Samsung QN85F vs Hisense E7Q PRO / E79Q PRO

Although more than twice the number of dimming zones compared to its predecessor did not result in a spectacular leap in black levels and contrast, we definitely felt it in the HDR effect itself. The QN85F is up to 50% brighter than last year's model and it makes a huge impression in dynamic scenes. Peak brightness can reach almost 1700–1800 nits, which is an impressively high result for this Mini-LED class. The best part is that almost regardless of the scene being watched, the HDR effect remains strong and vibrant. In four out of five test scenes, brightness was maintained around 1000 nits, a level that in most cases allows the viewer to feel the true magic of this format. Of course, in scene number 4 from the film Sicario 2, the limitations of Mini-LED technology become apparent – the brightness of the helicopter's subtle light drops to around 500 nits. This isn't an outstanding result, but it is still much more acceptable than last year's model. Samsung deserves applause for the dramatic improvement in brightness with the QN85F compared to its predecessor. However, there's a certain trend visible in this year's televisions – the manufacturer has worsened colour gamut coverage. Although the QN85F has a QLED panel, its result at around 90% DCI-P3 is average, and in the most demanding films, it may lead to less vibrant colours than its predecessor. Despite this drawback, the overall HDR effect is at an excellent level and truly makes a big impression in this class of devices.

When it comes to HDR effect quality, the E7Q PRO unfortunately is not a television that impresses with brightness alone. In real film materials, we measured around 250–300 nits, which is simply not enough for HDR to look spectacular. There's a lack of that "spark" in bright details, flashes, and light effects, and in many HDR scenes, it can resemble more of a good SDR than true cinematic HDR. The silver lining in all this is the colours. We managed to confirm that the E7Q PRO is a PFS type television, which means it has an additional filter that improves colour gamut coverage. Because of this, even if the brightness doesn't deliver, the colours in HDR content can be properly saturated and pleasing to the eye, without the impression of a "washed-out" image.

Samsung QN85F offers several preset picture modes, but out of the box, the television starts in 'Eco' mode. We could almost end the discussion here, as using this setting on such a model makes little sense – the picture is washed out, unpleasant, and far from what we expect from a television of this class. Therefore, we conducted our tests in the best available mode, which is Filmmaker mode. Its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the directors saw during filming, and indeed, it is the setting that performs best among all factory options. However, this doesn't mean it's free from flaws.

Both in SDR and HDR, the QN85F prominently highlighted warm colours. This was due to a lack of white balance, where the blue colour was noticeably absent. Additionally, the image was sometimes overexposed – both the gamma brightness characteristic and the EOTF curve indicated that the television has a tendency to blow out scenes. In SDR, colour reproduction errors (Delta E around 4–5) were still acceptable, but in HDR, the inaccuracies became quite significant and clearly deviated from what the creators intended to show us. Fortunately, Samsung provides a wide range of calibration tools in its televisions, so – as always – we proceeded with professional calibration to see how much could be improved.

In terms of colour reproduction, we tested the Hisense E7Q Pro in Movie mode, which undoubtedly turned out to be the best built-in preset. It is this mode, unlike the Eco, Standard, or Dynamic settings, that offers the most natural colours straight out of the box. While no factory mode is completely free of flaws, the E7Q Pro deserves high praise for its colour rendition in standard SDR content. The colour palette has been very well tuned, and errors in the Color Checker tests often did not exceed a value of 3, which is an outstanding result rarely seen in such affordable TVs. The only drawback we noted in SDR is the tendency to darken certain elements of the image, as indicated by a slightly raised gamma curve. The TV performs slightly worse with colours in HDR mode. Here, colour errors become noticeable to the naked eye, mainly due to a deficiency of blue in the white balance. This causes the colours on screen to appear too warm, and for some viewers, they may seem almost "too cinematic." Of course, to improve these parameters, we proceeded with professional calibration.

After calibrating the movie mode, we managed to tame the colours in both modes almost to perfection – most of them did not exceed an error value of 3, which is the threshold of perceivability by the human eye. The image became more natural, fuller, and at the same time free of the overexposure that was noticeable right after taking the television out of the box. This demonstrates the significant potential that lies within the QN85F and how well it responds to precise settings. However, this does not change the fact that certain technological barriers cannot be overcome. Despite the enormous benefits of calibration, there are still limitations to the panel itself. Although the number of dimming zones has doubled compared to its predecessor, the algorithms controlling the backlighting can manipulate brightness in their own way. Sometimes this leads to slight colour inaccuracies or subtly visible halo effects around bright objects. Nonetheless, the viewing experience after calibration is really enjoyable and shows how good a screen the QN85F can be if we just take a moment for the right settings.

In the case of materials with standard dynamic range (SDR), our actions in Filmmaker mode turned out to be largely cosmetic 😉. We mainly focused on a subtle adjustment of the white balance and equalising the gamma curve, which allowed us to recover details in the darker areas of the image that previously tended to get lost. However, it's worth noting that the E7Q Pro unit we tested happened to be exceptionally well-made from the factory. We remind you that these parameters depend on the specific unit – with mass production, factory calibration can be random, so your unit may require slightly different adjustments. The biggest beneficiary of professional calibration was undoubtedly HDR mode. This is where we did the most work, which brought spectacular results. We successfully tamed the excessive warmth of the image, caused by a factory shortfall in blue colour. After calibration, colour errors were reduced to a significantly lower level, which will certainly please those watching a lot of streaming content in HDR format, expecting faithful reproduction.

Although the native tonal transitions on the QN85F perform excellently with 4K content, we don't always have to deal with the highest resolution material. This is where how the TV handles upscaling and digital image processing becomes crucial. This process is managed by Samsung's proprietary processor – AI NQ4 Gen2. In practice, it works very effectively. If visible colour banding or other undesirable phenomena appear on the screen, for instance with content from YouTube, they can easily be smoothed out using the "noise reduction" feature. Set to medium, it improves tonal transitions while not overly blurring desired details. However, it should be noted that – like in most Samsung TVs – this feature heavily interferes with film grain. Therefore, during movie screenings, it’s wise to use it cautiously to avoid losing the natural character of the image.

The upscaling itself looks very good. Test materials in lower resolutions were displayed sharply and clearly, with a lot of details. The only drawback remains the issue with overscan, which cuts off the edges of the screen. In most situations, this isn't noticeable, but with very old materials below HD quality, there may be instances where a fragment of the image from the left side gets slightly cut off.

When it comes to upscaling and digital image processing, the E7Q PRO deserves praise. The scaling performs really well here and doesn't fall dramatically short of much more expensive, advanced TVs. Lower quality materials can look clear and reasonable, without the impression that the image is artificially "overdrawn." The smoothing function, however, presents a bit worse. Yes, it can be effective and improve tonal transitions in low-quality materials, but at the same time, it can introduce unwanted effects. Sometimes it removes film grain or adds unwanted artifacts, giving the image a more "digital" character. Therefore, we mainly recommend it to those who prefer a smoother, less cinematic image style.

Motion blur and fluidity of movement in the QN85F is a topic worth discussing further because the TV is equipped not with a standard 120 Hz panel but with a 144 Hz one. The extra hertz will mainly be appreciated by PC gamers, but the very fact of having such an option can be seen as a nice addition and a sign of the times – it's hard to complain about the trend of faster panels since in practice, each of us would like the picture to be as smooth as possible. However, the most important thing is how the TV performs with typical 120 Hz refresh rates – in the case of consoles, sports, or films recorded at 24 or 30 frames per second. And here, the QN85F performs really well. In films, you can easily adjust the character of the picture thanks to the "image clarity" feature, where you'll find two control sliders. Key in the case of screenings is the one responsible for reducing motion judder. Lower values give the image a more cinematic character with preserved "frame-ness," while higher values lead to strong smoothing, reminiscent of television theatre.

In the category of motion blur and fluidity, the E7Q PRO has one very strong argument. At this price, Hisense has added a 120 Hz panel, and in PC mode, it can even operate at 144 Hz. This immediately provides greater possibilities in motion settings, as more options for smoothing the image appear in the menu. Among other things, we have frame interpolation options, allowing us to adjust the fluidity for sports or movies, depending on whether we prefer a more cinematic character or a "theatrical" smoothness.

Samsung QN85F makes a really great impression in terms of features for gamers. It has four HDMI 2.1 ports, so we can easily connect several devices at the same time. There's also Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to prevent screen tearing, as well as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), which allows the TV to automatically switch to the appropriate settings when we start the console. Additionally, it supports refresh rates of up to 144 Hz – something that PC gamers will particularly appreciate, but the very fact that such an option is available shows that Samsung is committed to full support for gamers. The Game Bar panel also deserves praise. It provides a quick overview of the most important parameters – from frame count to refresh rate mode, and even shortcuts to picture settings. Instead of digging through the entire menu, everything is at our fingertips, which proves to be really convenient in practice. However, the most interesting addition is the Game Motion Plus feature. It is nothing more than motion smoothing, adapted for the gaming world. When it’s turned on, the image becomes smoother, sometimes looking as if we’re getting several more frames, and importantly – the response delay doesn’t increase enough to interfere with gameplay. This is a solution that truly sets Samsung's 120Hz TVs apart from the competition.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the crucial gaming feature HGiG.

The only significant downside remains the lack of proper support for HGiG. This is a standard responsible for accurate tone mapping in HDR games, ensuring that brightness and contrast are displayed as intended by the creators. Without HGiG, we have to set brightness manually, which doesn’t always yield perfect results. This feature was available in previous models, but disappeared from the QN85F after one of the updates. We hope that Samsung will quickly fix this issue, and we will be monitoring to see if they succeed.

E7Q PRO is a phenomenal screen for gamers. Besides the typical "issue" with Hisense, which is the lack of support for the HGiG format due to constantly active tone mapping, we get practically everything one could expect from a TV that is supposed to have a gaming tag. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, along with a full set of key features. We have variable refresh rate, automatic switching to game mode, and support for 4K at 120 Hz. On top of that, all the important settings are at hand in the clear Game Bar. This tool not only looks modern, but it also has a typically "gaming" edge and actually makes life easier while gaming.