Sharp GR8 vs Hisense U7Q

Sharp GR8 in its promotional materials boasts of "very high brightness" at a level of 500 nits. Unfortunately, our tests showed that reality is somewhat different – the average luminance we were able to achieve was around 360 nits. This is rather an average result, especially in the context of the manufacturer's claims. Such brightness does not allow for a full enjoyment of HDR effects. The image is a bit sharper than in standard SDR, but it's hard to talk about true vibrancy and depth of bright elements here. However, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 95% deserves praise. This is the result of applying an additional PFS coating, known from QLED technology. As a result, colours are vibrant and have a pleasant, natural tone, which partially compensates for the shortcomings in brightness.

Since the algorithms responsible for blacks are performing quite well, we expected a similarly good outcome when it comes to brightness and overall HDR quality. Unfortunately, we have to disappoint you a bit here.

The U7Q is quite a bright television – under the best conditions, it can reach around 800 nits, which indeed impresses in some scenes, especially in scenes like those from the movie The Meg. Bright segments can shine, and the HDR effect is noticeable. The problem arises when very small, bright elements appear on a dark background – for example, in Sicario 2 or in the second scene from Life of Pi. At such moments, the dimming algorithms operate too aggressively. Yes, the blacks look great at that point, but the brightest spots can almost completely disappear, causing the HDR effect to vanish and details to be barely visible. That’s just the charm of this technology in this price segment.

As a consolation, it is worth mentioning that the U7Q is marketed as a QLED (in practice, a PFS layer is used, which operates very similarly), and it can indeed display a wide colour gamut – a DCI-P3 coverage of around 94% is a very good result for this class.

At the beginning, it's worth noting that colour reproduction tests are always conducted in the best factory picture mode. In the case of Sharp GR8, this is the “Film” mode. When it comes to white balance, which affects how we perceive colours on the screen, in SDR mode the strong dominance of blue immediately stands out. This results in an unnatural cooling of the image – blue elements take on a purple hue, and skin tones appear to have a pink tint, which we can see in the comparative photo from the film STAR WARS. During the Color Checker test, it was clearly visible how the colour samples deviated from the standard values, confirming significant errors in colour reproduction. The gamma was also not ideal – it caused excessive brightening of the entire image, causing the scene to lose depth and proper tonal transitions.

In the 4K HDR mode, the situation looks much better. The dominance of blue is much less noticeable, although there are minor issues with the blending of red and blue. This makes some shades look slightly unnatural. The EOTF curve, which is responsible for image brightness in 4K HDR content, showed another problem – the TV tends to excessively darken the image across the entire surface of the screen.

To summarise, the “Film” mode in Sharp GR8 would require some adjustments in order to fully utilise the potential of this television. Fortunately, we took care of this and proceeded with calibration.

We tested the U7Q in the best possible picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode is supposed to provide the most "cinematic" experience that aligns with the creators' intentions – straight out of the box. Unfortunately… even this professionally sounding name doesn’t guarantee a perfect image.

In our unit, the problem lay in the poorly set white balance. In both HD and 4K content, the image had too much blue and red, resulting in a slightly pinkish hue on the screen. It didn’t look terrible, but it was noticeable – especially in bright scenes and on white backgrounds. That alone could have been forgiven, but the biggest issue is managing brightness in HDR content. The EOTF curve from the measurements confirms what we saw earlier during scene tests: the television can overly dim the smallest bright elements, causing them to nearly disappear, or conversely – excessively brighten the brightest parts, which affects the naturalness of the image.

Sharp GR8 is one of those televisions that really gains a second life after proper calibration. Both in HD and 4K content, the white balance performs very well, especially considering this model's price segment. The picture becomes significantly closer to what the director intended to show – colours appear natural, and skin tones gain the right depth and warmth. The brightness characteristics also leave a very positive impression. Both the gamma and the EOTF curve demonstrate really solid values. While slight imperfections can be noticed, they are subtle enough that it's difficult to see them during everyday viewing. In summary, calibration allows Sharp GR8 to show its best face, offering a picture that is not only pleasant to the eye but also faithfully conveys the creators' intentions.

Thanks to specialist tools, we managed to correct the colour quality in SDR content to almost perfection. In materials with lower dynamics, delta E errors dropped below 0.5, which can be considered an almost reference result. The picture on television, YouTube, or classic Full HD looks really good after calibration. Well then – but where was it not so easy to improve the image? Primarily it concerns HDR quality content. Although we managed to somewhat "tame" the white balance and eliminate pink tints in most scenes, unfortunately, we did not have full control over brightness management. We set the local dimming settings according to the best observations – SDR: Medium, HDR: High – but the U7Q still did everything a bit its own way. There were still cases of overly strong dimming or brightening of details that calibration simply could not eliminate. And although the overall reception of content is much better, one must reckon that the U7Q will always have something to say at the end with "but".

Sharp GR8 is equipped with a feature called "10-bit colour reproduction," which theoretically should improve the smoothness of tonal transitions. In practice… well, the effect is surprising, but not in a very positive way. Even at the highest settings, it’s hard to notice any impact on the actual tonal transitions. Instead, the feature surprisingly smooths out things it shouldn’t - walls, shirts, or other flat surfaces look almost as if they have been ironed. In the test, we had to note that there is simply no actual impact on tonal transitions.

When it comes to image scaling, Sharp GR8 performs significantly better. The television can give the image a plastic, smooth characteristic, making even lower resolution content look quite good. Of course, with more demanding details, such as thin branches of trees in the background, you can see slight jaggedness, but it’s not something that would significantly affect the viewing comfort.

There are situations where we would like to smooth out tonal transitions a bit, especially in older materials – those with limited source quality. The U7Q has been equipped with a feature called “Smooth and Gradient Image,” but unfortunately… it works very poorly. In the “Low” option, the effects are practically unnoticeable, and other settings smooth out the details but don’t improve tonal transitions. The only positive thing is that the feature doesn’t interfere with the film grain, so it doesn’t ruin the natural structure of the image.

Fortunately, content scaling performs quite well. The image is not overly sharpened, there is no artificial clarity – and while it’s known that this isn’t the level of high-end TVs, the U7Q has no problem displaying really old content in a completely acceptable manner.

This is where Sharp GR8 has the opportunity to stand out against the competition in its price segment. The television is equipped with a 144 Hz refresh rate panel, which is an impressive result, especially if we plan to use it for dynamic content such as action films, sports broadcasts, or video games. Additionally, the manufacturer has included a motion smoothing feature, commonly known as a 'smoother'. The user has three levels of adjustment available, allowing them to tailor the effect to their personal preferences – from subtle smoothing to a more aggressive intervention in the fluidity of the image. It's a nice addition, particularly for those who mainly watch films and care about smooth, cinematic sequences without annoying judders or stuttering.

U7Q is a truly fast TV, much like its more powerful version “PRO”. At 4K resolution, it supports up to 144 Hz refresh rate, and if someone wants even more – in Full HD, you can achieve up to 240 Hz! This will mainly benefit PC gamers, but it’s worth appreciating – it’s a rare feature in this price segment. Right from the start, it’s clear that the U7Q has been designed with dynamic content in mind, such as games or sports. In films, we’re not left “out in the cold” either – the U7Q offers an “Ultra Motion Smoothness” feature, where with two sliders, you can adjust whether you want a smoother, theatrical picture, or something closer to cinematic style with a visible frame. It’s good that, like most manufacturers, we have a choice here and can customise it to our own preferences.

If the television has a 144 Hz panel and two full HDMI 2.1 ports, it’s clear it was designed with gamers in mind. The Sharp GR8 offers exactly that – high refresh rates and the right connections to get the most out of modern consoles and PCs. It also features ALLM, which automatically switches the TV to low latency mode, and VRR, ensuring the picture doesn’t stutter even in more demanding moments. In practice, everything works as it should, and it's difficult to find fault. However, it’s not without its shortcomings. There’s a lack of support for HGiG, which better adjusts HDR for games, as well as Game Bar, which makes it easier to quickly adjust settings without leaving the game. Despite these drawbacks, the Sharp GR8 is a really solid option for gamers.

The Hisense U7Q is a TV designed with gamers in mind – and you can see that straight away with its gaming capabilities. It has practically everything you could wish for: Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) – check, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) – check, and high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz in Full HD, along with support for various resolutions, not just 4K. It’s truly an impressive set of features that makes the U7Q perform well with both fast-paced shooters on consoles and more demanding titles on PC. Of course – like most Hisense models – it lacks a proper implementation of the HGiG feature. It’s a shame because HGiG allows the console's brightness to be adjusted to the specific TV, which in practice makes it easier to display HDR games according to the creators' intentions. Without this, you just have to deal with some limitations in the final HDR image in games.