Samsung S85F (WOLED) vs Hisense U7S Pro

For the majority of the time, let's say in 90% of film scenes, viewers will see virtually no difference between the versions of the S85F. When small, but very bright light points appear on the screen – a lantern in a dark alley, an explosion, the sun breaking through the clouds – this WOLED panel (similar to the smaller S85F) performs exceptionally well. Our measurements indicated a peak brightness of around 750 nits. We can state with full confidence: this is a great result that guarantees fantastic HDR effects. The problem arises in a very specific, uncomfortable situation for any OLED. We're talking about the moment when the entire screen must light up at full power brightly. Examples include a scene with a white background, a skiing scene, or our test sequences (5) from the film The Meg. And here, unfortunately, the results diverge significantly to the detriment of the variant with the WOLED panel. Our measurement equipment was able to register a maximum brightness of around 250 to 300 nits in such conditions. To be clear: the same model with a QD-OLED panel in the same test is nearly twice as bright. The second matter: colours. And here, we also have to be honest – QD-OLED has a structural advantage. Why? It's simple. QD-OLED generates colours from three components (red, green, and blue) and does not require an additional white subpixel. The WOLED panel we are testing here uses that white subpixel mainly to boost overall brightness. The effect is that QD-OLED is able to show a slightly wider colour palette and the colours are somewhat "purer". But to be clear: it's not that the colours on this WOLED panel are bad! On the contrary, they are really very good. The coverage of the DCI-P3 film palette at 97% and 71% for the broader BT.2020 palette is still high-end. We just need to honestly admit that this few percentage points of advantage in colour coverage lies with QD-OLED technology and may be noticeable in very specific moments.

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%.

When it comes to factory colour reproduction, our test sample in SDR mode suffered from a slight deficit of red and yellow colours. This resulted in a faint yellowish tint visible in shades of white. However, this is not the biggest problem with the S85F. As with the variant with a QD-OLED panel, the main issue with this model is the way it presents HDR content. When we look at the EOTF curve chart, it is easy to see that the television has quite significant problems with strong image clipping. Such behaviour causes the final image in many scenes to become very unnatural.

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.

After conducting calibration in Filmmaker mode, we managed to eliminate most of the unwanted effects. In SDR content, the television performs excellently, with its colour reproduction errors not exceeding a value of 2, which is an outstanding result. HDR content looks slightly worse, though still very good. Although we were able to eliminate the significant unnaturalness of the image caused by the excessively high EOTF curve, the most discerning observers may notice that it is not perfectly aligned. It runs slightly below the reference curve, which would suggest that the S85F has minor difficulties in showcasing all the details in the image. We must emphasise here that it is very unlikely that the average viewer will notice any shortcomings in the image. The final effect after calibration is evaluated as exemplary.

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.

The processing of tonal transitions (gradients) in the S85F is at a high level. The television effectively handles posterisation (the "banding" effect of colours), even with heavily compressed content, e.g., from streaming services. However, using this feature requires a certain compromise. We noticed that the noise reduction algorithm is quite aggressive – even at the lowest setting, it can eliminate natural film grain, which for many viewers is part of the film's aesthetics. The "Standard" setting seems to be a happy medium, not causing a noticeable loss of important details, which is why we can recommend it. However, we advise against using the "High" level, which, in addition to noise, also removes desirable details such as texture or structure of objects on the screen.

The upscaling process of lower resolution content works very well in the S85F. The image is sharpened and clear. The only minor imperfection we managed to observe is occasional, subtle aliasing on the edges. The television still exhibits characteristics typical of this manufacturer, namely active "overscan" (slight image enlargement). It is worth keeping this in mind, especially when watching older content, as it may result in minimal clipping of the original frame.

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.

S85F is a model with impressive speed. The use of a 120 Hz OLED panel ensures that dynamic scenes, both in games and during sports broadcasts, meet expectations: smoothly, sharply, and without loss of clarity. A key role here is played by the instant response time of the pixels, which is a natural advantage of OLED technology. Frame transitions are instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. Moving objects, such as a ball on the pitch or a car in a chase scene, are clear and devoid of the characteristic motion blur associated with LCD panels (the so-called "ghosting").

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.

The 85F has practically everything on board to become the dream screen for gaming. It features four full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode). Additionally, there's a super-detailed Game Bar, which clearly displays all the key parameters. However, the real gem is the Game Motion Plus feature. This motion smoother dedicated to games makes animations more pleasant to the eye while only slightly increasing input lag. This is a rare and well-working combination, for which Samsung deserves great applause.

Now for the moment where we have to complain a bit. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung TVs is already a standard, so there's no point in holding out hope (unless something changes in the future). Unfortunately, it's much harder to explain the disappearance of support for HGiG after one of the software updates. HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a key mode that allows for precise brightness representation in HDR games, according to the creators' intent. Without it, HDR calibration on consoles becomes less precise, potentially leaving us with images that are too dark in the shadows or excessively blown out in the bright areas. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become nearly the perfect TV for gamers.

[UPDATE] We have updated our tests of Samsung TVs from the 2025 model year due to the release of software version 1131, which has restored the HGiG feature essential for gamers.

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.