Panasonic W70A vs Philips OLED910

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.

The OLED910 is simply an absurdly bright television for an OLED. All thanks to the new panel from LG Display, the Tandem RGB OLED, which Philips has dubbed its "META OLED." It is this panel that allows for over 2000 nits of brightness in films, which not long ago was completely unattainable in OLEDs. The television also deserves high praise for how it handles full-screen scenes drenched in bright light. Generally, in OLEDs, brightness drops significantly during such scenes, but here it remains at an excellent level – around 1400 nits. These are almost reference values, and combined with the excellent colour reproduction at 99% DCI P3 and 82% BT.2020, it gives us an HDR effect that can confidently be called one of the best in the world.

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.

Unfortunately, when it comes to colour reproduction straight out of the box, the Filmmaker mode on the OLED910 performs really poorly. The television overemphasises the blue colour, and at times it looks almost like a shop display mode. This gives the impression that the manufacturer hasn’t quite tuned the device properly. The effect is that the colours look unnatural, and the whole thing resembles a somewhat exaggerated display from a market exhibition. HDR content is presented much better, where, apart from a slight loss of detail in the blacks, there’s not much to complain about. The problem is that in everyday viewing, it’s the SDR materials that matter the most – and on the OLED910, they simply look poor and fall well short of what we would expect from a television of this class.

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.

Fortunately, it quickly turned out that it was not the panel causing the problems, but rather the way Philips factory-calibrated the OLED910. After calibration, the television displayed its full potential, and only then could we see what the new panels produced by LG Display were truly capable of. We primarily adjusted the white balance and brightness characteristics, successfully taming the excessive blue and giving the image a natural appearance. The final effect can be described as excellent. Errors on the Color Checker palette rarely exceeded a value of 3, which in practice means an image close to perfection and colours presented in accordance with the creators' intent. In SDR content, the effect was outstanding, and in HDR, the improvement was even more noticeable – gradients became cleaner, and colours fuller and more accurate. After calibration, the OLED910 transformed from a disappointing television into equipment that can confidently be referred to as a reference in terms of colour quality.

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.

The previously visible colour banding can largely be mitigated thanks to a feature called "distortion reduction." Like in the OLED820, it is best set to a medium level, as it then produces fairly decent results – smoothing out unwanted tonal transitions while not taking away too much detail from the image. Although at times the effect may be slightly too aggressive, this function can be considered useful for everyday viewing.

As for image scaling, the OLED910 performs really well. The test material featuring a model had a soft look characteristic of Philips – at times almost too soft – but this can be easily corrected with the sharpness slider, allowing you to adjust the image to your own preferences. It's also worth noting that the television has no issues with overscan, which still occurs in some competitor models. It's a small detail, but it's pleasing because it means that all content, even the oldest, is displayed as it should be.

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.

OLED910 is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It’s a bit of a shame that Philips didn’t opt for 165 Hz, as we know that the panel used is capable of that. On the other hand, such a bonus would mainly benefit PC gamers, as in everyday use, the most important refresh rate is 120 Hz, which is fully sufficient. Combined with the advantages of the OLED panel – lightning-fast pixel response time and the absence of motion blur, the image is impeccably sharp and quick, even in dynamic action scenes. The traditional motion smoother from Philips, called “Motion Style,” also deserves praise. We can easily adjust it to our preferences: the “Fluidity” slider is responsible for films and allows you to choose between a more “filmy,” cinematic character and a smooth, theatrical image. Meanwhile, the “Motion Blur Reduction” slider is intended for sports, where it’s worth setting it to the maximum value to ensure that the image is clear and distinct during very fast shots.

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.

The OLED910 is fantastic for gaming. It supports 144 Hz, so if someone has a powerful PC, they can comfortably utilise that potential. On consoles, the most important thing is still 120 Hz, and everything works perfectly here. There's VRR, an automatic gaming mode, and even Dolby Vision in games and HGiG mode, so we really get a full package of gaming features. Philips has also added a Game Bar, which is a quick menu that displays basic information and allows you to enable a few useful things. It may not look as modern as the competition, but it works and fulfils its purpose. The only downside is the number of HDMI 2.1 ports. There are only two, which can be quite disappointing for a TV in this class. If someone connects two consoles and something additional through eARC - like a soundbar (which doesn't make much sense in this model but I'll discuss that in the paragraph about sound) - they'll have to do some adjustments. Other than that, the OLED910 has everything we expect from a gaming television.