Panasonic W70A vs Haier K85F

HDR on the Panasonic W70A unfortunately does not impress. A brightness level of 250–300 nits is simply too low to feel the true magic of cinematic effects in dynamic, bright scenes. Images that should “burst” with light look rather flat, and fine details in bright areas often get lost in the average luminance of the panel. On the positive side, the HDR effect is at least stable. The television does not fall into excessive brightness or lose details during rapid scene changes. Everything is predictable and calm, although unfortunately rather unimpressive. Another issue is the colour gamut coverage. The W70A has not been equipped with an additional layer of quantum dots (often known as QLED), which means the colours appear rather mediocre. There is a lack of depth in reds, saturation in greens, and precision in reproducing subtle shades.

Let’s now turn to one of the hottest topics in the world of televisions, namely the quality of HDR effect. In the case of the Haier K85F model, we must unfortunately make it clear: if you are looking for equipment to watch content in a wide dynamic range, you should avoid this model at all costs. The main problem is its very low peak brightness, which during our tests barely reached 250 nits. To give you a better idea of what that means – such a value is fine for watching standard SDR content, but it is absolutely insufficient to showcase any real benefits of HDR. The image simply lacks the "power" to generate bright, striking highlights. All our measurements and tests on specialist patterns only confirmed this. As if that weren't enough, the television also struggles with colour reproduction. In this budget build, we won't find any technologies to expand the colour palette, such as quantum dot layers (marketed as "QLED"). As a result, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, which is crucial for HDR materials, is only around 80%. In practice, this means that the image will not only be dark but also devoid of the vibrant, saturated colours that the director wanted to show us.

The Panasonic W70A was tested by us in movie mode, which theoretically should guarantee the most natural image reproduction. Unfortunately, as is often the case with budget TVs, the reality proved far from ideal.

In HD (SDR) content, the white balance was severely disrupted by an excess of red and a noticeable drop in blue tones. The effect? The image had a distinctly warm, almost yellowish glow, which is clearly visible in the comparison photo. In the case of 4K HDR material, the situation reversed. Here, the image became excessively cold and bluish, causing scenes to lose their naturalness and depth. The differences are visible even to the naked eye, especially in the bright areas of the image. The Colour Checker palette test confirmed our observations. Most colour samples did not hit their intended points, "drifting" towards warmer shades in SDR and cooler ones in HDR. As for brightness characteristics, both gamma and the EOTF curve showed significant issues. The image tended to excessively brighten certain areas, disrupting balance and leading to a loss of detail in darker and lighter regions.

In summary – the factory colour reproduction settings in the Panasonic W70A leave much to be desired. The image is far from neutral, and errors in white balance and gamma mean that a solid calibration is needed to extract the TV's full potential.

Well, how does the television perform with colours straight out of the box, without any interference from our side? The Haier K85F offers a full range of picture modes, such as Dynamic and Eco, but for anyone who wants to watch films according to the creators' intentions, only one really matters: Film mode. That is where we focused our tests, and unfortunately, its name has little to do with reality. The picture in the factory settings is very far from what we could call cinematic fidelity and requires numerous adjustments. Let's start with the white balance, which has a noticeable deficiency of red. In practice, this means that the entire image has a cool, bluish tint. The situation is even worse regarding brightness management, namely the gamma curve (for SDR) and EOTF (for HDR). Their graph resembles a real rollercoaster, which has a disastrous impact on the viewing experience. This results in unnatural dimming of SDR content, causing details in shadows to be lost, and in the case of HDR – excessive brightness, which further exacerbates the issue of clipping. Such a combination, namely too cool white combined with chaotic brightness and excessive blue saturation, results in significant errors in colour reproduction. Our measurements on the specialist ColorChecker chart revealed errors (Delta E) regularly reaching and exceeding values of 8-9. Put simply, errors above the threshold of 3 are already easily noticeable to the naked eye, so such a result means that the colours on the screen are simply heavily distorted.

Panasonic W70A, despite its limitations, provided us with considerable scope during calibration. Thanks to well-developed tools, we managed to achieve a significantly better white balance in both HD (SDR) and 4K HDR content. The issues with excess red in SDR and overly cool images in HDR have disappeared. The gamma brightness characteristic has also improved, maintaining stability and preventing excessive brightening or loss of detail in darker areas.

So where is the problem? Unfortunately, there are barriers that even professional calibration cannot overcome. Poor coverage of a wide color gamut means that the television cannot fully reproduce colours in HDR material. There is a lack of saturation, and subtle colour transitions still appear somewhat "flattened." Another limitation is brightness management, which results from the applied IPS panel. In the comparative image with the actress's face in colourful clothing, it is clearly visible how some shades are noticeably muted, and colours lose their depth and vibrancy.

Calibration has extracted from the W70A as much as possible. The image is now significantly more natural, and the errors in the factory settings have been effectively corrected. Unfortunately, hardware limitations in the form of poor colour gamut coverage and an average panel mean that even after calibration, we are unable to achieve spectacular effects, especially in HDR content.

Well, is there anything that can be done about this picture? Can professional calibration save the situation? The answer is both yes and no. It must be clearly stated that there are certain limitations we cannot overcome. The constraints of the design itself, meaning simply a poor panel and its narrow colour coverage, make it impossible to expect a reasonable HDR effect – we won't mislead you on that. The biggest beneficiary of our adjustments is undoubtedly the SDR mode, and it is indeed for watching such content, after calibration, that this television starts to make sense. We managed to somewhat tame the white balance. Although the television only offers basic 2-point adjustment (rather than precise 20-point), so it's not perfect, we successfully eliminated that unpleasant, cold "chill" in the picture. Above all, however, we noted a significant improvement in brightness management. The gamma curve, which previously resembled a rollercoaster, looks like an almost perfectly straight line after calibration. This is a sign that the television can finally display images without artificially dimming or brightening them. The conclusion is simple: even with such a cheap television, professional adjustment of the settings can achieve a lot and extract the maximum potential from it.

We checked how the Panasonic W70A performs when improving content of lower quality than 4K, and it must be said that in this regard, the television does quite respectably. The "Zeroing Counter" function is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. The optimal setting turned out to be the Average option, which effectively smooths out issues with colour gradation while not ruining the film grain. This is the setting we recommend for most users, as it provides a balance between enhancing the smoothness of transitions and maintaining the naturalness of the image.

When it comes to image scaling, the Panasonic W70A performed really well. The test panel with a model was positively received – the details on her clothing were well reproduced, and the contours of her face retained clarity. In the background, we noticed slight "jaggies" on thin branches, but these are details that only a very keen eye would catch. However, it is worth noting a certain drawback of this model – the television tends to overscan, or slightly cropping the edges of the image. This is not a very intense phenomenon and will be practically unnoticeable for most users, but if we care about a perfect fit of the frame, it is worth keeping this in mind.

Let's move on to digital processing and image scaling, specifically how the Haier K85F handles lower resolution signals, such as those from standard television. Right from the start, we encounter an extremely annoying and completely incomprehensible issue – overscan that is enabled by default. This means that the television artificially enlarges the image, cropping its edges, and this happens on every source, even 1080p. To see the full frame, you have to dig through the screen settings each time and manually switch the format to "expand to 16:9". It's a detail, but it's devilishly frustrating. The very act of scaling content to 4K resolution can be summed up in one word: acceptable. And that's about it. The image processor does not strip details from the picture, nor does it generate jagged edges or other artifacts. It simply does its job, without any fireworks. It's alright, but nothing more. However, the biggest and most noticeable shortcoming in the digital processing section is the absence of a smooth tonal transition feature. This is an algorithm that could significantly reduce the annoying banding effect we mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not provide such a solution, condemning us to watch the imperfections of the panel and low-quality materials in full view.

The Panasonic W70A is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, which immediately suggests that the television is best suited for watching films, series, or everyday TV content. In more dynamic scenes, such as sports broadcasts or games, the limitations of the panel become more noticeable. However, it is worth noting the presence of a motion smoother called "Effect", which offers three degrees of adjustment - low, medium, and high.

Each of the settings allows you to adjust the smoothness of motion to your own preferences, minimising motion blur and improving clarity in dynamic shots. In practice, the Medium setting seems to be the most versatile – it offers better fluidity without excessive "soap opera effect", which can look artificial in feature films. The High setting may work well for sports broadcasts, but in films, it can disrupt the natural character of motion.

The matrix in the K85F model operates at a native refresh rate of 60 Hz, which right from the start sets certain expectations regarding image fluidity. However, we must admit that we were very positively surprised when we found two separate sliders for motion control in the settings menu: one labelled as "Motion Blur Reduction" and the other "De-Judder". Such generosity in this price segment is an absolute rarity, as typically manufacturers offer at most one shared option. Unfortunately, our enthusiasm waned as quickly as it appeared. It soon became clear why Haier was so "generous" – the slider responsible for motion blur reduction is simply a dummy. Its adjustment brings absolutely no visible effect on the screen, so only one of the two options works.

The Panasonic W70A is a television that is more suited to occasional gamers than to avid players. The 60 Hz panel does not allow for the full potential of next-generation consoles to be realised, especially in dynamic titles. The lack of HDMI 2.1 somewhat limits its capabilities, but fortunately, it features functions such as ALLM, which automatically switches to game mode, and VRR, which helps minimise screen tearing. It is worth noting the support for Dolby Vision in games and HGiG, which makes HDR more predictable and looks solid. It is just a shame that there is no Game Bar. This feature has become standard in many televisions and provides quick access to the most important settings for gamers. The W70A performs adequately for gaming, but it has its limitations. It will work well for calmer titles, but more demanding gamers may feel a lack of fulfilment.

Let's move on to features for gamers, although we must emphasise at the outset that this is more of a proposal for the "casual" ones. The manufacturer boasts in the specifications about the presence of HDMI 2.1 ports, which looks impressive on paper, but in reality, it is largely a marketing ploy. What good is a modern port if the heart of the television is a panel with a refresh rate of 60 Hz? It physically cannot display a signal at 120 frames per second, even at lower resolutions, which deprives the HDMI 2.1 port of its most significant advantage. It's a shame. (That’s why we mark it as HDMI 2.0 in our tests). Another curious peculiarity is the television's reaction to attempts to calibrate HDR from the console level. Changes to brightness settings cause very unnatural image behaviour, which might suggest an incorrect implementation of the HGiG standard. To be honest, however, one shouldn't worry too much about this, because as we've mentioned numerous times, we simply do not recommend using any HDR content on this screen. However, to avoid being too negative, the Haier K85F also has two significant and unexpected advantages. The first is the presence of ALLM, or Auto Low Latency Mode, which switches the television to low latency mode as soon as it detects a connected console. The second, even bigger surprise, is support for VRR, or Variable Refresh Rate. While it works within a very modest range of 48-60 Hz, its mere presence is commendable. As a result, the image in games can experience less "tearing," which significantly improves the gaming experience.