Hisense U7Q vs Samsung QN80F 100"

Since the algorithms responsible for blacks are performing quite well, we expected a similarly good outcome when it comes to brightness and overall HDR quality. Unfortunately, we have to disappoint you a bit here.

The U7Q is quite a bright television – under the best conditions, it can reach around 800 nits, which indeed impresses in some scenes, especially in scenes like those from the movie The Meg. Bright segments can shine, and the HDR effect is noticeable. The problem arises when very small, bright elements appear on a dark background – for example, in Sicario 2 or in the second scene from Life of Pi. At such moments, the dimming algorithms operate too aggressively. Yes, the blacks look great at that point, but the brightest spots can almost completely disappear, causing the HDR effect to vanish and details to be barely visible. That’s just the charm of this technology in this price segment.

As a consolation, it is worth mentioning that the U7Q is marketed as a QLED (in practice, a PFS layer is used, which operates very similarly), and it can indeed display a wide colour gamut – a DCI-P3 coverage of around 94% is a very good result for this class.

When it comes to HDR in Filmmaker mode, the QN80F can make a great first impression. Our lab tests showed that under the best conditions, the TV can achieve brightness exceeding 1200–1300 nits. These are truly remarkable results that make HDR effects in many films look incredible. The TV is simply bright enough that it doesn't have to artificially adapt the image – the bright parts of the scene have the right 'power' and actually look like a light source. Of course, the lab is one thing, and everyday viewing is another. In practice, during film scenes, brightness typically hovers around 700–1100 nits. These are still excellent values that, in most cases, provide a strong sense of realism and make the lights on the screen truly blinding. The problem arises in exceptionally difficult sequences, where, like almost every mini-LED, it reveals its limitations. A good example is Sicario 2: scenes with the helicopter in the night sky look much weaker, and the lights lose intensity, dropping to around 370 nits, making it hard to speak of serious awe. Additionally, there's the issue of colours. Although we are dealing with a QLED, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is about 90%. This is a rather average result for a quantum dot TV. In practice, this means that some colours may appear less saturated than we would expect, especially in demanding HDR productions.

We tested the U7Q in the best possible picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode is supposed to provide the most "cinematic" experience that aligns with the creators' intentions – straight out of the box. Unfortunately… even this professionally sounding name doesn’t guarantee a perfect image.

In our unit, the problem lay in the poorly set white balance. In both HD and 4K content, the image had too much blue and red, resulting in a slightly pinkish hue on the screen. It didn’t look terrible, but it was noticeable – especially in bright scenes and on white backgrounds. That alone could have been forgiven, but the biggest issue is managing brightness in HDR content. The EOTF curve from the measurements confirms what we saw earlier during scene tests: the television can overly dim the smallest bright elements, causing them to nearly disappear, or conversely – excessively brighten the brightest parts, which affects the naturalness of the image.

Samsung QN80F performs best in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to faithfully reproduce the creators' intentions. And indeed – this is the mode where the TV shows its potential. But let's not fool ourselves, it’s far from perfect. In SDR content, a significant issue emerged with white balance. Slight deficiencies in green and a clear excess of red caused the screen to take on a pinkish hue. You don't even need measuring tools to notice this – in everyday viewing, the subtly shifted colour palette could be quite noticeable, and in colour checker tests, the colours nearly "jumped" outside their reference fields. With HDR content, the situation looked a bit better, as the white balance was closer to ideal, but another problem emerged – brightness management. The EOTF curve often caused the image to become too bright, which spoiled the impression of contrast, and in dynamic scenes, it led to a slight "flicker" in perception. We've actually mentioned this before in the sections about black levels and HDR. The good news, however, is that Samsung provides plenty of tools for improvement. The QN80F allows for very detailed calibration, including a 20-point white balance. And since the manufacturer has left us with so many options, we decided to see how the TV would perform after a solid correction.

Thanks to specialist tools, we managed to correct the colour quality in SDR content to almost perfection. In materials with lower dynamics, delta E errors dropped below 0.5, which can be considered an almost reference result. The picture on television, YouTube, or classic Full HD looks really good after calibration. Well then – but where was it not so easy to improve the image? Primarily it concerns HDR quality content. Although we managed to somewhat "tame" the white balance and eliminate pink tints in most scenes, unfortunately, we did not have full control over brightness management. We set the local dimming settings according to the best observations – SDR: Medium, HDR: High – but the U7Q still did everything a bit its own way. There were still cases of overly strong dimming or brightening of details that calibration simply could not eliminate. And although the overall reception of content is much better, one must reckon that the U7Q will always have something to say at the end with "but".

After calibrating the QN80F, it immediately showed that it has much more to offer. The pink hue that used to spoil the viewing experience has disappeared, and the white balance finally looks as it should – natural and without excessive deviations. The colours have gained depth, and the image has become more saturated and coherent, making movies simply more enjoyable to watch. It's a bit like taking a light mist off the screen – suddenly everything appears sharper and clearer. Brightness management has also improved. The TV no longer gets lost so easily in dynamic changes, and the EOTF graph shows that the curve tracking is significantly more stable. Of course, there are no miracles – the limited number of zones still means that small, bright elements can be slightly washed out, but that's just a result of the design rather than the settings. After this adjustment, the QN80F feels like a more mature piece of equipment, and watching movies finally provides the satisfaction expected from even a higher-end television.

There are situations where we would like to smooth out tonal transitions a bit, especially in older materials – those with limited source quality. The U7Q has been equipped with a feature called “Smooth and Gradient Image,” but unfortunately… it works very poorly. In the “Low” option, the effects are practically unnoticeable, and other settings smooth out the details but don’t improve tonal transitions. The only positive thing is that the feature doesn’t interfere with the film grain, so it doesn’t ruin the natural structure of the image.

Fortunately, content scaling performs quite well. The image is not overly sharpened, there is no artificial clarity – and while it’s known that this isn’t the level of high-end TVs, the U7Q has no problem displaying really old content in a completely acceptable manner.

With lower quality materials, such as YouTube videos or older television recordings, the QN80F can show both its strengths and weaknesses. If strange colour transitions or artefacts start to appear on the screen, it's worth reaching for the noise reduction feature. The best setting is at the "medium" level – it smooths out problematic segments while not blurring the entire image. However, one compromise must be kept in mind: this feature always removes film grain. If someone enjoys its presence in older productions, it's better to leave the reduction off, as regardless of the setting, the grain simply disappears.

Resolution scaling, or upscaling, is another strong point for Samsung. The QN80F may not be the best television on the market, but it performs very well in its price class, which is crucial for such a large size as a 100-inch screen. Even low-quality materials can gain a second life – the image becomes sharper, more readable, and overall, much more pleasant to view. A weak point remains overscan, which is slight cropping of edges in very low resolutions (e.g., 576p), something that has been a longstanding issue for Samsung. Fortunately, in everyday viewing of HD and 4K content, this is practically of no significance anymore.

U7Q is a truly fast TV, much like its more powerful version “PRO”. At 4K resolution, it supports up to 144 Hz refresh rate, and if someone wants even more – in Full HD, you can achieve up to 240 Hz! This will mainly benefit PC gamers, but it’s worth appreciating – it’s a rare feature in this price segment. Right from the start, it’s clear that the U7Q has been designed with dynamic content in mind, such as games or sports. In films, we’re not left “out in the cold” either – the U7Q offers an “Ultra Motion Smoothness” feature, where with two sliders, you can adjust whether you want a smoother, theatrical picture, or something closer to cinematic style with a visible frame. It’s good that, like most manufacturers, we have a choice here and can customise it to our own preferences.

QN80F features a 144 Hz panel, and this is evident in practice – with full refresh, the image is incredibly smooth, and motion blur remains at an acceptable, barely noticeable level. However, this mode is mainly aimed at PC gamers. The most important point of reference in everyday use remains the 120 Hz refresh rate, and here a certain crunch arises. During the UFO test, we noticed ghosting of rapidly moving objects – it looked as if the television had the BFI (Black Frame Insertion) feature permanently enabled, which in practice led to an unpleasant effect of double edges. We still don't know if this is a software issue or a peculiarity of this model, but in its current state, it's hard to commend such behaviour.

The Hisense U7Q is a TV designed with gamers in mind – and you can see that straight away with its gaming capabilities. It has practically everything you could wish for: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) – check, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) – check, and high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz in Full HD, along with support for various resolutions, not just 4K. It’s truly an impressive set of features that makes the U7Q perform well with both fast-paced shooters on consoles and more demanding titles on PC. Of course – like most Hisense models – it lacks a proper implementation of the HGiG feature. It’s a shame because HGiG allows the console's brightness to be adjusted to the specific TV, which in practice makes it easier to display HDR games according to the creators' intentions. Without this, you just have to deal with some limitations in the final HDR image in games.

Samsung QN80F gives the impression of a TV designed for gamers. On the list of advantages, we have a 144 Hz panel, four full-featured HDMI 2.1 ports, full support for VRR and ALLM, and one of the best-designed gamebars on the market. Additionally, there’s the Game Motion Plus motion smoother, which also works in games without actually increasing input lag, making the QN80F an absolute standout in this category. In practice, this means you can enjoy smoother visuals without losing responsiveness, which is a dream for many console gamers!

As is usual with Samsung, there’s no Dolby Vision in games, and that’s nothing new. However, we were much more surprised to find that in the models from 2025… the HGIG function has disappeared. This feature allowed consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to perfectly match HDR tone mapping to the TV's capabilities. In the current firmware, the QN80F simply doesn't have this option – it seems more like an oversight than a conscious decision by the manufacturer, but as of the day of testing, HGIG is not available. Due to this one absence, the QN80F shifts from an almost perfect TV for gamers to a device that is only "nearly" ideal. It's quite a pity because apart from that, Samsung has created a model that truly raises the bar in the gaming hardware segment.