Panasonic Z95B vs Philips PQS9011 / PQS9001 (The One 2026)

The quality of HDR on the Panasonic Z95B is among the absolute best. Thanks to the latest generation panel, referred to by the manufacturer as Primary RGB Tandem OLED, the television can achieve over 2000 nits of brightness in cinematic scenes. The effect is impressive and can amaze with the intensity of the light, providing a sense of connection with the screen that goes beyond previous experiences. Similar feelings accompanied us only during tests of the LG G5, Samsung S95F, or Philips OLED910. Of course, there are moments when the device's algorithms decide to limit luminance – this especially concerns full-screen bright sequences, such as the closing credits in the film The Meg. Even then, the Z95B maintains a level of around 1500 nits, which is still an incredibly impressive result. One can thus say that HDR in this model has reached masterful form. A significant step forward is also evident in colour reproduction. The new tandem OLED panel does not yet match the best QD-OLED screens in terms of full gamut coverage, but the gap between these solutions has significantly decreased. When watching films, the differences are subtle enough that under normal conditions they are hard to notice, and the colours remain vivid and saturated.

Philips PQS9000 is a moderately bright TV. In our HDR scenes it reached roughly 450 to just over 500 nits. That's enough to notice a difference compared with SDR. Reflections of the sun, lamps or flares have a bit more sparkle than on basic TVs, whose brightness often tops out around 300 nits. However, it is not a level at which bright elements make a particularly strong impression. The biggest limitation remains contrast. Without local dimming, when the TV brightens a bright object it also raises the black level around it. There is therefore no clear separation of strong highlights from a dark background, and it is that contrast that can show what HDR can do. The PQS9000 offers more than the cheapest models, but despite decent brightness the effect remains fairly basic.

Colours

Philips deserves praise for the colours. Although the manufacturer calls this model QLED, in reality a PFS phosphor is used here instead of quantum dots. That choice does not prevent the TV from achieving good results. On both test patterns and in measurements of film scenes we recorded about 94% coverage of DCI-P3 and 75% of BT.2020. For this class of TV that is really good. In practice this means that the vast majority of colours used in HDR films and series will have appropriate saturation. Vibrant green or intense red are not much of an issue and add appeal to the picture. Limitations are easier to notice in some games and in rarer content that use the most saturated shades of the wide BT.2020 gamut. In such situations, displays with wider colour coverage, such as SQD or RGB LED, can show more. In its price bracket, however, the PQS9000 has nothing to be ashamed of.

The factory colour reproduction of the Filmmaker mode, my dear friends, is truly remarkable in the case of the Panasonic Z95B. I'm referring to our test sample, but the result was so good that it’s hard to believe. The only detail one might nitpick about is a slight lack of blue in the white balance, but apart from that, the television straight out of the box presented an image unlike anything we have ever seen in factory mode. Tests of the colour palette, Color Checker – everything indicated values below Delta 2. That’s a much lower result than the threshold of human eye perception, which means, quite simply, that the viewer has no chance of noticing any serious deviations. It looks as though Panasonic has actually calibrated this model at the factory stage. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that we received an exceptionally well-set sample, but the result is still impressive. We are very strict when it comes to evaluating factory calibration, and here our jaws simply dropped.

Unfortunately, the factory picture settings for Film mode on the PQS9000 need refinement. In SDR the most noticeable problem is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes whites, greys and skin tones too warm, sometimes even slightly pinkish. On top of that the gamma runs below the reference across most of the range. The TV therefore brightens midtones and highlights, making the overall image look flatter than it should.

In HDR the white balance itself is much better. Apart from minor deviations the RGB components track closely, so there is no pronounced colour cast as in SDR. However, the EOTF curve shows a slight brightening of parts of the image, and the biggest issue appears in measurements of the wide colour gamut. Many hues deviate significantly from the target, with errors reaching levels of 8–9. The good gamut coverage we praised earlier therefore does not mean the TV hits specific colours equally well. It can display a wide colour range, but out of the box it does not use it very precisely.

The colour representation after calibration in the Z95B is a topic that is difficult to elaborate on, as there was simply not much to be done here. A slight adjustment of the white balance was sufficient to eliminate the lack of blue, and at this point, the picture reached an almost reference level. It must be admitted that we haven't had such a small range of work in a while. If any of you are particularly observant, you may notice minimal deviations in the EOTF curve, but this is rather related to the operation of the dynamic tone mapping function we mentioned earlier. In fact, it is not a flaw, but a characteristic of this solution, which deliberately alters the brightness characteristics depending on the scene. In summary, we are extremely impressed. The Panasonic Z95B is a television that looks great straight out of the box, and after calibration, it reaches a level where it is truly difficult for us to find anything to improve.

Calibration brought a significant improvement, especially in SDR material. We managed to even out the white balance and remove the previous colour cast, and the Color Checker measurements now look really very good. Colours are much closer to what should be on screen, so with ordinary TV or SDR films we can be satisfied with the outcome. Unfortunately HDR somewhat spoils that result. On the one hand it is limited by the panel itself, because calibration won't improve contrast or replace local dimming. On the other hand there remain colour errors that we couldn't correct because the CMS settings, that is the colour management controls, were greyed out and inactive. That costs Philips points with us. The white balance can be fine‑tuned, but without access to wide‑gamut adjustments it's not possible to order HDR colours equally well. It's a shame, because the SDR results show the potential is there, but we weren't allowed to make full use of it everywhere.

Let’s start with what works well. The upscaling on the Z95B is at a very high level – the picture in lower resolutions is clear and sharp, and the only minor drawbacks are subtle aliasing in certain areas of the image. It’s also important that the television does not crop the material in any way and maintains its proportions, which is not always an obvious fact even in 2025.

The situation with digital processing is less impressive. Features such as “gradation smoothing” or “block noise reduction” practically do not work – the material tested looked identical regardless of the settings. We might as well state that this feature simply does not exist. This is somewhat disappointing, especially since Panasonic heavily promotes its HCX Pro AI II processor, boasting the presence of artificial intelligence to enhance picture quality. Meanwhile, in such a basic area, the television does not provide a real effect and it appears weaker than one might expect from high-end equipment.

Digital picture processing in the Philips PQS9000 performs well, though we have a few reservations. The "Distortion Reduction" function helps to smooth tonal transitions in lower-quality material, but it works rather unevenly. It can improve one part of the image, only to seem to lose its effect a moment later, still in the same scene, and show banding between shades again. A plus is that it doesn't remove film grain or fine noise, so the image retains its texture. We found the 'Medium' setting worked best and we recommend it. The upscaling to 4K itself is acceptable, although the image is very soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which may leave some viewers feeling the picture lacks definition. In that case, it's worth slightly increasing the sharpness in the TV's menu, as this will make edges appear more defined. However, don't overdo the sharpening slider, otherwise artificial halos may appear instead of an improvement.

The OLED matrix with a very high refresh rate already provides an extremely sharp image even in dynamic sports scenes, such as football or basketball matches, and the Z95B is no exception. It is also very important that the television is equipped with an proprietary motion smoothing system called “Intelligent Frame Creation”. Among the available sliders, the most important one is the one named “film smoothness”, as it allows you to adjust motion to your own preferences when watching 24-frame materials, i.e. films – from a more “frame-like” appearance to a smooth, almost theatrical effect. It is somewhat disappointing that Panasonic did not choose to overclock the latest OLED matrix to 165 Hz, as Samsung did with the S95F or LG with the G5, because we know that the panel is technically capable of it. On the other hand, this is mainly an advantage for PC gamers, so in everyday viewing, it is not a significant drawback since we are limited to 120Hz.

In terms of motion handling the Philips PQS9000 performs exceptionally well for an LCD TV. It's not just the 144 Hz refresh rate, but above all how quickly the panel itself responds. At 120 Hz there are virtually no typical trailing smears behind moving objects. What is particularly pleasing is that this also applies to darker scenes, where many VA panels clearly struggle. Here motion remains clear and, in this respect, Philips pleasantly surprised us.

The "Motion Styles" feature lets you adjust how motion is displayed. It includes two sliders: "Smoothness" and "Blur Reduction", allowing you to tailor the effect to the content you're watching and your own preferences. Our suggested settings are shown in the photo. Treat them as a starting point and try to find the level of smoothing that suits you best.

The Panasonic Z95B is fully equipped for gaming. Two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s guarantee support for everything you would expect from a modern screen. There is VRR frame synchronization, an automatic ALLM game mode, and full compatibility with HDR formats used in games. The television supports both Dolby Vision for Xbox and the popular HGiG, which has been implemented correctly in this case, so it actually works as it should.

Although the brand is mainly associated with home cinema and equipment for filmmakers, there is also room here for features for gamers. On board, there is a Game Bar (or rather Game Circles) – visually, it looks a bit unusual, but it serves its purpose and allows you to quickly check the most important picture parameters. The only thing that is actually missing for complete happiness is having four HDMI 2.1 ports instead of two. It's a minor detail, but in a television of this class, one could expect a full set.

Gaming features

In terms of gaming features, the Philips PQS9000 has a lot to offer. Four HDMI 2.1 ports let you connect several devices without having to choose which one gets the full-capability port. Consoles can use 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, while a PC can also make use of 144 Hz at 4K or 240 Hz if you drop to Full HD. There's also VRR, which matches the refresh rate to the frame rate and prevents screen tearing. Its range is 48 to 240 Hz, with the upper limit applying in Full HD mode.

ALLM is present, so the TV automatically switches to game mode, and HGiG works properly, which is useful when setting HDR on a console. There's also a Game Bar for quick access to settings and signal information. The list even includes Dolby Vision gaming, but it's hard to enjoy this option because of very high input lag. Aside from that caveat, the feature set is really solid.