Samsung QLED Q70D / Q74D / Q77D vs Hisense UR8S

The brightness that the Samsung Q70D can offer is at a rather average level, although it cannot be said that the HDR effect will not be noticeable. Any brightness above 400 nits allows for a clear distinction between SDR and HDR content. As was the case in the paragraph about contrast and black levels, we can also observe here that the first scene, featuring a bright sunny sky and a darker foreground, has the lowest luminance of those measured. The result, which can be considered very good for this price range and display class, is that one. In a scene where we see a large light source filling a significant portion of the frame, the brightness of the TV is at its highest, reaching nearly 500 nits. However, it is worth noting the rather low coverage of the wide DCI-P3 colour gamut, which sometimes results in noticeable shortcomings in the colour reproduction. Additionally, users can enjoy rich colours and high precision in rendering shades, making movie screenings a unique experience. It is also worth mentioning that the Q70D Samsung panel performs excellently in eliminating blur during dynamic action scenes, which enhances the viewing comfort of sports broadcasts or games.

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.

The best factory mode in Samsung Q70D is "Filmmaker," and it was this mode that we used during all our tests. Before the calibration process, it had several flaws that effectively hindered the presentation of the director's intentions. In both SDR and HDR material, the white balance was dominated by red and green colours. As a result, there was a characteristic yellow tint on the image, which caused whites to appear yellowed and skin tones to be noticeably too warm. The reduced gamma in standard colour palette materials caused a significant drop in contrast, which was already not the highest. This led to the highlighting of details in the blacks, but also to clipping in brighter scenes. In this case, the EOTF curve proved to be much better and only brightened those scenes with quite low luminance. This was clearly visible in the section where we measured the maximum brightness of the television in HDR materials. At that time, a shot from the film "Billy Lynn" appeared unnaturally bright and lacking depth.

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.

Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in all its TVs, including 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments and advanced CMS. As a result, we were able to significantly improve the quality of SDR and HDR content. The vast majority of errors have been corrected, and the image that the Samsung Q70D now delivers is definitely much closer to the reference. Higher deltaE errors in wide dynamic range content primarily result from the display's insufficient luminance.

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.

The function responsible for improving gradation is named "Noise Reduction" in the menu. As we have confirmed, it is worth enabling as it has a beneficial impact on tonal transitions. More importantly, it does not negatively affect film grain or fine details, which sometimes the competition "offers" us.

The image scaling on Samsung Q70D should be rated as average. The manufacturer does not aim to artificially sharpen the image, but rather to keep it naturally softened.

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.

Samsung Q70D is the first model in the manufacturer's portfolio with a 120Hz panel. As a result, its motion smoothing features are more advanced than those in lower-tier models. In the menu, we find three functions responsible for improving fluidity. They are "Blur Reduction," "Judder Reduction," and "Clear Motion (LED)." We'll discuss the third one later. The first function enhances sharpness in motion, while the second adjusts the level of smoothing. The smoothness enhancer in Samsung Q70D works satisfactorily, and each setting makes a noticeable difference. Therefore, those who dislike the characteristic stuttering of films or who passionately watch sports will be able to achieve their preferred level of smoothness. In the image, we present a setting with slight smoothing, without the soap opera effect.

The panel used in Samsung Q70D has a fairly good response time for this type of display. Of course, it won't deliver an image as sharp as a proverbial razor, but at this price point, it is a recommended choice for all kinds of sports.

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.

The tested television is equipped with four HDMI 2.1 ports. Interestingly, all of them have a bandwidth of 40 Gbps; however, during the testing process, we did not observe any negative effects associated with this situation. More importantly, Samsung Q70D supports all features stemming from the aforementioned standard. This news will surely delight all gamers, as it means that whether using a console or a PC, we can expect the highest possible comfort during gameplay. Given the standard absence of Dolby Vision HDR for this manufacturer, it is significant that the HGIG mode has been implemented correctly and there are no issues with setting up the calibration chessboard. We particularly note that Samsung is the only manufacturer to allow gaming with the smoothness enhancer switched on, without significant degradation. This means that titles running at 30 fps will be perceived like those with native 60 frames per second.

Samsung, as one of the first manufacturers, introduced the Game Bar to its televisions, which has since been consistently refined. It contains all the necessary information regarding gameplay parameters that we can change "on the fly".

In summary: Samsung Q70D will perform excellently both with consoles and with computers. All functions worked brilliantly, and there were no issues with them. The ability to enable the smoothness enhancer without significant increases in input lag is a true gamechanger.

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.