Hisense U7Q vs Philips PUS7000

Since the algorithms responsible for blacks are performing quite well, we expected a similarly good effect when it comes to brightness and overall HDR quality. Unfortunately – here we have to disappoint you a bit.

The U7Q is quite a bright TV – in optimal conditions, it can reach around 800 nits, which indeed impresses on some screens, especially in scenes like those from the movie The Meg. Bright segments can really shine, and the HDR effect is noticeable. The problem arises when very small, bright elements appear on a dark background – for example, in Sicario 2 or in the second scene of the movie Life of Pi. In such moments, the dimming algorithms operate too aggressively. Yes, the blacks look great then, but the brightest points can almost completely fade, causing the HDR effect to disappear and details to be barely visible. That's just the nature of this technology in this price segment.

As a consolation, it's worth adding that the U7Q is advertised as a QLED TV (in practice, a PFS layer is used, which works very similarly), and it is indeed capable of displaying a wide color palette – with DCI-P3 coverage at around 94%, that's a very good result for this class.

Unfortunately, the PUS7000 is not suitable for watching HDR content. This screen is simply too dark. A brightness level of 200 nits is not enough to correctly display such a format. Even if a HDR signal message appears on the screen, the image will resemble a regular SDR recording. Therefore, it's better to stick with the latter format to avoid issues in displaying bright scenes, which you can read about below. The situation is not improved by the fact that this is a classic LCD model without additional layers to enhance colors, such as QLED or PFS. As a result, colors in HDR may appear washed out. Ultimately, this gives a worse effect than in the standard SDR format, which is simply better suited to the capabilities of this panel.

We tested the U7Q in the best possible picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. This mode is supposed to provide the most "filmic" experience and fidelity to the creators' intent – right out of the box. Unfortunately, even this professionally sounding name does not guarantee a perfect picture.

In our unit, the problem lay in a poorly set white balance. Both in HD and 4K content, the image had too much blue and red, giving the screen a slightly pinkish hue. It didn't look terrible, but it was noticeable – especially in bright scenes and white backgrounds. This alone could have been forgiven, but the biggest issue is the management of brightness in HDR content. The EOTF curve from the measurements confirms what we saw earlier during the scene tests: the television often dims the smallest bright elements too much, causing them to almost disappear, or conversely – excessively brightens the brightest ones, affecting the naturalness of the image.

We tested the television in movie mode, which theoretically should provide the best and most natural colors. And indeed, this mode is quite correct; however, after connecting the calibration equipment, its biggest flaw became apparent. The PUS7000 has significant deficiencies in displaying red. Poorly tuned white balance and too low saturation of this color cause the image to appear too cool. As a result, one might get the impression that the displayed content is simply lacking in vibrant colors. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that both SDR and HDR content are excessively brightened. This is confirmed by the gamma curve and EOTF graphs, which show that the television displays the image brighter than it should. This causes scenes to lose their depth and may appear somewhat washed out. Fortunately, the Philips menu offers many functions to improve these aspects, so we immediately proceeded to calibration to see what could be squeezed out of this screen.

Thanks to specialized tools, we managed to correct the color quality in SDR content to nearly perfection. In materials with lower dynamics, delta E errors dropped below 0.5, which can be considered an almost reference result. The image on television, YouTube, or classic Full HD looks really good after calibration. Well, but where couldn’t we improve the image so easily? Primarily, it concerns HDR quality content. While we managed to somewhat "tame" the white balance and eliminate pink hues in most scenes, unfortunately, we did not have 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 overly strong dimming or brightening of details that the calibration simply couldn't eliminate. And although the overall reception of the content is much better, it must be taken into account that the U7Q will always have something to say at the end "but."

After professional calibration, it is clear that the PUS7000 responds well to image adjustments. In this price range, this is not a given. The effects should be assessed in two scenarios, depending on what content we plan to watch. SDR performs the best. After our corrections, the image looks really good. Most color errors fell below level 3, which is the threshold at which distortions typically become visible to the naked eye in measurements. Movies, series, sports, and regular television present themselves naturally, without unpleasant deviations. If someone primarily watches classic channels or streaming in HD quality, the difference after calibration will be noticeable immediately. However, it must be made clear that the PUS7000 is still not a television suitable for sensible HDR, and calibration does not change much here. The reason lies in the hardware: colors remain too undersaturated. The television lacks solutions that expand the color gamut, such as PFS filters or a quantum dot layer, so the panel simply cannot show the intense colors required by HDR. This is most evident in reds, which still look pale. This limitation cannot be bypassed with menu settings, as it results from the design of the backlighting and the panel itself.

There are situations where we would like to smooth out tonal transitions a bit, especially in older materials – those that have 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 out details but do not improve tonal transitions. The only plus is that the feature does not interfere with film grain, so it does not ruin the natural structure of the image.

Fortunately, content scaling performs quite well. The image is not overly sharpened, 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 problem.

The PUS7000 handles digital image processing quite well. The distortion reduction feature deserves praise, as it effectively smooths out unwanted tonal transitions even at a low setting. However, it has a flaw: if the action is too aggressive, it can introduce undesirable artifacts on the screen. It’s a good idea to experiment with this setting to find the sweet spot between a smooth image and detail clarity.

The upscaling, which is the enhancement of lower quality materials to 4K, is adequate. The image after processing is very "soft," which is typical for almost all Philips televisions. The edges are plastic and smooth, making the image look cohesive. If someone finds it too soft, it can always be adjusted with the sharpness slider in the menu to achieve a more pronounced effect.

U7Q is truly a fast television, similar to 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’s worth appreciating – this is a rare feature in this price segment. Right from the start, it’s clear that U7Q was created with dynamic content in mind, such as games or sports. In films, we are not left "out in the cold" either – U7Q offers the "Ultra Motion Smoothness" feature, where using two sliders you can adjust whether you want a smoother, theatrical image, or something closer to a cinematic style with a visible frame. It’s good that, like with most manufacturers, we have a choice here and can adjust it to our own preferences.

In this regard, we don't really have any good news. It might seem that the biggest downside is the lack of a 120 Hz panel, but in this price range, that's actually standard, and it's hard to expect more. However, the worst part is that the TV does not have any motion smoothing features. There are no supporting systems for either movies or sports. We have to accept that the image on the PUS7000 is processed "raw." This means that during dynamic scenes or fast camera movements, the motion may appear choppy or unclear. We have no way to enable any smoother that would soften this effect.

The Hisense U7Q is a TV designed for gamers – and you can see that right away based on its gaming capabilities. It has practically everything you could wish for: variable refresh rate (VRR) – check, automatic game mode (ALLM) – also check, and high refresh rates of up to 240 Hz in Full HD, as well as support for various resolutions, not just 4K. It's truly a great set of features that makes the U7Q excel in both fast-paced shooters on consoles and more demanding titles on PC. Of course – like in most Hisense models – it lacks a proper implementation of the HGiG function. That's a shame because HGiG allows you to adjust the brightness of the console to the specific TV, which in practice makes displaying HDR games according to the creators' intentions much easier. Without this, you simply have to reckon with certain limitations in the final HDR image in games.

Although the PUS7000 is not marketed as a gaming TV, it does not perform as poorly in this category as one might expect. While there is no support for 120 Hz refresh rates, which is understandable at this price point, the manufacturer has included several important features that genuinely improve the comfort of playing on a console. The most significant of these are VRR and ALLM technologies. VRR is responsible for synchronizing the screen with the number of frames generated by the console. This prevents the image from "tearing" and keeps it consistent even during sudden frame drops in the game. In turn, ALLM is a solution that automatically switches the TV to the lowest latency mode right after detecting a signal from the console. All of these parameters are easily accessible thanks to the Game Bar feature. This is a special control panel for gamers that can be brought up on the screen at any time. It allows for a quick overview of current settings and connection status without interrupting gameplay, which is a very convenient solution.