Panasonic Z95A vs TCL V6C

Panasonic Z95A demonstrates class when it comes to HDR performance. In brightness tests, it reaches a level of 1800 nits, which has a real impact on watching movies. Scenes from Life of Pi or Gemini Man look great – the television effortlessly reproduces details and the 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. Nonetheless, a result around 1000 nits can still be considered excellent, still providing very good picture quality. Additionally, the television offers excellent coverage of wide color gamuts – up to 98.6% for DCI-P3 and 74.5% for BT.2020. This ensures that colors are not only vibrant but also deeply saturated, allowing full appreciation of the richness of details, especially in HDR scenes. Such coverage makes colors appear 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. Thanks to this, the Panasonic Z95A offers HDR at a level that truly makes a difference.

When it comes to HDR, the TCK V6C clearly shows that it is not its strong suit. Peak brightness around 200 nits makes it difficult to talk about true HDR effects – the image simply remains too dark to extract details in bright scenes or convey the appropriate dynamics. Although the TV formally supports many HDR formats, in practice it is not adapted for such demanding content. The lack of additional coatings that enhance colors, such as QLED or PFS LED, further limits the appeal of the image – in more spectacular productions, colors may seem washed out compared to more expensive models. Therefore, the V6C will primarily serve as a television for everyday TV, YouTube, or SDR materials, rather than as equipment for high-quality cinematic experiences.

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

In terms of gamma brightness characteristics, it performs very well, with only minor issues when lightening small details. The EOTF curve, which is responsible for controlling brightness in 4K HDR content, poses greater difficulty. Here, a slight boost in brightness above the reference value can be observed, making the image sometimes too bright, especially in more demanding scenes. Although the Filmmaker mode is definitely the best choice in the Z95A, these aspects require refinement to fully exploit the potential of the television.

We started the color reproduction tests with the Filmmaker mode, which in theory should be the best choice right after taking the television out of the box. It certainly performs better than the Eco or Dynamic modes, which heavily interfere with the image and spoil its natural character. As you can see in the charts, the factory tuning of the V6C is not ideal, although it’s not a disaster either. The biggest problem turned out to be a lack of red – the television clearly "cools" the image, which is particularly noticeable on human faces, giving a "corpse skin" effect. This issue was the most bothersome in daily viewing. Looking at the color palette in HDR content, the deficiencies in red are also noticeable, and their source is the relatively narrow coverage of the color space. Of course, every television can be calibrated, so we decided to check how the V6C would perform after such an adjustment.

After calibration, Panasonic Z95A shows its full potential, offering an almost perfect image. The television provides great adjustment capabilities, which we have fully utilized. The white balance after calibration is presented almost perfectly, and errors in SDR content at the level of 0.5 fall within an absolutely reference standard. The same is true for 4K HDR content – any pink tint on the screen has been completely eliminated, and the white balance is now exemplary.

The color palette and Colour Checker test confirm the excellence of the calibration. Errors below 2 is a result that will satisfy both professional calibrators and enthusiasts of cinema-quality images. Significant changes have also occurred in brightness characteristics – the EOTF curve has been leveled, eliminating previous issues with excessive image brightness. And the small error in gamma has been reduced.

Before calibration, the image was acceptable, but now it is a completely different league. It is a true 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 color reproduction.

My dear friends – we haven't had such a difficult "calibration battle" in years. The V6C turned out to be one of the most stubborn TVs we've dealt with in the editorial office. The calibration trials alone took us several working hours and required a lot of patience. We finally managed to slightly warm up the skin tones, which made the faces stop looking like they were straight out of a horror film, a flaw in the factory settings. Unfortunately, that's not the end of it – the TV reacted to our adjustments in white balance in a completely unpredictable way. Where we expected image stabilization in a given area, new errors appeared, and the Color Checker measurements showed deviations that couldn't be rationally explained. It's hard to say whether the software or the construction itself was to blame, but one thing is certain – the V6C offered exceptionally strong resistance. In the end, the calibration brought improvement, especially in SDR content, where the image became more pleasant and natural. However, it must be clearly stated that the design limitations remained. The TV still flattens the image in HDR material and has significant deficiencies in color reproduction. This is equipment rather intended for everyday TV watching or SDR materials than for cinematic screenings in the highest quality.

In the case of lower quality materials, the "Gradient Smoothing" function 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 vibrant and pleasant to the eye, making lower quality content, such as standard television or YouTube, look quite decent. However, minor issues can be noticed, such as "jaggies" on edges, e.g. branches in the background. Nevertheless, this does not significantly impact the overall viewing experience, and the television handles this material in an acceptable manner.

When it comes to upscaling, the V6C does not bring anything groundbreaking. Lower quality content is heavily sharpened, making the image look very unnatural, sometimes even artificially. This can be partially mitigated by lowering the sharpness level in the settings, but the effect is not spectacular. The image still remains far from ideal. The digital processing itself performs better. The function responsible for smoothing tonal transitions works quite effectively, especially at the medium setting, where the image indeed appears smoother. Unfortunately, its operation is quite aggressive – it heavily interferes with the overall scene, causing the actors in the foreground to start looking like characters from super smooth telenovelas. Therefore, we would not recommend using this option if natural reception of the image is important to us.

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

As a result, viewers can adjust the settings to their own preferences. Films and less dynamic materials appear smooth and natural, which should satisfy most users.

Motion smoothing and motion fluidity is an area where the V6C quickly reveals its limitations. It is a 60 Hz TV, so it was hard to expect miracles here. In dynamic sports scenes, the picture comes off rather average. This is most noticeable in darker scenes, where clear smears and blurry "halos" trail behind moving objects, which can be quite distracting. This is definitely a weaker point of this model. Fortunately, there is also a small plus. The V6C is equipped with motion interpolation, which works while watching movies. Thanks to it, productions recorded at 24 frames per second, meaning practically all cinematic titles as well as series, can look smoother than they were actually recorded. Importantly, the intensity of the effect can be adjusted to personal preferences – from slight smoothing to full "soap opera effect."

Panasonic Z95A this year shows that the manufacturer has made a huge leap forward in terms of support for gamers. The television offers practically everything one could expect from a device in this category. Support for ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) ensures smoothness and no tearing in dynamic games. The 144 Hz panel allows for incredible fluidity, and the additional support for resolutions other than 4K provides greater flexibility, which is a significant plus for gamers using various setups.

Attention should also be paid to the unique and somewhat specific "Game Bar." Its intuitive interface stands out from the competition and allows quick adjustments to key settings such as VRR, brightness level, or picture mode without interrupting gameplay.

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

Although the V6C is not a television designed with avid gamers in mind, TCL has included a few features that may appeal to more casual users. There is no 120 Hz panel or HDMI 2.1 ports, but there is an ALLM mode that automatically switches the TV to low-latency mode. Additionally, there is a quite practical Game Bar – a simple panel that allows you to view basic parameters, change the picture mode, or even enable a virtual crosshair on the screen. An interesting feature is also the support for Dolby Vision Gaming, intended for Xbox Series S/X consoles – a nice addition, though in practice it doesn't offer as much as in more expensive models. However, the biggest problem remains HDR configuration. The HGiG feature, which adjusts the brightness and contrast of games to the panel's capabilities, does not respond as we would expect – the image can end up being overly dark or too flat. As a result, a better solution turns out to be simply playing in SDR mode, where the V6C performs stably and does not try to pretend to be an HDR TV.