Hisense U7Q PRO vs Samsung Q7F

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%.

Unfortunately, the Samsung Q7F is not one of the bright televisions, which directly impacts the quality of HDR films. The peak brightness of the panel is only around 250 nits, which is definitely insufficient for claiming a true cinematic experience. In practice, the HDR content does not differ significantly from classic SDR, making it difficult to talk about any "wow effect" that usually accompanies us when watching such films. During testing of film scenes, the image simply looked dark, and the brightness almost always hovered around the aforementioned 250 nits. The worst performance came from shots with small, intensely glowing elements – the global dimming technique used reacted very aggressively in those cases, dimming the entire screen to maintain the black effect. However, it is worth noting the presence of a QLED coating that broadens the colour spectrum. For a budget QLED model, the Q7F performs quite decently here: the DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage is around 93%, and BT.2020 reaches 70%. This means that despite the low brightness, the colours can still look quite vivid and attractive.

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 reproduction of factory colours in the Samsung Q7F is definitely not one of its strong points. In Filmmaker mode, which theoretically should be closest to neutral, the white balance issue is immediately noticeable. There’s too much red on the screen, while blue is lacking. The effects are very easy to notice – white, instead of being neutral, takes on warm, almost slightly orange tones. In the long run, this makes the entire image appear a bit unnatural, while bright areas of the scene can seem unrealistic. The problems are even more evident in HDR content. The charts show that the TV has significant errors in the Color Checker palette, which results in visible inaccuracies in the real image. In practice, this means that colours are not presented as they should be. The Q7F also heavily manipulates brightness; darker elements are overly boosted, causing them to lose their cinematic feel, while bright parts can be dimmed. This makes the image seem flattened, and contrast, instead of helping to bring out details, only highlights its own limitations. In HDR materials, this is particularly frustrating because every detail matters. In scenes where a subtle play of light and shadow should be felt, the Q7F either overdoes the lighting or, conversely, suppresses elements that should attract the eye. This causes the image to lose its depth, and instead of cinematic realism, we have a rather simplified effect.

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.

After professional calibration, we managed to bring the Q7F to order – at least in terms of SDR content. The image in this mode looks really good: the white balance has been set correctly, the colours appear natural, and the errors in the colour palette have dropped to levels practically invisible to the eye. Gamma behaves exemplary, and the only minor flaw remains a slight lightening of smaller elements, which stems from the lack of local dimming. For everyday watching of television or films in standard quality, the Q7F performs surprisingly well.

It was significantly more challenging to tame HDR content. Despite adjusting the white balance, the television still heavily manipulates brightness, causing scenes to appear unnatural – what was meant to be subtly darker can sometimes be overly bright, and the bright parts of the image can occasionally be dimmed. The final effect is better than in factory settings, but it’s clear that the construction limitations of the Q7F do not allow for fully utilising the potential of HDR materials.

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.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the Q7F is a bit of a rollercoaster. On one hand, we have really nice upscaling – weaker sources look better than you might expect. The image becomes clearer, sharper, and even older films or free-to-air TV hold up well. Samsung has been strong in this area for years, and the Q7F confirms that. On the other hand… things start to get tricky. The TV has a problem with overscan – part of the image is simply cut off, and it doesn't look very elegant. Additionally, we were let down by a feature called "noise reduction," which should improve the smoothness of tonal transitions in weaker materials. In other Samsungs, it works relatively well, but here it practically makes no difference – the banding in gradients is still there. It's a bit of a shame because we expected more from a model that is aimed at users looking for a display for SDR content.

“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.”

Motion blur and motion fluidity in the Q7F is probably the most budget-friendly aspect of this television. The 60 Hz panel makes the motion blur quite noticeable, especially in dynamic scenes, and it's rather hard to consider this model as equipment designed for watching sports or playing fast-paced games. In tests with the little green man, there was a long trail, similarly, the ball in a football match would leave behind streaks.

On the positive side, the presence of motion smoothing is worth noting. In films, it really makes a difference – especially since most materials are recorded in 24 frames. Here we can decide whether we prefer a more "cinematic" image, with a slight judder typically found in cinema, or a smoother, more “TV-like” one. This actually works quite well and helps improve the viewing comfort for series or movies.

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 the Samsung Q7F are a topic that stirs up quite a few mixed emotions. On one hand – no sensible person expected miracles here because after all, it’s a 60 Hz TV and from the start, it was clear that it wouldn't be a device for squeezing the maximum out of a console or PC. On the other hand, since the manufacturer promised specific solutions in the promotional materials, it’s only natural that we wanted to see them in practice. At the outset, it's pretty decent. The automatic game mode (ALLM) works, so there's no need to manually fiddle with settings; the console switches the TV to low latency mode on its own. We also have the Game Bar, which looks impressive and allows you to peek at a few basic parameters without leaving the game. And this is where the good news ends.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the key HGiG feature for gamers.

The biggest problem with the Q7F is VRR, or rather its absence. Yes, a relevant icon appears in the menu, you can even see it in the Game Bar, but throughout the test, the feature remained dormant and could not be activated in any way. The issue with HGiG is even more painful; this option was actually available at the start, but after the software update, it disappeared completely, which is simply unprofessional. Therefore, the Q7F is only suitable for absolute basics. Sure, you can turn on the console, play more relaxed titles, and enjoy low input lag, but if someone is counting on more advanced features that the manufacturer promised, they'll be disappointed. This is not a TV you buy with the intention of gaming, and it's better to be aware of this before making a purchase.