Panasonic W70A vs Samsung R85H / R86H

HDR on the Panasonic W70A unfortunately does not impress. Brightness at the level of 250–300 nits is simply too low to feel the true magic of cinematic effects in dynamic, bright scenes. Images that should "explode" with light appear 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 TV does not suffer from excessive brightening nor does it lose details during sudden scene changes. Everything is predictable and calm, though unfortunately not very spectacular. Another issue is the color gamut coverage. The W70A is not equipped with an additional layer of quantum dots (often known as QLED), resulting in colors appearing rather mediocre. There is a lack of depth in reds, saturation in greens, and precision in rendering subtle shades.

If it’s about brightness, the R85H performs really well. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800 to 900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can break 1000 nits. These aren't, of course, levels on par with the most expensive Mini-LEDs, but they're more than enough for watching movies and TV series in HDR, and the effect can be quite noticeable. The problem shows up again in more demanding scenes where there's a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can significantly reduce its brightness so it doesn't illuminate too much of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights dropped to around 200 to 250 nits, so you can see that a limited number of local dimming zones combined with the specific behavior of the algorithm has its consequences. Fortunately, it's not something that bothers you all the time. In typical mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can deliver appropriate image dynamics. You just can't expect the same punch from very small points of light as you get with TVs that have many more zones or with OLEDs.

The Panasonic W70A was tested in movie mode, which theoretically should guarantee the most natural image reproduction. Unfortunately, as is often the case with budget televisions, 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 result? The image had a distinctly warm, even yellowish tint, which is clearly visible in the comparison photo. In the case of 4K HDR materials, 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 parts of the image. The Colour Checker palette test confirmed our observations. Most color samples did not hit their intended points, "running away" towards warmer shades in SDR and cooler ones in HDR. As for brightness characteristics, both gamma and the EOTF curve showed significant problems. The image tended to excessively brighten certain areas, disrupting the balance and leading to a loss of details in darker and brighter regions.

In summary – the factory color reproduction settings in the Panasonic W70A leave much to be desired. The image is far from neutral, and the errors in white balance and gamma mean that a solid calibration is needed to extract the full potential from this television.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample performed adequately in SDR, but a few things immediately showed up in the measurements. In the white balance, as brightness increased more red crept in while blue decreased. As a result, the brighter parts of the image had a slightly too warm tint. On top of that, gamma only held to the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, making most of the image a bit too bright. The combination of the two also affected colors — errors grew especially in the brighter, more saturated samples. It didn’t look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, in HDR our unit handled things noticeably better. White balance was much more even and, for most of the range, the individual RGB components stayed close together. Only in the brightest areas did red begin to fall short, causing the white point to shift slightly. The EOTF curve looked very good, tracking the target luminance values across almost the entire range. That doesn’t mean HDR colors were perfect. The ColorChecker still shows some deviations, particularly in some of the more saturated hues, but the errors are clearly smaller than in SDR.

The Panasonic W70A, despite its limitations, gave us a lot of room to maneuver during calibration. Thanks to well-developed tools, we were able to achieve 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 avoiding excessive brightness 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 TV cannot fully reproduce colors in HDR materials. There is a lack of saturation, and subtle color transitions still appear somewhat "flattened." Another limitation is brightness management, which results from the use of an IPS panel. In the comparative photo featuring the actress's face in colorful clothing, it is clearly visible how some shades are noticeably muted, and colors lose their depth and brightness.

The calibration extracted everything it could from the W70A. The image is now much more natural, and the errors in the factory settings have been effectively corrected. Unfortunately, hardware limitations in the form of poor color gamut coverage and an average panel prevent us from achieving spectacular results, especially in HDR content.

After calibration the R85H shows it has impressive color reproduction capabilities. It performed best in SDR, where the white balance was brought almost perfectly into line and the gamma stays very close to the target across most of the range. That also translated into very low errors in the ColorChecker, so there's really little to fault here. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some issues can't be corrected as well. At peak brightness the character of the backlight itself starts to show and the individual components of the white balance begin to diverge. The same goes for the most saturated colors, which don't always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations, overall the image is significantly more accurate than on the factory settings, and the biggest difference is clearly in SDR. However, there's one thing calibration can't fix. With highly saturated elements, color can subtly bleed onto adjacent bright parts of the image. It's easiest to notice this on white, which can pick up a slight tint from a neighboring hue. It doesn't occur in every scene, but when the content is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a characteristic of the way the RGB backlight works than an issue with picture settings.

We checked how the Panasonic W70A performs in improving content of lower quality than 4K, and it must be admitted that the television does quite well in this regard. The "Zeroing Counter" function is responsible for smoothing tonal transitions. The optimal setting turned out to be the Average option, which effectively smooths out color gradation issues while not ruining the film grain. This is the setting we recommend for most users, as it provides a balance between improving the fluidity of transitions and maintaining the naturalness of the image.

As for image scaling, the Panasonic W70A performed really well. The test pattern with the model was positively evaluated – details on her clothing were well reproduced, and the contours of her face retained sharpness. In the background, we noticed slight "jaggies" on thin branches, but these are details that only a very observant eye will catch. However, it is worth noting a certain flaw of this model – the television has a tendency to overscan, which means slight cropping of the image edges. This is not a very intense phenomenon and for most users it will be practically unnoticeable, but if we care about perfect framing, it is worth keeping this in mind.

In the R85H, image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but in terms of upscaling lower-quality content, the TV’s behavior remains very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that’s not a bad thing, since the company has handled this aspect quite well for years. Low-resolution material is displayed cleanly, edges don’t become overly soft, and the TV doesn’t try to artificially extract details at any cost. The result is simply balanced, and with regular TV or older recordings the R85H performs as you would expect from a Samsung at this level. The only minor drawback is overscan, which can’t be completely turned off at the lowest resolutions. A separate issue is the additional processing of weaker sources. The R85H can smooth posterization and tidy up heavily compressed footage a bit, but it’s worth stressing that it does so relatively aggressively. At stronger "noise reduction" settings it starts removing not only compression artifacts but also fine details and natural film grain. It’s best to use it only when the material actually needs it.

The Panasonic W70A is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, which immediately suggests that the television will perform best when watching movies, series, or everyday TV content. In more dynamic scenes, such as sports broadcasts or games, the panel's limitations become more noticeable. On the positive side, it is worth noting the presence of a motion smoother called "Effect," which offers three levels of adjustment - low, medium, and high.

Each of the settings allows you to adjust motion fluidity to your own preferences, minimizing 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 movement.

R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion is really smooth here. Just remember that the extra hertz above 120 will mainly be used when connected to a PC, so in this category we don't treat them as a particular advantage. For movies and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion-smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets us set motion from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit weaker. Because this is a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On bright backgrounds that's not very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more visible the smearing becomes. That's a typical characteristic of this type of panel, and it's easiest to spot in dark scenes.

The Panasonic W70A is a television that will be more suitable for occasional gamers than for avid players. The 60 Hz panel does not allow for full utilization of the potential of new generation consoles, especially in dynamic titles. The lack of HDMI 2.1 somewhat limits its capabilities, but fortunately, we find features such as ALLM, which is automatic switching to game mode, and VRR, which helps minimize screen tearing. It's also worth noting the support for Dolby Vision in games and HGiG, which makes HDR more predictable and looks solid. It's just a pity that the Game Bar is missing. This feature is already standard in many televisions and provides quick access to the most important settings for gamers. The W70A holds up when it comes to gaming, but it has its limitations. It works well with calmer titles, while more demanding players may feel unsatisfied.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gamer-focused features for several years, and the R85H really lacks nothing important in that area. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so you can easily take advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly, so with the right HDR settings on the console games retain proper brightness and you don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the image. The only major omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung doesn't support on any of its TVs.

Game Bar is also very useful, a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. You can quickly check the frame rate, VRR operation, or change the most important picture-related settings. Samsung also adds a few less obvious features, such as the ability to change the aspect ratio or Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 fps. Of course, this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting option for some players.