Panasonic Z95B vs Blaupunkt UGC5500S

The quality of HDR in the Panasonic Z95B belongs to the absolute elite. Thanks to the latest generation panel, named by the manufacturer Primary RGB Tandem OLED, the television can achieve over 2000 nits of brightness in movie scenes. The effect is impressive and can amaze with the intensity of light, giving a sense of contact with the screen that goes beyond previous experiences. Similar sensations 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 applies to full-screen bright sequences, such as the closing credits in the movie The Meg. Even then, the Z95B maintains a level of around 1500 nits, which is still a result that makes a huge impression. One can say that HDR in this model has been brought to a masterful form. A significant step forward is also visible in the reproduction of the color palette. 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 narrowed. When watching movies, the differences are subtle enough that it's hard to notice them under normal conditions, and the colors remain vivid and saturated.

Here, we won't beat around the bush either – if you're looking for a TV strictly for cinematic HDR experiences, you've come to the wrong address. The Blaupunkt UGC5500S unfortunately is not a machine designed for such challenges. This is primarily due to its very low brightness, which we measured during our tests. A result of around 250 nits on film screens speaks for itself. It's simply too little to even talk about any real HDR effect. To be honest, everything displayed here in this format can best be considered a slightly "boosted" SDR mode. We expected this because practically every device in this price range fails in this regard, but we feel obligated to warn you. Manufacturers love to boast about HDR compatibility stickers on the boxes, but in reality, this format simply doesn't exist here – it lacks the "fuel" of brightness.

The situation is made all the more difficult for Blaupunkt because we have a panel with a very basic DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of just around 80%. You won't find any advanced coatings that enhance these capabilities (like quantum dots), making scenes that are supposed to burst with richly saturated colors appear simply desaturated on this screen. Therefore, we have a concrete piece of advice for you: do not push the HDR mode on this model. If you have the option in the streaming app settings – just turn it off. Sticking with the classic SDR mode will ensure that the TV won't try to "enhance" something that it can't handle hardware-wise.

The factory color reproduction in Filmmaker mode, my friends, is a true phenomenon in the case of the Panasonic Z95B. I'm talking about our test unit, but the result was so good that it's hard to believe. The only detail to nitpick is a slight lack of blue in the white balance, but other than that, the television, right out of the box, displayed an image like we've never seen in factory mode. Color palette tests, Color Checker – everything pointed to values below Delta 2. This is a much lower result than the threshold of human eye perception, which means, quite frankly, that the viewer stands no chance of noticing serious deviations. It looks as if Panasonic really calibrated this model at the factory stage. Of course, we cannot rule out that we got an exceptionally well-set unit, but the result is still impressive. We are very strict in our assessments of factory calibration, and here our jaws simply dropped.

We also took a close look at how Blaupunkt handles colors in movie mode, and here the situation is, to put it briefly, twofold. We must clearly separate what we see in the standard SDR format from what happens when HDR is turned on, as these are two completely different worlds. Let’s start with the better side of the coin. If you plan to watch classic television, YouTube, or older movies on this TV, you can count on really well-tuned colors. In our test sample, the white balance in movie mode was exceptionally accurate, which honestly surprised us. Of course, to not make it too rosy, we noticed some flaws. Looking at the gamma charts, we observed that the processor struggles with properly dimming the image in its brightest parts. Additionally, there is quite strong, at times too aggressive, red saturation, which resulted in noticeable errors in reproducing certain shades. Nevertheless, in general terms, the image in SDR is simply solid and watchable without a grimace on your face. Unfortunately, the magic fades when we re-enter the world of HDR. Here, Blaupunkt behaves as if we suddenly switched it to store mode, and in its worst form. The excess blue in the white balance is so overwhelming that it literally clashes with the eyes, ruining any realism of the scene. Furthermore, the TV interprets brightness very loosely, which, when analyzing the EOTF curve, clearly showed that for most of the time the colors appear simply washed out and lacking depth. This is, by the way, perfectly visible in the color errors that become evident in this mode. Once again, we are left with the same conclusion: Blaupunkt in SDR mode looks significantly better and more natural than in HDR, which feels forced and not properly refined.

The color reproduction after calibration in the Z95B is a topic that is difficult to elaborate on for long because there simply wasn't much to be done here. A slight adjustment of the white balance was enough to eliminate the lack of blue, and at that moment the picture jumped to an almost reference level. I must admit that we haven't had such a small scope of work in a long time. If any of you are particularly observant, you might notice minimal deviations in the EOTF curve, but this is more related to the operation of the dynamic tone mapping function that we mentioned earlier. Really, this is not a flaw, but rather a feature of this solution, which intentionally changes the brightness characteristic depending on the scene. In summary, we are extremely impressed. The Panasonic Z95B is a television that already looks great right out of the box, and after calibration, it reaches a level where it is really hard for us to find anything to improve.

It may sound like a joke – pulling out professional measurement equipment for a television costing around a thousand zlotys / 250 dollars – but we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't check it out. The question is: does such cheap equipment give us any room for calibration? To your surprise, the answer is yes, and absolutely so. In the Blaupunkt UGC5500S menu, we found surprisingly many options that allowed us to really work on the picture. These are not just empty sliders; they are concrete tools that enabled us to make use of our measurement sensors and software. In SDR mode, the effects were noticeable to the naked eye. We successfully eliminated the issue we mentioned earlier – that excessive, almost artificial saturation of reds. We also fixed the problem of incorrect dimming of the brightest parts of the image. After calibration, the standard format picture became much more balanced and simply correct. As for HDR, the situation was again more complicated. Although we managed to "tame" that aggressive blue tint in the white balance, it was evident that we were fighting a bit in vain. Even after changing the settings, the television still tried to intervene in the image in its own way, as if the electronics knew better than we did how the scene should look. Additionally, there's a hardware barrier that no slider can overcome – colors in HDR still remain unsaturated. This simply results from the quality of the panel itself; it physically cannot produce the most vibrant colors. To summarize this point: if any of you ask whether it’s possible to calibrate a television for "a thousand," we respond with full conviction: it is possible.

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

The situation is worse when it comes to digital processing. Features such as "gradation smoothing" or "block noise reduction" practically do not work – the tested material looked identical regardless of the settings. We might as well point out that this function simply doesn't exist. This is somewhat disappointing, especially since Panasonic strongly promotes its HCX Pro AI II processor, boasting of the presence of artificial intelligence that improves picture quality. Meanwhile, in such a basic matter, the television does not deliver a real effect and looks worse than one might expect from top-of-the-line equipment.

If you expect that the processor in this model will magically "fix" the poor quality signal from cable TV or old films from YouTube, we must disappoint you. The capabilities of this television end with absolutely basic upscaling, which is simply stretching the image to a higher resolution. It does this correctly in that the image is not blurry, but there is no talk of any intelligent sharpening or adding details. Worse still, Blaupunkt is completely devoid of any functions that reduce unwanted tonal transitions. If the material being viewed has so-called banding (ugly "steps" instead of a smooth transition of colors, e.g., in the sky), this television will display them in all their glory. Additionally, the television tends to slightly crop the edges of the image. Instead of displaying 100% of what the source sends, Blaupunkt slightly enlarges the frame, causing us to lose details located at the very edges of the screen. In summary: in the category of digital "enhancement" of the image, Blaupunkt simply performs poorly. We receive a raw, unprocessed signal with all its flaws.

The OLED matrix with a very high refresh rate already provides an extremely sharp image even in dynamic sports scenes, such as soccer or basketball matches, and the Z95B is no exception. It's also very important that the television is equipped with the proprietary image smoothing system "Intelligent Frame Creation." Among the available sliders, the most important one turns out to be the one named "film smoothness," because it allows adjusting the motion to personal preferences when watching 24-frame material, that is, movies – from a more "frame-like" appearance to a smooth, almost theatrical effect. It's a bit of a shame that Panasonic did not choose to push the latest OLED matrix to 165 Hz, as Samsung did with the S95F or LG with the G5, because we know the panel is technically capable of it. On the other hand, this is mainly an advantage for PC gamers, so for everyday viewing this is not a significant drawback as we are limited to 120Hz.

When it comes to motion fluidity, Blaupunkt has nothing to defend itself with. A 60 Hz panel at this price is standard, so none of us expected a perfectly sharp image during fast action scenes or while watching a game. However, the biggest drawback of this model is that you won't find any digital smoothers in the menu. The manufacturer did not give us any room to maneuver – there's no way to smooth anything out or adjust the image to our preferences. The image is always "raw" and we receive it exactly as the source transmits it. For fans of cinematic "motion jump," this might be fine, but everyone else just has to get used to the absence of any motion support.

The Panasonic Z95B is completely equipped for gaming. Two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s guarantee support for everything you can expect from a modern screen. There is VRR frame synchronization, an automatic game mode (ALLM), and full compatibility with HDR formats used in games. The TV 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 a place here for conveniences for gamers. It comes with Game Bar (or rather Game Circles) – visually it looks a bit unusual, but it does its job and allows you to quickly check the most important image parameters. What it really lacks for complete happiness is actually just four HDMI 2.1 ports instead of two. It's a minor issue, but one would expect a full set in a TV of this class.

When it comes to gaming on the Blaupunkt, we didn’t expect miracles and indeed – the list of features is not very long. However, there are two interesting points worth mentioning, as they may be significant for some of you at this price. The first advantage is that the TV quite efficiently detects the connected console. Thanks to the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature, the device automatically knows when you start gaming and switches to low latency mode. This is convenient because you don’t have to fiddle with the settings every time to prevent input lag from ruining the fun. The second point is a real curiosity that surprised us. Even though it’s a 60 Hz panel, the Blaupunkt can display images at 120 Hz at Full HD resolution. Sure, we lose 4K details then, but for those playing more dynamic, online shooters where fluidity is more important than resolution, it’s a really nice and unexpected addition in such an inexpensive piece of equipment. Besides these two points, however, you won’t find anything else here. There are no advanced systems for improving fluidity for gamers or extensive gaming menu bars. It’s a simple screen for occasional gaming.