Sharp FQ8 vs Samsung U8000F (IPS)

The Sharp FQ8 achieves a maximum brightness of over 450 nits, which is commendable for its price range. While this level might not be groundbreaking, it places the television among the better-performing models in its class. At this brightness, the image appears vivid and detailed, and the HDR metadata functions effectively, offering a more immersive viewing experience compared to dimmer devices.

The television supports the advanced Dolby Vision HDR format, enhancing the depth and richness of the content. It also includes Dolby Vision IQ, which adjusts the image's brightness and colours based on ambient lighting. However, the implementation of this feature on the Sharp FQ8 is suboptimal, introducing artificial brightening and noticeable distortions. For this reason, it is advisable to disable Dolby Vision IQ for the most accurate picture quality.

With quantum dot technology, the television achieves a colour gamut coverage of approximately 94%, resulting in vibrant and realistic colours. This combination of features ensures the Sharp FQ8 delivers an engaging and detailed visual experience, even with some limitations.

Better doesn't mean good – and that's exactly how you can sum up the capabilities of the U8092F when it comes to displaying bright movie scenes in HDR mode. The brightness of the panel is just under 250 nits, which is definitely too low to enjoy any light effects. An interesting situation was observed during measurements of the fourth scene from the movie Sicario 2 – the television clearly dimmed the entire screen in an attempt to achieve better black levels (which still remain weak). One could even suggest that the device employs some form of "global dimming," but unfortunately – the effects are still very poor. To make matters worse, the television does not support a wide colour gamut – the coverage of the DCI-P3 space is around 80%, so don’t count on truly vibrant colours. The HDR image here looks more like slightly brightened SDR, and that’s the approach we would suggest you stick to when it comes to this television.

The Sharp FQ8 was evaluated for colour reproduction in its movie mode, which provides the best default settings for achieving realistic visuals. While it performs adequately, certain issues impact the overall image quality. Tests on HD content revealed significant white balance problems, with a marked dominance of red. This is evident in the colour graph, where the red line noticeably rises above the others, and in practical tests, such as a movie scene featuring a child, where the image appears overly warm and unnaturally red. Similar issues persist with 4K HDR content, where an excessive red tint detracts from the accuracy of colour reproduction, an important consideration for viewers prioritising faithful visuals.

For SDR contrast, the gamma graph displayed an unusual anomaly at the start, highlighting reproduction issues. The remainder of the gamma curve lies below the reference line, indicating suboptimal brightness and contrast levels for standard content. In 4K HDR, the EOTF curve also deviates significantly, suggesting inconsistencies in brightness reproduction. These fluctuations can result in less enjoyable viewing experiences for HDR content, particularly in scenes requiring precise light and dark balance.

Samsung U8000F has been tested in the best possible built-in picture mode on the television, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode should – at least in theory – provide a cinematic, reference image without unnecessary enhancements. For SDR content (mainly HD/SD), the television presented itself surprisingly well out of the box. White balance errors hovered around a value of 3, which is roughly on the edge of perceptibility. The only criticism could be directed at brightness management – the gamma chart showed a slight tendency to brighten or darken certain sections, but overall it performs quite well for this price segment.

Unfortunately, it looks much worse in HDR mode. Although the white balance was not terrible, the television had significant colour errors – particularly evident on the Color Checker chart, where almost every sample fell outside the target point. The image in HDR simply looks unnatural, and the colours can be shifted, muted, or too cool. This largely stems from the fact that U8000F does not support a wide colour gamut (DCI-P3). The television is physically unable to display correct colours in the HDR standard – and this is unfortunately felt in every more demanding material.

After calibration, the Sharp FQ8 shows notable improvements in its performance for SDR content. The white balance has been significantly refined, with all lines approaching the reference line. While the lines are not perfectly straight, the results are impressive for a TV in this price range. This adjustment enhances the naturalness and accuracy of colours, contributing to a more enjoyable visual experience. However, the gamma chart still displays the peculiar jump at the start, though the remaining line now aligns much closer to the expected outcome.

For HDR content, the white balance also sees meaningful improvements compared to the pre-calibration state, although it doesn’t perform as well as in SDR mode. This refinement results in more consistent and visually appealing colours, despite some remaining imperfections. On the downside, the EOTF chart reveals limited progress in contrast due to the lack of control over dynamic tone mapping settings, which hampers uniform brightness representation in HDR.

Despite these limitations, the calibration significantly elevates the Sharp FQ8, particularly in SDR mode. The improved white balance and colour reproduction deliver a more natural and pleasant viewing experience. While HDR content still leaves room for improvement, the TV achieves a respectable level of performance, solidifying its position as a strong contender in its price range.

Even though the U8000F already offered a fairly good picture in SDR straight out of the box, we managed to tweak it a bit more. We were able to remove a slight purple tint and adjust the gamma to a more reasonable level. However, the television still tends to over-brighten the smallest and brightest parts of the image – the gamma chart shows a characteristic "dip" that is hard to fully straighten out.

Unfortunately, the situation looks worse in HDR. It's difficult to talk about any significant improvement here – the television simply isn't designed for HDR content. We tried to adjust the picture in the advanced settings, but despite our efforts, the colour errors remained quite noticeable – a delta E above 7 is already significantly visible deviations. It's a bit unfortunate, but that's the charm of a budget build. In SDR, the U8000F performs reasonably, whereas HDR is simply not its league.

The Sharp FQ8 performs adequately with its 10-bit colour reproduction feature, providing smooth transitions between grey shades in the light bulb photo. For optimal results, setting it to medium is recommended, as it avoids issues like grain smoothing or blurring key elements. The "low" setting also yields good results without introducing unwanted visual artefacts.

In terms of upscaling, the Sharp FQ8 TV handles video without overscan, making full use of the screen. The jagged edges of branches are noticeable, but the edges of trousers appear without any clear jaggedness, contributing positively to the overall image quality. Additionally, the TV's AI Super Resolution feature enhances clarity by artificially sharpening jagged elements, further improving the viewing experience.

When it comes to how the Samsung U8000F handles lower quality materials, we must admit that Samsung has made progress compared to its predecessor from last year – the DU7192 model, which theoretically occupies the same place in the offering.

This year's model has been equipped with a function to improve the smoothness of tonal transitions, which has been implemented significantly better than last year. Yes, the TV still uses quite strong algorithms that can distort details or remove film grain, but even so – it can be confidently said that it operates effectively.

However, not everything has gone perfectly. The U8000F has noticeable issues with slight frame stuttering when watching very old content in very low resolution. If someone plans to play their old VHS tape, they must be aware that the picture may appear slightly "choppy".

The Sharp FQ8 features a 120 Hz panel, able to support playback at 144 Hz when connected to a PC, which should theoretically provide smooth motion rendering. The TV includes features designed to enhance film fluidity and reduce motion blur, crucial for more dynamic content. However, in the absence of Black Frame Insertion (BFI) technology, the panel's average response time leads to less-than-ideal results. This results in slight motion blur, which may be particularly noticeable when watching sports or during intense gaming sessions.

Samsung U8000F is equipped with a 60 Hz panel, so right from the start, it's clear that we shouldn't expect miracles. This is simply the standard in this class – sufficient for everyday viewing, but without any fireworks.

The television offers one motion smoothing slider – a feature called “Motion Blur Reduction”, which allows us to adjust the smoothness of the image in movies. Higher settings provide a more “theatrical” and smoothed effect, while lower ones maintain the original character of the film with a slight 24p effect. An interesting feature is “Clear Motion LED”, or BFI mode – which inserts black frames between the image frames to enhance motion clarity. However, in practice, the screen flickers significantly when it's activated, and it's better viewed as an experiment rather than something that truly enhances gaming comfort.

The Sharp FQ8 offers several features that cater to gamers, enhancing the overall gaming experience. Firstly, the television is equipped with HDMI 2.1, which brings several advantages. ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) automatically switches the TV to a low-latency mode when a gaming device is detected. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) helps reduce screen stuttering by adjusting the screen’s refresh rate to match the number of frames generated by the console or PC, providing smoother gameplay, especially in dynamic games. Additionally, the TV supports G-Sync, which synchronises the image with the graphics card, preventing stuttering and screen tearing.

Despite these advantages, the FQ8 has some limitations. The lack of support for HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) means the TV does not optimise the dynamic range for HDR games. Furthermore, while Dolby Vision mode can improve picture quality in supported games, it suffers from very high input lag.

Samsung U8000F offers a basic set of features for gamers, which may still be sufficient for less demanding users. It has an automatic game mode – when a game is launched on the console, the TV automatically switches to low latency mode, which significantly improves response time. It also includes a VRR function, or variable refresh rate, which works within the range of 48 to 60 Hz. This means that both Xbox and PS5 won't produce the "tearing" effect – as long as we stay within this range.

And unfortunately, that's about it for the advantages. Additional features like Game Bar or higher refresh rates are reserved for higher models of Samsung’s 2025 line. In theory, the TV also supports the HGiG function, which should adjust the HDR image to the intentions of game developers. Unfortunately – although this function appears in brochures and store materials – its setup on the Xbox console turned out to be... impossible in practice.