Hisense U7Q PRO vs Philips PQS9011 / PQS9001 (The One 2026)

U7Q PRO is truly a bright television. In synthetic tests, it achieved over 1500 nits, which is an outstanding result for this price bracket. Such brightness – at least in theory – allows it to display HDR content as intended by the creators, even in more demanding scenes with strong lighting. In practice, it performs very well, but not always perfectly. In bright scenes with large areas – like the test screen with intense sunlight from the film "Pan" – the U7Q PRO makes a huge impression. It can even dazzle with its light, which is definitely an advantage in the context of HDR content. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always manage to maintain this when there are many small bright details on a dark background. In such moments, the local dimming algorithms tend to dim some bright elements to maintain good blacks – and the side effect is that some details simply vanish from the frame. This is a classic compromise in mini-LED televisions – and the U7Q PRO is no exception. With such a large number of dimming zones, however, one could have hoped for a slightly more mature algorithm responsible for their control. Fortunately, the overall perception of HDR content is very positive. The U7Q PRO is not only bright but also colourful, thanks to the PFS LED (QLED) coating, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette is at 95%, and BT.2020 around 73%.

The Philips PQS9000 is a moderately bright TV — in our HDR scenes it reached roughly 450 to just over 500 nits. That’s enough to notice a difference compared with SDR. Sun reflections, lamps or flares have a bit more punch than on basic TVs, whose brightness often tops out around 300 nits. It’s not, however, a level where bright elements look especially striking. The biggest limitation remains contrast. Without local dimming, brightening a bright object also lifts the black level around it. So there’s no clear separation between strong highlights and a dark background, and it’s that kind of pairing that really shows what HDR can do. The PQS9000 offers more than the cheapest models, but despite decent brightness the effect remains fairly basic.

Colours

Philips deserves praise for the colours. Although the manufacturer markets this model as QLED, it actually uses a PFS phosphor instead of quantum dots. The solution itself doesn’t prevent good results. On test patterns and in measurements of film scenes we recorded about 94% DCI-P3 coverage and 75% BT.2020. For this class of TV that’s really good. In practice this means the vast majority of colours used in HDR films and series will have appropriate saturation. Lush greens or intense reds aren’t a problem and add appeal to the picture. Limitations are easier to notice in some games and rarer content that use the most saturated shades of the wide BT.2020 gamut. In those situations, displays with wider colour coverage, such as SQD or RGB LED, can show more. At its price point the PQS9000 has nothing to be ashamed of.

We tested the U7Q PRO in the best possible picture mode that this model offers – Filmmaker Mode. And indeed, this mode performs the best in terms of colour reproduction. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. In our test unit, both in SDR and HDR content, the image had a slightly cooler tone. The white balance was shifted towards blue, which made the overall image feel a bit "cooler." It may not be glaring, but it is definitely noticeable – particularly on white backgrounds, which instead of being neutral, seemed slightly bluish. Additionally – as we mentioned earlier – the television has a tendency to slightly brighten and oversaturate the image, which is also confirmed by the gamma and EOTF charts. All of this together means that without calibration, the image may appear somewhat unnatural – too cool, with slightly exaggerated dynamics. That’s why we decided to perform our own calibration – and you can see its effects and charts below.

The factory picture settings for Movie mode on the PQS9000 unfortunately need tweaking. In SDR the biggest problem is an excess of red in the white balance, which makes whites, greys and skin tones too warm, in places even slightly pink. Gamma runs below the reference across most of the range. The TV therefore brightens midtones and highlights, making the image look flatter than it should.

In HDR the white balance itself performs significantly better. Apart from minor deviations the components sit close together, so there isn’t the same obvious tint as in SDR. The EOTF curve, however, shows a slight brightening of parts of the image, and the biggest issue appears when measuring the wide colour gamut. Many shades deviate substantially from the target, with errors reaching ΔE 8–9. The good gamut coverage we praised earlier therefore doesn’t mean the TV hits specific colours accurately. It can display a wide range of colours, but out of the box it doesn’t use that range very precisely.

Thanks to calibration, we've managed to tame the white balance in SDR and HDR content. For SDR material, the effect is really quite good – the image becomes neutral, cohesive, and simply pleasant to watch. Everything looks the way it should.

HDR performs a bit worse. Although the white balance looks correct and overall the image gains naturalness, unfortunately, the delta E errors are still noticeable. Why? Because Hisense's U7Q PRO model does not give us full control over how the television manages brightness in HDR mode. And this is where the limitation arises. When we look at the EOTF curve for HDR content, it clearly shows what we mentioned earlier – at the beginning of the graph, there’s a noticeable drop, meaning the television darkens the smallest portions more than it should. On the other hand, those brightest elements can be overly bright. As a result, some details are lost, others are too aggressive, and overall control over brightness doesn't always align with what we’re trying to achieve during calibration.

Does the image look better after calibration? Definitely, yes, in terms of colour. But when it comes to brightness management in HDR, one must accept that the Hisense U7Q PRO will still do it in its own way.

Calibration brought a big improvement, especially with SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance and remove the earlier colour cast, and the Color Checker measurements now look very good. Colours are much closer to what they should be on screen, so with regular TV or SDR movies we can be happy with the result. Unfortunately HDR spoils that a bit. On the one hand it's limited by the panel itself, because calibration won't improve contrast or replace local dimming. On the other hand there are colour errors we couldn't correct because the CMS settings, i.e. colour management, were greyed out and inactive. That loses Philips points with us. The white balance can be fine-tuned, but without access to wide gamut controls you can't as effectively sort out colours in HDR. It's a shame, because the SDR results show the potential is there, but we weren't allowed to fully make use of it everywhere.

If someone happens to come across older materials where the banding issue arises – Hisense has a solution for that. In the U7Q PRO, we find a feature called "Smooth and Gradient Picture". Set to the "Medium" level, it works really well – eliminating most gradient problems without smoothing the entire image like a blur in Photoshop. 😉 Film grain remains, details don't disappear – that's exactly how it should work. Well done on the implementation!

As for scaling weaker materials, it's simply good. It's not at the level of the most expensive TVs with advanced upscaling, but older content looks good. There is some minor banding at very low resolutions, but that's perfectly normal and hard to avoid. On the plus side – even with the oldest materials, there is no overscan effect, the image isn't cropped or artificially stretched.

Digital image processing on the Philips PQS9000 performs well, although we have a few reservations. The "Distortion Reduction" function helps smooth tonal transitions in lower-quality sources, but it works rather unevenly. It can improve one part of the picture, only to, moments later and still within the same scene, lose its way and show banding between shades again. On the plus side, it doesn't strip away film grain or fine noise, so the image retains its texture. We found the "Medium" setting worked best and that's the one we recommend.

The upscaling to 4K itself is adequate, though the image is very soft. Edges are heavily smoothed, which may leave some viewers wanting more clarity. In that case, it's worth slightly increasing the sharpness in the TV menu, as this will help emphasise edges more. Don't overdo the sharpness slider, though, or you'll get artificial halos instead of an improvement.

“Speed” – this word was most frequently mentioned during our tests of the U7Q PRO. The television is equipped with a 165 Hz panel, which in itself is impressive – especially considering we’re talking about a mid-range model. Of course, PC gamers will benefit the most from its full capabilities, but even during everyday viewing, it’s clear that this is a fast and efficient panel. Like most modern televisions, the U7Q PRO can also enhance the smoothness of films that were originally recorded at 24 frames. In the menu, we find a slider that allows us to adjust the effect to our own preferences – from a more cinematic feel, with subtle motion, to a stronger smoothing with the characteristic “soap opera effect.”

In terms of motion handling the Philips PQS9000 performs exceptionally well for an LCD TV. It's not just about the 144 Hz refresh rate, but above all how quickly the panel itself responds. At 120 Hz you can hardly see the typical trailing smears behind moving objects. What's particularly pleasing is that this also applies to darker backgrounds, where many VA panels clearly struggle. Here motion remains clear, and in this respect Philips has pleasantly surprised us.

The "Motion Styles" feature is used to adjust how motion is displayed. It includes two sliders: "Smoothness" and "Blur Reduction", allowing you to tailor the effect to the material you're watching and your personal preferences. Our suggested settings are shown in the photo. Treat them as a starting point and see which level of smoothing suits you best.

Hisense U7Q PRO is a TV that seems to have been designed with gamers in mind. We have practically everything that can be expected from a gaming screen: variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic mode (ALLM), and as many as four HDMI 2.1b ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s. Additionally, there’s a clear and quite functional Game Bar, as well as a well-implemented Dolby Vision GAMING mode that works seamlessly with Xbox Series S and X consoles.

Sounds like the ideal? Well, almost. Unfortunately, Hisense has still not implemented the HGiG feature, which is the system's tone mapping limitation on the TV's end. This means that when configuring HDR brightness on the console, we do it “by eye” or look for settings in online guides, as the screen does not display its actual brightness range. It’s a shame – because HGiG makes it easier to match the console to the TV and helps avoid overexposed or too dark scenes in HDR games.

Fortunately, the other elements work very well. Input lag is low, responsiveness is excellent, and the handling of other features is faultless. And although not everything worked perfectly, the U7Q PRO can still be confidently recommended to gamers.

Features for gamers

In terms of gaming features the Philips PQS9000 has a lot to offer. Four HDMI 2.1 ports let you connect multiple devices without having to choose which one gets the full capabilities. Consoles can use 120 Hz at Full HD, 1440p and 4K, and a PC can also run 144 Hz at 4K or 240 Hz if you drop to Full HD. There's also VRR, which matches the refresh rate to the frame rate and prevents screen tearing. Its range runs from 48 to 240 Hz, with the upper limit applying to Full HD mode.

It also includes ALLM, so the TV switches itself into game mode, and a properly working HGiG, which is handy when setting HDR on the console. There's a Game Bar for quick access to settings and signal information. The list even includes Dolby Vision gaming, but it's hard to enjoy because of very high input lag. Apart from that caveat, the feature set is really solid.