Panasonic Z95A vs Hisense E7Q / E79Q

Panasonic Z95A showcases class when it comes to HDR performance. In luminance tests, it achieves a level of 1800 nits, which has a real impact on movie watching. Scenes from Life of Pi or Gemini Man look fantastic – the television effortlessly renders details and intensity of bright spots, impressing with its power. In more demanding moments, like the final scene from The Meg, one can see how bright light floods the screen. In such moments, brightness drops, which is typical for organic matrices. Nevertheless, a result around 1000 nits can still be considered excellent, still providing very good image quality. Additionally, the television offers excellent coverage of wide colour palettes – as much as 98.6% for DCI-P3 and 74.5% for BT.2020. Thanks to this, colours are not only vivid but also deeply saturated, allowing for a full appreciation of the richness of details, especially in HDR scenes. Such coverage makes the hues look more realistic, and the HDR effect gains in intensity and accuracy. All this impressive HDR effect is thanks to MLA technology, which enables achieving such high luminance and excellent image detail. Because of this, the Panasonic Z95A offers HDR at a level that truly makes a difference.

The Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a television with average brightness, with a peak luminance level of around 350-380 nits. This is an absolute minimum that allows for HDR content to be viewed in a way that is close to the creators' intentions, although without a distinct "wow" effect. Synthetic test results on white screens have been confirmed in practice – in film scenes, the bright parts of the image are stable and quite uniform, but it's hard to speak of a true "light punch." In everyday use, for example, when watching Netflix or YouTube, the HDR effect is acceptable and is perfectly sufficient for most users. However, it must be stated clearly – this is not the level of top-end screens, and one should not expect that in this price range. Fortunately, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q has an advantage that allows it to gain quite a few points: it features a PFS LED QLED panel, utilising an additional phosphor layer that improves colour reproduction. The measured range of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is about 92%, which means that colours in most scenes are vibrant, well-saturated, and pleasant to the eye, particularly for this price bracket.

The best picture mode on the Panasonic Z95A is undoubtedly the Filmmaker mode. It offers quite a good image reproduction, but it is not free from certain issues that require improvement. Firstly, the white balance, for both 4K and HD content, tends to have a dominance of red and blue hues. This causes a slight pinkish tint to the image, particularly noticeable in bright, white scenes. Such deviations can be seen in the comparative photo below, which illustrates this issue well. The Colour Checker test also confirms these discrepancies, showing slight shifts in the dots towards the mentioned shades.

In terms of gamma brightness characteristics, it performs very well, with only minor problems when brightening small details. A greater challenge is posed by the EOTF curve, which is responsible for controlling brightness in 4K HDR content. Here, there is a slight boost in brightness above the reference value, which sometimes makes the image too bright, especially in more demanding scenes. Although the Filmmaker mode is definitely the best choice on the Z95A, these aspects require refinement to fully utilise the television's potential.

In Filmmaker mode, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q television was truly impressive. After the first measurements, it became clear that the white balance was quite well tuned, with the only minor deviation being a slight tendency towards a purple tone, which we mentioned earlier. However, this did not significantly impact the overall character of the image – it remained coherent and pleasant to view. A much larger issue turned out to be the brightness characteristics (gamma) in SDR content and the EOTF curve in HDR films. The television noticeably brightened the image, flattening the contrast and diminishing its depth. Gamma values could drop from the reference 2.4 to around 1.9, making the image look as if it were covered with a thin, milky layer. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be relatively easily corrected through calibration.

After calibration, Panasonic Z95A shows its full potential, offering an almost perfect picture. The television provides immense adjustment capabilities, which we have fully utilised. The white balance after calibration is positively perfect, and errors in SDR content at the level of 0.5 place it in an absolutely reference standard. The same is true for 4K HDR content – the screen tint has been completely eliminated, and the white balance is now exemplary.

The colour palette and Colour Checker test confirm the excellence of the calibration. Errors below 2 are a result that will satisfy both professional calibrators and enthusiasts of cinematic picture quality. Significant changes have also occurred in the brightness characteristic – the EOTF curve has been flattened, eliminating previous issues with excessive brightness. And a small gamma error has been reduced.

Before calibration, the picture was decent, but now it's an entirely different league. It's a real feast for the eyes, the quality of which is hard to compare to anything else. Panasonic Z95A, after fine-tuning the settings, becomes a true master of colour reproduction.

The biggest beneficiary of calibration in the case of the Hisense E7Q / E79Q was undoubtedly the SDR mode. It managed to achieve an almost perfect image – most errors in the Color Checker test dropped below a value of 3, and often even 2, which is an outstanding result for this class of equipment. The greatest improvement came from equalising the brightness characteristic (gamma), which meant the image no longer appeared washed out and regained its natural depth. In HDR content, it was also possible to improve colours and eliminate the purple tint mentioned earlier, but errors in the Color Checker measurements were still noticeable. This is due to the fact that – as is often the case with Hisense televisions – the screen manipulates brightness quite heavily, overemphasising some colours. This was also indicated by the EOTF curve, which was slightly above the reference values, suggesting these minor issues with excessive brightness. Despite this drawback and the design limitations that emerge with HDR content, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q gained quite a lot after calibration. In everyday use, the television presents a consistent, natural, and pleasant image, and the difference compared to the factory settings is enormous.

In the case of lower quality materials, the function "Gradation Smoothing" is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. The best results are achieved with an intermediate setting – although they are not spectacular, the function works correctly and does not introduce unwanted effects into the image. It can be rated as average, but sufficient to improve the quality of tonal transitions.

As for digital processing, or upscaling, the image looks surprisingly good. It is vivid and pleasant to the eye, which makes lower quality content, such as standard television or YouTube, look quite decent. However, minor issues can be noted, such as "jagged" edges, for example, branches in the background. Nevertheless, this does not significantly affect the overall viewing experience, and the television handles these materials in an acceptable manner.

In the case of the Hisense E7Q / E79Q, upscaling and digital image processing are not the strongest aspects of this television. It is evident that the manufacturer has opted more for simplicity rather than advanced image processing algorithms. The television does not offer any features to smooth tonal transitions or systems to improve image clarity, resulting in lower resolution materials looking simply very raw. On the screen, you can notice subtle compression edges that better processors in other models can effectively hide.

During the HD material tests, we noticed that the E7Q tries to artificially enhance detail, which sometimes works, and at other times has the opposite effect – the image becomes soft, slightly blurred, at times even “watery.” There is no aggressive sharpening that ruins naturalness, but there is also no finesse in the detail integration that better image converters offer.

Panasonic Z95A, thanks to its 144 Hz panel, offers excellent image fluidity. For films, there is an "Intelligent Frame Creation" feature that enhances fluidity and reduces motion blur. The user has two sliders at their disposal: "Motion Blur Reduction" – responsible for clearer and sharper details in rapidly moving scenes. "Film Smoothness" – adds fluidity by creating additional frames between the originals, making motion appear smoother and more natural with a "soap opera" effect.

Thanks to this, viewers can adjust the settings to their own preferences. Films and less dynamic material look smooth and natural, which should satisfy most users.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a television with a 60 Hz screen, so fans of 4K sports may feel a slight disappointment – we simply won’t see such smooth images here as in more expensive models with higher refresh rates. Fortunately, the situation is much better for films. Cinematic materials recorded at 24 frames per second can be displayed here using a motion smoothing feature, allowing the user to tailor the picture to their own preferences – either more cinematic with visible frames or smoother, in a theatrical style.

Panasonic Z95A this year shows that the manufacturer has made a huge leap forward in terms of support for gamers. The television offers virtually everything one could expect from a device in this bracket. Support for ALLM (automatic low latency mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate) ensures smoothness and eliminates tearing in dynamic games. The 144 Hz panel allows for incredible fluidity, and additional support for resolutions other than 4K provides greater flexibility, which is a significant advantage for gamers using various configurations.

A unique and quite specific feature is the "Game Bar." Its ball-shaped interface stands out from the competition and allows for quick adjustments of key settings such as VRR, brightness level, or picture mode, without having to interrupt gameplay.

However, in this class of device, there is a minor disappointment – the Panasonic Z95A offers only two HDMI 2.1 ports, instead of four. This is definitely too few for a premium television, especially at a time when many people own more than one device requiring full HDMI 2.1 support, such as a next-gen console or an advanced computer. In this category, it's hard to accept this limitation, especially given the high aspirations of this model. Nevertheless, the television is an excellent choice for gamers, offering versatility and functionality at the highest level.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is truly a successful television for gamers, even though it does not support 4K signal at 120 Hz. The manufacturer, however, has ensured a set of features that until recently could only be found in more expensive models. There is ALLM, meaning automatic switching to low latency mode, allowing the television to activate game mode with very low input lag by itself. We also have VRR, functioning up to 60 Hz – while this may not look impressive on paper, in practice it is fully sufficient, as most games on consoles do not exceed this limit. All these settings can be quickly found in the Game Bar panel, a convenient menu created specifically for gamers. From this interface, one can change picture modes, enable a frame counter, or even... an on-screen reticle – humorously named "target point" in the Vidaa system, which is a result of awkward translation from the Chinese manufacturer.

Special praise should be given to the ability to play in 1080p at 120 Hz, which significantly improves the fluidity and responsiveness of the image. Therefore, if someone wants to play a few titles at a higher refresh rate, they can simply lower the resolution and enjoy much smoother motion. Despite the lack of 4K@120Hz, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q performs really well as a gaming television – especially for those who are not looking for perfection but rather a solid and fast screen for everyday gaming.