LG OLED C5 vs Hisense U7S Pro

LG C5 finally does what we have been waiting for years in the C series – it exceeds 1000 nits of brightness! This is a significant change compared to previous models in the series, and it is very important – because most HDR content on streaming platforms is now created around such luminance. The image finally has the proper "shine," and the details in the highlights look as they should even without the use of dynamic metadata. However, there are scenes where the C5, like most OLED televisions, has certain issues. Especially when the screen needs to light up completely. In our test sequences, such as the bright shot from the film The Meg, the brightness clearly drops. Don't get us wrong, this result is not bad; it's more a reminder that OLED technology still has its limitations. Year by year they are becoming smaller, but still.

As for the colours? They are very good. Although the C5 does not match OLEDs with QD-OLED or Tandem RGB panels, the DCI-P3 coverage of 97% and 73% BT.2020 will satisfy even the more demanding viewers. The colours are saturated, natural, and very consistent in HDR material.

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%.

LG C5, like other televisions we have tested, has been checked in the best possible factory mode – which remains the Filmmaker Mode. And here we have good news: in SDR materials, LG has once again done a solid job. The white balance and colour reproduction right out of the box are at a very high level. Most errors – both in balance and in the colour test (Colour Checker) – did not exceed a ΔE value of 3, which is the threshold above which differences become visible to the naked eye. Such factory settings would be desirable in a significantly larger number of televisions!

However, the situation looks different for HDR content, which is precisely what the C series was created for. Here, the C5 performs somewhat worse. The excessive presence of blue in the white balance causes the image to appear distinctly cooler – which affects, for instance, unnaturally pale skin tones or a slightly shifted tone of the entire scene. Fortunately, LG provides very precise calibration tools, and we – as always – made use of them.

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.

We must honestly admit – in the case of the LG C5, very little was needed to achieve nearly perfect picture quality. After calibrating, we managed to reach compatibility with reference screens at a level that impresses even when compared to significantly more expensive models. The image after our adjustment looks exactly as filmmakers and series creators would want it – without colour distortions, with natural depth and subtle texture. LG has done a great job this year regarding factory settings and calibration potential. Chapeau bas!

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.

LG C5 handles lower quality materials really very well. One of the main problems older WOLEDs faced was posterisation – that is, unwanted “stair stepping” in colour transitions. The C5 utilises a system feature that smoothens these transitions, which works surprisingly effectively. The banding effect is nearly completely eliminated, and the picture gains in coherence. Compared to last year's model, we have the impression that this feature works slightly less effectively – but the good news is that it does not undermine the structure of the image. Film grain, textures, and details remain on the screen – nothing is unnaturally smoothed out.

The C5 also excels at enhancing the quality of older recordings. Thanks to the α9 Gen6 processor (8th gen), the "scaling to 4K" performs really solidly. The image is clear, the details are sharp, and the only minor downside might be slightly noticeable edge sharpening on some borders. However, there is no issue with overscan here – the image is neither artificially cropped nor shifted, which is a significant plus and still not a given.

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.

The LG C5 is equipped with a 144 Hz display, and this, combined with the virtually zero response time of the OLED pixels, makes it one of the best screens for watching dynamic content. It doesn't matter whether it's sports, fast-paced games, or just action – the image is razor-sharp.

And what about movies at 24 frames? LG thought of that too. The built-in "TruMotion" smoother allows you to adjust the picture to your own preferences. The "de-judder" slider increases fluidity in films, while "de-blur" gently reduces motion blur – though to be fair, it is nearly invisible here anyway.

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.

LG C5 is a television designed with gamers in mind – and there isn't a hint of exaggeration in that. It's hard to find anything to criticise here. We have a refresh rate of 144 Hz, full support for VRR, ALLM, and as many as four HDMI 2.1 ports with a full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s. For those who have an Xbox, PS5, Nintendo, and a gaming PC all in one room – there are no limitations, everything can be connected without any hassle.

The HDR configuration for games also poses no problems. The television correctly handles the HGiG mode, which allows for an image that matches the creators' intentions. For those interested, there is also Dolby Vision in Gaming mode, although we still recommend HGiG as the most predictable and "pure" version of HDR in games.

It also features Game Bar, which serves as a "command centre" for gamers. Everything important, from VRR settings, to picture modes, to frame rate information – is at our fingertips. The interface is simple and clear. It may look like it’s from a spaceship simulator, but it serves its purpose and just works; as it should.

C5 is truly a complete set for any gamer.

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.