter. It is good that the manufacturer included this mode – even in factory configuration, it provides a reasonably natural appearance for films. However, knowing how susceptible Panasonic televisions are to calibration, we decided to see how much the image could be improved after professional tuning.

Although the factory settings of the Filmmaker mode on the Hisense U6NQ were quite good, we decided to carry out a calibration to fully assess the capabilities of this model. Only after such an adjustment 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 most significant change came from correcting the brightness characteristics – the gamma was optimised and no longer causes excessive dimming of the image, which improves its naturalness.

For 4K HDR content, the calibration also produced positive effects. We eliminated the blue dominance issue, resulting in a more balanced and natural image. However, managing brightness in HDR materials remains a more complex matter. The EOTF curve, while having problems with dimming the image in the 10–30% brightness range in laboratory conditions, reveals other shortcomings in real scenes. The television tends to excessively brighten the smallest elements on the screen. As a result, this leads to visible 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 particular model and is often difficult to eliminate.

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

After professional calibration, the Panasonic W95B shows what it is truly capable of. Colour errors have mostly dropped below values of 2–3, making them practically invisible to the human eye. It was also possible to correct the excess red in the white balance, which has resulted in the image no longer having a slight pink tint, and details in dark areas are no longer lost due to excessive dimming in the gamma. In HDR content, the improvement is also noticeable – colour saturation is now more stable and does not shift so markedly towards blue as it did before. This is truly an excellent television for watching films and series in the highest possible quality. While we know that Mini LED screens are not always perfect for this, the W95B is a perfect example that with proper fine-tuning, an effect close to OLEDs can be achieved.

With high-quality materials, such as 4K, tonal transitions on U6NQ look really good – the colours blend nicely, and the image is coherent. Unfortunately, when we move to content in lower resolutions, the television does not offer any additional features that could improve this aspect. An example is the test with the light bulb, where it is clearly visible that the television has a problem with rendering subtle tonal transitions.

However, digital processing performs quite well. The image looks pliable, is pleasantly soft, and free from excessive banding. Moreover, thanks to the sharpness settings, it can be adjusted according to personal preferences – whether towards a softer or sharper image. Overall, although scaling lower quality materials could be better, the television handles image processing effectively.

In terms of image processing, the Panasonic W95B performs excellently. The proprietary processor responsible for digital image processing effectively upscales lower resolution content to 4K, preserving a great deal of detail and a natural appearance of contours. The final effect is impressive – the upscaling here is at a truly high level, and Full HD content can look surprisingly good. The way the television smooths tonal transitions in low-quality materials is also noteworthy. The algorithm does not operate as aggressively as in some competing models, but as a result, it does not cause a loss of detail or blur film grain.

Hisense U6NQ offers native 60 Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution, but the manufacturer has added a feature that allows the refresh rate to be increased to 120 Hz, at the cost of reducing the resolution to Full HD. This solution, which we have seen before in TCL televisions, such as the C655 or C655 PRO. This gives the user the choice – higher motion fluidity or full resolution. This is a sensible approach, especially considering that many games on next-generation consoles do not achieve full performance in 4K at 120 Hz.

As for movies, the television is equipped with a motion smoothing feature that allows you to adjust the motion characteristics to your own preferences. This allows for a more cinematic effect or increased fluidity in dynamic scenes. Overall, Hisense U6NQ offers reasonable solutions in terms of motion fluidity that should satisfy both gamers and movie enthusiasts.

The 144 Hz panel used in the Panasonic W95B offers excellent fluidity, although in practice, due to the appearance of television content or the limitations of new generation consoles, it is worth observing its performance at a refresh rate of 120 Hz. In this mode, the television performs superbly – despite being a VA panel, which is not known for the fastest pixel response times, motion blur here is minimal and difficult to detect with the naked eye.

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

Aside from the previously mentioned drawback related to the VRR mode, in which local dimming does not work, the Panasonic W95B is a true gaming monster. The television offers practically everything that gamers can expect – perhaps except for four HDMI 2.1 ports, as there are only two available. Onboard, we find an auto low latency mode (ALLM), properly implemented HDR modes for gamers, including HGiG, as well as support for Dolby Vision in games. It is all complemented by an interestingly designed Game Bar, presented in the form of circles. While it may not be the most visually attractive, it serves its purpose – allowing quick access to key game parameters and adjusting settings without entering the system menu.