Hisense U7NQ vs XIAOMI S Mini 2026 (85"-98") 144Hz

The Hisense U7NQ 65 television showed impressive capabilities on the luminance chart, surpassing the 1000 nit barrier and achieving very high brightness scores effortlessly in the first, third, and fifth test scenes. However, just like before, in the second and fourth test scenes, such as from the film Sicario 2, there are significant issues with maintaining brightness, and results around 200 nits are very disappointing. Despite the large number of dimming zones, the algorithm in the television that controls these zones is unable to respond adequately — in this case, it strongly dims small elements like the moon or the light from a helicopter. Bright light that should dazzle us is too dim to be considered an HDR effect. Nevertheless, the television deserves praise for its high coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, at 96%, which allows it to accurately render most film scenes.

The larger versions of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 offer very similar HDR performance. Peak brightness reaches around 1,000 nits, which is a very solid result for a TV in this price bracket. It's most noticeable in bright scenes, where large, heavily lit areas of the picture can look really impressive. The TV has enough brightness headroom that HDR isn't limited to just a slightly brighter image. However, very small pinpoint highlights on an almost completely black background fare worse. In such cases the local dimming system significantly reduces their brightness to avoid lighting adjacent parts of the image and to preserve good blacks. As a result, small reflections or single lamps don't have the same intensity as in much more expensive models. This is typical behaviour for Mini LED TVs and it's hard to treat it as something unique to Xiaomi.

HDR colours

The colour performance is similarly comparable. Although the manufacturer uses the term QLED, the expanded colour gamut here comes from the PFS phosphor. In our measurements the TV covered about 94% of the DCI-P3 space and about 74% of the much more demanding BT.2020. In practice this yields well-saturated colours in most HDR material and it's hard to point to obvious gaps. Limitations appear mainly with the most saturated shades of green, which the TV can no longer reproduce fully.

The Chinese manufacturer offers various picture settings in its televisions, but the best mode in this model is undeniably the Filmmaker Mode. Despite its name, this mode has its issues: the white balance, although roughly correct, is characterised by a strong dominance of warm tones due to the prominence of red hues, both in 4K and HD material. The Colour Checker test confirms these errors — deviations in samples can be seen in improper shades. As for brightness characteristics, the gamma responsible for HD material shows values below 2.4, which leads to some screen brightness. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve shows the television's problems with displaying small light elements, as confirmed by the previously described paragraphs.

On the larger versions of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026, Film mode performs best, although even here the out-of-the-box settings are not without flaws. In SDR the white balance was noticeably warm due to an excess of red. In HDR the opposite was true, with too much blue and too little red, which made the image cooler. Additionally, both the gamma response in SDR and the EOTF curve in HDR sat slightly above the reference values. In practice this resulted in a slightly brightened image, particularly in the midtones. It wasn't a major fault, but with more demanding material you could see that the image wasn't reproduced entirely in line with the filmmakers' intent.

Hisense TVs offer a range of image correction tools that allow you to adjust settings to your own preferences, which is why we decided to use these capabilities to bring the image quality closer to reference standards. In terms of white balance, we were able to eliminate the dominance of red, resulting in more neutral colours, which allowed for a more realistic image in both 4K and HD content. We noticed a similar improvement in brightness characteristics. The gamma, which previously led to excessive brightness on the screen, has been corrected, contributing to better detail reproduction in darker areas of the image while maintaining natural tonal balance.

However, the biggest challenge was calibrating the EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K content. At first glance, the EOTF value looked almost perfect, but detailed tests revealed somewhat different results. When we looked closer — especially using the filter on the right side of the EOTF chart — we noticed how the TV manipulated 4K film content, often significantly boosting brightness. This effect was particularly noticeable in scenes from films like Pan and Billy Lynn, where the TV attempted to artificially increase the brightness of elements, impacting their naturalness. Despite these imperfections, the calibration yielded positive results, especially in terms of tonal improvement. For most users, the end result should be satisfying, particularly if they are looking to bring image quality closer to professional reference standards.

After calibration we mainly managed to even out the white balance, so colours look much more natural in both SDR and HDR. We also improved the gamma response, so SDR content is no longer unnecessarily brightened and stays closer to reference values. The only larger issue remaining is in HDR. Xiaomi still controls brightness a little too aggressively and renders some scenes brighter than it should. This is less noticeable on the larger models than on the 55–75-inch versions, but the EOTF curve still runs slightly above the reference. In practice HDR is therefore slightly brightened, even though colour reproduction after calibration is already very good.

When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, despite the presence of the "Smooth and Gradient Image" feature in the test sequence, we did not notice that the feature added anything — we recommend turning it off. As for upscaling, the television handled our model quite well, and the branches in the background are not overly jagged — the image appears quite plasticky. However, it has been slightly cropped by the so-called overscan.

The larger variants of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 also use the MT5896 processor and perform similarly in terms of digital image processing. Upscaling isn't a strong suit of this model. Low-resolution material is upscaled to 4K in a fairly basic way and it doesn't recover fine detail as well as more refined TVs. The 85- and 98-inch versions do include a feature intended to reduce posterisation, but it's barely effective. When it's switched on it's hard to notice any real improvement, so in scenes with visible colour banding the TV still does little to address it.

Hisense U7NQ has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which definitely enhances motion smoothness. For movie enthusiasts, there are two features available: judder reduction and motion blur reduction. The judder reduction function minimises the effect of so-called judder, that is, unpleasant image jumps, particularly noticeable at lower frame rates. Meanwhile, motion blur reduction helps to sharpen fast-moving objects, which is useful when watching dynamic action scenes.

When it comes to trailing, the television has a decent response time, which means excessive trailing is not visible, except in specific situations, such as the test with the alien on a dark background. In such cases, slight artifacts may appear, but overall the television handles dynamic images well, providing satisfying motion quality.

The biggest difference between the various sizes of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 is the panel's refresh rate. The 55–75-inch variants use a 60 Hz panel, which in practice means noticeably less smooth motion than the larger versions. This is easiest to spot when watching sport, fast-moving scenes or gaming, where the picture isn't as smooth and clear in motion.

Hisense U7NQ offers everything a gamer might need for comfortable gameplay. The TV supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, providing an extremely smooth image, especially in dynamic action games. The VRR (variable refresh rate) feature ensures the image adapts to varying frames per second, eliminating stuttering and tearing. Additionally, there is an ALLM (automatic low latency mode) function that automatically switches the TV into game mode, minimising input lag.

The TV also supports Dolby Vision, which is particularly important for gamers who value high contrast and rich colours in games that support this format. The Hisense U7NQ also features a Game Bar, allowing quick access to key settings during gameplay, as well as support for G-Sync technology, further reducing image tearing.

Unfortunately, despite its wide range of features, it lacks support for the most popular HDR format in gaming — HGiG. This may be disappointing for gamers who expect optimal detail reproduction in HDR scenes. Nevertheless, the remaining features make the Hisense U7NQ a solid choice for any console gaming enthusiast.

The smaller versions of the Xiaomi S Mini 2026 unfortunately have a big limitation for gamers — a 60 Hz panel. In 4K we’re therefore limited to 60 fps and can’t fully take advantage of the PS5 or Xbox Series X. You can run 120 Hz, but only after dropping the resolution to 1080p or 1440p. Other than that, it’s pretty reasonable. The TV supports ALLM and automatically switches to game mode when it detects a console. There’s also a Game Bar where you can quickly check the main gaming settings. Our biggest reservation is HGiG. The HDR calibration screens on the PS5 and Xbox don’t match the TV’s actual capabilities. If you set HDR exactly according to them, some of the brightest elements can simply be blown out.