Panasonic Z95B vs Xiaomi S Pro 2026

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.

When it comes to HDR quality, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is undoubtedly a really bright TV. On our synthetic measurement charts, we were able to generate a peak brightness of around 1400 nits. This is not only a very good result but even spectacular, considering the price of this model. However, as we always repeat, for our editorial team, measurements and experiences from the content we watch every day—movies and series—are more important. So let's analyze how Xiaomi handles film material. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat mixed. When very bright scenes appear on the screen, the S Pro 2026 truly shows its full potential and can achieve real brightness of 800-1000 nits on bright elements. Moreover, even smaller objects can "burn" the eyes— in scenes from the movie Sicario 2, small metallic elements of the helicopter were really bright. The problem is this—and here the story comes full circle back to our assessment of contrast—that in such scenes, we cannot count on absolutely cinematic black. In our opinion, this compromise is too significant; high visibility of details in bright areas should not come at the expense of such a substantial boost in black levels. And even though the HDR effect itself can be striking here, it is important to remember that when very difficult, mixed scenes appear on the screen, we may feel a slight disappointment. Exactly the one we mentioned in the previous paragraph regarding dimming issues in HDR mode. On a positive note, it is worth adding that the S Pro 2026 is equipped with an additional PFS filter (which works similarly to a QLED layer), effectively broadening the color palette coverage. As a result, measurements showed a DCI-P3 color gamut coverage of up to 94%. This gives us the confidence that in most colorful scenes, the image will look rich and appropriately saturated.

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.

Of course, we conducted all our measurements in "Film" mode, which is usually the best and most accurate choice you get straight out of the box. And we have to say it bluntly: even though this is the best mode, it is still very far from ideal. First of all, the television has a clear tendency to give the image a cool, bluish tint – this is due to a poorly set white balance. Additionally, there is a problem with how the S Pro 2026 manages its brightness right after being taken out of the box, which results in an overly bright image. These two flaws contribute to really huge colorimetric errors (Delta E). In HDR content, they were able to exceed our expected error scale of "10" (meaning values close to 20). For reference – the threshold of perceivable error by the human eye is a Delta E value of around 3. Results at the level of 20 mean that the image significantly deviates from what the director intended.

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.

So how does the S Pro 2026 perform after our calibration treatment? We must admit that after calibration, the television becomes a really pleasant device for watching everyday content. As you can see in the graphs, we managed to bring both white balance and gamma values to nearly perfection in HD (SDR) material. Most importantly, the colorimetric errors have become practically invisible to the human eye. In this scenario, the S Pro 2026 is simply a great television that, after professional calibration, can provide a lot of enjoyment while watching. However, it is worth noting clearly – our efforts helped little in 4K HDR mode. Despite calibration, the television still interprets the image rather strongly "in its own way," which is clearly seen in the measurement of the EOTF curve (luminance tracking). It's a bit of a shame, because this shows that the problem lies not in the panel itself, but in the software. Underdeveloped image management algorithms in HDR content can, unfortunately, disqualify this television for many more discerning users.

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.

Let's start with the issue we addressed in the previous paragraph: can a TV even fix the problem of poor tonal transitions in dark scenes? Theoretically, yes – in the menu, we find a feature with the promising name "Color Contour Removal." Well, "theoretically." Unfortunately, in practice, this setting – regardless of which of the three power levels is selected – yielded absolutely no real results. So we have a feature that, in practice, only exists in the menu. Moving on to the quality of upscaling (scaling the image from a lower resolution to 4K), unfortunately, we have more bad news for you. The S Pro 2026 handles this task very poorly. Interestingly, the phenomenon of "overscan" (slight image cropping) is not a big issue here. The problem is that the TV simply displays a very raw, unprocessed image. Its attempt to upscale the signal to a higher resolution looks simply poor and lacks any "smart" enhancement. There is no denying it – the whole digital image processing is the true Achilles' heel of this model.

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.

On paper, the specification of the S Pro 2026 looks impressive. The television is equipped with a native 144 Hz panel, capable of displaying images up to 288 Hz in a dedicated gaming mode. These are amazing results, but what interested us the most, in the context of everyday use, was how the television handles motion blur and how the image looks at 120 Hz. After all, this is the frequency used today by consoles like PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and it is desired by sports fans. Generally speaking, the panel "holds up." The matrix is fast enough to meet these challenges, and objects displayed at native 120Hz fluidity are shown correctly. As for the software, the television is equipped with a motion smoothing system, but with a key caveat – it only works for input signals up to 60 Hz. This means it is mainly suitable for classic television, movies, and series. Thanks to this, we can adjust the fluidity of the image to our own preferences – from a very smooth, "theatrical" approach to setting the slider to "zero" and maintaining a fully cinematic character.

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.

For gamers, the Xiaomi S Pro 2026 is, on paper, an almost ideal proposition. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, allowing us to unlock (although these options are somewhat hidden in the menu) the full suite of features: ALLM, VRR, and, crucially, the ability to work in 4K at 144 Hz. This last feature should particularly please owners of powerful PCs. The TV also has something akin to a gaming panel – and while it’s hard to call it a full-fledged "Game Bar," it does its job by displaying key information. It’s just a shame that in its default form, it covers a relatively large part of the screen.

However, our biggest issue with this model concerns how the S Pro 2026 handles gaming in HDR mode. To put it bluntly: it doesn’t handle it well. Due to the poorly implemented HGiG function (the HDR tone mapping standard for games), during the initial HDR calibration on the console, it’s very easy to "blow out" the image. If someone is unaware of this software flaw and follows the on-screen instructions, they will simply set the image incorrectly, with burnt-out details in bright areas. Another major problem is the Dolby Vision mode for gaming. While it does work, it generates such a high input lag that it becomes noticeable in dynamic titles. (All our latency measurements can be checked in the paragraph below). In summary: generally, it’s a really good screen for gamers, but with one small caveat. We would rather avoid HDR mode on it – unless we decide to manually adjust the brightness bar on the console "by eye," completely ignoring the instructions from the console's pictogram.