Hisense E7NQ PRO vs Philips OLED910

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.

OLED910 is simply an absurdly bright television for an OLED. All thanks to the new panel from LG Display, the Tandem RGB OLED, which Philips has dubbed its "META OLED." It is this panel that allows for over 2000 nits of brightness in films, which was previously completely unattainable in OLEDs. The way the television handles full-screen scenes drenched in bright light is also commendable. Usually, in OLEDs, brightness drops significantly, but here it remains at an excellent level - around 1400 nits. These are almost reference values, and combined with the great color gamut reproduction at 99% DCI P3 and 82% BT.2020, it gives us an HDR effect that can confidently be called one of the best in the world.

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.

Unfortunately, when it comes to color reproduction right out of the box, the Filmmaker mode on the OLED910 performs poorly. The television overly emphasizes the color blue, and at times it almost looks like a store mode. It gives the impression that the manufacturer hasn't quite calibrated the device properly. The result is that colors look unnatural, and the overall effect resembles a somewhat exaggerated display from a market showcase. HDR content looks much better, where aside from a slight loss of detail in blacks, it's hard to find fault with anything. The problem is that in everyday viewing, it is the SDR materials that matter the most – and on the OLED910, they simply look bad and are far from what we would expect from a television of this class.

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.

Fortunately, it quickly turned out that it was not the panel that was responsible for the issues, but rather the way Philips had calibrated the OLED910 from the factory. After calibration, the television displayed its full potential, and only then could we see what the new panels produced by LG Display were truly capable of. We primarily corrected the white balance and brightness characteristics, which allowed us to tame the excessive blue and give the image a natural look. The final effect can be described as excellent. Errors on the Color Checker palette rarely exceeded a value of 3, which in practice means an image close to perfection and colors presented in accordance with the creators' intentions. In SDR content, the effect was remarkable, and in HDR, the improvement was even more noticeable – gradients became cleaner, and colors fuller and more believable. After calibration, the OLED910 transformed from a disappointing television into equipment that can easily be called reference-level in terms of color reproduction.

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.

The previously visible color artifacts can largely be eliminated thanks to a feature called "distortion reduction." Similar to the OLED820, it's best to set it to a medium level, as it then produces quite decent results – smoothing out unwanted tonal transitions while not taking away too many details from the image. Although there may be times when the effect is a bit too aggressive, it can generally be considered a useful feature for everyday viewing.

As for image scaling, the OLED910 performs really well. The test material with the model had a characteristic soft look typical of Philips – at times even too soft – but the sharpness slider can be adjusted at any moment to tailor the image to personal preferences. It's also worth noting that the TV has no issues with overscan, which still occurs in some competing models. It's a small detail, but it's pleasing because it means that all content, even the oldest, is displayed as it should be.

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 OLED910 is a television with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. It's a bit disappointing that Philips didn't choose 165 Hz, because we know that the panel used in it is capable of that. On the other hand, such a bonus would mainly benefit PC gamers, as in everyday use, the most important refresh rate is 120 Hz, which is fully sufficient. Combined with the advantages of an OLED panel – lightning-fast pixel response time and no motion blur, the image is impeccably sharp and fast, even in dynamic action scenes. Kudos also goes to Philips' traditional motion smoother called "Motion Style." We can easily adjust it to our preferences: the "Smoothness" slider is for movies and allows you to choose between a more "frame-like," cinematic character and a smooth, theatrical image. Meanwhile, the "Blur Reduction" slider is for sports; it is worth setting it to the maximum value here to ensure that the image is clear and distinct during very fast shots.

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.

The OLED910 is excellent for gaming. It supports 144 Hz, so if someone has a powerful PC, they can easily take advantage of that potential. On consoles, 120 Hz is the most important, and everything works perfectly here. There is VRR, an automatic game mode, and even Dolby Vision in games along with an HGiG mode, so we actually get a full package of gaming features. Philips also added a Game Bar, which is a quick menu that shows basic information and allows you to enable a few useful things. It may not look as modern as the competition, but it works and serves its purpose. The only downside is the number of HDMI 2.1 ports. There are only two, which can be somewhat disappointing for a TV in this class. If someone is connecting two consoles and something additional to eARC - like a soundbar (which doesn't make much sense in this model, but we'll discuss that in the sound section), they'll need to figure things out a bit more. Other than that, the OLED910 has everything we expect from a gaming TV.