Samsung Neo QLED QN70F / QN74F / QN77F vs Hisense U7Q PRO

QN70F is a television that can positively surprise when it comes to brightness. In ideal testing conditions, it reaches even 800 nits, which – for this price range – is a really solid value. Of course, that’s a result from test patterns, so we decided to check how it performs in practice, on real films. Here, the television somewhat tempers its capabilities. In most of the tested scenes – e.g. in "The Meg" – the actual HDR brightness remained around 500 nits. That’s still a decent result, allowing you to enjoy HDR effects, although it’s far from perfection. On the other hand, we have a QLED screen with a quantum dot layer, which means very good colour reproduction capabilities. Colours are vivid and saturated. QN70F covers about 94% of the DCI-P3 colour space, and in the wider BT.2020 palette, it exceeds 75%, so in this respect, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

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%.

We tested the QN70F in the best default picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. And it must be admitted that in this particular test unit, the factory settings performed quite well. The picture was calm, natural, and despite slight deviations – pleasant to watch. The biggest error was a slight dominance of red in the white balance, which caused a slight pinkish tint over the entire scene. However, it wasn't a glaring flaw – rather subtle and only noticeable when directly compared to a properly calibrated screen. A slightly bigger issue arose in the brightness characteristics. The TV tends to lower the brightness of parts of the image that should be displayed brighter. As a result, some details can appear slightly dimmed – they don't completely disappear, but they don't stand out as clearly as they should. Nonetheless, as for a TV in this range and in these settings – we consider the result a good starting point for further calibration.

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.

After calibration, the QN70F shows that it can offer a really high level of colour reproduction. It has managed to nearly perfectly balance the white point, and the values in the Color Checker test dropped below level 3 – that is, below the threshold at which the average eye can notice differences. The image looks natural, and the colours are faithfully reproduced, without excessive saturation or the coolness known from factory settings. It must be acknowledged that Samsung provides very extensive calibration options – not only for enthusiasts but also for professionals. The QN70F takes advantage of this potential and, after appropriate settings, can come close to significantly more expensive models in terms of colour accuracy. The only thing that could still be picked on is the brightness characteristic. There is still a tendency to brighten the smallest sections of the image – particularly those that should remain darker. However, this is a design feature of this model, not a calibration error. Despite this, the final result definitely deserves recognition.

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.

Samsung QN70F offers a distortion reduction feature that improves the smoothness of tonal transitions. In "Standard" mode, it works quite well – smoothing out problematic transitions without significantly interfering with the structure of the image. Film grain is partially removed, but details like texture and skin structure remain visible. "High" mode operates much more aggressively. The smoothing is stronger, but at the cost of a noticeable loss of detail. Therefore, in practice, we recommend sticking with the "Standard" setting or turning off this feature altogether. The improvement in gradation may be less spectacular, but the image retains more naturalness.

When it comes to upscaling low-quality content, the QN70F performs very well. Tests with lower resolution images went really well. Despite some slight aliasing of contours, everything looks clean and clear, even if the original content was very poor quality. It's just a pity that the television has an overscan issue that cannot be completely turned off. As a result, images with very low resolution may be slightly cropped, which is mainly noticeable on subtitles or the interface.

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.

The QN70F is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which in itself places it among the best when it comes to image smoothness. Whether we're watching fast-paced sports broadcasts or gaming on a console – the picture looks fantastic. There's no sense of stuttering, clipping, or the typical "judder" seen in lower-end models during fast motion. Samsung also allows you to adjust the smoothness to your own preferences. In the picture clarity settings, we find options such as motion blur reduction and judder reduction – each of which can be adjusted independently. This is especially useful when we are watching content with a lower frame rate and want to give it a smoother, more cinematic feel – or conversely, maintain the natural filmic "feel" of 24 frames.

“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.”

Samsung QN70F is a really solid choice for gamers. It features four HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps, which means full support for gaming in 4K at 144 Hz refresh rate. Plus, it has all the basic features we expect today: automatic game mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR), and a very well-designed, intuitive Game Bar that displays information about the mode, resolution, and frame rate.

The Game Motion Plus feature is also worth noting, as it allows for the addition of artificial frames to games running at 60 fps or less. It works surprisingly well and improves gameplay smoothness in many titles—especially in those where consoles struggle to maintain a stable frame rate—without significant latency.

Unfortunately, there are some drawbacks. The lack of support for Dolby Vision mode is not surprising—it’s a standard for Samsung. However, the absence of the HGiG feature is far more disappointing. Worse still, it was removed in a software update, which might catch users who previously relied on it off guard. Without HGiG, one cannot manually set the maximum HDR brightness from the console, resulting in some games looking slightly overexposed—especially if the TV misinterprets the tonal range. Why Samsung, a brand that has set the standards for gaming features for years, decided to take such a step is hard to say. At the time of writing this review, the tested TV was running on software version 1110—and frankly, if you care about full support for gamers, it’s better to hold off on updates for now.

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.