Hisense U7Q vs Samsung QN80F 100"

Since the algorithms responsible for blacks are performing quite well, we expected a similarly good effect regarding brightness and overall HDR quality. Unfortunately – here we have to disappoint you a bit.

The U7Q is a sufficiently bright television – under the best conditions, it can achieve around 800 nits, which indeed impresses on some scenes, especially in scenes like those from the film The Meg. Bright areas can shine, and the HDR effect is noticeable. The problem arises when there are very small, bright elements on a dark background – for example, in Sicario 2 or in the second scene from the film Life of Pi. In such moments, the dimming algorithms work too aggressively. Yes, the blacks look great then, but the brightest points can almost completely disappear, causing the HDR effect to vanish and the details to be barely visible. It's just the nature of this technology in this price segment.

As a consolation, it's worth mentioning that the U7Q is marketed as QLED (in practice, a PFS layer is used, which works very similarly), and it is indeed capable of displaying a wide colour palette – a DCI-P3 coverage of around 94% is a very good result for this class.

When it comes to HDR in Filmmaker mode, the QN80F can make a great first impression. Our laboratory tests have shown that under the best conditions, the television is capable of achieving brightness exceeding 1200–1300 nits. These are truly excellent results, making HDR effects in many films look incredible. The television is simply bright enough not to need to artificially adapt the image – the bright parts of scenes have the right 'power' and actually look like a light source. Of course, the laboratory is one thing, and everyday viewing is another. In practice, in film scenes, brightness generally oscillates in the range of 700–1100 nits. These are still great values that, in most cases, provide a strong sense of realism and make the lights on the screen truly capable of blinding. The problem arises in exceptionally challenging sequences, where, like almost every mini-LED, it reveals its limitations. A good example is Sicario 2: the scenes with the helicopter in the night sky look much weaker, and the lights lose intensity, dropping to around 370 nits, making it hard to speak of serious admiration. To this, we must add the issue of colours. Although we are dealing with a QLED, the coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette is around 90%. This is a rather average result for a quantum dot television. In practice, this means that some colours may appear less saturated than we would expect, especially in demanding HDR productions.

We tested the U7Q in the best possible picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. This is the mode that is supposed to provide the most "filmic" and creator-intended experience – right out of the box. Unfortunately… even this professionally sounding name does not guarantee a perfect picture.

In our unit, the problem lay in the incorrectly set white balance. Both in HD and 4K content, the picture had too much blue and red, which caused the screen to take on a slightly rosy tint. It didn't look terrible, but it was noticeable – especially in bright scenes and white backgrounds. This alone could perhaps be forgiven, but the biggest problem is managing brightness in HDR content. The EOTF curve from measurements confirms what we saw earlier during scene tests: the television can overly darken the smallest bright elements, causing them to nearly disappear, or on the contrary – excessively brighten the brightest ones, which affects the naturalness of the picture.

The Samsung QN80F performs best in Filmmaker mode, which is designed to replicate the creators' intentions as accurately as possible. And indeed – this is the mode in which the television showcases its potential. But let’s not kid ourselves, it is far from perfect. In SDR content, the issue of white balance came to the forefront. Slightly lacking greens and a noticeable excess of reds caused the screen to take on a pinkish hue. You don't even need meters to notice this – in everyday viewing, the subtly shifted colour palette could be quite noticeable, and in colour checker tests, the colours would literally "pop" out of their reference fields. With HDR content, the situation looked a bit better, as the white balance was closer to ideal, but another problem arose – brightness management. The EOTF curve often caused the image to become too bright, which spoiled the sense of contrast, and in dynamic scenes, it led to a slight "flicker" in perception. We had already mentioned this when discussing black levels and HDR. The good news, however, is that Samsung provides a lot of tools for improvement. The QN80F allows for truly detailed calibration, including a 20-point white balance. And since the manufacturer has left us so many options, we decided to check how the television would perform after a thorough adjustment.

Thanks to specialised tools, we managed to correct the colour quality in SDR content to nearly perfection. In materials with lower dynamic range, the delta E errors dropped below 0.5, which can be regarded as an almost reference result. The picture on television, YouTube, or classic Full HD looks really very good after calibration. Alright – but where did we not manage to improve the image so easily? Primarily, it concerns HDR quality content. Although we managed to somewhat 'tame' the white balance and eliminate pink tints in most scenes, unfortunately, we no longer had full control over brightness management. We set the local dimming settings according to the best observations – SDR: Medium, HDR: High – but the U7Q still did everything a bit its own way. There were still cases of excessive dimming or brightening of details that calibration simply could not eliminate. And although the overall reception of the content is significantly better, one must reckon that the U7Q will always have something to say at the end with an 'but'.

After calibrating the QN80F, it immediately showed that it was capable of much more. The previous pinkish tint disappeared, and the white balance finally looks like it should – natural and without excessive deviations. The colours gained depth, and the image became more saturated and cohesive, making watching films simply more enjoyable. It's a bit like removing a light haze from the screen – suddenly everything appears sharper and clearer. The management of brightness has also improved. The television no longer gets easily lost in dynamic shifts, and the EOTF graph shows that the curve tracking is significantly more stable. Of course, there are no miracles – the limited number of zones still means that small bright elements can be slightly washed out, but that's a result of the design itself, not the settings. After this correction, the QN80F feels like a more mature piece of equipment, and watching films finally provides the satisfaction expected from a television even in a higher class.

There are situations where we would like to smooth out tonal transitions a bit, especially in older materials – those with limited source quality. The U7Q is equipped with a feature called "Smooth and Gradient Image," but unfortunately... it works very poorly. In the "Low" option, the effects are practically unnoticeable, and other settings smooth details but do not improve tonal transitions. The only positive aspect is that the feature does not interfere with film grain, so it does not ruin the natural structure of the image.

Fortunately, upscaling content performs quite well. The image is not excessively sharpened, and there is no artificial clarity – and although it is known that this is not the level of high-end televisions, the U7Q handles displaying really old content in a completely acceptable manner without any issues.

With lower quality materials, such as films from YouTube or older television recordings, the QN80F can display its strengths and weaknesses. If strange colour transitions or artefacts start to appear on the screen, it is worth using the noise reduction function. The best setting is at "medium" – it smooths out problematic sections while not blurring the entire image. However, one compromise must be remembered: this function always removes film grain. If someone enjoys its presence in older productions, it is better to keep the reduction turned off, as the grain simply disappears regardless of the setting.

Resolution scaling, or upscaling, is another strong point of Samsung. The QN80F may not be the best television on the market in this regard, but it performs very well in its price range, which is very important for such a large size as a 100-inch screen. Even lower quality materials can gain a second life – the image becomes sharper, more readable, and overall much more pleasant to perceive. A weak point remains overscan, which is the slight cropping of edges in very low resolutions (e.g., 576p), something that has been a longstanding issue for Samsung. Fortunately, this is practically of no consequence when watching HD and 4K content on a daily basis.

U7Q is indeed a very fast television, just like its more powerful version "PRO". At a resolution of 4K, it supports up to 144 Hz refresh rate, and if someone wants even more – in Full HD, you can achieve up to 240 Hz! This will mainly benefit PC gamers, but it is worth appreciating – it is a rarely seen feature in this price segment. Right from the start, it is clear that the U7Q has been designed with dynamic content in mind, such as games or sport. In films, we are not left "out in the cold" either – the U7Q offers an "Ultra Motion Smoothness" feature, where using two sliders you can adjust whether you prefer a smoother, theatrical image or something closer to a cinematic style with a visible film frame. It is good that, as with most manufacturers, we have a choice here as well and can adjust it to our own preferences.

The QN80F features a 144 Hz panel, and this is evident in practice – with full refresh, the image is remarkably smooth, and motion blur remains at an acceptable, barely noticeable level. However, this mode is primarily aimed at PC gamers. The most important reference point in everyday use remains the 120 Hz refresh rate, and this is where a certain discrepancy arises. During the UFO test, we noticed a splitting of the contours of rapidly moving objects – it looked as if the television had the BFI (Black Frame Insertion) feature permanently activated, which in practice led to an unpleasant effect of double edges. We do not yet know whether this is a software issue or a characteristic of this model, but in its current form, such behaviour is hard to commend.

The Hisense U7Q is a television designed with gamers in mind – and this is immediately evident from its gaming capabilities. It has practically everything you could wish for: variable refresh rate (VRR) – check, automatic game mode (ALLM) – check, and on top of that, high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz in Full HD and support for various resolutions, not just 4K. This is truly a great set of features that makes the U7Q perform well both in fast-paced first-person shooters on consoles and in more demanding titles on PC. Of course – as with most Hisense models – there is a lack of proper implementation of the HGiG feature. It's a shame because HGiG allows console brightness to be matched to a specific television, which in practice makes displaying HDR games according to the creators' intent much easier. Without this, you simply have to reckon with certain limitations in the final HDR image in games.

The Samsung QN80F gives the impression of a television designed with gamers in mind. On the list of advantages, we have a 144 Hz panel, four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports, complete support for VRR and ALLM, as well as one of the best-designed game bars on the market. Additionally, there is the Game Motion Plus motion smoother, which works even in games without any real increase in input lag, making the QN80F an absolute standout in this category. In practice, this means you can enjoy smoother visuals without sacrificing responsiveness, which is a dream for many console gamers!

As is usual with Samsung, there is no Dolby Vision support in games, and this is no longer surprising. However, we were much more surprised to find that in the 2025 models… the HGIG function has disappeared. This function allowed consoles like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X to perfectly adjust HDR tone mapping to the capabilities of the television. In the current firmware for the QN80F, this option simply does not exist – it seems more like an error rather than a conscious decision by the manufacturer, but as of the day of testing, it must be acknowledged that HGIG is not available. Due to this one omission, the QN80F, instead of being almost the perfect television for gamers, becomes a device that is only "almost" perfect. This is quite a shame because, aside from this, Samsung has created a model that truly raises the bar in the gaming equipment segment.