LG QNED86A / QNED85A / QNED87A vs Hisense U7S / U77SE

Against the backdrop of contrast and black, the brightness of the QNED86A and the overall HDR effect fare much better. It's a television that can achieve around 700 nits under the best conditions, so in terms of luminance alone, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. As a result, scenes with strong lights, explosions, flashes, or bright parts of the landscape – look clear and can make an impression. Interestingly, even in tougher moments with small, contrasting elements on the screen, the television does well with backlighting and details are quite visible. The problem arises when there are many dark tones. The lack of effective local dimming means that black virtually disappears, and instead, we get a grey glow spreading across the entire screen. This kills the depth effect and causes the image to appear flat, as if it lacks cinematic character. In bright animations or family films with vibrant colours, this won't be an issue, as the colours and bright light dominate. But in horror films or productions set in darkness, these limitations are strongly felt. As a consolation, it’s worth noting that the QNED86A is essentially a QLED television with an LED PFS filter, which gives it very good coverage of wide colour gamuts. Both the DCI-P3 palette and the wider BT.2020 perform solidly here. This means that colours in HDR films are saturated, juicy, and have the right depth – even if the black itself is disappointing, the colours can save the viewing experience and make the image look appealing.

The Hisense U7S has considerable HDR potential, but it can’t make full use of it in every scene. On a test pattern it reaches about 1100 nits, so the backlight is genuinely strong. In our brighter film scenes we measured around 640 to 745 nits. That’s still enough for the sun or bright highlights to have a distinct bloom and to show an advantage over SDR material. When the TV needs to light a larger portion of the image, it handles it quite well.

The problem appears with small lights on a dark background. Each of the 192 zones covers an area considerably larger than a tiny point on the screen. If the TV were to drive such a zone strongly, it would brighten the surrounding area along with the light. Hisense tries to avoid that and dims the whole zone. Blacks look better as a result, but a small bright object that should draw the eye also loses intensity. That’s why in two tougher scenes we recorded only 297 and 154 nits. The difference is large: in one shot HDR can impress, and in the next small highlights are noticeably muted. The U7S therefore prioritises keeping deep blacks, even at the expense of bright details. With this number of zones it’s an understandable compromise, but it’s worth remembering that the peak 1100 nits tells us about the backlight’s capability, not how brightly the TV will show every element of a film.

Colours

Hisense markets the U7S as ULED, but that’s a marketing name; the wider colour gamut here is achieved by a PFS phosphor backlight. In our measurements the TV covered about 91% of the DCI-P3 space and 71% of BT.2020. Those are good results, though a little short of the best screens on the market. The biggest shortfall is in green — the TV doesn’t even reach the DCI-P3 boundary there, so the most intense green hues will be less saturated than they should be. Most colours in HDR films and series still look suitably vivid, however. A positive is the repeatability of the results: gamut coverage on test patterns and in film scenes is practically identical.

We primarily tested the QNED86A in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to provide the most faithful picture. Unfortunately, right out of the box, there were quite a few shortcomings. The most glaring issue was the poorly calibrated white balance – there was a lack of blue, which caused the overall image to take on a slightly yellowish, and sometimes even an orange hue. An even bigger problem was the way the television manages brightness. Due to its technical limitations – that is, local dimming functioning only along the edges of the screen – the QNED86A has a tendency to oversaturate entire scenes. This is where the flattening of the image that we mentioned earlier comes from. Instead of clear depth and contrast, we get something akin to "boosted brightness," which, in the long run, can strain the eyes.

Factory colours on the Hisense U7S are decent, but there are a few things to fix. In SDR the white balance favours red, so the image looks too warm, in places with a slightly pink tint. You can see this on faces and bright, neutral surfaces. Gamma also runs below the target, so the TV brightens the image, especially in darker areas. That makes it easier to see shadow detail, but the scene loses some of its depth.

In HDR the white balance is a bit more even, but not completely neutral, with midtones lacking blue and the brightest parts lacking red. A bigger problem is the way brightness is reproduced. The EOTF curve shows that a large portion of the midtones is boosted, making the image appear brighter than the source material intends. Color Checker measurements also fare worse than in SDR: many errors are around 3 to 4, and individual ones reach as high as 8. Colours can therefore look attractive, but they're not always faithful to what we should be seeing. There’s room for improvement and we’ll see how much can be corrected with calibration.

What was saved in the QNED86A6A is undoubtedly the colours. After calibration, the white balance was set with great precision, ensuring that deviations on the Colour Checker palette mostly did not exceed the visibility threshold for the human eye. In other words – the colours finally looked natural, without strange yellow or orange tones that had previously marred the perception. Unfortunately, even the best calibration cannot overcome structural limitations. The already mentioned very modest number of local dimming zones and their unfortunate placement meant that the analysis of the EOTF curve in films still showed noticeable scene over-exposures. The image tended to flatten, lacking cinematic depth. Fortunately, this effect is not as visible in older productions or in SDR content. There, calibration really does its job and allows the QNED to be tamed so the image can be pleasing. However, the specifics of this construction – especially the contrast issues – cannot be completely bypassed.

Calibrating the Hisense U7S did the most for SDR content. We managed to even out the white balance, so the earlier warm tint is gone and whites and greys look neutral. Gamma now sits very close to the reference, so the TV no longer brightens the image unnecessarily and darker scenes have regained depth. Color Checker measurements confirm the improvement: most errors are below 2. For watching regular TV and SDR films, this delivers a really well calibrated picture. Calibration in HDR wasn’t as smooth. The TV lacks an effective way to correct the EOTF curve, so Hisense still interprets the film’s brightness a bit on its own. It brightens parts of the image and, depending on the scene and local dimming, can tone down the brightest elements. That couldn’t be eliminated by calibration. This also shows up in the Color Checker results, where many errors remain around 3–4 and some exceed 7. In SDR the result is therefore very good, but in HDR we have to accept that the TV adds its own interpretation of brightness to the image.

If someone is worried about potential "steps" when blending colours, the QNED86A has a simple solution for that. Just turn on the feature called Smooth Gradation and set it to the medium level. Then the TV really smooths out all those unwanted transitions – especially in older productions – and it does so in a way that the film grain doesn’t disappear, nor do any strange artefacts appear. In other words, you can use it without any worries.

The upscaling itself also turns out quite well. Of course, there are no miracles here – with poorer quality sources, you can notice characteristic jagged edges. Fortunately, there is a sharpness slider in the menu, and if someone prefers a more "soft" image, it can be quickly adjusted to their own taste.

The processing of lower-quality material in the Hisense U7S is fairly average. The Pentonic 700 chipset used here doesn't cope particularly well with the effects of heavy compression. There's a "Smooth and Gradient Picture" function in the menu, but its performance leaves a lot to be desired. At the low setting it's hard to see any improvement in tonal transitions, though at least the picture doesn't suffer. Medium and high settings still don't remove visible banding between tones and begin to blur details; in our clips parts of characters' faces even vanished. Interestingly, film grain remains untouched at every level. If you do use this function, stick to the low setting. Its current performance needs refinement, but that's mainly down to the processor used here.

Upscaling to 4K performs much better. Lower-resolution content gains clarity, edges are well reproduced and fine details look sharp. That doesn't mean the TV can recover details that weren't in the recording, but it makes good use of what's provided by the source. Another plus is the lack of edge cropping, even with an SD signal.

QNED86A has been equipped with a 120 Hz refresh rate panel, so right from the start, it can be said to be suitable for both sports and gaming. And indeed it is – the picture looks smooth, and motion blur isn’t too much of an issue. IPS panels have always had a bit of a problem with this, and here too you can sometimes notice slight blurring, especially in very dynamic scenes, but it’s not something that ruins watching a match or a fast-paced game. For cinema and sports fans, LG has included the traditional TruMotion smoothing feature. In the menu, we have two sliders – one for movies (De-Judder), and the other for sports (De-Blur). The first adds missing frames and allows you to adjust the character of motion – from raw, cinematic to a more fluid, “theatrical” feel. The second improves sharpness during dynamic actions, so it’s worth turning it up a bit if you watch a lot of sports.

Motion handling on the Hisense U7S is decent thanks to its 144 Hz refresh rate. For films there's also a motion smoothing option with adjustable judder and blur reduction. You can keep a more cinematic feel to motion or increase smoothness if choppy camera pans bother you. High refresh is also useful for sport and gaming, but unfortunately it doesn't solve the panel's biggest problem.

The issue is pixel response time. Fast-moving objects leave long, distinct trails, as our UFO test shows. It's worst on dark backgrounds, where the trail is particularly pronounced. So motion can be smooth, but the moving object loses sharpness, and that difference on the U7S is fairly easy to spot.

When it comes to gaming, the LG QNED86A6A is a complete tool. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, which means that whether you connect a PlayStation 5, an Xbox Series X, or a powerful PC – everything will work in full 4K at 120 Hz with support for all functions. This is a significant advantage, as some competitors still only feature two such ports, which can be troublesome when dealing with multiple devices. It also includes VRR, or variable refresh rate, which eliminates screen tearing, and ALLM, which automatically activates game mode when the console powers on. Dolby Vision Gaming is included as well, alongside proper implementation of the HGiG format, so titles that support these formats look livelier and more detailed. Additionally, there's the Game Optimizer – a kind of control centre for gamers. From this interface, you can view image parameters in real time, quickly switch modes, activate additional features, or adjust picture settings to your own preferences. The LG QNED86A6A has basically everything you would expect from a modern gaming television.

The Hisense U7S has plenty to offer gamers. You get two HDMI 2.1 ports and support for 120 Hz in Full HD, 1440p and 4K, so modern consoles’ capabilities are well utilised. When connected to a PC you can use 144 Hz at 4K or switch the resolution to Full HD and run 240 Hz. So there’s a lot of choice, although it’s worth remembering the motion smearing mentioned earlier, which the high refresh rate doesn’t eliminate. VRR and ALLM are present as well. VRR helps keep the picture tear-free when a game’s frame rate changes. ALLM automatically switches the TV into game mode, so you don’t have to go into the menu each time. VRR works from 48 to 240 Hz, with the highest refresh rate available in Full HD. Xbox users can also play in Dolby Vision at 120 Hz. Importantly, that format does not cause significant input lag here. The Game Bar also looks great. It’s clear and attractive, and lets you quickly check what signal the TV is receiving. Handy gaming settings are close to hand too, including shadow brightening. If it’s hard to spot an opponent in a dark game, you can improve visibility without digging through the whole menu.

Our biggest complaint is HGiG. Hisense keeps doing its own tone mapping, which makes setting up HDR on the console confusing. You adjust the checkerboard pattern, and the TV continually alters its appearance. As a result, the point at which the pattern disappears does not correctly indicate the display’s brightness limit, and it’s easy to set the value too high. For this model it’s better to set the target HDR brightness on the console to around 900 to 1000 nits, rather than rely on the configurator.