Hisense E8Q vs Samsung Q7F

Since the E8Q is a twin of the U7Q, it’s no surprise that the quality of the HDR effect is almost identical. On paper, it looks promising – a peak brightness of 800 nits can impress in many scenes. Fragments like the flashes of light in “The Meg” or shots of the sun in “Life of Pi” can indeed evoke a “wow” effect. But the longer we watch, the more we notice the limitations. The problem arises when small, bright details are supposed to be displayed on a dark background. In such situations, the dimming algorithms try to preserve contrast but end up dimming what should shine the brightest. Instead of dazzling details, we get almost invisible points of light. This is typical for Mini-LED in this price segment and is not surprising – but it’s worth knowing that the HDR effect won't always be fully preserved. Fortunately, the color reproduction offers reasons to be satisfied. A coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut at around 94% is a very good result, and the applied quantum dot layer (more specifically, PFS) does its job – colors are saturated and vibrant, especially with 4K content.

Unfortunately, the Samsung Q7F is not one of the bright televisions, and this directly affects the quality of HDR movies. The peak brightness of the panel is only about 250 nits, which is definitely too low to speak of true cinematic experiences. In practice, the image in HDR content does not differ significantly from classic SDR, making it hard to talk about any "wow effect" that usually accompanies us while watching such films. During testing movie scenes, the image simply looked dim, and brightness almost invariably hovered around the mentioned 250 nits. The worst performance was observed in shots with small, intensely glowing elements – the applied global dimming technique reacted very aggressively, dimming the entire screen to maintain the black effect. On the plus side, it is worth noting the presence of a QLED coating that expands the color palette. As a budget QLED model, the Q7F performs quite decently here: its DCI-P3 color coverage is about 93%, and BT.2020 reaches 70%. This means that colors, despite the low brightness, can look quite vivid and attractive.

Testing the Hisense E8Q in Filmmaker mode, we were hoping for a neutral image close to the director's vision. Unfortunately - although on paper it doesn't look bad (the color reproduction errors are not significant), in practice the image feels somewhat unnatural. The reason? Too strong an increase in blue and a lack of red in the white balance. The effect? The scenes look cool, and the white appears slightly bluish. Alongside the U7Q model, we also noticed a specific approach to brightness management here. The brightness reproduction curve for HDR content (EOTF) shows that the TV can significantly dim small, bright elements of the screen to maintain contrast - but sometimes it goes too far. On the other hand, it can excessively brighten larger, very bright parts, which disrupts tonal balance. This is a compromise that may not suit everyone – especially if you want an as faithful image as possible right out of the box.

The factory color reproduction in the Samsung Q7F definitely isn't one of its strong points. In Filmmaker mode, which theoretically should be closest to neutral, the white balance issue is immediately noticeable. There's too much red on the screen, while blue is noticeably lacking. The effects of this are very easy to see – white, instead of being neutral, takes on warm, almost slightly orange tones. Over time, this makes the entire image look somewhat unnatural, and bright areas of the scene can seem unrealistic. The problems become even more apparent in HDR content. The graphs show that the TV has significant errors in the Color Checker palette, which translates to visible inaccuracies in the real image. In practice, this means that colors are not presented as they should be. The Q7F also heavily manipulates brightness; darker elements are overly boosted, causing them to lose their cinematic feel, while bright parts can appear dimmed. As a result, the image seems flattened, and instead of helping to bring out details, contrast only highlights its own limitations. This is particularly frustrating in HDR materials, as every detail matters there. In scenes where a subtle play of light and shadow should be felt, the Q7F either overdoes the brightening or, conversely, suppresses elements that were meant to draw the eye. This causes the image to lose its depth, and instead of cinematic realism, we get more of a simplification effect.

The calibration of the Movie mode brought really good results, especially regarding SDR content. The white balance was successfully adjusted, which gave the image a natural look – it appeared almost reference-level. The colors were well-saturated, and the overall perception of the content improved significantly. Unfortunately, when we moved to HDR materials, the well-known problems from the U7Q model returned. The TV still tends to “do things its own way,” which is evident from the analysis of the EOTF brightness characteristic – despite calibration, the E8Q still dimmed small details in the shadows, while the bright areas of the screen could sometimes be excessively boosted. In practice, this means that in darker scenes, some of the tiniest details could simply disappear. Although it must be admitted that the entire calibration process brought a lot of good, not everything can be circumvented – even with the use of professional tools. The E8Q can impress with its picture, but in HDR content, its design limitations become noticeable, and it is worth keeping this in mind.

After professional calibration, we managed to bring the Q7F in order – at least in terms of SDR content. The picture in this mode looks really good: the white balance has been set correctly, the colors appear natural, and errors in the color palette have dropped to values that are practically invisible to the eye. The gamma behaves excellently, and the only minor drawback is a slight brightening of smaller elements, which results from the lack of local dimming. For everyday TV watching or standard quality films, the Q7F performs surprisingly well.

It was much more difficult to tame HDR content. Despite adjusting the white balance, the television continues to manipulate brightness significantly, causing scenes to sometimes look unnatural – what was meant to be subtly darker can end up being overly brightened, and bright parts of the image sometimes appear dull. The final effect is better than in the factory settings, but it is evident that the design limitations of the Q7F do not allow for fully utilizing the potential of HDR materials.

In the case of older materials with lower quality, a gentle smoothing of tonal transitions is often useful. The Hisense E8Q, like the U7Q, has the "Smooth and Gradient Picture" feature, but unfortunately, its effectiveness leaves much to be desired. The “Low” setting is almost imperceptible in operation, while higher settings simply blur details instead of improving transitions. The good news is that the feature does not compromise the film grain, which allows it to maintain the image structure. On the plus side, the scaling is commendable. The television can fairly sensibly transform older content to a higher resolution—without artificially emphasizing contours or excessive sharpening. Though it does not match the best models in this category, it performs quite well for its class.

Upscaling and digital image processing in the Q7F is a bit of a sine wave. On one hand, we have really nice upscaling – weaker sources look better than one might expect. The image becomes clearer, sharper, and even older movies or terrestrial TV hold up well. Samsung has been strong in this area for years, and the Q7F confirms that. On the other hand… things start to get tricky. The TV has a problem with overscan – part of the image is simply cut off, and it looks rather unrefined. Additionally, we were let down by a feature called "noise reduction," which should improve the smoothness of tonal transitions in weaker materials. In other Samsungs, it works relatively well, but here it practically makes no difference – the banding in gradients remains. It's a bit disappointing because we could have expected more from a model that is aimed at users looking for a display for SDR content.

Like the U7Q, the E8Q model is a fast television designed for dynamic content. It supports 144 Hz refresh rates in 4K resolution, and if for some reason someone is still gaming in Full HD, it can achieve even 240 Hz. This is a significant advantage, especially for PC users looking for maximum fluidity. In everyday use, the television performs very well. The "Ultra Motion Smoothness" mode provides us with two sliders, allowing for personalized image settings – whether it’s more cinematic with preserved film frames or heavily smoothed, almost "series-like." It’s good that the manufacturer gives a choice here instead of imposing one style. On sports materials, live broadcasts, or in games – motion appears clean and stable. Sure, it’s not at the level of OLEDs, but for this price range, the E8Q performs really well.

Motion blur and motion fluidity in the Q7F is probably the most budget-conscious element of this TV. The 60 Hz panel is noticeable, with blur being quite evident, especially in dynamic scenes, and it's rather difficult to consider this model as equipment designed for watching sports or playing fast-paced games. In tests with the little green man, there was a long tail, and the ball in a football match would leave trails behind it.

On the plus side, the presence of motion smoothing is commendable. It really makes a difference in movies - especially since most materials are recorded at 24 frames. Here we can decide for ourselves whether we prefer a more "cinematic" image, with the slight jerkiness characteristic of cinema, or a smoother, more "television-like" one. This actually works quite well and helps improve the viewing comfort for series or movies.

The Hisense E8Q does not hide its gaming pedigree. The specification alone reveals that we are dealing with a television that will work great as a gaming screen. Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)? Yes. Automatic low latency mode (ALLM)? It's there too. Additionally, there is impressive refreshment – 120 Hz in 4K or even 240 Hz in Full HD. Such a set is rare in this price segment. Everything works smoothly and without major surprises. The only missing element – like in the U7Q – remains support for HGiG. It's a pity, because this feature makes it easier to match the brightness curve to the capabilities of a particular television, improving visual consistency with the intentions of HDR game creators. Without it, one has to manually tweak the settings, which does not always yield a satisfying result.

Features for gamers in the Samsung Q7F is a topic that evokes quite a bit of mixed emotions. On one hand – no sensible person expected miracles here, after all, it's a 60 Hz television, and it was clear from the beginning that it wouldn't be a device to extract the maximum from a console or PC. On the other hand, since the manufacturer promised specific solutions in promotional materials, it's natural that we wanted to see them in practice. At the start, it's quite decent. The automatic game mode (ALLM) works, so there's no need to manually fiddle with the settings; the console switches the TV to low latency mode by itself. Additionally, we have the Game Bar, which looks impressive and allows you to check a few basic parameters without leaving the game. And this is where the good news ends.

The biggest problem with the Q7F is VRR, or rather its absence. Indeed, a relevant icon appears in the menu, and you can even see it in the Game Bar, but throughout the entire test, the function remained dead and could not be activated in any way. The issue with HGiG is even more painful; this option was actually available at the beginning, but after a software update, it disappeared completely, which is simply unprofessional. Therefore, the Q7F is only suitable for absolute basics. Sure, you can turn on the console, play more mellow titles, and enjoy low input lag, but if someone is counting on more advanced features that the manufacturer promised, they will be disappointed. This is not a television intended for gaming, and it's better to be aware of this before purchasing.