Hisense U7Q vs TCL P89K / TCL P8K

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.

The maximum brightness of the TCL P8K peaks at around 300 nits, although in real film scenes the television typically maintains closer to 250 nits. These are values that cannot be considered sufficient to achieve a true HDR effect – they are more aligned with a solid base for SDR content. Therefore, we won’t see spectacular flashes, bursts of light, or moments where the screen actually “blinds” as is the case with more expensive models. The image is consequently a bit flat, and the differences between light and shadow – more symbolic than realistic. Fortunately, TCL has a few aces up its sleeve that save the overall impression. One of these is the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at around 93-94%. Thanks to an additional QLED layer (PFS LED), colours gain depth and intensity, clearly surpassing standard LCD panels. As a result, while the typical “wow effect” associated with HDR brightness is lacking, the image itself can impress with its richness and vibrant tones, making the film scenes pulse with colour and not appear significantly washed out.

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.

In Filmmaker mode, the TCL P8K revealed certain imperfections in image reproduction from the start. We noticed that the TV had a tendency to slightly brighten scenes – its gamma was somewhat lowered, which made the image appear softly "washed out," lacking depth, as if the contrast had slipped out of control. This was most noticeable in HDR content, where the EOTF brightness curve clearly deviated from reference values. As a result, darker areas of the image looked too gloomy, and brighter ones did not always reach the correct level of luminance. The second noticeable issue was a slight blue overdrive – the TV stubbornly boosted this colour, causing some parts of the image, especially skin tones and reds, to have a slight purple tint. It is not a major flaw, but to a discerning eye – noticeable. Fortunately, most of these errors could be adjusted during calibration. You can see the results of this calibration in the charts and photos below.

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 calibration, the TCL P8K revealed a completely different side. It managed to achieve nearly perfect, even reference-level colour reproduction for both SDR and HDR content. The screen no longer had a tendency towards a cool tint, and the white balance was perfectly aligned. The gamma values for SDR materials finally look as they should – the image has the right depth and no longer appears washed out. The only concern that can still be raised about the P8K pertains to its "Chinese" traits, known from most TCL models. The TV still likes to manipulate saturation in HDR content in its own way – sometimes it gently boosts it, other times it smooths it out, making the effect not always fully predictable. Nevertheless, after calibration, the colours look stunning, and their accuracy is truly impressive. In most cases, measurement errors dropped below values of 1–2, which is a performance that much more expensive models would not be ashamed of.

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.

The TCL P8K performs somewhat weaker when it comes to the fluidity of tonal transitions in lower quality materials. The television does offer a feature to smooth out unwanted bands, but its effectiveness leaves a lot to be desired. Even at the highest setting, it's hard to speak of a real improvement—at times, the effect is even opposite to what was intended, as the feature can introduce small artifacts and unnatural blurring on the screen.

On the other hand, the upscaling, which involves scaling the image to 4K resolution, looks definitely better. The P8K handles this task surprisingly well—HD content, and even SD, is enhanced in an aesthetically pleasing way without excessive loss of sharpness. There are indeed slight “hard” edges typical of this class of equipment, but this can be easily adjusted using the sharpness slider according to personal preferences. The final effect is more than satisfying, especially considering the price range this model is in.

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.

TCL P8K is one of the cheapest televisions offering a 144 Hz refresh rate, which in itself is a significant advantage in this price segment. Thanks to the fast panel, this model can confidently be recommended to both sports fans and gamers – the image is smooth, and the movements of the ball or dynamic actions look natural. However, this does not mean that the P8K is suitable only for sports. On the contrary – it can also maintain the right dynamics in movies without introducing an artificial 'theatrical' effect, as long as the settings are adjusted thoughtfully. The television is equipped with a motion smoother called 'Motion Clarity', which features two sliders: blur reduction and flicker reduction. The first is responsible for smoothing the image by generating additional frames, which increases fluidity but can cause a slight soap opera effect. The second, on the other hand, reduces flicker and improves sharpness in motion, although it may slightly dim the screen. Properly adjusting these two parameters allows for a truly good balance between natural motion and fluidity. The 60 Hz screen is good for dynamic content, though more discerning users will notice that it is not a top-tier panel in terms of motion clarity.

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.

Although the TCL P8K is a budget television, it absolutely cannot be said that it is unsuitable for gaming. On the contrary – this screen can pleasantly surprise any gamer. On board, we find two HDMI 2.1 ports, which allow us to effortlessly send a 4K image at 120 Hz. If someone plays on PC, they will also be pleased to know that the television can operate even with a refresh rate of 240 Hz at a lower resolution – a small thing, but it’s appreciated. Additionally, there is a full set of gaming-specific features: automatic game mode, a Game Bar with quick parameter previews, VRR, HGiG, and support for Dolby Vision in games. All of this makes gaming on the P8K a truly enjoyable experience – the image is smooth, the response is quick, and the television works well with next-gen consoles. The TCL P8K shows that a cheap screen doesn't have to mean giving up on fun. Definitely not when it comes to gaming.