Panasonic Z95B vs Haier M90E

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.

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%.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.