Samsung S85F (WOLED) vs Hisense U7S Pro

For most of the time, let's say in 90% of film scenes, viewers will hardly see any difference between the S85F versions. When small but very bright light points appear on screen – a lantern in a dark alley, a gunshot, the sun breaking through the clouds – this WOLED panel (just like the smaller S85F) performs exceptionally well. Our measurements showed a peak brightness of around 750 nits. We can confidently state: this is a great result that guarantees fantastic HDR effects. The problem arises in a very specific, uncomfortable situation for any OLED. We're talking about the moment when the entire screen has to shine at full brightness clearly. Examples include a white background screen, a skiing scene, or our test sequences (5) from the film The Meg. And here, unfortunately, the results diverge quite significantly against the WOLED panel variant. Our measurement equipment was able to measure a maximum of around 250 to 300 nits of brightness under such conditions. To be clear: the same model on a QD-OLED panel in the same test is almost twice as bright. The second issue: colours. And here we also have to be honest – QD-OLED has a structural advantage. Why? It’s simple. QD-OLED creates colours from three components (red, green, and blue) and doesn’t need an additional white subpixel. The WOLED panel we’re testing here uses that white subpixel, mainly to boost overall brightness. The effect is that QD-OLED is able to display a slightly wider colour palette, and the colours are a bit "cleaner." But let’s be clear: it’s not that the colours on this WOLED panel are bad! Quite the opposite, they are really very good. Coverage of the DCI-P3 film colour gamut at 97% and 71% for the wider BT.2020 palette is still high-end. We just have to honestly admit that those few percentage points of coverage advantage lie with QD-OLED technology and may be noticeable in very specific moments.

Let's start with the fact that the U7S Pro is an impressively bright television – in calibrated mode, our measurement equipment indicated a staggering 2200 nits of peak brightness! This is an absolutely remarkable result, considering this model is positioned rather as a mid-range option.

However, as we know, peak brightness on test patterns is one thing, and actual movie scenes are another. Unfortunately, in real video materials, the backlight power clearly drops. Admittedly, in the most demanding moments, the television can still exceed the 1000-nit barrier – which is still an excellent result, perfectly aligned with the mastering standards of most HDR films – but the real challenge comes from aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms. Because of these, small bright details, such as stars or the moon in the night sky, become noticeably dimmed. The television tries to maintain deep blacks at all costs, which is of course understandable, but unfortunately, this comes at the expense of the dynamics and brilliance of the HDR effect itself.

It's worth praising the colour reproduction. The new U7S Pro is a QLED type construction that provides a very wide coverage of the colour palette. Unlike last year's model (U7Q Pro), this year's variant is a "true" QLED, not a solution based on a PFS filter. As a result, color saturation has significantly increased, and the coverage of the most demanding BT.2020 space has exceeded the 81% barrier.

When it comes to factory colour reproduction, our test unit in SDR mode suffered from a slight deficit in red and yellow. This resulted in a subtle yellowish tint visible in shades of white. However, this is not the biggest issue with the S85F. Similar to the QD-OLED panel variant, the main problem with this model is the way it presents HDR content. When we look at the EOTF curve graph, it’s easy to see that the TV has quite significant issues with strong image over-brightening. This results in the final image becoming very unnatural in many scenes.

We've tested the U7S Pro model – as we always do – in the best factory-tuned picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. We can assess the displayed colours in two ways. The most disappointing was the profile intended for watching SDR content, that is, traditional television, YouTube, and other less demanding materials. The picture was clearly too yellow, which was a direct consequence of a poorly set white balance. As our graphs show, there is a huge deficiency of the blue component here, which drastically affected the overall colour temperature. This is clearly evident on the ColorChecker charts and the colour palette graphs, where most samples leaned towards yellow. Fortunately, the factory HDR mode performed much better – there the colour errors hovered around a Delta E value of 3, which is already a really solid result.

After conducting calibration in Filmmaker mode, we managed to eliminate most unwanted effects. In SDR content, the TV performs exceptionally well, and its colour reproduction errors do not exceed a value of 2, which is an outstanding result. The HDR content looks a bit worse, though still very good. Although we managed to eliminate a significant unnaturalness of the image caused by an overly high EOTF curve, the most discerning observers may notice that it is not perfectly aligned. It runs slightly below the reference curve, which would suggest that the S85F has minor issues in displaying all details in the image. We must immediately point out that it is highly unlikely for the average viewer to notice any deficiencies in the picture. We assess the final result after calibration as exemplary.

We do know, however, that the company Hisense is capable of much more – as previous generations have proven – which is why we simply couldn’t leave the factory flaws of the U7S Pro model unaddressed in everyday content. As always in such cases, we had the television undergo professional calibration. The conclusions? This process brought about a colossal change. After manually adjusting the white balance and compensating for deficiencies in the blue component, the annoying yellow tint disappeared as if by magic. White became naturally clean, and skin tones gained the proper, healthy hue. Importantly, the calibration not only tamed the capricious SDR mode but also maximised the potential of the panel, reducing average colour reproduction errors to values nearly imperceptible to the human eye. The only thing we need to criticise after the whole process is the very nature of the Mini-LED backlighting and its specific interaction with the HDR signal. The aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms significantly interfere with the EOTF brightness curve. As a result, the backlighting doesn’t always work perfectly with the creator’s intent – depending on the scene being watched, the curve can noticeably run either above or below the reference, occasionally disrupting the ideal dynamic of HDR images.

The processing of tonal transitions (gradients) in the S85F is at a high level. The television effectively handles posterization (the "stepping" effect of colours), even with heavily compressed content, for example, from streaming services. However, using this feature requires a certain compromise. We noticed that the noise reduction algorithm is quite aggressive – even at the lowest setting, it can eliminate the natural film grain, which for many viewers is part of the film's aesthetics. The "Standard" setting seems to be a golden mean, without causing a noticeable loss of important details, so we can recommend it. However, we advise against using the "High" level, which, in addition to noise, also removes desired details such as texture or the structure of objects on the screen.

The upscaling process of lower resolution content works very well in the S85F. The image is sharp and clear. The only minor imperfection we managed to observe is occasional slight aliasing on the edges. The television still displays characteristics typical of this manufacturer, namely active "overscan" (a slight image enlargement). This should be kept in mind, especially when watching older content, as it may result in minimal clipping of the original frame.

The digital processing of lower quality signals is at a very high level here, all thanks to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor used in the U7S Pro. The upscaling also performs well, which is the TV's ability to enhance lower resolution signals to 4K. We did not notice any unnatural, sharp contours on the screen, and our test image featuring a model simply looked appealing.

S85F is a model with impressive speed. The use of a 120 Hz OLED panel ensures that dynamic scenes, both in games and during sports broadcasts, perform as expected: smoothly, sharply, and without loss of clarity. A key role here is played by the lightning-fast pixel response time, which is a natural advantage of OLED technology. Transitions between frames are instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. Moving objects, like a ball on the field or a car in a chase scene, are clear and free from the characteristic smearing of LCD panels (so-called "trail").

Hisense U7S Pro uses a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz in 4K, and in gaming mode, it can even reach 330 Hz at Full HD resolution. However, it is important to remember that these highest numbers do not have much significance in everyday usage, as most content supports a maximum of 120 Hz (e.g., when playing on a console). Nevertheless, the TV handles motion quite well and performs really well for an LCD construction.

It's hard to fault the fluidity. In the menu, we find a motion smoother called "Motion Enhancement," which has two sliders: motion blur reduction and judder reduction. They allow for manual configuration of the smoother, which works well in both movies and sports, effectively enhancing the raw TV signal.

85F has practically everything on board to become the dream screen for gaming. It features four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Additionally, there is a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all the key parameters. However, the real gem is the Game Motion Plus feature. This motion smoother dedicated to games makes the animation more pleasant to the eye while only slightly increasing input lag. This is a rare and well-functioning combination that deserves big applause for Samsung.

Now comes the moment where we need to vent a little. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung TVs has become standard, so there's no use hoping (unless something changes in the future). Unfortunately, it's much harder to explain the disappearance of support for HGiG after one of the software updates. HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a key mode that allows for precise representation of brightness in HDR games, as intended by the creators. Without it, HDR calibration on consoles becomes less accurate, which may result in images that are too dark in the shadows or overly bright in the light areas. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become nearly the perfect TV for gamers.

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

If you're planning to connect a console or PC to the U7S Pro, you'll be more than pleased – this TV is great gear for gamers. Hisense hasn't held back, featuring 4 HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps. So you don't have to juggle cables, as each port will handle the full suite of features. We have an automatic game mode (ALLM) and VRR, which operates over a wide range from 48 Hz to a whopping 330 Hz. Of course, that 330 Hz is currently just a gimmick for owners of powerful PCs, as consoles will cap at 120 Hz, but it's good to have that headroom for the future. The Game Bar also works really well when gaming. It's a handy menu bar for gamers, where you can quickly change the picture mode, turn on a crosshair in the middle of the screen, and even switch the display aspect ratio to ultra-wide, which PC simulation fans will appreciate. The only downside worth noting is the incorrect implementation of the HGiG format in games. The issue is that the TV ignores instructions from the console regarding the image generated in HDR10 and constantly butts in, trying to "enhance" the image in its own way. This makes proper HDR configuration in the console menu (where brightness is set on the logo/checkerboard) a bit more challenging.