Hisense E7NQ PRO vs Philips OLED770

Based on the luminance chart, which indicates around 550 nits, it can be said that Hisense E7NQ PRO theoretically has the potential to somewhat "magically" enchant us with its image in HDR. While testing various scenes from films, we noticed that the television continually tries to balance maintaining appropriate brightness with preserving the deepest blacks possible. In favourable conditions – for instance, during a scene from “The Meg,” where the screen is flooded with bright light – this brightness can indeed impress us. In such moments, we feel that HDR actually adds that "something" to the image. Unfortunately, when more challenging shots appear on the screen with small, bright elements on a dark background, the situation looks significantly worse. The brightness then drops to 200-300 nits, which is decidedly too little to truly distinguish HDR from standard SDR.

It is clear that the television tries, but hardware limitations – mainly the limited number of local dimming zones – prevent it from fully spreading its wings. The final effect is therefore often quite uneven and just as mediocre as in the contrast tests. However, it deserves credit for its impressive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 97%. Thanks to this, the television can display a truly wide range of colours, which, in suitable scenes, can give us at least a taste of the true HDR effect. It’s just a shame that the overall experience is not complemented by better control of brightness and contrast.

The Philips OLED770 does not attempt to compete with the brightest OLEDs on the market, and it would be difficult to expect that, as it is the entry-level model in Philips' range for 2025. In our measurements, it reached a maximum of around 700 nits, which allows enjoyment of HDR effects in scenes where light appears sporadically – for example, in the flash of headlights or a starry sky. In such moments, the image can truly be stunning. However, it is different when there are more bright elements on the screen. The television, like many cheaper OLEDs, limits luminance in those situations, causing the entire image to noticeably dim. This was best observed in a scene from the film The Meg, where the sun comes out behind an oil rig – the brightness then dropped to around 250 nits, which is almost three times less. The HDR effect remains pleasant to the eye, but it is worth being aware that this model performs best in scenes with less intense light. Fortunately, the OLED770 has a trump card – the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is as high as 99%, so colours in films and games are vivid and very close to what the creator intended to convey.

When we took our copy of Hisense E7NQ PRO out of the box, we immediately began to check the available picture modes. Among them, the Filmmaker mode seemed the most promising, although it too was not without its flaws. With standard SDR content, we noticed a clear tendency for excessive red enhancement, which made the image unnaturally warm. This was particularly evident in the comparative photo attached below. Conversely, when we switched to HDR content, the situation went in the opposite direction. This time, blue was dominant, and red was scarce, resulting in a cool effect, at times almost "shop-like" — although not as drastic as in those modes that are actually intended for display in exhibitions. As a result, in our tests assessing colour reproduction, these disturbances in colour balance led to significant errors.

Additionally, the television had issues with reproducing brightness characteristics. At lower resolutions, it noticeably brightened the darkest elements of the image, and with HDR content, the brightness curve (eotf) simply wouldn't conform as it should. Initially, the television excessively darkened the smallest details, only to then overly brighten larger areas. Fortunately, the E7NQ PRO provides us with plenty of calibration tools, so knowing that there is potential within it, we decided to take matters into our own hands and try to adjust it to eliminate these problems.

The first measurements already show that the factory settings of the Philips OLED770 have quite a lot to improve even in Filmmaker mode. The white balance chart clearly shows a lack of blue, resulting in a slightly yellowish tint to the image. In practice, the white is not snowy but leans towards warmer tones – which some may even appreciate, but from the perspective of accuracy, this is a deviation from the norm. The gamma, on the other hand, tends to the darker side – the average value is around 2.6 instead of the reference 2.4. In the midtones, the image appears subdued and more saturated, which may seem too "filmic," but detracts somewhat from naturalness. However, the most issues are evident in colour reproduction. The average error is relatively high, and some colours – particularly shades of grey – deviate significantly from what one should see. In everyday viewing, this means that sometimes colours may look less natural than we would like.

Thanks to the tools available in E7NQ PRO, we managed to extract quite a decent image from it, especially with lower quality content. After refining the white balance of the SDR materials, the colours look much more natural, and what we see on the screen seems closer to the vision that the manufacturer intended to present. Additionally, we improved the brightness characteristic (Gamma), which means the television is no longer prone to excessive brightening, and everything presents itself distinctly better than before our intervention.

We also managed to achieve some results with HDR materials, although it isn’t quite as rosy here. Indeed, the white balance has approached an acceptable level, but the problem lies elsewhere. It concerns the EOTF curve, which is the way the television manages brightness and tonal range of the image. At first glance, it might seem that the biggest issue only relates to mid-tones being overly brightened. However, after more detailed testing and enabling the filters for displaying the EOTF curve, it becomes apparent that the receiver tends to brighten the entire screen. This appears to be a limitation arising from the small number of local dimming zones and generally modest brightness management capabilities. Such hardware limitations are simply insurmountable. Despite this, after our calibration, the image is noticeably better than at the outset. One just needs to be aware that in terms of contrast and brightness management, this model has its limits, which even good calibration cannot fully overcome.

The Philips OLED770 from the outset signalled that it harboured significant potential, but in its factory settings, it was difficult to see this fully. The picture was often too warm, and some colours appeared to have lost their naturalness along the way. Calibration, however, revealed that it is a very responsive television – it reacted to every adjustment and almost immediately unveiled another layer of its capabilities. The white balance could be set in both SDR and HDR to eliminate the yellowish tint and introduce a neutral, clear white. The gamma stabilised closer to perfection, allowing midtones to regain their naturalness, and shadows stopped being artificially darkened, perhaps even with a slight brightening effect. The result was obvious... Films were watched with greater ease; the picture had cinematic depth, but without the feeling that something was exaggeratedly darkened. However, the most interesting aspect was the work on colours. Factory errors were not dramatic but slightly noticeable – skin tones were sometimes too warm, and grey didn’t always have the shade we expected. After calibration, the error values dropped to around 2, and in many cases even below 1. This is certainly a level lower than the threshold of human perception. In other words, after correction, the colours finally "clicked" into place. Looking at the screen, we had the impression that the television had begun to speak with its full voice. Like an instrument that has finally been well tuned.

When it comes to the function of smoothing tonal transitions in lower quality materials, the "smooth and gradient image" feature in Hisense E7NQ PRO unfortunately does not impress. At the lowest setting, the change is hard to notice at all – it is rather a cosmetic improvement. Switching to "Medium" mode yields a noticeable effect, but it is still nothing special, and in the process, the television begins to excessively interfere with other elements of the image, which can look unnatural.

Moreover, image scaling is rather average. On the test screen, where a portrait of a model and text are displayed, slight jagged edges are visible, making the overall appearance less smooth and aesthetically pleasing than one would expect in this class of device. It's simply difficult to talk about truly effective improvement in the quality of lower resolution.

The issue of the aforementioned colour banding can largely be mitigated thanks to the 'distortion reduction' feature, which is an algorithm for smoothing tonal transitions in Philips. It performs best at a low setting – effectively eliminating unwanted colour bands while not introducing strange artefacts or losing image detail. This is one of those features that is truly worth leaving switched on.

The situation is somewhat worse regarding upscaling. The image from a lower resolution can be too soft, while in some areas, characteristic 'jaggies' appear. The impression is that the algorithm is trying to reconcile two conflicting directions – smoothing and sharpening – and ultimately fails to find a happy medium. As a consolation, it can be added that the television has no issues with overscan, meaning it does not cut off the edges of the image, which sometimes occurs in other competing models.

Thanks to the use of a 144 Hz panel, E7NQ PRO performs excellently with nearly every type of content. Whether we are watching fast-paced matches, dynamic games or action films – the smoothness of motion leaves a good impression. When it comes to films, the manufacturer has equipped the television with two key tools: "motion blur reduction" and "judder reduction". Each of these functions can be adjusted on a scale from 1 to 10.

At lower values, the processing is subtle, barely noticeable, and gently smooths out motion without compromising the cinematic quality of the image. The higher we move up the scale, the more the television interferes with the presented material, smoothing out motion more intensely, and consequently – minimising any judders or micro-cuts. Conversely, the highest settings can resemble the so-called "soap opera effect", which makes the image appear excessively smooth, slightly losing its filmic atmosphere. However, with such a scale, we can find a happy medium, adjusting the smoothness of motion to our own preferences.

The issue of the matrix in the Philips OLED770 is not entirely straightforward. The manufacturer claims a 120 Hz panel, but our measurements showed that the screen can accept a 4K signal even at 144 Hz. That sounds like great news – after all, who wouldn't want an additional mode for PC gamers at this price? However, the reality turned out to be more complex. With 120 Hz content, the television behaves like most OLEDs – the image is absolutely clear, with no trace of ghosting or blurring, making it perfect for both dynamic games and sports broadcasts. The problem only arises at 144 Hz. Unlike models with official support for this frequency, here you can observe the phenomenon known as frame skipping. This means that the television cannot display all the frames – some are skipped, causing motion to lose smoothness, and double contours appear on the screen. The effect resembles the operation of the BFI function, which Philips does not offer in this model anyway.

If we sometimes enjoy turning on the console and immersing ourselves in the world of games for long hours, E7NQ PRO can make quite an impressive impact. Thanks to the 144 Hz refresh rate, gameplay is surprisingly smooth, and support for HDMI 2.1 and VRR ensures that the picture doesn't 'tear' even during the most dynamic actions. Additionally, there's ALLM, which automatically sets the lowest latency as soon as we switch to the console – so we don't have to fiddle with the options ourselves.

A major plus is also the ability to run games in Dolby Vision, making colours and contrast simply look better. Hisense has also added a clear 'gamebar', allowing us to constantly monitor the most important parameters and change settings without leaving the game. The only thing we might regret a bit is the lack of HGIG support. While it may not be a crucial element, it could matter to some gamers aiming for the most faithful representation of the creators' vision. Nevertheless, in practice, the E7NQ PRO performs excellently and provides truly enjoyable gaming experiences.

If someone is looking for a television for gaming, the Philips OLED770 is a contender that is hard to ignore. The mere fact that we have an OLED here provides an excellent starting point – perfect black and infinite contrast make evening sessions in atmospheric games look as if they were lifted straight from the cinema. On top of that, there is the Ambilight system, which consists of LEDs on the back of the television that extend the image onto the wall behind the screen. The effect is such that even playing FIFA can look like a small spectacle, and in horror games the atmosphere becomes truly thick. From a technical standpoint, it's also quite decent. The Philips OLED770 supports variable refresh rate (VRR) up to 120 Hz, has an automatic mode for gamers (ALLM), and if someone is using an Xbox Series X, they can also count on Dolby Vision support in games. One must only know that in this mode the input lag is slightly higher than standard, though still at an acceptable level. As a bonus, we get the “Game Bar” panel, which is a special tool bar for gamers. It isn’t the most conveniently designed solution, but it allows you to check key parameters without leaving the game. Overall, this results in a television that, on one hand, has all the essential gaming features, and on the other, can add something unique – Ambilight. And it is this mix of technology and visual effect that makes the OLED770 one of the better screens for gaming at home.