Sony X85L vs Hisense E7Q PRO / E79Q PRO

The Sony X85L TV offers solid HDR performance with a brightness of 750 nits, which is sufficient to enjoy vibrant effects. In scenes of moderate difficulty, such as the first, third, or fifth test scenes, a brightness of around 600 nits allows you to fully experience the HDR effect. Unfortunately, in more demanding segments, like the scene from the film Sicario 2, the TV reveals its limitations. Drops in brightness to 250 nits make the HDR effect lose its impressive quality and resemble ordinary SDR. Nonetheless, it is worth highlighting the very good coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 95%, which definitely deserves praise and positively impacts the overall image quality.

When it comes to HDR effect quality, the E7Q PRO unfortunately is not a television that impresses with brightness alone. In real film materials, we measured around 250–300 nits, which is simply not enough for HDR to look spectacular. There's a lack of that "spark" in bright details, flashes, and light effects, and in many HDR scenes, it can resemble more of a good SDR than true cinematic HDR. The silver lining in all this is the colours. We managed to confirm that the E7Q PRO is a PFS type television, which means it has an additional filter that improves colour gamut coverage. Because of this, even if the brightness doesn't deliver, the colours in HDR content can be properly saturated and pleasing to the eye, without the impression of a "washed-out" image.

The television Sony X85L has been tested in IMAX Enhanced mode, which, while associated with world-class cinema, does not guarantee an image consistent with the director's intent. The main issue is the white balance – there is a noticeable strong dominance of blue and significant deficiencies in red. As a result, the image becomes unnaturally cool and looks artificial. Errors in colour reproduction were confirmed by the Colour Checker test, which showed significant discrepancies – colours were "scattered" like shots from a rifle, and only a few samples hit the target values. This clearly shows that the precision of colour reproduction leaves much to be desired.

The brightness of the image is one of the positive features of the television. The gamma for HD content is at an acceptable level, although minor errors occur, but generally it is quite good. However, the issue remains the brightness characteristic for 4K materials, controlled by the EOTF curve. It is evident here that very small, bright elements of the image are too dim, which is the result of the limited number of backlight zones due to the design of the television.

In terms of colour reproduction, we tested the Hisense E7Q Pro in Movie mode, which undoubtedly turned out to be the best built-in preset. It is this mode, unlike the Eco, Standard, or Dynamic settings, that offers the most natural colours straight out of the box. While no factory mode is completely free of flaws, the E7Q Pro deserves high praise for its colour rendition in standard SDR content. The colour palette has been very well tuned, and errors in the Color Checker tests often did not exceed a value of 3, which is an outstanding result rarely seen in such affordable TVs. The only drawback we noted in SDR is the tendency to darken certain elements of the image, as indicated by a slightly raised gamma curve. The TV performs slightly worse with colours in HDR mode. Here, colour errors become noticeable to the naked eye, mainly due to a deficiency of blue in the white balance. This causes the colours on screen to appear too warm, and for some viewers, they may seem almost "too cinematic." Of course, to improve these parameters, we proceeded with professional calibration.

Thanks to the use of calibration tools offered by Sony X85L, it has been possible to significantly improve the image quality. After calibration, the white balance for HD content is much more stable, making colours look more natural and enhancing the authenticity of the image. Although it's not perfect, these changes allow viewers to enjoy a more realistic representation of colours, eliminating the earlier cool tone. The gamma, which already performed reasonably well, has been adjusted to an even better version. As a result, tonal transitions and brightness are more consistent, positively impacting the depth and detail of the image.

As for 4K content, despite efforts, the white balance still struggles with a lack of red, which can cause overly warm colours in some scenes. Synthetic tests showed that the EOTF curve in HDR is fairly stable, with a slight boost in mid-bright scenes. However, in actual film material, the TV can still be too bright with fine, light details, which is a result of the limitations of large local dimming technology.

Nonetheless, the calibration has brought significant benefits, particularly in terms of colour accuracy, improving overall image quality and providing a more natural and consistent directorial vision.

In the case of materials with standard dynamic range (SDR), our actions in Filmmaker mode turned out to be largely cosmetic 😉. We mainly focused on a subtle adjustment of the white balance and equalising the gamma curve, which allowed us to recover details in the darker areas of the image that previously tended to get lost. However, it's worth noting that the E7Q Pro unit we tested happened to be exceptionally well-made from the factory. We remind you that these parameters depend on the specific unit – with mass production, factory calibration can be random, so your unit may require slightly different adjustments. The biggest beneficiary of professional calibration was undoubtedly HDR mode. This is where we did the most work, which brought spectacular results. We successfully tamed the excessive warmth of the image, caused by a factory shortfall in blue colour. After calibration, colour errors were reduced to a significantly lower level, which will certainly please those watching a lot of streaming content in HDR format, expecting faithful reproduction.

In terms of smoothing tonal transitions, the Sony X85L television doesn’t offer any dedicated enhancement options, which is a bit of a downside. On the other hand, the image scaling performs quite well – the television adds a touch of artificial sharpness, which can make details such as tree branches more pronounced, although sometimes with visible jagged edges. This type of effect may appeal to some viewers who prefer a more detailed image.

When it comes to upscaling and digital image processing, the E7Q PRO deserves praise. The scaling performs really well here and doesn't fall dramatically short of much more expensive, advanced TVs. Lower quality materials can look clear and reasonable, without the impression that the image is artificially "overdrawn." The smoothing function, however, presents a bit worse. Yes, it can be effective and improve tonal transitions in low-quality materials, but at the same time, it can introduce unwanted effects. Sometimes it removes film grain or adds unwanted artifacts, giving the image a more "digital" character. Therefore, we mainly recommend it to those who prefer a smoother, less cinematic image style.

Sony X85L, equipped with a 120 Hz panel, will meet the expectations of a wide range of users – from sports and gaming fans to movie enthusiasts. Movie lovers will surely appreciate the presence of one of the best motion smoothing systems, known as Motionflow. This system offers adjustment using smoothness and clarity sliders – smoothness is responsible for fluid motion, eliminating the stuttering effect, while clarity enhances the sharpness of fast scenes, reducing blur.

In the category of motion blur and fluidity, the E7Q PRO has one very strong argument. At this price, Hisense has added a 120 Hz panel, and in PC mode, it can even operate at 144 Hz. This immediately provides greater possibilities in motion settings, as more options for smoothing the image appear in the menu. Among other things, we have frame interpolation options, allowing us to adjust the fluidity for sports or movies, depending on whether we prefer a more cinematic character or a "theatrical" smoothness.

Sony X85L offers a fairly solid set of features for gamers, making it an attractive choice for gaming enthusiasts. First and foremost, the television has a 120 Hz panel, which translates to smooth and dynamic image display, ideal for both fast-paced action games and more demanding sports titles. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, allowing for the full capabilities of next-generation consoles to be utilised. Additionally, Sony X85L supports VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, which helps reduce stuttering and artifacts during gameplay, ensuring a smooth experience. The television also supports G-Sync, which is particularly beneficial for gamers using NVIDIA graphics cards, allowing for screen refresh rate synchronization with GPU performance, eliminating screen tearing. It’s worth mentioning the Game Bar feature, which facilitates quick access to important game-related settings, such as VRR, brightness levels, or display modes, making it convenient and useful during gameplay.

However, there are some limitations. The television does not support HGiG, which may be a downside for some gamers, as HGiG optimises HDR effect rendering in games, providing a more authentic visual experience. Additionally, the Dolby Vision mode, although available, is not practical for gaming due to very high input lag.

E7Q PRO is a phenomenal screen for gamers. Besides the typical "issue" with Hisense, which is the lack of support for the HGiG format due to constantly active tone mapping, we get practically everything one could expect from a TV that is supposed to have a gaming tag. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, along with a full set of key features. We have variable refresh rate, automatic switching to game mode, and support for 4K at 120 Hz. On top of that, all the important settings are at hand in the clear Game Bar. This tool not only looks modern, but it also has a typically "gaming" edge and actually makes life easier while gaming.