Samsung U8000F (VA) vs Samsung Q7F

While the U8000F with its VA panel can still be praised for decent blacks, there are no such accolades when it comes to brightness—particularly in HDR scenes. The television only achieves a maximum of just under 250 nits, which is simply too low to talk about any impressive light effects. Bright elements appear washed out, and scenes that should shine look rather flat. An interesting situation occurred during our testing of a scene from the movie Sicario 2— the screen noticeably darkened, as if the television was trying to hide its limitations in displaying blacks. One might get the impression that the device artificially darkens the image to improve contrast, but in practice, the effect doesn't make much difference, apart from the fact that we see less on the screen. Additionally, there’s the issue of colours—the U8000F doesn’t support a wide colour gamut, so one shouldn’t expect vibrant, saturated hues known from better models. The HDR image here resembles a slightly brightened SDR and... maybe that’s not such a bad thing. For this model, it’s not worth expecting a cinematic experience—better to treat HDR as a modest addition.

Unfortunately, the Samsung Q7F is not one of the bright televisions, which directly impacts the quality of HDR films. The peak brightness of the panel is only around 250 nits, which is definitely insufficient for claiming a true cinematic experience. In practice, the HDR content does not differ significantly from classic SDR, making it difficult to talk about any "wow effect" that usually accompanies us when watching such films. During testing of film scenes, the image simply looked dark, and the brightness almost always hovered around the aforementioned 250 nits. The worst performance came from shots with small, intensely glowing elements – the global dimming technique used reacted very aggressively in those cases, dimming the entire screen to maintain the black effect. However, it is worth noting the presence of a QLED coating that broadens the colour spectrum. For a budget QLED model, the Q7F performs quite decently here: the DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage is around 93%, and BT.2020 reaches 70%. This means that despite the low brightness, the colours can still look quite vivid and attractive.

Samsung U8000F has been tested by us in the best picture mode it offers out of the box – that is, Filmmaker Mode. This profile is supposed to theoretically provide a neutral, cinematic image, free of unnecessary enhancements and artificial beautifications. In the case of SDR content – mainly in HD or SD resolution – the television already presented itself surprisingly reasonably right out of the box. The only noticeable imperfection was brightness management. The gamma chart showed some deviations – slight brightening or dimming of certain tones – but in practice, this did not significantly affect the viewing experience. For a television in this segment, it performs quite well.

However, the situation in HDR mode looks significantly weaker. Although white balance was still acceptable, colour errors were very evident. In the Color Checker test, almost every sample was outside the target point, and the image itself appeared unnatural – colours were skewed, sometimes too cool, and at other times simply dull and lifeless. The main issue lies in hardware limitations – the U8000F does not support the wide colour gamut of DCI-P3, so it is physically unable to reproduce the colours that the HDR standard intends. Unfortunately, this is evident in almost every more demanding scene.

The reproduction of factory colours in the Samsung Q7F is definitely not one of its strong points. In Filmmaker mode, which theoretically should be closest to neutral, the white balance issue is immediately noticeable. There’s too much red on the screen, while blue is lacking. The effects are very easy to notice – white, instead of being neutral, takes on warm, almost slightly orange tones. In the long run, this makes the entire image appear a bit unnatural, while bright areas of the scene can seem unrealistic. The problems are even more evident in HDR content. The charts show that the TV has significant errors in the Color Checker palette, which results in visible inaccuracies in the real image. In practice, this means that colours are not presented as they should be. The Q7F also heavily manipulates brightness; darker elements are overly boosted, causing them to lose their cinematic feel, while bright parts can be dimmed. This makes the image seem flattened, and contrast, instead of helping to bring out details, only highlights its own limitations. In HDR materials, this is particularly frustrating because every detail matters. In scenes where a subtle play of light and shadow should be felt, the Q7F either overdoes the lighting or, conversely, suppresses elements that should attract the eye. This causes the image to lose its depth, and instead of cinematic realism, we have a rather simplified effect.

Right out of the box, the U8000F offered a pretty decent picture in SDR for its price range. We managed to tweak it a bit further – we reduced a slight purple tint and improved the gamma characteristics, giving it a more natural curve. Despite these adjustments, the TV still has a tendency to overly brighten the brightest details – the gamma chart shows a clear break that cannot be fully corrected.

On the other hand, in HDR mode, it’s noticeably weaker. It's hard to talk about any significant improvement – despite attempts to fine-tune the settings, the picture still presents considerable colour errors. A Delta E exceeding 7 indicates noticeable deviations that we couldn’t effectively reduce. Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the construction itself – the U8000F simply wasn't designed for serious HDR. In daily SDR viewing, it performs quite well, but for HDR content... it’s best not to have overly high expectations.

After professional calibration, we managed to bring the Q7F to order – at least in terms of SDR content. The image in this mode looks really good: the white balance has been set correctly, the colours appear natural, and the errors in the colour palette have dropped to levels practically invisible to the eye. Gamma behaves exemplary, and the only minor flaw remains a slight lightening of smaller elements, which stems from the lack of local dimming. For everyday watching of television or films in standard quality, the Q7F performs surprisingly well.

It was significantly more challenging to tame HDR content. Despite adjusting the white balance, the television still heavily manipulates brightness, causing scenes to appear unnatural – what was meant to be subtly darker can sometimes be overly bright, and the bright parts of the image can occasionally be dimmed. The final effect is better than in factory settings, but it’s clear that the construction limitations of the Q7F do not allow for fully utilising the potential of HDR materials.

When it comes to how the Samsung U8000F handles lower-quality materials, we have to admit that Samsung has made progress compared to its predecessor from last year – the DU7192 model, which theoretically occupies the same place in the lineup. This year’s model is equipped with a feature that improves the smoothness of tonal transitions, which has been implemented much better than last year. Yes, the television still uses quite strong algorithms that can distort details or remove film grain, but still – it can be confidently said that it works effectively. However, not everything has gone perfectly. The U8000F has noticeable issues with slight image stuttering when watching very old content in very low resolution. If someone plans to play their old VHS tape, they must be prepared for the image to look slightly “choppy”.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the Q7F is a bit of a rollercoaster. On one hand, we have really nice upscaling – weaker sources look better than you might expect. The image becomes clearer, sharper, and even older films or free-to-air TV hold up well. Samsung has been strong in this area for years, and the Q7F confirms that. On the other hand… things start to get tricky. The TV has a problem with overscan – part of the image is simply cut off, and it doesn't look very elegant. Additionally, we were let down by a feature called "noise reduction," which should improve the smoothness of tonal transitions in weaker materials. In other Samsungs, it works relatively well, but here it practically makes no difference – the banding in gradients is still there. It's a bit of a shame because we expected more from a model that is aimed at users looking for a display for SDR content.

The Samsung U8000F comes with a 60 Hz panel, so right from the start, it's clear that you can't expect miracles. It's simply the standard in this class – sufficient for everyday viewing, but without any fireworks. The TV offers one motion smoothing slider – a function called "Motion Blur Reduction", which allows us to adjust the smoothness of the image in films. Higher settings provide a more "theatrical" and smoothed effect, while lower settings maintain the original character of the film with a slight 24p effect. Interestingly, there is the "LED Clear Motion" feature, or BFI mode – which inserts black frames between the frames of the image to improve motion sharpness. However, in practice, the screen flickers significantly when this is activated, and it's best to treat this as more of an experiment rather than something that genuinely improves the gaming experience.

Motion blur and motion fluidity in the Q7F is probably the most budget-friendly aspect of this television. The 60 Hz panel makes the motion blur quite noticeable, especially in dynamic scenes, and it's rather hard to consider this model as equipment designed for watching sports or playing fast-paced games. In tests with the little green man, there was a long trail, similarly, the ball in a football match would leave behind streaks.

On the positive side, the presence of motion smoothing is worth noting. In films, it really makes a difference – especially since most materials are recorded in 24 frames. Here we can decide whether we prefer a more "cinematic" image, with a slight judder typically found in cinema, or a smoother, more “TV-like” one. This actually works quite well and helps improve the viewing comfort for series or movies.

[UPDATE] We have updated our 2025 Samsung TV reviews following the release of firmware version 1131, which officially restores the essential HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) support.

Samsung U8000F offers a basic set of features for gamers, which can still prove sufficient for less demanding users. Here we have an automatic gaming mode – when a game is launched on the console, the TV switches to low-latency mode by itself, significantly improving response time. We also find the VRR feature, or variable refresh rate, which operates in the range of 48 to 60 Hz. This means that both Xbox and PS5 will not produce the 'tearing' effect on the screen – as long as we stay within this range.

Unfortunately, that's about it when it comes to advantages. Add-ons like Game Bar or higher refresh rates are reserved for higher models of Samsung from the 2025 line. In theory, the TV also supports the HGiG feature, which should adjust the HDR image to the intentions of game developers. Unfortunately – despite this feature appearing in advertising brochures and store materials – its setup on the Xbox console turned out, in practice, to be... impossible.

Features for gamers in the Samsung Q7F are a topic that stirs up quite a few mixed emotions. On one hand – no sensible person expected miracles here because after all, it’s a 60 Hz TV and from the start, it was clear that it wouldn't be a device for squeezing the maximum out of a console or PC. On the other hand, since the manufacturer promised specific solutions in the promotional materials, it’s only natural that we wanted to see them in practice. At the outset, it's pretty decent. The automatic game mode (ALLM) works, so there's no need to manually fiddle with settings; the console switches the TV to low latency mode on its own. We also have the Game Bar, which looks impressive and allows you to peek at a few basic parameters without leaving the game. And this is where the good news ends.

[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 key HGiG feature for gamers.

The biggest problem with the Q7F is VRR, or rather its absence. Yes, a relevant icon appears in the menu, you can even see it in the Game Bar, but throughout the test, the feature remained dormant and could not be activated in any way. The issue with HGiG is even more painful; this option was actually available at the start, but after the software update, it disappeared completely, which is simply unprofessional. Therefore, the Q7F is only suitable for absolute basics. Sure, you can turn on the console, play more relaxed titles, and enjoy low input lag, but if someone is counting on more advanced features that the manufacturer promised, they'll be disappointed. This is not a TV you buy with the intention of gaming, and it's better to be aware of this before making a purchase.