Hisense UR8S vs Samsung R85H / R86H

UR8S is a higher-end Mini-LED, so you could expect plenty of brightness. Indeed, on a synthetic test pattern peak brightness reached about 2200 nits. That’s a very good result, but as always what the TV does in normal film scenes matters much more. Here the results are a bit more mixed. In bright scenes with lots of light on screen, the UR8S can deliver very strong HDR. Brightness then gets up to around 1500 nits, so the image is very intense and has a lot of punch. It’s worse with small bright elements on a dark background. The TV noticeably dims them to preserve deep blacks and avoid excessive blooming. As a result, things like single stars or small specular highlights can be only around 200 nits. And here HDR is no longer as impressive. So the local dimming algorithm works effectively, but it comes at a cost — sometimes it sacrifices the brightness of small details too much in favour of contrast.

Colours

For RGB Mini-LED TVs, colours should be evaluated a little differently than usual. If we look only at the panel’s capabilities, the UR8S performs excellently. We measured about 94% coverage of BT.2020 and virtually full DCI-P3. Those are among the highest figures currently seen in LCD TVs, and this is where the potential of the RGB backlight is most apparent. The problem is that this potential isn’t always used in real scenes. When we ran the same measurements on patterns overlaid with a film-like background, saturation of some colours started to fall noticeably. Individual zones can’t always control the three RGB components with the same precision when the scene becomes more complex. It’s most noticeable with blue and magenta. On simple test patches they can look very strong, but in tougher scenes samples of those colours clearly shrink. In other words, the UR8S has huge potential, but the TV can’t always take full advantage of it in every scene.

When it comes to brightness, the R85H performs quite well. In most of our test scenes the TV reaches around 800–900 nits, and with larger bright elements it can exceed 1000 nits. These aren't, of course, on the level of the most expensive Mini-LEDs, but they're more than enough for watching films and TV series in HDR and the effect can be quite noticeable. The problem reappears in more demanding scenes, where there's a small bright element on a very dark background. Here the TV can greatly reduce its brightness to avoid lighting up too much of the screen. In our measurements such small highlights fell as low as around 200–250 nits, so it's clear that a limited number of local dimming zones combined with the specific behaviour of the algorithm has consequences here. Fortunately, it doesn't affect viewing all the time. In typical, mixed HDR scenes the R85H looks good and can provide good image dynamics. It's just that with very small points of light you shouldn't expect as strong an effect as on TVs with a much larger number of zones or on OLEDs.

For evaluating the factory colours we used Filmmaker mode, which is supposed to show the image as close as possible to how the content was prepared. And if you look at the white balance alone, the UR8S performs quite well. There’s no strong tint that immediately jumps out, although as brightness increases a bit too much blue and red start to appear, with a corresponding lack of green. Colour errors are therefore visible in measurements, but the image itself doesn’t look bad.

We have much bigger reservations about how the UR8S manages image brightness. In SDR the gamma stays around 1.9–2.0 for most of the range instead of the target 2.4. In practice this simply means the image is too bright, especially in the midtones. Shadows are lifted too much, so the picture loses some depth. A similar tendency is visible in HDR. The EOTF curve sits above the reference value for a large part of the range, so the UR8S again brightens the image more than it should. This isn’t a case of the TV lacking brightness, because it has plenty, but of how it manages that brightness. As a result, HDR material can look very striking, but not always exactly as it should.

In Filmmaker mode our R85H sample in SDR performed adequately, but a few issues immediately stood out in the measurements. In the white balance, as brightness increased more red was added while blue decreased. As a result, the brighter parts of the image had a slightly too-warm tint. Gamma only held the target value at the start. It then gradually fell, which left most of the image a little too bright. The combination of these two factors also affected the colours, with errors growing particularly in the brighter and more saturated samples. It did not look bad, but for Filmmaker mode we expected a bit more accuracy. Interestingly, our sample fared noticeably better in HDR. The white balance was much more even and the individual components stayed close to one another across most of the range. Only in the brightest parts did red start to be lacking, causing white to shift subtly. The EOTF curve looked very good, tracking the target luminance across almost the entire range. That does not mean HDR colours were perfect. The Colour Checker still shows some deviations, especially for some of the more saturated colours, but the errors are clearly smaller than in SDR.

Hisense offers quite a lot of calibration options, and in SDR you can achieve a really good result with them. After adjustment the white balance is practically even across the whole range, and colour errors fall to very low values. The UR8S can be set very precisely here. HDR looks a little different. The white balance can also be noticeably improved, although at the highest brightness levels larger deviations start to appear. Most interesting, however, is the behaviour of the EOTF curve. Even after correctly setting it on test patterns, the UR8S can still interpret brightness in its own way when watching films. Depending on the scene, parts of the picture are slightly brightened and others darkened compared with how they should look. This shows that the algorithms controlling the backlight have quite a large influence on the final image. Calibration therefore allows colours to be improved very well, but we are not able to completely 'turn off' the way the UR8S manages brightness in HDR.

After calibration the R85H shows it has really substantial colour reproduction capabilities. SDR performed best: white balance could be brought almost perfectly into line, and gamma stays very close to the target value across most of the range. That also translated into very low errors in the ColorChecker, so there's really little to criticise here. HDR also shows a clear improvement, although some issues can't be corrected as well. At the highest brightness levels the character of the backlight itself becomes apparent and the individual components of the white balance begin to diverge. The same applies to the most saturated colours, which don't always land exactly where they should. Despite these limitations the overall picture is considerably more accurate than factory settings, and the biggest difference is definitely visible in SDR. However, there is one thing calibration can't fix. With heavily saturated elements the colour can slightly bleed onto adjacent bright areas of the image. It's easiest to notice on white, which can pick up a faint tint of a neighbouring hue. It doesn't occur in every scene, but when the material is demanding the effect can be visible. This is more a feature of the way the RGB backlight operates than an issue with picture settings.

The big plus of the UR8S is its use of the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor, and digital image processing is one of this model’s stronger points. The TV handles smoothing tonal transitions very well, especially with poorer-quality material. The feature responsible for this effect works effectively without overprocessing the picture. Even on a medium setting it can noticeably reduce visible banding and artefacts without heavily blurring details. Upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges look natural, and the image isn’t over-sharpened. The UR8S simply copes very well with weaker signals, and in that respect it’s one of its clear strengths.

In the R85H, image processing is handled by the Micro RGB AI Processor. The name is new, but when it comes to upscaling lower-quality sources, the TV's behaviour is very similar to what Samsung has shown before. And that's not a bad thing, because Samsung has handled this aspect quite well for years. Lower-resolution material is displayed cleanly, edges don't become overly soft, and the TV doesn't try to artificially extract detail at all costs. The result is simply balanced, and for regular TV or older recordings the R85H performs as you'd expect from Samsung at this level. There's still a small downside: overscan, which can't be completely switched off at the lowest resolutions. Another matter is the extra processing applied to low-quality sources. The R85H can smooth posterization and tidy up heavily compressed footage, but it's worth emphasising that it does so relatively aggressively. At stronger noise reduction settings it starts removing not only compression artefacts but also fine detail and the natural film grain. So it's best to use it only when the source actually needs it.

The UR8S is equipped with a panel that has a native 180 Hz refresh rate, so right away it offers very strong potential for smooth motion. The panel itself performs really well, although some limitations typical of VA panels are still visible. Smearing is relatively low for this type of screen, but during faster motion, especially on darker backgrounds, it can still be noticed, particularly if you compare the same image to OLED TVs.

R85H has a 144 Hz panel, so motion handling is really good here. You should remember that the extra hertz above 120 will mainly be used when connected to a computer, so in this category we don't treat them as any particular advantage. For films and TV, what's more important is that the panel is fast enough to provide access to an advanced motion smoothing feature, "Motion Clarity", which lets us set motion from more film-like to very smooth. The panel's response time is a bit worse. Since it's a VA panel, fast-moving objects can leave a slight trail. On a bright background this isn't very noticeable, but the darker the scene, the more noticeable the smearing becomes. This is a typical characteristic of this type of panel and it's easiest to spot in dark scenes.

In terms of gamer features the UR8S stacks up really well. The TV supports virtually everything you'd expect from a modern console or PC display. It has ALLM, VRR, and 4K at 120 Hz. There's also Dolby Vision in game mode, so when using, for example, an Xbox Series X you don't have to give up that HDR format. PC gamers get even more options. The panel can run at 4K and 180 Hz, and dropping to Full HD can push the refresh rate as high as 330 Hz. There's also a Game Bar that lets you quickly view key info and change gaming-related settings. The only real shortcoming is a proper implementation of HGiG. When enabled, the TV still interferes with HDR brightness mapping, so we don't get the effect intended by that standard. Apart from that, the UR8S is very well equipped for both consoles and a powerful PC.

Samsung has been steadily expanding its gamer features for several years, and the R85H really doesn't lack anything important. The TV supports 4K at 120 Hz, VRR and ALLM, so it can easily make full use of the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. HGiG also works properly, so when HDR is set correctly on the console, games maintain their intended brightness and you don't unnecessarily lose detail in the brightest parts of the image. The only bigger omission is Dolby Vision Gaming, which Samsung doesn't support on any of its TVs.

The Game Bar is also very useful, a handy menu you can bring up without leaving the game. You can quickly check the frame rate, VRR status or change the key picture settings. Samsung also includes a few less obvious features, like the ability to change the aspect ratio or Game Motion Plus, which can further smooth games running at 30 or 60 fps. Of course this comes at the cost of higher input lag (around 55 ms), but for slower-paced titles it may be an interesting option for some.