Hisense U8NQ vs LG MRGB85B

Hisense U8NQ showcases its capabilities in HDR, achieving a brightness level on the luminance chart exceeding 2000 nits. In the first, third, and fifth scenes where the screen is covered in light, the television displays very high brightness, which impresses and allows one to enjoy the full effect of HDR. Unfortunately, in the second and fourth scenes, such as those from the movie "Sicario 2," the television encounters issues maintaining brightness, resulting in disappointing results around 250 nits. Although a large number of dimming zones should theoretically help, the algorithm responsible for their control does not always perform perfectly—bright, small elements like the moon or helicopter lights are too dim, which detracts from the typical HDR effect. Instead of dazzling brightness, we get a more subdued light that does not reflect the full HDR potential. Nevertheless, the television deserves praise for its very good coverage of the DCI-P3 colour palette at 97%. As a result, colours are vibrant, and most movie scenes look really good, significantly enhancing the viewing quality.

LG MRGB85 offers moderate brightness. On test patterns it reaches about 700 nits, which by itself is a decent result. In actual movie scenes the values are lower and most often fall between 400 and 600 nits. Bright, expansive shots perform best. In scenes with a lot of black the TV noticeably limits luminance, trying to maintain the highest possible contrast. The HDR effect is therefore visible, but it is far from the level offered by more advanced Mini-LED designs. Especially in darker parts of films the limitations of edge-lit backlighting and imprecise local dimming become noticeable again.

HDR Colors

A much stronger suit of the MRGB85 is its colors. The TV covers about 95% of the DCI-P3 color space and 74% of BT.2020, allowing HDR material to look vivid and striking. Colors are well saturated, and the difference compared with basic LCD TVs is clearly visible. It is worth noting, however, that this is not a classic RGB backlight, where each of the three primary colors is generated by a separate diode. Red is produced by a PFS phosphor, which expands the palette and yields more saturated red shades. This solution works well for color reproduction, but it does not change the limitations of dimming itself. The LEDs are not driven independently in the way the series name might suggest... so it turns out that Mini RGB is not the same as Mini-LED RGB!

The Filmmaker mode on the Hisense U8NQ TV can be described as the most accurate mode available in this model. Despite its accuracy, it has significant errors in reproducing the reference image, which we will describe now. In the case of HD content, the white balance shows a clear dominance of red, making the image overly pink and warm. The comparative photo below illustrates how this effect influences content presentation. The brightness characteristics also leave much to be desired — too low gamma causes the screen to be excessively brightened, and blacks look lightened, making the overall picture seem cooler than it should be.

In the case of 4K HDR content, the problem is reversed — the white balance shows too much dominance of blue, resulting in an artificial character to the image and making it appear unnaturally sharp. These deviations for HD and 4K HDR content can be confirmed with the Colour Checker test, which clearly shows how colours deviate from the correct patterns.

We tested the TV in Filmmaker Mode, because among the available settings it produced the image closest to the reference. Factory color reproduction was not perfect. The biggest deviations were in the white balance, with too much red and not enough blue, which pushed the picture noticeably toward warmer tones. Whites took on a slightly yellowish cast, and skin tones and bright areas did not always look natural. It wasn’t a flaw that completely ruined the viewing experience, but in a direct comparison with the same screen after calibration the difference was clearly visible.

The white balance for both 4K and HD content has been significantly adjusted, greatly improving the image quality. Although some errors are still visible, they are not substantial enough to heavily affect the perception of the image. A notable improvement can also be seen in the gamma brightness characteristics — the image is no longer overly bright, resulting in more natural blacks and better contrast.

However, as with many other Hisense models, there are visible issues with the EOTF curve, which is responsible for managing brightness in high-quality materials. Although it may seem correct, once the filter is applied on the "EOTF in movies" graph, it is evident that the TV is somewhat "playing around" with 4K content. It is clear that the EOTF curve is significantly below the reference level, leading to an overall dimming of the image compared to the reference. We noticed this effect in previously tested scenes from the movies "Pan" and "Billy Lynn." While it is not a serious problem, it is worth mentioning. It may be of great importance to those looking for a display with the most accurate image reproduction. Despite this error, the image will be more enjoyable for most. Colours are better reproduced, and the overall image quality is significantly improved.

Calibration primarily corrected the white balance and removed the previously visible warm tint. After the adjustment, whites no longer had a yellow cast and colors became more neutral and natural. The biggest improvement was seen in SDR content, where the picture looked even and much closer to the reference. A similar effect was achieved in HDR. After calibration the picture became more controlled, although not all of the TV's limitations could be eliminated. The biggest issue remained the intense reds, which were not always reproduced with the necessary precision. In practice the MRGB85 handles everyday SDR content very well, but in more demanding HDR material its limitations remain clearly visible.

In the context of smoothing tonal transitions, the Hisense U8NQ television unfortunately does not perform well. The "Smooth and Gradient Image" function does not produce noticeable effects — there is no improvement in any setting, which is disappointing, especially in demanding scenes with subtle tonal transitions.

As for digital processing, or the so-called upscaling, the scene with the model is presented correctly — its outline is clear, without significant cropping. Similarly, thin lines, such as tree branches, have slight jaggedness, but the overall appearance is plastic and soft, which creates a good impression. Unfortunately, there is also an issue with the so-called overscan, which causes cropping of the image at the edges. This can be annoying when watching content such as news, where the lower information bars may be partially invisible.

Upscaling and digital image processing perform quite well on the LG MRGB85. The Alpha 8 AI 4K Gen7 processor efficiently upscales lower-resolution content, and you can easily disable overscan regardless of the source. The TV also handles compression artifacts fairly well. The "Smooth Gradation" feature can effectively reduce visible banding and tonal unevenness, but it doesn't always work precisely. At higher settings it can smooth over fine details, for example material textures. On the plus side, it doesn't remove film grain. It's safest to use the "Low" or "Medium" setting, which provides the best compromise between artifact reduction and detail retention.

Hisense U8NQ is equipped with a 144 Hz matrix, making it a great choice for sports and gaming. The television will also easily satisfy movie fans, as it features a built-in "Ultra Motion Smoothness" processor that allows you to control the fluidity of the image — you can decide whether you prefer a more "framey" look or a smoother, cinematic effect. This provides great flexibility in adjusting the quality of motion to the individual viewer's preferences.

The LG MRGB85 is equipped with a VA panel with a native 144 Hz refresh rate, so it performs very well in terms of motion smoothness. The TV easily handles 120 Hz content from consoles and higher refresh rates when connected to a PC. That matters not only for gaming but also when watching sports, where camera movement is noticeably smoother than on basic 60 Hz models. There's also the TruMotion system, which lets you set the level of motion smoothing yourself. You can keep a more cinematic motion or increase smoothness, which works well for sports broadcasts and TV shows. The range of adjustment is wide, so you can easily tailor the motion smoothing to your preferences.

Hisense U8NQ offers everything a gamer may need for comfortable gameplay. The TV supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which ensures an incredibly smooth picture, especially in dynamic action games. The VRR (variable refresh rate) feature allows for adjusting the image to varying frames per second, eliminating stuttering and tearing effects, resulting in an exceptionally smooth gaming experience. Additionally, the TV is equipped with the ALLM (automatic low latency mode) feature, which automatically switches the TV to game mode, minimizing input lag. This allows gamers to enjoy responsive gameplay without manually adjusting the settings.

Hisense U8NQ also supports Dolby Vision, which is important for gamers who value high picture quality, high contrast, and deep colours in games that support this format. The TV also has a “Game Bar” — a feature that provides quick access to essential settings during gameplay, significantly enhancing user convenience.

However, it is worth noting that despite its rich features, the Hisense U8NQ does not offer the HGiG standard, which is a popular HDR format in gaming. This may be disappointing for gamers expecting optimal detail reproduction in HDR scenes. Nevertheless, the other features of the TV make the Hisense U8NQ a solid choice for console gaming enthusiasts, offering smoothness, high contrast, and user convenience.

When it comes to gaming, the LG MRGB85 performs best by far. The manufacturer didn’t skimp on the feature set and essentially brought the full suite of functions from higher-end TVs to this model. You get three HDMI 2.1 ports with full 48 Gbps bandwidth. Each of them supports 4K 120 Hz from consoles, and when connected to a PC also 4K 144 Hz. So you don’t have to worry about which port to plug your console or PC into, since they all offer the same capabilities.

It also includes VRR, AMD FreeSync Premium, NVIDIA G-Sync Compatible, ALLM, and HGiG. Dolby Vision Gaming is present as well, allowing supported games to use high refresh rates and dynamic HDR simultaneously on Xbox. Rounding it out is Game Optimizer, a handy in-game menu for gamers. Without leaving the game you can change the picture profile, brighten shadow details, or check the current frame rate. In terms of gaming features, the MRGB85 therefore offers almost the same as much more expensive LG models.