Sony X75WL vs Hisense U6NQ

The luminance chart for the X75WL Sony television showed a maximum value of 350 nits, which unfortunately is not an impressive result. The television does not surprise with its brightness, and all the HDR scenes we tested lacked depth and the appropriate lighting effect that should accompany HDR content. Additionally, the tragic coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette makes it difficult for the television to reproduce rich colours, which significantly affects the overall viewing experience of HDR content. The lack of adequate brightness and poor colour coverage means that HDR effects are very limited in this model.

Hisense U6NQ offers a stable HDR effect, which is a rarity in TVs with local dimming. On most streaming platforms, in films and series recorded in 4K, the TV delivers consistent performance – in every tested scene, regardless of difficulty level, brightness is around 450 nits. This is a pleasant surprise, as many models in this class exhibit distinct differences – some scenes are well-lit, while others are heavily dimmed by dimming algorithms. However, the Hisense U6NQ prioritises maintaining higher brightness, which comes at the cost of blacks, as noted in the paragraph about the contrast test.

The HDR effect on the U6NQ is satisfying, offering a noticeable 'punch' of light in bright moments, although it's worth remembering the aforementioned blooming, which can be visible in challenging scenes. In terms of colour, the TV also performs adequately – the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is 89%, while BT.2020 is 71%. While these are not results that would impress more demanding users, for beginners in the world of high-quality materials, the U6NQ is a solid choice. As such, it presents an interesting option as an 'entry-level' TV for home cinema.

Colour reproduction tests for the model Sony X75WL are conducted in film mode, which offers the best picture settings but also has its flaws. The biggest issue with the X75WL Sony is the white balance – for both HD and 4K HDR content – which is characterised by a dominance of blue. As a result, the entire image feels too cool. The colour checker confirms these errors, showing that colours lean towards cooler shades. Regarding brightness characteristics, the contrast gamma is at quite a decent level; however, the same cannot be said for the EOTF curve. There are significant issues with maintaining the appropriate brightness – the image is either too bright or too dim, which affects the visual perception of the content.

Hisense U6NQ in Filmmaker mode offers really decent colour reproduction, although it's worth remembering that differences between individual units can be noticeable. The model we tested was pleasantly surprising, especially with HD content in SDR quality. The white balance was correct here, and errors in the range of 3–4 ΔE should be acceptable for the average viewer. The television performed slightly worse in reproducing colours with 4K HDR material. The dominance of blue tones led to unnatural cool shades on the Colour Checker chart, giving the image a "store" character. Combined with issues in brightness characteristics – gamma and EOTF curve caused some parts of the image to be too dark – the Filmmaker mode in this case loses some of its credibility. Although the factory settings of the tested unit deserve praise, particularly in SDR, there were still minor shortcomings that would require adjustments to fully utilise the television's capabilities.

X75WL Sony is one of those cases where image calibration may not be heavily spectacular, but it provides a very good improvement in colour perception. The white balance, both for HD and 4K materials, has been significantly improved – we no longer have a strong dominance of cooler shades. The gamma curve also appears more stable, which translates to better image quality. However, the biggest issue remains the EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K materials. Due to the technological limitations of the television (IPS panel and lack of local dimming technology), it's hard to talk about significant improvement, as we can't squeeze more out of this model. Despite these limitations, the tonality of the image has been significantly improved.

Although the factory settings of the Filmmaker mode on Hisense U6NQ were quite good, we decided to undertake calibration to fully assess the capabilities of this model. Only after such a procedure can one see how the television performs under ideal conditions. In the case of SDR content, which was already at a high level, we managed to further improve the white balance. However, the biggest change came from adjusting the brightness characteristics – gamma was optimised and no longer causes excessive darkening of the image, which improves its naturalness.

For 4K HDR content, calibration also yielded positive results. We eliminated the issue of blue dominance, which resulted in a more balanced and natural image. However, managing brightness in HDR materials remains a more complicated issue. The EOTF curve, although it had problems with image darkening in the 10–30% brightness range under laboratory conditions, reveals other shortcomings in real scenes. The television tends to overly brighten the smallest elements on the screen. As a result, this leads to noticeable halo effects around bright objects. This phenomenon, which we mentioned earlier in the context of contrast and HDR, arises from the technological limitations of the model and is often difficult to eliminate.

In short: although the Filmmaker mode with factory settings performed decently, calibration allowed us to achieve an even better effect – minor adjustments resulted in a more balanced image, particularly in HDR content. For users seeking the highest quality picture, calibration will be a beneficial step.

In the case of low-quality tonal transitions, the Sony X75WL television performs poorly. The lack of any feature to improve tonal transitions results in noticeable imperfections in colour gradation. However, it can be noted that the digital processing is quite good – the image is displayed without overscan, and the overall presentation is relatively good thanks to the added slight sharpness, which some users may appreciate.

With high-quality materials like 4K, tonal transitions on U6NQ look really good – colours blend nicely and the image is consistent. Unfortunately, when we switch to lower resolution content, the television doesn’t offer any extra features that could improve this aspect. An example is the test with the light bulb, where it’s clearly visible that the television struggles with reproducing subtle tonal transitions.

On the other hand, digital processing performs quite well. The image looks lively, is pleasantly soft, and free from excessive artifacts. Moreover, thanks to the sharpness settings, it can be tailored to individual preferences – whether towards a softer or sharper image. Overall, while upscaling lower quality materials could be better, the television handles image processing well.

The X75WL Sony television features a 60 Hz panel, making it more suitable for watching movies than for fast-paced gaming. This model includes a motion smoother called Motionflow, which allows the user to adjust the picture on a 10-point scale. Smoothness adds intermediate frames, thus increasing motion fluidity, and the image becomes more theatrical while minimising the judder effect. Clarity reduces motion blur, which is especially useful during fast-paced scenes, such as sports or dynamic action in films. With this feature, the user can tailor the fluidity and sharpness of motion to their own preferences.

Hisense U6NQ offers native refresh rates of 60 Hz at a 4K resolution, but the manufacturer has added a feature that allows for an increase in refresh rate to 120 Hz, at the cost of reducing the resolution to Full HD. This is a solution we have previously seen in TCL televisions, such as C655 or C655 PRO. This gives the user the option – higher motion fluidity or full resolution. This makes sense, especially considering that many new generation console games do not achieve full performance in 4K at 120 Hz.

When it comes to movies, the television is equipped with a motion smoother feature, which allows you to adjust the motion characteristics to your own preferences. This enables a more cinematic effect or increases fluidity in dynamic scenes. Overall, Hisense U6NQ offers sensible solutions in terms of motion fluidity that should satisfy both gamers and movie enthusiasts.

X75WL is not the best TV for gamers. It only has the ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) feature and a basic Game Bar, which are not sufficient to satisfy more demanding users. In this price range, one would expect support for features such as VRR or 120 Hz refresh rates – although in FULLHD, which are already standard – unfortunately, they are lacking here. This is a big downside for Sony, as the competition offers much more for gamers in a similar budget.

Hisense U6NQ gives the option to choose between 4K at 60 Hz and Full HD with 120 Hz refresh rate. This solution may appeal to gamers who want to decide what is more important to them – higher resolution or smoothness. The TV supports features like ALLM and VRR, which help in providing smoother gameplay. A nice addition is the GameBar – an easy-to-use panel that allows quick adjustments to picture settings and checking statistics. We also find the Dolby Vision Game mode here, which operates with low input lag, a big plus for console enthusiasts. Unfortunately, it lacks HGiG, which could further improve HDR quality in games. Nevertheless, the Hisense U6NQ performs quite well as a gaming TV, especially for those who play occasionally and do not require the highest refresh rate in 4K. It is a solid choice for less demanding users.