Panasonic W95B vs Samsung S90H (WOLED)

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.

Samsung S90H in the WOLED variant is still an exceptionally bright TV for its price bracket, although compared with the QD-OLED version it is slightly dimmer. The difference is not as significant as in last year’s F series, where the gap could reach as much as 500 nits. Here the parameters of both panels are very similar, and differences in peak brightness are only in the order of 100–150 nits. In small-area measurements the S90H on the WOLED panel easily reaches levels close to 1500 nits. Such a reserve of power allows HDR dynamics to be reproduced phenomenally; all highlights, light reflections and explosions have the necessary punch, exactly as the creators intended in the editing studio. As with most OLED displays, when a very bright scene fills the whole screen protection systems activate and brightness naturally falls to around 700 nits. It is worth emphasising that this is still an excellent result on the market. Often noticeably better than many Mini LED screens in the same segment.

Colour gamut coverage

The biggest difference between the two S90H variants lies in colour reproduction and saturation. This results directly from the different construction of the WOLED panel, which uses an additional white subpixel. As a consequence, colours at very high brightness do not reach the same intense saturation, and the volume of the wide gamut is somewhat more limited than in QD-OLED. That does not change the fact that in everyday use these differences will be hard for most viewers to spot. The DCI-P3 space we measured reaches nearly 99% on the WOLED panel, which means that in the vast majority of real film scenes both variants will present an almost identical picture. The true distance only reveals itself in rarer, exceptionally demanding productions that use the ultra-wide BT.2020 gamut. Due to the specifics of the WOLED panel’s construction, coverage of that standard is about 15% lower compared with the S90HAT with a QD-OLED panel, so the brightest, heavily lit colours in HDR may appear slightly less vivid.

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.

In Filmmaker mode, which we strongly recommend switching on straight out of the box, the S90H offers very good factory colour tuning. Colours are natural and faithful to the creators' intent, without the irritating oversaturation found in more aggressive presets. However, as is often the case without full calibration, no two units are identical. In our test the white balance was slightly lacking in blue, causing the image to lean a little towards warmer, yellowish tones. This was most noticeable in bright scenes, such as the snowy sequences from Star Wars. Additionally, the gamma curve was slightly low at 2.2, which produced a minor lift in shadow detail. In HDR mode the tuning was somewhat better, showing only a slight undersaturation in the red region.

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.

After a full calibration it’s fair to say the S90H in WOLED guise looks almost perfect. In SDR mode colour inaccuracies drop to ultra-low levels and Delta E values very rarely exceed 2. That’s a phenomenal result, so if you care about perfectly faithful colour reproduction it’s definitely worth considering calibration. The calibrated HDR mode also performs very well, with the white balance stabilised and earlier deviations eliminated. After professional fine-tuning it’s really hard to find anything to criticise, because the TV delivers an image with almost reference-level naturalness and three-dimensionality. The slightly lower score in this category compared with the QD-OLED variant is solely due to the aforementioned limitation in saturation in extremely bright scenes; the tuning options and colour fidelity themselves are at the highest level.

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.

In terms of posterisation reduction itself, Samsung has kept the solutions known from last year’s models. The dedicated gradient-smoothing function performs quite well and can effectively mask unwanted tonal banding, which is useful on a WOLED panel that is slightly more prone to banding. However, you should be aware of its aggressive behaviour. This mechanism, alongside the artefacts themselves, can clean up fine film grain and gently soften detail. Ultimately it is a matter of compromise, but if you want an absolutely faithful reproduction, it is safer to leave this option off.

Similarly, in the area of scaling it is difficult to call this a breakthrough. The S90H uses the same NQ4 Gen3 processor as its predecessor, so the upscaling quality was almost identical. The chip sharpens lower-resolution material very well, extracting a satisfying level of detail. Samsung still has not dealt with the longstanding overscan issue, though. With some older recordings or archive footage the edges of the image can be slightly cropped. It’s a minor flaw, but it’s a pity the manufacturer still hasn’t eliminated it.

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.

In terms of motion handling, the S90H is simply excellent. This year's panel offers a boosted refresh rate of up to 165 Hz, though in practice the benefit will mainly be for gamers connecting a high-end PC. For films, series or sports broadcasts such a high refresh rate makes no difference and the picture looks exactly the same as at the standard 120 Hz. Regardless of the source, however, the OLED panel's lightning-fast response time does its job, so motion is clean and the ghosting or smearing familiar from LCD screens simply does not occur here.

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.

Players should feel at home with the S90H, because Samsung has left few reasons to complain in that respect. The TV has four HDMI 2.1 ports, each of which supports VRR, ALLM and high refresh rates. There’s also the Game Bar, a handy menu that lets you quickly check key parameters and change settings without leaving the game. Importantly, Samsung has also improved HGiG mode. In last year’s models it could cause problems when used with a console, but on the S90H it now works as it should. What really stands out against the competition is the Game Motion Plus feature. It’s a special motion smoothing mode for games that works best with titles running at 30 or 60 fps. Motion becomes noticeably smoother, while latency remains at a reasonable level. In our measurements it was under 50 ms, so gaming is still comfortable. That’s important, because on many TVs enabling a similar smoothing feature causes such a large increase in input lag that controls become noticeably sluggish. Samsung has managed to find a good compromise here. There’s still no Dolby Vision Gaming, but in practice Game Motion Plus may prove to be a much more useful feature.