PHILIPS PUS9060 vs Hisense U7S Pro

The One is bright enough to enjoy movies recorded in HDR format. The average brightness of this model is about 500 nits, so we can count on a pleasant viewing experience for movies from streaming platforms without any issues. Of course, it could always be better, because when it comes to brightness, there is never too much for this type of content. Unfortunately, a disappointing surprise may be the DCI-P3 color gamut coverage offered by the PUS9060. Although the manufacturer boasts about using a QLED filter here (it’s actually PFS LED), it's hard to talk about any positive effects of its operation. 85% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage is definitely not a level to brag about in 2025 – especially in a television advertised as QLED.

Let’s start by saying that the U7S Pro is an impressively bright television – in calibrated mode, our measuring equipment indicated a staggering 2200 nits of peak brightness! This is an impressive result, considering that this model is positioned as mid-range.

However, as we know, peak brightness on test patterns is one thing, and actual movie scenes are another. Unfortunately, in real video materials, the backlight power clearly drops. While in the most demanding moments the television can still exceed the 1000 nit barrier – which is still a great result, perfectly fitting the mastering standards of most HDR films – the truly challenging aspect turns out to be the aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms. Because of them, small, bright details, such as stars or the moon in the night sky, are noticeably dimmed. The television tries at all costs to maintain deep black levels, which is of course understandable, but unfortunately, this comes at the cost of dynamics and the brilliance of the HDR effect itself.

The color reproduction is worth praising. The new U7S Pro is a QLED construction that provides very wide color gamut coverage. Unlike last year's model (U7Q Pro), this year's variant is now a “true” QLED, rather than a solution based on a PFS filter. As a result, color saturation has noticeably increased, and coverage of the most demanding BT.2020 space has exceeded the 81% barrier.

We tested the PUS9060 in the best factory mode it employs – of course, we’re talking about movie mode. Unfortunately, the best in this case doesn’t mean good. The picture in this mode was distinctly yellowed and leaned towards orange tones. The white balance on this TV was definitely too warm, resulting in an artificial, somewhat "sun-kissed" look for the entire scene. This directly translated to significant color errors, which in the worst cases exceeded a delta E value of 6 – thus, they were visible to the naked eye. The situation was the opposite in HDR mode, where the picture became too blue and too cold in appearance. Additionally, there was a slight increase in brightness – the gamma curve and EOTF suggested that the TV slightly brightens the image, which was also evident in the comparison photo below.

We tested the U7S Pro model – as always – in the best factory-tuned picture mode, which is Filmmaker Mode. We can evaluate the displayed colors in two ways. The most disappointing was the profile intended for watching SDR content, such as traditional television, YouTube, and other less demanding materials. The picture was clearly too yellow, which turned out to be a direct consequence of a poorly set white balance. As our graphs show, there is a huge deficiency of the blue component here, which drastically affected the overall color temperature. This is clearly evident on the ColorChecker charts and the graphs of the color palette itself, where most samples veered toward yellow. Fortunately, the factory HDR mode performed significantly better – there, the color errors hovered around a Delta E value of 3, which is already a really solid result.

Thanks to calibration in movie mode, we managed to completely eliminate the yellow-orange hue, which significantly improved the reception of the entire scene. The image has become much more visually pleasant, although it still falls short of reference settings. It may now appear slightly bluish, but it is still a significant improvement compared to the factory settings.

Unfortunately, we could not significantly improve the brightness characteristics, but that is more about the construction of the TV itself – the lack of local dimming limits the possibilities for precise brightness management. The PUS9060 simply cannot dynamically adjust luminance like more advanced models do. Nonetheless, after calibration, the overall reception is much more enjoyable, especially in film materials.

However, we know that the Hisense company can do much more – as previous generations have proven – which is why we simply couldn't leave the factory flaws of the U7S Pro model in everyday content. As always in such cases, we subjected the television to professional calibration. The conclusions? This process brought about a colossal change. After manually adjusting the white balance and compensating for the deficiencies in the blue component, the annoying yellow tint disappeared like magic. The white became naturally pure, and skin tones gained the proper, healthy hue. Importantly, the calibration not only tamed the capricious SDR mode but also allowed us to squeeze the maximum from the panel's potential, reducing the average color reproduction errors to values almost imperceptible to the human eye. The only thing we have to nitpick after the entire process is the very nature of the Mini-LED backlighting and its specific cooperation with the HDR signal. The aggressively tuned local dimming algorithms significantly interfere with the EOTF brightness curve. As a result, the backlighting does not always work perfectly with the creator's intent – depending on the scene being viewed, the curve can noticeably run either above or below the reference, which at times disrupts the perfect dynamics of HDR image.

In the PUS9060, we find the latest version of the image processor called P5 Perfect Picture, which is designed to improve the picture - especially the imperfect ones. The TV features a distortion reduction function, which smooths out tonal transitions, that is, those "color joins" mentioned earlier. And this function does so very effectively - there is no strong color gradation, but unfortunately, it works aggressively enough that it sometimes dims desired elements, such as material textures or film grain. So this can be considered a compromise. We would not recommend using this function for movies, but for more casual content - such as YouTube or regular television - absolutely.

The P5 processor also improves the quality of lower resolution images, and it does this quite effectively. The test image with the model is very soft - sometimes even too much - but this can be easily adjusted with the sharpness slider to match personal preferences. It is also pleasing that the TV does not cut off edges in SD content - which unfortunately still happens in some TV models.

The digital processing of lower quality signals is at a very high level here, thanks to the MediaTek Pentonic 800 processor utilized in the U7S Pro. The upscaling itself, which is the TV's ability to enhance lower resolution signals to 4K, is also performing well. We did not notice any unnatural, sharp edges on the screen, and our test image with the model looked simply attractive.

PHILIPS PUS9060 is equipped with a 4K display with a 144 Hz refresh rate, so we can confidently say that it is suitable for both watching sports and playing games. And indeed, it is. But what about movies that are most often recorded at 24 frames? Like most of the TVs we tested with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and higher, the PUS9060 offers two sliders in the motion smoothness options. The “Smoothness” slider allows you to adjust the effect in movies – you can set the image to be smoother, resembling a theatrical effect (higher settings), or more cinematic, with a slight “jump” in frame rate (lower settings). Additionally, there is a function called "Motion Blur Reduction," which reduces blurring – and this is a very useful feature, especially when watching sports.

The Hisense U7S Pro features a panel with a maximum refresh rate of 165 Hz in 4K, and in game mode, it can reach up to 330 Hz at Full HD resolution. However, it's important to note that these highest numbers have little significance in everyday use, as most content supports a maximum of 120 Hz (e.g., while gaming on a console). Nevertheless, the TV handles motion quite well and performs really decently for an LCD construction.

There's hardly anything to complain about regarding fluidity. In the menu, we find a motion smoothness enhancer called "Motion Enhancement," which hides two sliders: blur reduction and judder reduction. They allow for manual configuration of the smoothness enhancer, which works well for both movies and sports, effectively improving the raw television signal.

The PHILIPS PUS9060 is a true gaming monster – it has practically everything you could expect from a modern gaming television. It features VRR, ALLM, and also includes HGiG implementation, which helps set up HDR in games as the developers intended. The TV supports every possible resolution at 120 Hz, including 1080p, 1440p, and full 4K – so regardless of whether you’re playing on Xbox, PS5, or a PC, everything works as it should. There is also a simple Game Bar, which is a special menu for gamers that allows you to quickly check if the ALLM mode is indeed functioning in the lowest latency setting.

And of course – Ambilight TV. Let's be honest – without LEDs on the back, it’s not a true gaming device. 😉 The multicolored backlighting can really enhance the atmosphere, especially in the evening. It may not be to everyone's taste, but younger gamers will be thrilled – because it simply looks impressive.

If you plan to connect a console or PC to the U7S Pro, you will be more than satisfied – this television is excellent equipment for gamers. Hisense didn't spare any expense and included 4 HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth of 48 Gbps. You won't need to juggle cables, as each port will handle the full package of features. We have an automatic game mode (ALLM) and VRR, which works over a wide range from 48 Hz to a cosmic 330 Hz. Of course, those 330 Hz are currently just a gimmick for owners of powerful PCs, as consoles will still be limited to 120 Hz, but it's good to have that reserve for the future. The Game Bar also works very well during gaming. It's a handy menu bar for gamers, where you can quickly change the picture mode, turn on a crosshair in the center of the screen, and even change the aspect ratio to ultra-wide without going into the main settings of the television, which PC simulator fans will appreciate. The only downside worth noting is the incorrect implementation of the HGiG format in games. This means that the television ignores the instructions from the console regarding the image generated in HDR10 and constantly meddles with the image it produces, trying to "enhance" it in its own way. Because of this, the correct configuration of HDR in the console menu (where brightness is set on the logo/checkerboard) is somewhat complicated.