Sony Bravia 7 (XR70) vs Hisense UR8S

Since we know that the television handles contrast well, let's check how it performs in terms of HDR effects. The luminance graph shows the very high capabilities of this model – 1500 nits is a truly impressive result. The HDR effects are particularly striking in scenes where most of the screen is covered in light, such as in scenes 1, 3, and 5 of the test. Minor shortcomings, typical of this technology, are still visible with very small light effects, as in the scene from the film "Sicario 2," where brightness drops to 500 nits. Although these are not stunning results, they can be considered decent. Additionally, it is worth praising the television for its high coverage of a wide colour gamut – DCI-P3 at 96%, which allows for vibrant, saturated colours.

UR8S is a slightly higher-end Mini-LED, so you could expect a lot in terms of brightness. And indeed, on a synthetic test pattern peak brightness reached around 2200 nits. That’s a very good result, but as always what’s much more important is what the TV does in normal film scenes. Here the results are a bit more uneven. In bright scenes, where there’s a lot of light on screen, the UR8S can deliver really strong HDR. Brightness then reaches about 1500 nits, so the image is very intense and has plenty of punch. It’s worse with small bright elements on a dark background. The TV clearly dims them to keep good blacks and to prevent excessive bloom. As a result things like single stars or tiny reflections can be only around 200 nits. And here HDR is no longer as impressive. So you can see that the local dimming algorithm works effectively, but it also has its cost: sometimes it simply sacrifices the brightness of small details in favour of contrast.

Colours

With RGB Mini-LED TVs colours should be judged a little differently than usual. If we look solely at the panel’s native capabilities, the UR8S performs excellently. We measured around 94% coverage of BT.2020 and practically full DCI-P3. These are among the highest values currently found in LCD TVs and this is where the potential of the RGB backlight is most obvious. The problem is that this potential is not always realised in real scenes. When we ran the same measurements on test patterns with a film background applied, saturation of some colours began to fall noticeably. Individual zones are not always able to control the three RGB components so precisely when the scene becomes more complex. This is most visible with blue and magenta. On simple test patterns they can look very strong, but in more demanding scenes samples of those colours visibly shrink. So the UR8S’s capabilities are enormous, it’s just that the TV cannot fully make use of them in every scene.

The IMAX Enhanced mode on the Sony BRAVIA 7 television is undoubtedly the best mode available on this model, although it is not without its flaws, as its name might suggest. The biggest issue is the white balance – both in HD and 4K HDR content, there is a clear dominance of red, which causes the image to take on pink hues. This is particularly noticeable on the tested snow pattern, where the pinkish tint becomes very apparent. Errors in the Colour Checker test also confirm these deviations – although they are not catastrophic, there is a tendency to drift towards warmer colours. As for brightness performance, the gamma remains at a decent level with a slight peak but without major issues. However, the biggest challenge comes from 4K materials. It is clear that the EOTF curve is significantly above the reference graph, which causes the image to become overly brightened.

For assessing the out-of-the-box colours we used Filmmaker mode, which is intended to show an image that is as close as possible to how the material was prepared. Looking at the white balance alone, the UR8S performs quite well. There is no strong tint that immediately jumps out, although as brightness increases a little too much blue and red start to appear, with a simultaneous shortfall of green. Colour errors therefore show up in measurements, but the image itself does not look bad. We have far greater reservations about how the UR8S manages picture brightness. In SDR the gamma sits around 1.9–2.0 for most of the range instead of the target 2.4. In practice this simply means the picture is too bright, especially in the midtones. Shadows are lifted too much, causing the image to lose some depth. A similar tendency is visible in HDR. The EOTF curve is above the reference value for a large part of its range, so the UR8S again brightens the image more than it should. This is not due to a lack of brightness — the TV has plenty — but to the way it manages that brightness. As a result, HDR content can look very striking, but not always precisely as it should.

Sony BRAVIA XR70 offers a wide range of tools that allow for adjusting the picture to individual preferences, enabling us to make significant adjustments to the settings. The white balance has been free from the problem of red colour dominance – snow no longer takes on pink shades, which was previously noticeable. Although one can detect slight deviations in the final part of the white balance graph, concerning a drop in blue colour, they are acceptable and difficult to notice in everyday use. The Colour Checker test confirms that errors in colour reproduction are no longer as pronounced and rarely exceed a value of 2, which is a very good result. As for brightness, gamma, while not requiring much improvement, was slightly adjusted. The most significant change was noted in the EOTF curve – the television no longer has issues with excessively brightening the entire image in 4K material. However, upon closer analysis and the inclusion of EOTF characteristics in film material, some limitations of the television become apparent due to the previously discussed dimming algorithm. Some small elements may be slightly more brightened, but these errors are so minor that most users will not notice them. Overall, the calibration results are very, very positive.

Hisense provides plenty of calibration options and, in SDR, these can yield a very good result. After calibration, the white balance is practically even across the entire range, and colour errors fall to very low values. The UR8S can be adjusted very precisely here. HDR is somewhat different. The white balance itself can also be noticeably improved, although at the highest brightness levels larger deviations begin to appear. The most interesting aspect, however, is the behaviour of the EOTF curve. Even after it has been correctly set on test patterns, the UR8S still tends to interpret brightness in its own way when watching films. Depending on the scene, parts of the image are slightly brightened while others are dimmed relative to how they should appear. This shows that the algorithms controlling the local dimming have a significant influence on the final image. Calibration therefore allows colours to be improved very effectively, but we are not able to completely 'turn off' the way the UR8S manages brightness in HDR.

Since we know that the television performs very well with high-quality materials, it is worth checking how it fares with lower-quality content. Here, the television shows its potential, and the applied graphics processor works really brilliantly. On the test screen with the light bulb, there are no issues with colour transitions, and the smooth gradation feature works very well – we recommend setting it to "Medium".

As for digital processing, or so-called upscaling, the television sharpens the image quite noticeably, which leads to slight aliasing, for example, on the branches in the background, but it does not remove desirable details. Nevertheless, the overall appearance is really appealing and may be to the taste of most users. However, if we prefer a softer, more plastic image, this effect can be reduced in the settings by adjusting the sharpening level according to personal preferences.

A big plus of the UR8S is the use of the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor, and digital image processing is one of this model's stronger points. The TV handles smoothing tonal transitions very well, especially with lower-quality content. The feature responsible for this effect works effectively without overprocessing the picture. Even on the medium setting it can noticeably reduce visible banding and unevenness without heavily blurring details. Upscaling itself also performs very well. Lower-resolution content is displayed cleanly, edges look natural, and the image is not overly sharpened. The UR8S simply copes very well with a weaker signal, and in this respect it is one of its most notable strengths.

The Sony BRAVIA 7 television with a 120 Hz display will satisfy most users in terms of motion smoothness. Additionally, Sony offers the Motion Flow feature, which allows for the selection of three different picture settings, tailoring them to individual preferences: Smoothness – Film: This setting enhances motion smoothness, giving the image a more cinematic or theatrical quality. Smoothness – Camera: This setting provides even greater smoothness, useful when watching dynamic scenes such as sports broadcasts. Clarity: This setting focuses on minimising noise and motion artifacts, resulting in a more stable and clear image.

The UR8S is equipped with a panel with a native 180 Hz refresh rate, so right from the start it offers excellent motion handling. The panel itself performs really well here, although some limitations typical of VA panels are still visible. Motion blur is relatively minor for this type of screen, but with faster motion (especially on darker backgrounds) it can still be noticed, particularly when compared with the same image on OLED TVs.

Sony Bravia 7 has significantly improved its capabilities for working with consoles compared to earlier models. The television supports variable refresh rate (VRR), which eliminates the tearing effect, and is compatible with graphics cards, ensuring smooth display. The auto low latency mode (ALLM) effectively reduces input lag, which is crucial in dynamic games. Dolby Vision with low latency additionally provides impressive HDR effects that look great during gameplay.

Sony Bravia 7 also offers a Game Bar feature, which allows quick access to settings and monitoring parameters while gaming. An interesting option is the ability to enable a virtual on-screen crosshair, which can provide a slight advantage in shooter games. Nevertheless, compared to the Bravia 9 model, the HGIG feature in the Bravia 7 does not perform as well, which may be noticeable for more demanding gamers – especially as the HGIG mode is becoming increasingly popular among players as the preferred method for reproducing HDR effects.

A drawback is the lack of support for 1440p@120 Hz resolution, which could make gaming easier for users with less powerful graphics cards. Furthermore, the Sony Bravia 7 is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which is often used to connect an audio system via eARC, limiting the available connections for new generation consoles.

In terms of gamer features the UR8S performs really well. The TV supports practically everything you can expect from a modern console or PC display. It offers ALLM, VRR and 4K at 120 Hz. There is also Dolby Vision in Game Mode, so when using, for example, the Xbox Series X you do not have to give up that HDR format. PC gamers get even more options. The panel can run at 4K at 180 Hz, and dropping to Full HD can raise the refresh rate to as much as 330 Hz. There is also a Game Bar that lets you quickly check key information and change gaming-related settings. The only clear omission is a correct implementation of HGiG. With it enabled the TV still alters HDR brightness mapping, so we do not get the effect intended by that standard. Aside from that, the UR8S is very well prepared for both consoles and a powerful PC.