Hisense E7NQ PRO vs LG OLED G5

Based on the luminance chart, which indicates around 550 nits, it can be considered that Hisense E7NQ PRO theoretically has the potential to somewhat "enchant" us with its HDR image. While testing various scenes, we noticed that the TV continually tries to balance maintaining adequate brightness and preserving the deepest blacks. In favourable conditions – for instance, during a scene from "The Meg," where the screen is flooded with bright light – this brightness impresses. At such moments, we feel that HDR actually adds that "something" to the image. Unfortunately, when more challenging shots appear on the screen with small, bright elements against a dark background, the situation looks much worse. The brightness then drops to 200-300 nits, too little to distinguish HDR from regular SDR.

It's clear that the TV is trying, but hardware limitations – primarily the small number of local dimming zones – prevent it from fully spreading its wings. The result can therefore be quite uneven and just as average as in the contrast tests. However, it deserves credit for the impressive coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut at 97%. This allows the TV to showcase a wide range of colours, which, in the right scenes, can give us at least a taste of the true HDR effect. It’s a pity that the overall experience isn’t complemented by better brightness and contrast.

LG G5 with the new Tandem OLED panel brings the biggest change specifically in terms of the brightness of the television. And it’s quite impressive. This is truly an astronomically bright OLED. In every tested scene – whether it’s point lights or full-screen whites from the movie The Meg – the brightness on the G5 exceeded 2000 nits. Just a year ago, such values on an OLED were simply unimaginable. And here we are – the G5 comes close, and at times even surpasses the best Mini-LEDs on the market. A new feature of the Tandem OLED panel is the expanded color gamut coverage – and here the LG G5 performs almost perfectly. DCI-P3 achieves a full 100%, while BT.2020 maintains around 83%. These are some of the highest values currently available on the market – it’s hard to find any other television that comes close to such results, unless we are talking about the best displays with QD-OLED panels. The G5 has nearly reference-quality HDR – both in terms of brightness and color saturation. This is an OLED that can truly shine – and not just figuratively.

When we took our copy of Hisense E7NQ PRO out of the box, we immediately started checking the available picture modes. Among them, the Filmmaker mode seemed the most promising, although it was not without flaws. With standard SDR content, we noticed a clear tendency for an excessive boost in red, which caused the image to appear unnaturally warm. This is particularly evident in the comparison photo included below. On the other hand, when we switched to HDR content, the situation went in the opposite direction. This time blue was dominant, and red was scarce, giving a cool effect, at times even a somewhat "store-like" impression — although not as drastic as in those modes that are actually intended for displaying in exhibitions. As a result, in our colour reproduction tests, these imbalances in colour balance led to significant errors.

Additionally, the TV had issues with rendering brightness characteristics. At lower resolutions, it clearly brightened the darkest elements of the image, and with HDR content, the brightness curve (eotf) did not want to align as it should. Initially, the TV excessively darkened the smallest details and then overly brightened larger areas. Fortunately, the E7NQ PRO provides us with plenty of calibration tools, so knowing the potential, we decided to take matters into our own hands and try to set it up to eliminate these issues.

Our test unit LG G5 struggled with some issues in the factory Filmmaker mode. And while the image might have seemed fine to most people, we knew that this TV was capable of much more. This mode had a clear excess blue tint in the white balance, resulting in a strong cooling of the image – particularly in HDR modes, where there was also a lack of red. The picture seemed cold, and its sharpness was artificially boosted and unnatural. Another significant issue was the brightness characteristic. In SDR content, the situation wasn't the worst, aside from a slight dimming of the entire image. However, it performed much worse in HDR materials – due to improper brightness management, the smallest details could completely disappear from the image, and larger, bright elements appeared overexposed and lacking gradation. Luckily, the G5 supports calibration using 3D LUT (a tool for professionals to calibrate colors), so we decided to take advantage of its professional background and see what it was really capable of. Because while it wasn't terrible even before calibration, the potential of this TV definitely deserved more.

Thanks to the tools available in E7NQ PRO, we managed to squeeze a quite decent image out of it, especially in the case of lower-quality content. After fine-tuning the white balance of the SDR materials, the colours look much more natural, and what we see on the screen seems closer to the vision the manufacturer intended to present. Additionally, we improved the brightness characteristic (Gamma), causing the TV to no longer have a tendency to over-brighten, and everything looks significantly better than before our intervention.

In HDR materials, we also managed to achieve some results, although it is not as rosy here. Indeed, the white balance has approached an acceptable level, but the problem lies elsewhere. It concerns the EOTF curve, which is how the TV manages the brightness and tonality of the image. At first glance, it might seem that the biggest issue pertains only to the mid-tones of the image, which are overly illuminated. However, after more detailed testing and enabling filters to display the EOTF curve, it is evident that the receiver tends to brighten the entire screen. This appears to be a limitation arising from the small number of local dimming zones and generally modest brightness management capabilities. Such hardware limitations are simply insurmountable. After our calibration, however, the image is noticeably better than at the start. One just needs to be aware that in terms of contrast and brightness management, this model has its limits, which even good calibration cannot fully overcome.

After completing the calibration process using professional tools, we can confidently state that the LG G5 offers nearly reference-quality image. Most of the errors related to white balance and the ColorChecker test are below the value of 2, which is a phenomenal result, practically imperceptible to the human eye. And while one could still criticize that in HDR films the television tends to slightly dim the smallest elements of the image, in practice, this does not negatively affect the overall impression. Hats off to LG, because once again they provide the user with enormous possibilities for adjusting their display – and this, combined with very good parameters of the panel itself, results in an image that is truly hard to surpass.

Unfortunately, the "smooth and gradient image" feature in Hisense E7NQ PRO does not impress when it comes to smoothing tonal transitions in lower-quality materials. At the lowest setting, the change is hard to notice—it's more of a cosmetic improvement. Switching to "Medium" mode already provides a noticeable effect, but it still isn't anything special. In addition, the television starts to excessively interfere with other image elements, which can look unnatural.

Image scaling is also rather average. On the test screen, where a portrait of a model and text are displayed, slightly jagged edges can be seen, which makes the overall presentation less smooth and aesthetically pleasing than we would expect in this class of device. It's simply hard to speak of truly effective enhancement of lower resolution quality here.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the LG G5 perform very well. The television handles lower quality content exceptionally, especially when the "Smooth Gradation" feature is set to a low level. In this mode, it effectively removes unwanted artifacts and issues with visible tonal transitions. It may also slightly smooth out some desired details, such as the subtle texture of clothing or skin, but importantly – it does not remove film grain, so it’s hard to say there’s a serious compromise here. It’s one of those options that’s definitely worth enabling.

The G5 also does well with upscaling, which is improving the quality of older materials. The test image with the model looked really solid – slight edging was visible, but that’s an effect that can’t be completely avoided. Additionally, there were no issues with overscan, which – contrary to appearances – is not obvious, even in 2025.

Thanks to its 144 Hz panel, the E7NQ PRO performs excellently with almost every type of content. Whether we are watching fast-paced matches, dynamic games, or action movies, the fluidity of motion leaves a good impression. For movies, the manufacturer has equipped the TV with two key tools: "motion blur reduction" and "judder reduction." Each of these functions can be adjusted on a scale from 1 to 10.

At lower values, the processing is subtle, barely noticeable, and gently smooths motion without ruining the cinematic character of the image. The higher we move up the scale, the more clearly the TV intervenes in the presented material, smoothing motion more forcefully, thus minimizing any stutter or micro-cuts. On the other hand, the highest settings may resemble the so-called "soap opera effect," which makes the image look overly smooth, losing some of its cinematic atmosphere. However, with such a scale, we can find the golden mean, adjusting the fluidity of motion to our own preferences.

The motion fluidity on the LG G5 is simply phenomenal. The TV is equipped with a 165 Hz refresh rate panel, and this combined with the instantaneous response time of the OLED matrix delivers incredible results. The picture doesn’t stutter or smear like on classic LCD TVs. Like most LG models, the G5 features a motion smoother, which can be useful when watching movies – of course, we're talking about the TruMotion mode. With the “De-Blur” and “De-Judder” sliders, we can adjust the smoothness of older material according to our preferences, whether we want to preserve the characteristic film stutter or move towards a more fluid, television-like effect.

If you enjoy switching on your console and immersing yourself in games for hours, the E7NQ PRO is sure to make a strong impression. With its 144Hz refresh rate, gameplay feels impressively smooth, while support for HDMI 2.1 and VRR prevents screen tearing, even during the most action-packed moments. Additionally, ALLM automatically applies the lowest latency as soon as you switch to your console, so there’s no need to tweak the settings manually.

A major plus is the ability to play games in Dolby Vision, enhancing colours and contrast for a more vibrant experience. Hisense has also included a user-friendly game bar, allowing you to monitor key performance stats and adjust settings without leaving the game. The only real drawback is the absence of HGIG support. While not essential, some gamers may miss it if they’re looking for the most accurate representation of a game’s intended visuals. That said, in practice, the E7NQ PRO delivers an excellent gaming experience that’s smooth, responsive, and enjoyable.

Features for gamers? Perfect. That should be enough for you to know what level we are dealing with here. G5 is a television designed with gamers in mind, so we find literally everything one can expect from a gaming screen. There is Game Bar, support for high resolutions with high refresh rates – that is, 4K at 120 Hz, and even more, because the panel has a refresh rate of 165 Hz (which PC gamers will benefit from). The television supports variable refresh rates (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM), and correctly supports HDR in games thanks to HGiG. All of this adds up to one of the best sets of gaming features available on the market. Well done, LG.