Samsung OLED S85F / S84F (QD-OLED) vs Hisense U8Q

As an OLED, the Samsung S85F can really shine – literally. Under favorable conditions, it can generate brightness exceeding 750 nits. This is hugely significant because most movies are created with displays around 1000 nits in mind. In practice, this means that in scenes with moderately large bright elements, the image can look simply fantastic. However, it's not always so rosy. When there is a massive amount of light on the screen – whether it's a vast bright background or an entire screen filled with white – the S85F must tone it down. The brightness can drop by even four times in such scenes. This limitation is known to basically every OLED in this price range, so we don't consider it a particular failing. However, something that deserves praise is what sets this model apart from the competition – color gamut coverage. Thanks to the QD-OLED panel, our colorimeter showed values exceeding 100% DCI-P3 coverage and as high as 86% for the ultra-wide BT.2020 palette. Such results are hard to find even in televisions that cost several times more.

When it comes to HDR, Hisense U8Q shows its claws. On paper, meaning in synthetic measurement tests, the television can "score" nearly 4000 nits of peak brightness. That's a value that most models can only envy. In practice, this translates to very strong lighting effects in films – in some scenes, we managed to measure a real 1500 to 2000 nits, which is a level usually reserved for the absolute top of televisions on the market.

Of course, it's not always that perfect. With small, pinpoint elements, brightness can drop – a good example is scene number 4 from the movie Sicario 2, where instead of thousands of nits, we get around 500. But it's worth noting that the effect doesn't vanish completely – the light is still visible, and the image doesn't feel artificially dimmed. This is a typical drawback of Mini LEDs, so it's hard to consider it a significant minus.

On the huge plus side, color reproduction deserves high praise. Thanks to additional coatings that improve color saturation, the U8Q nearly covers the full DCI-P3 color space (98%), and in the case of the wider BT.2020 gamut, it achieved a score of over 80%. This is an excellent result, making HDR films look juicy, vibrant, and simply very cinematic.

Samsung, as befits a manufacturer with ambitions, equipped the S85F with a mode called Filmmaker. Its task is simple: to make the colors on the newly purchased television as true to what the director wanted us to see as possible. Sounds great… but, as often happens, a great-sounding theory doesn’t always translate into perfect practice.

In the tested unit, it quickly became apparent that the image – due to an excess of blue and red – looked as if someone had overdone the saturation a bit. As a result, quite significant color errors appeared, particularly in 4K content. To make matters worse, there was a brightness issue – the S85F could brighten most scenes more than it should, taking away their intended mood.

Fortunately, Samsung televisions, including the S85F, offer an impressive number of settings for advanced calibrators. This means we could check what this panel is truly capable of when it gets into the right hands.

We have to admit that when the U8Q arrived at our editorial office, we were slightly surprised… and positively so. Usually, televisions require immediate white balance correction – it can be too warm or too cold, which immediately leads to strange color errors. Meanwhile, here the situation looks really good right out of the box. Of course, we are talking about our unit, so there’s no guarantee that every model will be tuned as well, but in our case, the first impressions were very positive. The only more pronounced issue was related to how the television manages brightness. Looking at the EOTF chart, it is evident that the U8Q tends to brighten small elements on the screen. This, in turn, caused what we mentioned earlier – slight overexposures and the impression that the entire scene can sometimes be a bit too bright. However, this is not a flaw that undermines the image, rather it is a characteristic effect of this model.

Thanks to the vast number of settings in the menu, we managed to bring the S85F almost to perfection. White balance in SDR content? Literally perfect – deviations do not exceed a value of "1". Thus, it can be confidently said that in materials with not very high dynamics, we have an image close to reference.

In HDR content, minor issues did arise, but they are of little significance in practice – most errors fall below the threshold of perception, which is a value of "3". We also managed to tame the S85F regarding brightness management – the EOTF curve, even in films, adheres to an almost perfect line. This is one of those cases where after calibration, you can comfortably forget about the settings and simply enjoy movies and series at the highest level.

Of course, we wouldn't be ourselves if we didn't make adjustments to the white balance. After calibration, we managed to align the SDR signal to near perfection – older movies, YouTube content, and classic television looked almost perfect on the U8Q. This is truly an outstanding level that shows this model can do a lot if given a little help. Unfortunately, the situation is different with HDR content. The colors themselves aren't a major issue, but the biggest flaw of the U8Q remains the EOTF brightness characteristics. In practice, the TV tends to "blow out" beyond how the image should look in its original form. It's that slight "blown out" effect we saw earlier in comparisons with the best screens on the market. It's a bit of a shame that this characteristic can't be fully tamed – if we could maintain similarly good control over brightness in HDR as we do in SDR, we would have an absolutely reference-quality image.

The tone transition smoothing feature in the S85F works really well – it can completely eliminate the problem of visible bands in very poor quality materials, even from YouTube. Unfortunately, even the lowest level of this option comes with compromises. Noise reduction is aggressive enough that it can smooth out film grain, which many of us consider an element of the cinematic atmosphere. At the "Standard" level, we did not notice that this feature removed anything significant from the image, so we can recommend this setting. On the other hand, the "High" level is a different story – it can smooth not only noise but also fine, desirable details such as the texture of objects.

When it comes to image scaling, the S85F performs very well. The material looks sharp, and the only minor imperfection is slightly visible contour jaggedness. And there’s the ongoing issue with Samsung televisions – overscan. This can cause some scenes to have their frames slightly trimmed, which is worth keeping in mind when watching very old content.

The Hisense U8Q handles lower-quality materials quite well. The TV can smooth out tonal transitions thanks to the "Smooth and Gradient Picture" feature – it works best when set to Medium. At that setting, it nicely reduces unwanted bands and unevenness in the image, but importantly, it does not remove cinematic grain or fine details.

The upscaling itself is also at a good level. Images from lower resolutions look smooth and soft, at times even a bit too much – we get a plastic effect that may not appeal to everyone. Fortunately, this can be easily adjusted with the sharpness slider to fit personal preferences.

S85F is a hellishly fast television – and this is not just an empty catchphrase for effect. Thanks to the 120 Hz OLED panel, dynamic scenes, whether in games or while watching a live match, look exactly as they should – smoothly, sharply, and without the feeling that something is "escaping" from the frame. The lightning-fast pixel response time, typical of OLEDs, plays a crucial role here. Transitions between frames are practically instantaneous, and the image remains clear even during the fastest camera movements. A ball flying across half the field? A car racing in a chase scene? Everything here is clear and free of the characteristic "trail" found in LCDs.

This is exactly what we expect from a good OLED – zero compromises in motion fluidity. The S85F gives the feeling that regardless of the pace of the action, we can focus on what is happening on the screen, rather than on the imperfections of the image.

Hisense U8Q has a display that can refresh the image up to 165 Hz in 4K resolution. In practice, this will mainly be utilized by PC gamers, but as they say – it’s better to have it than not 😊. For movies and series, we have a built-in smoothness enhancer called Ultra Smooth Motion. In the settings, it can be easily adjusted to personal preferences – whether we want more of a "cinematic" frame rate or a smooth, theatrical spectacle.

[UPDATE] We have updated our 2025 Samsung TV reviews following the release of firmware version 1131, which officially restores the essential HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) support.

The S85F has practically everything it needs to become the dream screen for gaming. Four fully-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports with a bandwidth of 48 Gb/s, support for VRR, ALLM, a super-detailed Game Bar that clearly shows all parameters – and on top of that, a gem in the form of Game Motion Plus. This is a motion interpolator that makes animation in games more enjoyable, with only a slight increase in input lag. This is a rare combination, and Samsung deserves a big plus for it. Now comes the moment where we have to complain a bit. The lack of Dolby Vision in Samsung TVs is already standard, so there's no point in hoping (unless something changes in a few years) – but the disappearance of HGiG after the software update is something that’s hard to explain. HGiG (which stands for HDR Gaming Interest Group) is a mode that allows for precise reproduction of brightness in HDR games, according to the creators' intention. Without it, HDR calibration on the console becomes less precise, so we might end up with an image that's too dark in the shadows or overly bright. Perhaps Samsung will fix this in the next update – and we have high hopes for that. Because if HGiG returns, the S85F will become almost the perfect TV for gamers.

In terms of features, the Hisense U8Q has practically everything one could expect from a modern gaming television. Thanks to the new processor, the manufacturer has managed to implement as many as three HDMI 2.1 ports, so there is no problem connecting multiple consoles or a computer. In addition, it includes all the key technologies – Game Bar with parameter monitoring, variable refresh rate (VRR), automatic low latency mode (ALLM)... in short, a complete set.

But as is often the case with Hisense, it falls a bit short of perfection. The biggest drawback remains the lack of support for the HGiG format, which allows you to adjust the television's brightness to the console and get the most out of HDR in games. It's a shame because if this feature were included, we would have a device practically made for gamers. As it stands, the U8Q remains "just" a very good choice 😉