Samsung Q7F vs Hisense E7Q PRO / E79Q PRO

Unfortunately, the Samsung Q7F is not one of the brighter televisions, and this has a direct impact on the quality of HDR films. The peak brightness of the panel is just around 250 nits, which is definitely too low to speak of true cinematic experiences. In practice, the image in HDR content does not differ significantly from classic SDR, making it difficult to talk about any "wow effect" that usually accompanies us when watching such films. During tests of film scenes, the image simply looked dark, and the brightness almost always hovered around the aforementioned 250 nits. The worst performances were with shots that included small, intensely shining elements – the global dimming technique used reacted very aggressively in these cases, dimming the entire screen to maintain the effect of black. However, it is worth noting the presence of the QLED coating that expands the colour palette. For a budget QLED model, the Q7F performs quite decently here: the coverage of the DCI-P3 palette is about 93%, and BT.2020 reaches 70%. This means that, despite the low brightness, the colours can still look quite vivid and attractive.

When it comes to the quality of the HDR effect, the E7Q PRO is unfortunately not a television that can impress with brightness alone. In real film materials, we measured around 250–300 nits, which is simply too little for HDR to look spectacular. There is a lack of that "spark" in bright details, highlights, and light effects, and in many HDR scenes, it can resemble good SDR more than true cinematic HDR. The consolation in all this is the colours. We managed to confirm that the E7Q PRO is a PFS-type television, meaning it has an additional filter that improves colour gamut coverage. As a result, even if the brightness does not deliver, the colours in HDR content can be appropriately saturated and pleasing to the eye, without the feeling of a "washed-out" image.

The factory colour accuracy of the Samsung Q7F is certainly not one of its strong points. In Filmmaker mode, which theoretically should be the closest to neutral, the issue with white balance immediately stands out. There is too much red on the screen, while blue is lacking. The consequences of this are very easy to notice – white, instead of being neutral, takes on warm, almost slightly orange tones. In the long run, this makes the entire image look somewhat unnatural, and bright areas of the scene may seem unrealistic. The problems become even more evident in HDR content. The graphs show that the television has significant errors in the Color Checker palette, which translates to visible inaccuracies in the actual image. Practically, this means that the colours are not presented as they should be. The Q7F also heavily manipulates brightness; darker elements are overly boosted, losing their cinematic quality, while bright parts may appear dimmed. As a result, the image seems flattened, and contrast, instead of helping to bring out details, only highlights its own limitations. This is particularly frustrating in HDR material, where every detail matters. In scenes where there should be a subtle play of light and shadow, the Q7F either oversteps by brightening too much or conversely – suppresses elements that should draw the eye. This causes the image to lose its depth, and instead of cinematic realism, we have a rather simplified effect.

In terms of colour reproduction, we tested the Hisense E7Q Pro in Movie mode, which turned out to be the best built-in preset without a doubt. This mode, unlike the Eco, Standard or Dynamic settings, offers the most natural colours straight out of the box. Although no factory mode is completely free of flaws, the E7Q Pro deserves high praise for its colour rendering in standard SDR content. The colour palette is very well tuned here, and the errors in the Color Checker tests often did not exceed a value of 3, which is an outstanding result rarely seen in such affordable televisions. The only drawback we noted in SDR is the tendency to darken some elements of the image, as indicated by the slightly raised gamma graph. The television performs slightly worse with colours in HDR mode. Here, colour errors become noticeable to the naked eye, mainly due to a lack of blue in the white balance. This causes the colours on the screen to be too warm, and for some viewers, they may even seem “too cinematic.” Of course, to improve these parameters, we proceeded with professional calibration.

After professional calibration, we managed to bring the Q7F into order – at least in terms of SDR content. The picture in this mode looks really good: the white balance has been set correctly, the colours appear natural, and errors in the colour palette have dropped to levels that are practically invisible to the eye. Gamma behaves exemplary, and the only minor drawback is a slight lightening of smaller elements, which results from the lack of local dimming. For everyday watching of television or films in standard quality, the Q7F performs surprisingly well.

It was significantly harder to tame HDR content. Despite adjusting the white balance, the television still heavily manipulates brightness, causing scenes to sometimes look unnatural – what should be subtly darker can be overly brightened, and bright areas of the picture can occasionally appear dimmed. The end result is better than in factory settings, but it is evident that the structural limitations of the Q7F do not allow for the full potential of HDR materials to be fully realised.

In the case of materials with a standard dynamic range (SDR), our actions in Filmmaker mode turned out to be largely cosmetic 😉. We mainly focused on a subtle adjustment of the white balance and equalising the gamma curve, which allowed us to recover details in the darker areas of the image that previously tended to get lost. However, it is worth noting that the E7Q Pro unit we tested was exceptionally well-made at the factory. We remind you that these parameters depend on the specific unit – with mass production, factory calibration can be random, so your unit may require slightly different intervention. The biggest beneficiary of professional calibration was undoubtedly HDR mode. This is where we did the most work, which brought spectacular results. We managed to effectively tame the excessive warmth of the image, caused by a factory deficiency in blue colour. After calibration, the colour errors were reduced to a significantly lower level, which will certainly please those who watch a lot of streaming content in HDR format, expecting faithful reproduction.

Upscaling and digital image processing on the Q7F is a bit of a sine wave. On one hand, we have really nice upscaling – weaker sources look better than one might expect. The image becomes clearer, sharper, and even older films or terrestrial television perform adequately. Samsung has been strong in this area for years, and the Q7F confirms that. On the other hand… there are some issues. The television has a problem with overscan – part of the image is simply cut off, and it doesn't look very elegant. Additionally, we were let down by a feature called "noise reduction", which should improve the smoothness of tonal transitions in weaker materials. In other Samsungs, it works relatively well, but here it makes practically no difference – the banding in gradients is still there. It's a bit of a shame, as one could have expected more from a model that is aimed at users looking for a display for SDR content.

When it comes to upscaling and digital image processing, the E7Q PRO deserves praise. The scaling performs really well and does not dramatically fall behind much more expensive, advanced televisions. Lower-quality materials can look clean and sensible, without the impression that the image is artificially "enhanced." However, the smoothing function presents a bit worse. Indeed, it can be effective and improve tonal transitions in poor quality materials, but at the same time, it can introduce undesirable effects. It sometimes removes grain or adds unwanted artefacts, giving the image a more "digital" character. Therefore, we mainly recommend it to those who prefer a smoother, less cinematic style of image.

Ghosting and motion smoothness in the Q7F are probably the most budget-friendly elements of this television. The 60 Hz panel makes itself known, with noticeable ghosting, especially in dynamic scenes, and it's rather difficult to regard this model as equipment designed for watching sports or playing fast-paced games. In tests with the little green man, a long trail was left behind, similarly to how a ball in a football match would leave streaks.

On the plus side, the presence of motion smoothing must be acknowledged. In films, it actually makes a difference – especially since most material is recorded at 24 frames per second. Here we can decide whether we prefer a more "cinematic" image, with slight judder typical of cinema, or a smoother, more "television" approach. This part works quite well and helps to improve the viewing experience for series and films.

In the category of smearing and motion fluidity, the E7Q PRO has one very strong argument. At this price, Hisense has included a 120 Hz panel, and in PC mode, it can even operate at 144 Hz. This immediately provides greater possibilities in motion settings, as the menu offers more options for smoothing the image. Among other things, we have frame interpolation options, which allow us to adjust the fluidity for sports or films, depending on whether we prefer a more cinematic character or a "theatrical" smoothness.

The features for gamers in the Samsung Q7F is a topic that evokes a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand – no sensible person expected miracles here, after all, it is a 60 Hz television and it was clear from the start that this would not be hardware for squeezing the maximum out of a console or PC. On the other hand, since the manufacturer promised specific solutions in promotional materials, it is natural that we wanted to see them in practice. Initially, it’s quite good. The automatic game mode (ALLM) works, so there’s no need to manually fiddle with settings; the console switches the television to low-latency mode itself. Additionally, we have the Game Bar, which looks impressive and allows you to check a few basic parameters without leaving the game. And this is where the good news ends.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung televisions from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which restored the critical gaming feature HGiG.

The biggest problem with the Q7F is VRR, or rather its absence. Indeed, the relevant icon appears in the menu, it can even be seen in the Game Bar, but throughout the entire test, the function remained inactive and could not be activated in any way. The issue with HGiG is even more painful; this option was actually available at the beginning, but after the software update, it disappeared completely, which is simply irresponsible. Therefore, the Q7F is only suitable for absolute basics. Sure, one can turn on the console, play more relaxed titles, and enjoy low input lag, but if someone is counting on more advanced features that the manufacturer promised, they will be disappointed. This is not a television that one buys with gaming in mind, and it’s better to be aware of this before making a purchase.

The E7Q PRO is a phenomenal screen for gamers. Aside from the typical "ache" of Hisense, which is the lack of support for the HGiG format due to permanently active tone mapping, we get practically everything one can expect from a television that is to have a gaming label. There are two HDMI 2.1 ports, along with a full set of key features. We have variable refresh rates, automatic switching to game mode, and support for 4K at 120 Hz. Additionally, all the most important settings are at hand in a clear Game Bar. This tool not only looks modern but also has a typically "gaming" edge and truly makes life easier while gaming.