Sony X85L vs Hisense U7Q

The Sony X85L television offers solid HDR performance with a brightness level of 750 nits, which is sufficient to enjoy vivid effects. In scenes of moderate difficulty, such as the first, third, or fifth test scenes, a brightness of around 600 nits allows one to fully experience the HDR effect. Unfortunately, in more demanding segments, like the scene from the film Sicario 2, the television reveals its limitations. Drops in brightness to 250 nits cause the HDR effect to lose its impressive quality, resembling rather ordinary SDR. Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting the very good coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 95%, which definitely deserves praise and positively impacts the overall image quality.

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.

The television Sony X85L was tested in IMAX Enhanced mode, which, although associated with world-class cinema, does not guarantee an image that aligns with the director's intention. The main problem is the white balance – there is a noticeable strong dominance of blue colour and significant shortcomings in red. As a result, the picture becomes unnaturally cool and looks artificial. Errors in colour reproduction were confirmed by the Colour Checker test, which showed considerable discrepancies – the colours were "scattered" like shots from a rifle, and only a few samples hit the target values. This clearly demonstrates that the accuracy of colour reproduction leaves much to be desired.

The brightness of the image is one of the positive features of the television. The gamma for HD content is at an acceptable level, although there are minor errors, but generally it is quite good. However, the characteristic of brightness for 4K materials remains a problem, controlled by the EOTF curve. It is evident here that very small, bright elements of the image are too dim, which is the result of the limited number of backlighting zones due to the design of the television.

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.

Thanks to the application of calibration tools offered by Sony X85L, the image quality has been significantly improved. After calibration, the white balance for HD content is much more stable, making colours appear more natural and enhancing the authenticity of the image. Although it is not perfect, these changes allow viewers to enjoy a more realistic colour reproduction, eliminating the previous cool tone. The gamma, which was already decent, has been adjusted to an even better version. As a result, tonal transitions and brightness are more consistent, positively affecting the depth and detail of the image.

As for 4K content, despite efforts, the white balance still struggles with a lack of red, which can lead to overly warm colours in some scenes. Synthetic tests showed that the EOTF curve in HDR is quite stable, with a slight enhancement in mid-bright scenes. However, in actual film material, the television can still be too bright with fine, light details, which is a result of the limitations of large local dimming technology.

Nevertheless, calibration has brought significant benefits, particularly in terms of colour accuracy, improving the overall image quality and providing a more natural and cohesive directorial vision.

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'.

In terms of smoothing tonal transitions, the Sony X85L television does not offer any dedicated enhancement options, which is a certain drawback. On the other hand, the image scaling performs quite well – the television adds a bit of artificial sharpness, which may make details such as tree branches more pronounced, although sometimes with noticeable jagged edges. This type of effect may appeal to some viewers who prefer a more detailed image.

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.

Sony X85L, equipped with a 120 Hz panel, will meet the expectations of a wide range of users – from sports and gaming fans to movie enthusiasts. Movie buffs will certainly appreciate the presence of one of the best motion smoothing systems, known as Motionflow. This system offers adjustment through sliders for smoothness and clarity – smoothness is responsible for motion fluidity, eliminating judder, while clarity improves the sharpness of fast scenes, reducing blur.

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.

Sony X85L offers a quite solid set of features for gamers, making it an attractive choice for gaming enthusiasts. First and foremost, the television has a 120 Hz panel, which translates to smooth and dynamic image display, ideal for both fast-paced action games and more demanding sports titles. It is equipped with two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, allowing for the full utilisation of next-generation consoles. Additionally, Sony X85L supports VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) technology, which helps reduce stuttering and artifacts during gameplay, providing a smooth experience. The television also supports G-Sync, which is particularly beneficial for gamers using NVIDIA graphics cards, allowing for the synchronisation of the screen refresh rate with GPU performance, eliminating screen tearing. It is worth mentioning the Game Bar feature, which facilitates quick access to the most important gaming-related settings, such as VRR, brightness levels, and display modes, which is convenient and useful during gameplay.

However, there are certain limitations. The television does not support HGiG, which may be a downside for some gamers, as HGiG optimises HDR effect rendering in games, providing a more authentic visual experience. Additionally, while the Dolby Vision mode is available, it is not practical for gaming due to the very high input lag.

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.