Hisense U7NQ vs Hisense E8Q

The Hisense U7NQ 65 television showed considerable potential on the luminance chart, exceeding the 1000 nits barrier and easily achieving very high brightness results in the first, third, and fifth test scenes. However, as before, in the second and fourth test scenes, such as from the film Sicario 2, there are significant issues with maintaining brightness, and results around 200 nits are very disappointing. Despite a large number of dimming zones, the algorithm in the television responsible for controlling these zones fails to respond adequately — in this case, it significantly dims small elements such as the moon or the light from a helicopter. The bright light that should dazzle us is too dim to be considered HDR effect. Nevertheless, it is worth praising the television for its high coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 96%, which allows it to represent most film scenes well.

Since the E8Q is a twin of the U7Q, it’s no surprise that the quality of the HDR effect is nearly identical. On paper, it looks promising – a peak brightness of 800 nits can impress in many scenes. Moments such as flashes of light in “The Meg” or shots of the sun in “Life of Pi” can indeed evoke a 'wow' effect. But the longer we watch, the more we notice the limitations. The problem arises when small, bright details need to be shown against a dark background. In such situations, the dimming algorithms try to preserve contrast but end up dimming what should shine the most. Instead of dazzling details, we get almost invisible points of light. This is typical for Mini-LEDs in this price segment and is not surprising – but it’s worth knowing that the HDR effect will not always be fully preserved. Fortunately, the colour performance offers reasons to be pleased. Coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at around 94% is a very good result, and the applied layer of quantum dots (more precisely, PFS) does its job – the colours are saturated and vibrant, especially with 4K content.

The Chinese manufacturer offers various picture settings in its televisions, but the best mode in this model is undoubtedly Filmmaker Mode. Despite its name, this mode has its issues: white balance, although roughly correct, is characterised by a strong dominance of warm tones due to the oversaturation of red, both in 4K and HD content. The Colour Checker test confirms these errors — deviations of samples towards inappropriate hues are visible. As for brightness characteristics, the gamma responsible for HD content shows values below 2.4, leading to some brightening of the screen. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve reveals the television's struggles with displaying small bright elements, as confirmed by the previously described paragraphs.

Testing the Hisense E8Q in Filmmaker mode, we were hoping for a possibly neutral image close to the director's vision. Unfortunately – although it doesn't look bad on paper (the colour reproduction errors are not significant), in practice the image appears not entirely natural. The reason? An overly strong boost in blue colour and a lack of red in the white balance. The effect? Scenes look cool, and the white seems slightly bluish. Alongside the U7Q model, we also noticed a specific approach to brightness management here. The brightness mapping curve for HDR content (EOTF) shows that the television can significantly dim small, bright elements on the screen to maintain contrast – but sometimes it goes too far in this. On the other hand, larger, very bright areas can be excessively brightened, which disrupts tonal balance. This is a compromise that may not suit everyone – especially if you want an as faithful image as possible right out of the box.

Hisense televisions offer many image correction tools that allow users to adjust settings to their own preferences, which is why we decided to take advantage of these capabilities to bring the image quality closer to a reference standard. In terms of white balance, we were able to eliminate the dominance of the red colour, resulting in more neutral hues, which allowed for a more realistic image in both 4K and HD materials. We observed similar improvements in brightness characteristics. The gamma, which previously led to excessive screen brightness, was corrected, contributing to better detail reproduction in the darker areas of the image while maintaining a natural tonal balance.

However, the biggest challenge was calibrating the EOTF curve, which corresponds to brightness in 4K materials. At first glance, the EOTF value appeared nearly perfect, but detailed tests showed somewhat different results. When we examined it more closely — especially using the filter on the right side of the EOTF chart — we noticed how the television manipulated 4K film materials, often significantly boosting brightness. This effect was particularly noticeable in scenes from films such as Pan and Billy Lynn, where the television attempted to artificially increase the brightness of elements, affecting their naturalness. Despite these imperfections, the calibration yielded positive results, especially in terms of tonal improvement. For most users, the final effect should be satisfactory, particularly if they are keen on bringing the image quality closer to professional reference standards.

The calibration of the Movie mode yielded really good results, especially when it comes to SDR content. We managed to balance the white levels, which made the image look more natural – it appeared almost reference-quality. The colours were well-saturated, and the overall perception of the content improved significantly. Unfortunately, when we switched to HDR materials, familiar issues from the U7Q model returned. The television still likes to "do its own thing," as evident from the analysis of the brightness characteristic EOTF – despite calibration, the E8Q still dimmed fine details in the shadows, while the bright areas of the screen could be excessively boosted. In practice, this means that in darker scenes, some of the smallest details could simply disappear. Although it must be acknowledged that the entire calibration process brought a lot of good, not everything can be circumvented – even with the use of professional tools. The E8Q can impress with its picture, but in HDR content, its design limitations become apparent, and it is worth keeping this in mind.

When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, despite the presence of the "Smooth and Gradient Image" function in the test sequence, we did not notice that the function made any difference — we recommend turning it off. As for upscaling, the television handled our model reasonably well, and the branches in the background are not overly jagged — the image appears quite plastic. However, it was slightly cropped by the so-called overscan.

In the case of older materials with lower quality, a gentle smoothing of tonal transitions often comes in handy. The Hisense E8Q, like the U7Q, features an "Smoothing and Gradient Image" function, but unfortunately – its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. The "Low" mode is almost imperceptible in operation, and the higher settings do not improve transitions but simply blur the details. The good news is that the function does not compromise film grain, meaning it does not worsen the structure of the image. On the plus side, scaling is commendable. The television is able to sensibly upscale older content to a higher resolution – without artificially accentuating contours or excessive sharpening. Although it does not match the best models in this category, it performs quite well for its class.

Hisense U7NQ has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which definitely contributes to smooth movement. For film enthusiasts, two functions are available: judder reduction and motion blur reduction. The judder reduction function minimises the effect known as judder, or unpleasant jumps in the image, particularly noticeable at lower frame rates. Meanwhile, motion blur reduction helps to sharpen fast-moving objects, which is useful when watching dynamic action scenes.

As for ghosting, the television has a good response time, meaning excessive ghosting is not visible, except in specific situations, such as the test with the little green man on a dark background. In such cases, slight artefacts may appear, but overall the television handles dynamic images well, providing satisfactory motion quality.

Similar to the U7Q, the E8Q model is a fast television designed for dynamic content. It supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz at 4K resolution, and if, for some reason, someone is still gaming in Full HD – it can even reach 240 Hz. This is a significant advantage, especially for PC users looking for maximum smoothness. In everyday use, the television performs very well. The "Ultra Motion Smoothness" mode offers two sliders that allow you to customise the picture to your preference – whether more cinematic with the film frame preserved or highly smoothed, almost "series-like". It's good that the manufacturer provides a choice here instead of imposing one style. On sports material, live broadcasts, or in games – movement looks clean and stable. Of course, it is not at the OLED level, but for this price range, the E8Q performs really well.

Hisense U7NQ offers everything a gamer might need for comfortable gameplay. The television supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, providing an incredibly smooth image, especially in dynamic action games. The VRR (variable refresh rate) feature ensures that the image adapts to varying frames per second, eliminating stuttering and screen tearing. Additionally, there is an ALLM (automatic low latency mode) feature, which automatically switches the television to game mode, minimising input lag.

The television also supports Dolby Vision, which is particularly important for gamers who appreciate high contrast and rich colours in games that support this format. The Hisense U7NQ also has a Game Bar feature that allows quick access to the most important settings during gameplay, as well as support for G-Sync technology, further reducing screen tearing effects.

Unfortunately, despite a wide range of features, it lacks support for the most popular HDR format in gaming — HGiG. This may be disappointing for gamers who expect optimal detail reproduction in HDR scenes. Nevertheless, the other features make the Hisense U7NQ a solid choice for any console gaming enthusiast.

Hisense E8Q does not hide its gaming heritage. Even the specifications reveal that we are dealing with a television that will perform excellently as a gaming screen. Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)? It's there. Automatic switching to game mode (ALLM)? That's there too. Additionally, there is impressive refresh rate – 120 Hz in 4K or even 240 Hz in Full HD. Such a set is rare in this price segment. Everything works smoothly and without major surprises. The only missing element – similar to the U7Q – is support for HGiG. It’s a shame, as this feature facilitates adjusting the brightness curve to the capabilities of a specific television, improving visual compatibility with the intentions of HDR game creators. Without it, one has to manually fiddle with the settings, which does not always yield a satisfactory result.