Haier M95E vs Haier M90E

If there is one category in which the Haier M95E undoubtedly shines, it is the HDR effect, driven by the raw power of the backlighting. This TV cannot be denied that it is a truly bright device. Both in most movie scenes and during our synthetic measurements, the panel easily achieved and often even exceeded the threshold of 1200-1500 nits. This directly translates to the viewing experience – the image has a striking impact and truly allows you to feel the magic of materials recorded in this format. However, one must be aware of a certain compromise. When particularly demanding scenes filled with small, yet intense bright spots appear on the screen, the M95E does not lose its punch nor dims, but it pays a different price for it. A very strong and noticeably distracting halo effect is generated around these bright elements. It is evident here that the algorithms controlling the dimming have been programmed to prioritize brightness and visibility of the smallest details, even if this comes at the cost of flawless black levels. We are not entirely convinced that this is the healthiest approach; however, it must be acknowledged that the overall capabilities of the M95E in this regard are quite substantial. A significant advantage is the fact that we are dealing with a Mini LED QLED construction. The use of a quantum dot layer brings tangible benefits in the form of wide color gamut coverage, which in our tests reached almost 96% of the DCI-P3 color space. This guarantees that the television has full predispositions to display vibrant and appropriately saturated colors.

Haier M90E is a television that does not lack brightness. In most movie scenes, peak luminance exceeds 1000 nits, which gives the image a clear "kick" and high dynamics. In typical, bright HDR materials, this looks really good. However, one must take into account the previously mentioned dimming algorithm. In scenes that are not evenly flooded with light – for instance, when displaying individual stars in a black sky – high brightness underscores the imperfections of zone control. Instead of a precise light point, we often see a distinct halo effect around bright objects. Despite these shortcomings, the overall image presentation can be pleasing, largely thanks to color reproduction. The manufacturer applied a PFS phosphor coating, allowing for wide coverage of the color palette. In our measurements, the coverage of the DCI-P3 space was a solid 95%.

We evaluate every television primarily based on its default cinema mode – in this case "Film" – which theoretically should be the "best" and most accurate right out of the box. Unfortunately, with the Haier M95E, the word "best" is absolutely not synonymous with the word "good." Even during SDR viewing, the picture revealed obvious issues: white balance skewed too much towards red, and excessive, unnatural color saturation led to visible color deviations. Worse still, the M95E also has trouble managing brightness (gamma curve), excessively darkening the entire scene. Such behavior is hard to commend, as it directly causes details in the shadows to blend into a black blob, which are irretrievably lost.

However, the real disaster struck after switching to HDR material while still remaining in "Film" mode. It's hard to guess who came up with such a fantastic idea – or perhaps it was simply a complete oversight of this stage by Haier's engineers – but the image, instead of cinema fidelity, began to resemble the bright "Dynamic" mode. The white balance exposed huge issues with the blue color, which in turn resulted in unnatural sharpening and artificial oversaturation of the entire scene. As if that weren't enough, the EOTF curve characteristics ruthlessly revealed that the television also has fundamental problems with local dimming management in this setting. We haven't calibrated many Haiers in our career, but we know for sure now that the M95E definitely needs it.

For the measurements, we chose the Film mode, which should ideally offer an image closest to the creators' intentions. Unfortunately, in the case of the M90E, its characteristics – besides the reduced brightness – do not differ much from the Dynamic mode. Both in SDR and HDR content, the image is clearly tinged with a cool blue hue. The white balance is heavily skewed towards blue, reminiscent of typical aggressive "store" settings. This results in an unnatural representation of skin tones and makes the image straining on the eyes during longer viewing sessions. The way brightness is managed also negatively affects color fidelity. The television struggles to maintain proper levels – small details are often too dim, while larger, bright areas of the image tend to get blown out. These deviations in the brightness curve, combined with the cool white balance, lead to very significant color reproduction errors (DeltaE) in the factory settings.

The calibration process left us with extremely mixed feelings. On one hand, we noted significant success in the area of colorimetry. Utilizing the options available in the menu, we managed to tame the white balance and bring it down to an acceptable level. As a result, SDR content was finally freed from the annoying red dominance, and the HDR image no longer resembled a vibrant, store demonstration mode. The entire color palette and its saturation were also clearly corrected – perhaps not perfectly, but to the extent that the software allowed, and the difference was visible to the naked eye.

Unfortunately, this is where our list of corrections basically ends, as M95E simply did not allow for more. As we indicated earlier, most settings related to image brightness do not respond to our commands at all. This means we were unable to control its fundamental characteristics in any way – neither the gamma curve nor the EOTF. In practice, the television in SDR content still tends to darken details, which was confirmed by the inflated gamma, merging details in the shadows. On the other hand, the EOTF curve in HDR mode still mercilessly exposed all the previously mentioned issues with chaotic local dimming zone management. And while the calibration process itself yielded quite a lot, removing most of the color issues, ultimately we had to capitulate.

Haier M90E clearly benefits from professional calibration, especially for SDR content. The TV menu offers a sufficient number of tools to effectively correct factory errors. We managed to "tame" the white balance and eliminate the dominant blue tint. We also adjusted, albeit to a lesser extent, the brightness curve (gamma), which allowed us to recover some details in the shadows that were too heavily muted from the factory. The end result for SDR is a picture that is definitely more natural and pleasant to watch. In the case of HDR mode, the success is only partial. Although it was possible to improve the white balance here as well, the color reproduction errors (Color Checker) remained at a high level. Analysis of the EOTF curve (responsible for brightness in HDR) points to the root of the problem: the TV imposes its own interpretation of the signal and does not provide tools to modify this curve. The source of the high errors is not the calibration itself, but the specifics of the device – aggressive and imprecise zone dimming interferes with measurements and is "stiffly" embedded in the characteristics of this model.

Well, what happens with those color transitions when lower quality material full of compression artifacts comes on screen? Unfortunately, we have some bad news for you. Although we can find an option in the menu responsible for smoothing tonal transitions in older content, we definitely DO NOT RECOMMEND using it. Its activation causes a barrage of additional, ugly artifacts, noticeably blurring the entire image, and the funniest part – it often doesn’t even remove those unwanted “stairs” it was supposed to fight against. This feature might as well not exist at all.

We can write many more positive things about the overall upscaling, which is the process of raising lower resolutions to the native 4K matrix. The image after upscaling looks really good – it's neither overly jagged nor artificially smoothed. In this particular matter, the M95E simply delivers.

The evaluation of the image processor must be divided into two separate aspects, as the Haier M90E behaves inconsistently in this regard. The first issue is the upscaling itself, that is, scaling lower-resolution content to 4K. In this task, the television performs quite decently. The algorithms effectively enhance the detail, resulting in a final image that is relatively sharp, clear, and readable. In this respect, it's hard to have major complaints about the device.

The situation looks completely different with materials that have a high degree of compression, which we encounter in older recordings or on platforms like YouTube with lower bitrate. Here, the processor falters in smoothing tonal transitions and masking source imperfections. The television cannot hide compression blocks, resulting in a very harsh, "digital" character of the image. The lack of effective artifact reduction can effectively discourage viewing lower-quality content on this screen.

When it comes to motion fluidity and ghosting, our feelings are quite mixed because the M95E is a paradoxical television. Let’s start with the absolute delights: the heart of the device is a 144Hz panel, but what truly impresses is its performance with 120Hz content, which is crucial for sports and console gaming. We must state with full responsibility that Haier has equipped the television with one of the best VA panels currently available on the market when it comes to minimizing ghosting. It is rare to encounter an LCD panel that offers such clean, sharp, and ghost-free motion. In this respect, the M95E is simply phenomenal.

And this is exactly why the unpleasant surprise waiting for us on the software side is so painful. It turns out that this fantastic hardware potential is completely untapped, as the television practically offers no functioning options for improving fluidity. The smoothing systems, which should assist with lower frame rate content, can indeed be found in the Menu but essentially do not respond to our settings. The conclusion is brutally simple: if you intend to watch high fluidity material, you must be sure that the source is transmitting it natively at 120. In every other case, you must resign yourself to a rather raw, choppy image because the M95E will not help smooth it out in any way.

The Haier M90E is equipped with a simple yet functional motion smoothing system (MEMC). In the settings menu, the user will find a three-level adjustment scale: low, medium, and high. This allows for tailoring the degree of interference with the image to personal preferences – from gentle smoothing of 24p movies to maximum fluidity (soap opera effect). The system operates stably and fulfills its purpose in typical applications.

When it comes to features for gamers, the Haier M95E presents some really strong arguments. First of all, it is fully ready for the new generation of consoles and powerful PCs. It is equipped with two full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, which handle 4K signals at 120Hz effortlessly and even allow for gaming at 144Hz. This is a foundation that guarantees us full utilization of the potential of our equipment. Moreover, the key technologies work flawlessly here. The television accurately detects the console and automatically switches to low latency mode (ALLM), so we don’t have to dig into the settings. The frame synchronization (VRR) also works smoothly, eliminating the annoying tearing of the image when the game's fluidity slightly drops. Considering the remarkably low motion blur of the panel, which we have already mentioned, the M95E creates a truly comfortable and responsive gaming environment. Of course, this is not a perfect package. A dedicated "Game Bar," which would be a handy menu for gamers, would be a nice addition, but in essence, it is just a nice extra. A more serious shortcoming is the lack of support for the HGiG standard, which complicates the ideal HDR configuration on the console and can lead to overexposures. Despite these shortcomings, the basic "gaming package" offered by the M95E is really solid and fully functional.

From a hardware perspective, the Haier M90E is a solid proposition. The TV is equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, which ensures support for key technologies: VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low-latency mode). A plus is also the correct implementation of the Dolby Vision mode for gaming, which maintains a relatively low input lag. Problems arise with software configuration. The biggest drawback is the forced, continuous dynamic tone mapping by the TV's processor. This prevents proper HDR calibration from the console using system panels (HGiG) – the TV ignores source settings and processes the image its own way. We also noted shortcomings in the interface: the M90E does not have a typical "Game Bar" (overlay with parameters), which is a standard among competitors. Cooperation with Xbox consoles at unusual parameters turned out to be problematic – the device has difficulty correctly displaying 1440p resolution at 120 Hz refresh rate. Despite the aforementioned shortcomings in the software, the Haier M90E remains a very attractive screen for gamers. The final impression is saved by a solid hardware base. Native panel refresh at 144 Hz and the presence of full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports are advantages that are crucial in daily use. If we are looking for a TV that provides high fluidity and supports 4K signals, this model will fulfill its task.