Hisense S7NQ CanvasTV vs Haier Q80FUX

When it comes to the brightness of the television and how it handles bright elements while watching movies, it is just average—similar to contrast. The average brightness level of the Hisense S7NQ is around 500 nits. This is a value that allows you to feel the beginnings of true HDR, but it is definitely too little to speak of outstanding effects. However, the television deserves praise for color gamut coverage—movies look very colorful and vibrant. With the use of PFS LED (QLED) coating, the device can cover over 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and over 72% of the wider BT.2020 gamut. For a television in this class, these are truly very good results.

Alright, let's move on to the topic that generates so much discussion, namely the capabilities of the TV in HDR mode. Let's make it clear right away: the Haier Q80FUX is certainly not a brightness demon. The panel of this receiver can generate about 350 nits at peak, which in today’s reality is an absolute minimum to even talk about the presence of extended HDR tonal dynamic range. On the plus side, this power is at least stable – regardless of the test pattern or movie scene we used, the measurements invariably oscillated around 300-350 nits. These are therefore at best adequate results, definitely far from the stunning showcase of capabilities that we know from more expensive models. Fortunately, there is one aspect in which the Q80FUX makes up for these shortcomings and does so abundantly. After all, we are talking about a QLED TV (or more precisely, PFS LED), which means that thanks to the quantum dot filter applied to the matrix, it can generate really juicy, vibrant colors. These are not empty promises – a DCI-P3 color gamut coverage reaching nearly 95% is an impressive result that directly translates into very pleasant, saturated colors for the eye.

Let's now check how the Hisense S7NQ CanvasTV performs in color reproduction in the best factory mode, which is Filmmaker. Right from the start, it is evident that it is definitely better than in dynamic or standard mode, but there are still a few things to nitpick. In terms of image quality from the HD signal, the colors are slightly inaccurate – there is a dominance of cooler shades of blue and a lack of red. Because of this, the image appears somewhat too cool.

A similar effect occurs with 4K content, but it is more noticeable there. The excessive exposure of blue tones and the lack of red make the image seem distinctly cold. However, the biggest issue with this television is not the colors themselves but rather the way brightness is managed. The tested unit slightly boosted the brightness compared to the reference value. The result is indeed better visibility of details, but at the cost of significantly brightened black – which makes the entire image seem more "flat."

A similar phenomenon was noticed in the 4K signal – the slightly inflated curve at the beginning of the EOTF graph shows that the television has a tendency to excessively expose certain scenes. Fortunately, this effect can be improved with professional calibration, which we will discuss in the next point.

Factory settings for film mode are rarely perfect, but in the case of the Q80FUX, we encountered a noticeable imbalance. In SDR content, the image was definitely too warm, which resulted from an excessive amount of red in the white balance, giving it a slightly sepia tone. Contrarily, in HDR materials, the television fell into the other extreme—the excess of blue created an unnatural, cold effect. However, it wasn’t the whimsical white balance that was the biggest problem with this TV. The real culprit, responsible for the previously described issues, was hidden deeper. It turned out that the Q80FUX had completely misaligned gamma values and, crucially for HDR, a poorly managed EOTF curve. It was these erroneous factory settings that caused notorious clipping of the brightest parts of the image, applying that characteristic milky filter over them. Thus, we found the source of the problem. This state of affairs led to overall, significant color errors that were easy to catch even for an untrained eye. Like every television we tested, we decided to calibrate this model as well, and you can find the results of those adjustments in the next paragraph.

The results we achieved after calibrating the Hisense S7NQ are really very good. Thanks to the calibration, we were able to eliminate the excessive exposure of blue tones and the lack of red in the HD signal. A similar, although slightly weaker effect was also achieved with 4K HDR content. Brightness management in HD material has also improved – the television no longer has problems with overall image brightness issues.

However, there are things that cannot be overlooked. The characteristic of the EOTF curve has practically not changed, and the lack of local dimming means that the smallest elements on the screen will always be slightly overexposed. One simply has to accept this when choosing a television with a similar type of backlighting. Nonetheless, the final result is very good and should fully satisfy the vast majority of users.

The results of our calibration efforts must, unfortunately, be considered twofold. Overall, the image is indisputably better than before the corrections, but the biggest winner of this process turned out to be SDR content. It is here, after clarifying the gamma and white balance graphs, that we obtained results that can confidently be called very good. After the setup, the Q80FUX truly shines in standard dynamics, showing only slight errors in the most challenging skin tone reproductions. Unfortunately, the weakest link still remains HDR content. And here lies the paradox: even though we managed to calibrate the white balance almost to perfection, the overall color errors still remain at a fairly high level. The reason is that the television still interprets the static HDR10 metadata "in its own way," stubbornly enforcing that unfortunate washed-out image effect, which inevitably leads to significant distortions. Although we successfully eliminated the factory excess of blue color, due to this electronic interference, the screen can still tend to fall into somewhat too cold tones. This television just has it this way.

It is equally important how the television handles tonal transitions on a poorer signal – for example, in older movies, television, or on YouTube. Unfortunately, despite the presence of the "Smooth and Gradient Picture" feature, which was supposedly intended to improve this aspect, its performance is truly lacking. It is barely noticeable that it has any real impact on the visibility of color transitions.

Image scaling also performs poorly. Yes, one can observe that the television tries to "stretch" the quality, but the final effect is far from ideal. The image often appears slightly jagged, which is especially noticeable in the case of tree branches in the background. Additionally, the Hisense S7NQ has a clear tendency to crop the image at lower resolutions, which can cause us to miss captions in the news or finer details of the image.

If there is one area where Haier clearly shows that it has quite a bit to catch up on compared to the market leaders, it is digital image processing. The upscaling, well... is just okay. And that's about all that can be said about it. It does what it is supposed to do: it ensures that lower resolution signals don't scare you with harsh pixelation on the screen and don't look like an overly enlarged postage stamp. However, it is far from the finesse and "intelligent" sharpening that more experienced players in this market have developed over the years. The biggest drawback of the Q80FUX software, however, is the almost complete lack of additional "cleaning" and smoothing functions for the image. The receiver does not offer any noise reduction or gradient enhancement mechanisms. This means that with older or more heavily compressed materials, we simply have to accept that any imperfections in tonal transitions or color blending, which we mentioned earlier, will constantly accompany us during the viewing.

When it comes to motion fluidity, the television performs really well. Although the S7NQ was mainly designed for displaying static elements – such as images – the manufacturer has utilized a panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz. As a result, sports or games look really good on it.

For materials that are not recorded at a high frame rate, the manufacturer provided two features that allow you to adjust the picture to your own preferences. "Motion blur reduction" and "motion smoothing" operate on a 10-level scale, allowing you to choose between a more cinematic image – with characteristic frame jumps – and a smooth effect reminiscent of a "soap opera." How to set this up? That's a personal matter – we leave the decision to you.

The issue of motion fluidity and blurring is largely predetermined by the use of a 60Hz panel, which naturally makes it difficult to recommend this receiver to enthusiasts of very dynamic content. Fortunately, in the Q80FUX, we find a few options (though, as we will see shortly, actually only one) designed to improve the experience with older film productions. There is a "De-Judder" slider available, which indeed affects the smoothness of the image and allows us to adjust it to our preferences: from raw, cinematic frame rates to a more theatrical, smoothed presentation. However, a genuine surprise awaits us right next to it in the menu. There is also a second slider, supposedly dedicated to eliminating blur – this is a feature we usually encounter in 120Hz panels, aimed at combating motion blur in sports. However, as expected, recalling memories from testing the K85F model, here too this slider is merely a facade. Moving it does absolutely nothing to the image and it simply looks like an oversight by the product engineers who left a non-functional option in the software for this type of panel.

Even though the S7NQ is an "image" type TV, you can actually play games on it. Really. It has almost everything (except for HGiG mode) that a modern gaming TV needs. The 144 Hz panel and two full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports allow for seamless connection of two consoles, such as PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S.

The TV supports automatic game mode (ALLM) and frame synchronization (VRR) without any stuttering or issues. It also handles high frame rates at lower resolutions without a hitch. We must commend Hisense for the very attractive Game Bar – it displays all available picture options, and additionally, we have the ability to zoom in on the mini-map or enable a crosshair (because sometimes someone might actually want to "aim" 😉).

The only missing element – as we mentioned earlier – is the lack of a proper implementation of HGiG mode. It is responsible for automatically setting the picture in games as the creators intended. It's a shame because that’s the only thing separating the Hisense S7NQ from being a full-fledged gaming "monster."

Stepping into the gaming territory, the Haier Q80FUX proves to be quite a decent companion for the "casual gamer." On board, we find today’s highly desired features like VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low latency mode). However, the biggest surprise is something else. Although we are not dealing with a 4K@120Hz panel, the TV can accept and display a 120Hz signal at a lower resolution (Full HD). This is a very useful feature, allowing the conscious switch of the console to a lower resolution mode in exchange for significantly higher fluidity, which is a perfectly acceptable compromise in the gaming world.

We won’t particularly complain about the lack of extras like the "Game Bar," as it’s just a nice addition. The most concerning issues arise when we enter the world of HDR in games. Due to the fact that the TV constantly adapts the signal "in its own way," setting the brightness on the console according to the HGIG standard is nearly impossible to accomplish as per the instructions. Worse still, in the Dolby Vision mode for games, the input lag rises to about 50 ms, which is a high enough value that essentially makes this mode unusable. However, generally, we wouldn’t recommend gaming on this TV in HDR mode, so these aren’t such serious shortcomings. The most pleasing aspect is the presence of 120Hz in Full HD, which makes the Q80FUX quite a nice TV for the occasional gamer.