Samsung DU8002 (IPS) vs SHARP JP7765E

The HDR effect in the DU8002 television leaves much to be desired. A brightness level of 300 nits is not able to provide a true high dynamic range experience, making the content viewed resemble more of a standard SDR than impressive HDR. Scenes that should dazzle with brightness and detail appear muted and lacking in depth. Nevertheless, the television deserves praise for its high coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette at 92%. As a result, the colors are vivid and saturated, which may satisfy viewers who prefer rich hues, even if the HDR effect does not fully meet expectations.

So how does the brightness of the Sharp JP7 perform in the most demanding titles? Honestly: at first, we were quite surprised. The television is capable of achieving over 1000 nits of brightness, which is an outstanding and rarely seen result for a device costing just under 2000 zł (for 55 inches). Watching bright, full-screen scenes, one can get the impression that we are dealing with truly good equipment. However, unfortunately, we must return to the problem we mentioned earlier regarding local dimming management. When small, bright elements appear on a dark background on the screen (like in the test scenes from Life of Pi or Sicario 2), it is noticeable how poorly the JP7 handles the zones. The television dims them almost to the maximum, stifling the whole HDR effect, which at such moments resembles a flat SDR image (less than 200 nits). This instability makes the image on the JP7 unfortunately lose its appeal in demanding, contrast-heavy films.

As a consolation, it is worth noting that the panel has the potential for good color display. A PFS (phosphor) filter has been implemented here, allowing the coverage of the DCI-P3 palette to reach a solid 94%. The manufacturer calls its product a “QLED,” even though it is mainly based technologically on the aforementioned PFS filter. Considering the recent market battles among manufacturers about what can and cannot be called QLED, we leave the issue of the correctness of this naming to your judgment. However, it remains a fact that the potential for reproducing saturated colors in this panel is simply good.

DU8002 offers a Filmmaker mode, which is supposed to provide authentic image reproduction in line with the creators' intentions. Unfortunately, despite the promising name, the results are far from ideal. The white balance in this mode shows significant drops in blue color, leading to a noticeable yellowing of the image, which can be seen, for example, in our comparison photo. Colour Checker tests confirm these errors. As for brightness, the gamma characteristic is too low compared to the reference line of 2.4, resulting in excessive screen brightness. A similar problem occurs with 4K content – the EOTF responsible for brightness in 4K material shows significant increases above the reference line, leading to excessively bright small light elements. As a result, the Filmmaker mode in DU8002 does not meet expectations and instead of offering high quality, presents an image full of tonal and color inaccuracies.

When it comes to out-of-the-box colors, the Sharp JP7 was tested in Film mode, which traditionally offers the most consistent image compared to the yellowed “Eco” mode or the glaring blue of the “Dynamic” mode. Although this is the best choice among the available settings, the results are still far from ideal. The white balance clearly lacked red and blue components, causing many scenes to take on an unnatural, greenish tint. Another issue was the gamma – during fullscreen scenes, the television provides too much brightness, completely stripping away its cinematic character. All of this translated into color reproduction errors, particularly with shades of gray, which exceeded Delta E 10. Just to remind: errors above 2-3 are already noticeable to the human eye, so here we are dealing with a significant distortion of reality.

In HDR mode, the situation is reversed but not any better. Here, the blue color dominates the white balance, giving the image an unnatural, almost “store-like” sharpness reminiscent of aggressive demo modes. Furthermore, the measurements of the EOTF curve emphasize the store-like nature of the image. The graph clearly shows that the television generates an image significantly brighter than the standards predict, resulting in an artificially boosted and unrealistic final effect. The Sharp JP7 is evidently trying to appear stronger than it actually is, but it does so at the expense of fidelity to the content.

Samsung is one of those companies that offers advanced tools for improving image quality in its televisions, including a 20-point white balance adjustment. Even with the budget model DU8002, with the right adjustments, surprisingly good results can be achieved. The white balance, especially for HD content, performs really well - tests on the Colour Checker palette confirm accuracy at the level of 2–1.5, which demonstrates the significant capabilities of this television in color reproduction. In 4K content, although not as perfect as in lower quality material, the overall picture looks much better.

The gamma brightness has also been heavily adjusted, ensuring that the image is not overly brightened and looks more natural. What about the EOTF curve? At first glance, it seems fine, but upon closer inspection, especially in film tests, it becomes apparent that the television struggles due to its low contrast panel. The EOTF drops below the reference line. Nevertheless, the DU8002 is an example of a budget model where investing in calibration is worthwhile. Although structural flaws, such as the type of backlighting, cannot be completely eliminated, color accuracy is surprisingly good, especially considering its price.

We subjected the JP7 to our standard calibration procedure and truly... the television gained a new life thanks to it, especially in SDR content (YouTube, classic television, series, or older movies). Because we managed to accurately set the white balance and stabilize the gamma, color errors dropped to a value of below 3. This is a level at which the human eye has trouble detecting discrepancies. In this scenario, the Sharp JP7 delivers an image with really great color accuracy, which is a significant advantage in this price range. However, the content in HDR turned out to be much more problematic. Here, despite our efforts and adjustments to the settings, the television simply did not want to cooperate. In the JP7 menu, we cannot find any option that would allow for real control over brightness management (EOTF). Although a significant portion of color errors was reduced, the image still remained unnaturally oversaturated. It's a pity because the potential of the mini-LED backlit panel is large, but the software presents a clear barrier.

The conclusion is simple: when watching less demanding content (SDR) on the JP7, you can expect an image that is more than satisfactory, but in HDR, you have to come to terms with a certain degree of "artificiality" that cannot be overcome even with professional equipment.

Smoothing tonal transitions on the DU8002 television leaves mixed feelings. Although the menu offers an option for smoothing tonal transitions, in practice it yields no results and can even generate unwanted side effects.

Nevertheless, the television handles upscaling, or digital image processing, excellently. The test chart featuring a model looked really good – the image is not overly jagged, and the overall presentation is decent and pleasing to the eye. This is definitely good news for those planning to watch traditional television on this model.

When it comes to lower quality materials and how the Sharp JP7 handles them, the situation is ambiguous. Let's start with the upscaling – here we have no major objections. The process of scaling the image to a higher resolution is correct; the image remains readable and clear, without the overscan effect or cropped edges. Of course, this is not at the level of top models and at times one can notice slight jaggedness on the contours, but in this price range, the effect is fully acceptable.

However, the digital image processing itself is significantly worse, as aside from the scaling, it virtually does not exist. In the JP7 menu, we won't find any option that would effectively smooth out unwanted tonal transitions or reduce noise in the image. As a result, the signal reaches the matrix in a very raw form, which, with heavily compressed materials (e.g., from YouTube), leads to visible posterization. Either this is a flaw in the software or a very strange design decision, as in earlier Sharp models, this feature was available and, more importantly, worked with noticeable effect. Here we are left at the mercy of what the source provides, without any digital support from the image processor.

DU8002 with a 60 Hz panel is a television that performs better for watching movies than for intense gaming. The motion smoothing feature acts as a fluidizer, smoothing out motion and giving scenes a more fluid appearance, which is useful for movie screenings. In the context of gaming, this model will rather be suitable only for occasional entertainment.

The motion fluidity on the Sharp JP7 is very mediocre, and the reason is simple: the television uses a 60Hz panel. This immediately makes it difficult to recommend for watching sports or serious gaming, where higher refresh rates are already the standard. The only real plus is the presence of a motion smoother, which we can control in movies using a slider called De-judder. Lower settings produce a more raw, "cinematic" (frame-based) image, while higher settings add artificial fluidity. We suggest setting it somewhere in the middle of the scale, that is, in the 3-5 range – this is the best compromise to avoid the soap opera effect while getting rid of the tiring image stutter. Interestingly, in the menu, we also find a slider for "motion blur reduction," which usually suggests the presence of a 120Hz panel. However, in the case of the JP7, it does not contribute anything to the image and serves more as a placeholder – it is meant to look good in the settings, but technically it should not function on this panel.

DU8002 is a television that will mainly serve as equipment for casual gamers. The 60 Hz panel does not provide the highest motion fluidity, so in dynamic games there may be a lack of that extra smoothness of the image. On the positive side, it features ALLM and HGiG functions, which automatically adjust image settings for HDR games, enhancing the gaming experience. Unfortunately, the television is equipped only with HDMI 2.0 ports, so we have to forget about more advanced features like VRR or support for 4K at 120 Hz. When choosing this equipment, we will have to make do if we expect a full set of gaming features.

As we mentioned earlier, the 60Hz panel is not a feature that will attract gamers to the Sharp JP7. Perhaps for the casual gamer, whose console generates most titles at 60 frames per second, there might be something interesting? When it comes to specific additions, we find:

• ALLM Mode: Automatically switches the TV to low latency game mode (input lag).

• Game Menu: Which is hard to call a full-fledged “Game Bar,” as its functionality is minimal. Besides enabling ALLM, there is only a smoothness enhancer dedicated to games, which we recommend against because it introduces very noticeable artifacts and spoils the responsiveness.

• Dolby Vision Gaming: For Microsoft's consoles.

Unfortunately, the list of shortcomings is much longer and more painful than the positives. The biggest disappointment is the lack of support for 120Hz, even when lowering the resolution to Full HD. The presence of 120Hz would allow for performance modes to be activated in many games on PS5 or Xbox Series X. Another absence is VRR, which means that during frame drops, we are susceptible to image tearing. The lack of proper implementation of the HGiG standard is also very problematic. This results in the fact that during HDR calibration in the console menu, it is very easy to “overshoot” the brightness settings. As a result, instead of clear details in highlights, we end up with an unnaturally over-brightened image with cut-off details. The Sharp JP7 is a proposal only for very casual gamers.