Hisense E7Q / E79Q vs Hisense U7S Pro

The Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a television with average brightness, with a peak luminance level of around 350-380 nits. This is an absolute minimum that allows for HDR content to be viewed in a way that is close to the creators' intentions, although without a distinct "wow" effect. Synthetic test results on white screens have been confirmed in practice – in film scenes, the bright parts of the image are stable and quite uniform, but it's hard to speak of a true "light punch." In everyday use, for example, when watching Netflix or YouTube, the HDR effect is acceptable and is perfectly sufficient for most users. However, it must be stated clearly – this is not the level of top-end screens, and one should not expect that in this price range. Fortunately, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q has an advantage that allows it to gain quite a few points: it features a PFS LED QLED panel, utilising an additional phosphor layer that improves colour reproduction. The measured range of the DCI-P3 colour gamut is about 92%, which means that colours in most scenes are vibrant, well-saturated, and pleasant to the eye, particularly for this price bracket.

Let's start with the fact that the U7S Pro is an impressively bright television. In calibrated mode our measurement equipment indicated a staggering 2,200 nits of peak brightness. This is an outstanding result, especially given that this model is positioned more as a mid-range set. However, as we know, peak brightness on test patterns is one thing and real film scenes another. Unfortunately, in actual video material the backlight output drops noticeably. Admittedly, in the most demanding moments the TV can still exceed 1,000 nits, which is still a great result and fits the mastering standards of most HDR films, but aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms turn out to be the real challenge. Because of them, small bright details, such as stars or the moon in a night sky, are noticeably dimmed. The TV tries to maintain deep blacks at all costs, which is understandable, but unfortunately this comes at the expense of the dynamic impact and the brightness of the HDR effect. The colour reproduction is worth praising. The new U7S Pro is a QLED design that provides very wide colour gamut coverage. Unlike last year’s model (U7Q Pro), this year’s variant is a 'true' QLED rather than a solution based on a PFS filter. As a result, colour saturation has increased noticeably and coverage of the most demanding BT.2020 colour space has exceeded 81%.

In Filmmaker mode, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q television was truly impressive. After the first measurements, it became clear that the white balance was quite well tuned, with the only minor deviation being a slight tendency towards a purple tone, which we mentioned earlier. However, this did not significantly impact the overall character of the image – it remained coherent and pleasant to view. A much larger issue turned out to be the brightness characteristics (gamma) in SDR content and the EOTF curve in HDR films. The television noticeably brightened the image, flattening the contrast and diminishing its depth. Gamma values could drop from the reference 2.4 to around 1.9, making the image look as if it were covered with a thin, milky layer. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be relatively easily corrected through calibration.

We tested the U7S Pro, as we always do, in the best factory-calibrated picture mode, namely Filmmaker Mode. The colours on display can be judged in two ways. The most disappointing was the preset intended for viewing SDR content, that is conventional television, YouTube and other less demanding material. The image there was noticeably yellowish, which turned out to be a direct consequence of an incorrectly set white balance. As our graphs show, this was due to a large deficiency of the blue component, which drastically affected the overall colour temperature. You can see this clearly on the ColorChecker charts and on the colour gamut plots themselves, where most samples shifted towards yellow. Fortunately the factory HDR mode performed much better; there the colour errors hovered around a Delta E of 3, which is already a very solid result.

The biggest beneficiary of calibration in the case of the Hisense E7Q / E79Q was undoubtedly the SDR mode. It managed to achieve an almost perfect image – most errors in the Color Checker test dropped below a value of 3, and often even 2, which is an outstanding result for this class of equipment. The greatest improvement came from equalising the brightness characteristic (gamma), which meant the image no longer appeared washed out and regained its natural depth. In HDR content, it was also possible to improve colours and eliminate the purple tint mentioned earlier, but errors in the Color Checker measurements were still noticeable. This is due to the fact that – as is often the case with Hisense televisions – the screen manipulates brightness quite heavily, overemphasising some colours. This was also indicated by the EOTF curve, which was slightly above the reference values, suggesting these minor issues with excessive brightness. Despite this drawback and the design limitations that emerge with HDR content, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q gained quite a lot after calibration. In everyday use, the television presents a consistent, natural, and pleasant image, and the difference compared to the factory settings is enormous.

We know, however, that the company Hisense is capable of much more – as previous generations have demonstrated – which is why we couldn't simply overlook the factory shortcomings of the U7S Pro model in everyday content. As is often the case, the television underwent professional calibration. The conclusions? This process brought about a colossal change. After manually adjusting the white balance and supplementing the deficiencies in the blue component, the annoying yellow tint disappeared as if by magic. White became naturally pure, and skin tones gained the appropriate, healthy hue. Importantly, calibration not only tamed the capricious SDR mode but also allowed us to extract the maximum potential from the panel, reducing average colour reproduction errors to levels nearly imperceptible to the human eye. The only thing we must criticise after the whole process is the very nature of the Mini-LED backlight and its specific interaction with the HDR signal. The aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms significantly interfere with the EOTF brightness curve. As a result, the backlight does not always work perfectly with the creator's intention – depending on the scene being viewed, the curve can noticeably deviate either above or below the reference, which at times disrupts the ideal dynamics of HDR imagery.

In the case of the Hisense E7Q / E79Q, upscaling and digital image processing are not the strongest aspects of this television. It is evident that the manufacturer has opted more for simplicity rather than advanced image processing algorithms. The television does not offer any features to smooth tonal transitions or systems to improve image clarity, resulting in lower resolution materials looking simply very raw. On the screen, you can notice subtle compression edges that better processors in other models can effectively hide.

During the HD material tests, we noticed that the E7Q tries to artificially enhance detail, which sometimes works, and at other times has the opposite effect – the image becomes soft, slightly blurred, at times even “watery.” There is no aggressive sharpening that ruins naturalness, but there is also no finesse in the detail integration that better image converters offer.

The digital processing of lower-quality signals is of a very high standard here, all thanks to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor used in the U7S Pro. Upscaling itself also performs very well, meaning the TV's ability to lift lower-resolution sources to 4K is strong. We didn't notice any unnatural, sharp contours on the screen, and our test image featuring a model simply looked attractive.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is a television with a 60 Hz screen, so fans of 4K sports may feel a slight disappointment – we simply won’t see such smooth images here as in more expensive models with higher refresh rates. Fortunately, the situation is much better for films. Cinematic materials recorded at 24 frames per second can be displayed here using a motion smoothing feature, allowing the user to tailor the picture to their own preferences – either more cinematic with visible frames or smoother, in a theatrical style.

Hisense U7S Pro uses a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz at 4K, and in game mode it can even reach 330 Hz at Full HD. However, it's worth remembering that these top figures matter little in everyday use, because most content is limited to a maximum of 120 Hz (for example when playing on a console). Even so, the TV handles motion quite well and performs very respectably for an LCD design.

It's hard to fault the smoothness itself. In the menu you'll find a motion smoothing feature called "Motion Enhancement", which hides two sliders: blur reduction and judder reduction. These allow manual configuration of the smoother, which works well for both films and sport, effectively improving the raw TV signal.

Hisense E7Q / E79Q is truly a successful television for gamers, even though it does not support 4K signal at 120 Hz. The manufacturer, however, has ensured a set of features that until recently could only be found in more expensive models. There is ALLM, meaning automatic switching to low latency mode, allowing the television to activate game mode with very low input lag by itself. We also have VRR, functioning up to 60 Hz – while this may not look impressive on paper, in practice it is fully sufficient, as most games on consoles do not exceed this limit. All these settings can be quickly found in the Game Bar panel, a convenient menu created specifically for gamers. From this interface, one can change picture modes, enable a frame counter, or even... an on-screen reticle – humorously named "target point" in the Vidaa system, which is a result of awkward translation from the Chinese manufacturer.

Special praise should be given to the ability to play in 1080p at 120 Hz, which significantly improves the fluidity and responsiveness of the image. Therefore, if someone wants to play a few titles at a higher refresh rate, they can simply lower the resolution and enjoy much smoother motion. Despite the lack of 4K@120Hz, the Hisense E7Q / E79Q performs really well as a gaming television – especially for those who are not looking for perfection but rather a solid and fast screen for everyday gaming.

If you plan to connect a console or PC to the U7S Pro, you'll be more than satisfied. This TV is excellent for gamers. Hisense didn't spare any expense and fitted it with four HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth, so you don't need to juggle cables, as each port supports the full feature set. It offers automatic low-latency mode (ALLM) and VRR, which operates across a wide range from 48 Hz up to a whopping 330 Hz. Of course, that 330 Hz is for now a bit of a gimmick for owners of powerful PCs, since consoles will still be limited to 120 Hz, but it's good to have that headroom for the future. The Game Bar is also very useful while gaming. It's a handy on-screen menu for players where, without leaving the main TV settings, you can quickly change picture mode, enable a crosshair in the centre of the screen, or even switch to an ultra-wide display aspect, which PC simulator fans will appreciate. The only drawback to be aware of is an incorrect implementation of the HGiG standard in games. The TV ignores the console's HDR10 instructions and keeps forcefully altering the image in an attempt to "improve" it, which makes proper HDR setup in the console menu (where you set brightness using the symbols/checkerboard pattern) somewhat more awkward.