Sharp FQ8 vs Haier M90E

The Sharp FQ8 achieves a maximum brightness of over 450 nits, which is commendable for its price range. While this level might not be groundbreaking, it places the television among the better-performing models in its class. At this brightness, the image appears vivid and detailed, and the HDR metadata functions effectively, offering a more immersive viewing experience compared to dimmer devices.

The television supports the advanced Dolby Vision HDR format, enhancing the depth and richness of the content. It also includes Dolby Vision IQ, which adjusts the image's brightness and colours based on ambient lighting. However, the implementation of this feature on the Sharp FQ8 is suboptimal, introducing artificial brightening and noticeable distortions. For this reason, it is advisable to disable Dolby Vision IQ for the most accurate picture quality.

With quantum dot technology, the television achieves a colour gamut coverage of approximately 94%, resulting in vibrant and realistic colours. This combination of features ensures the Sharp FQ8 delivers an engaging and detailed visual experience, even with some limitations.

Haier M90E is a television that does not lack brightness. In most movie scenes, peak luminance exceeds 1000 nits, which gives the image a clear "kick" and high dynamics. In typical, bright HDR materials, this looks really good. However, one must take into account the previously mentioned dimming algorithm. In scenes that are not evenly flooded with light – for instance, when displaying individual stars in a black sky – high brightness underscores the imperfections of zone control. Instead of a precise light point, we often see a distinct halo effect around bright objects. Despite these shortcomings, the overall image presentation can be pleasing, largely thanks to color reproduction. The manufacturer applied a PFS phosphor coating, allowing for wide coverage of the color palette. In our measurements, the coverage of the DCI-P3 space was a solid 95%.

The Sharp FQ8 was evaluated for colour reproduction in its movie mode, which provides the best default settings for achieving realistic visuals. While it performs adequately, certain issues impact the overall image quality. Tests on HD content revealed significant white balance problems, with a marked dominance of red. This is evident in the colour graph, where the red line noticeably rises above the others, and in practical tests, such as a movie scene featuring a child, where the image appears overly warm and unnaturally red. Similar issues persist with 4K HDR content, where an excessive red tint detracts from the accuracy of colour reproduction, an important consideration for viewers prioritising faithful visuals.

For SDR contrast, the gamma graph displayed an unusual anomaly at the start, highlighting reproduction issues. The remainder of the gamma curve lies below the reference line, indicating suboptimal brightness and contrast levels for standard content. In 4K HDR, the EOTF curve also deviates significantly, suggesting inconsistencies in brightness reproduction. These fluctuations can result in less enjoyable viewing experiences for HDR content, particularly in scenes requiring precise light and dark balance.

For the measurements, we chose the Film mode, which should ideally offer an image closest to the creators' intentions. Unfortunately, in the case of the M90E, its characteristics – besides the reduced brightness – do not differ much from the Dynamic mode. Both in SDR and HDR content, the image is clearly tinged with a cool blue hue. The white balance is heavily skewed towards blue, reminiscent of typical aggressive "store" settings. This results in an unnatural representation of skin tones and makes the image straining on the eyes during longer viewing sessions. The way brightness is managed also negatively affects color fidelity. The television struggles to maintain proper levels – small details are often too dim, while larger, bright areas of the image tend to get blown out. These deviations in the brightness curve, combined with the cool white balance, lead to very significant color reproduction errors (DeltaE) in the factory settings.

After calibration, the Sharp FQ8 shows notable improvements in its performance for SDR content. The white balance has been significantly refined, with all lines approaching the reference line. While the lines are not perfectly straight, the results are impressive for a TV in this price range. This adjustment enhances the naturalness and accuracy of colours, contributing to a more enjoyable visual experience. However, the gamma chart still displays the peculiar jump at the start, though the remaining line now aligns much closer to the expected outcome.

For HDR content, the white balance also sees meaningful improvements compared to the pre-calibration state, although it doesn’t perform as well as in SDR mode. This refinement results in more consistent and visually appealing colours, despite some remaining imperfections. On the downside, the EOTF chart reveals limited progress in contrast due to the lack of control over dynamic tone mapping settings, which hampers uniform brightness representation in HDR.

Despite these limitations, the calibration significantly elevates the Sharp FQ8, particularly in SDR mode. The improved white balance and colour reproduction deliver a more natural and pleasant viewing experience. While HDR content still leaves room for improvement, the TV achieves a respectable level of performance, solidifying its position as a strong contender in its price range.

Haier M90E clearly benefits from professional calibration, especially for SDR content. The TV menu offers a sufficient number of tools to effectively correct factory errors. We managed to "tame" the white balance and eliminate the dominant blue tint. We also adjusted, albeit to a lesser extent, the brightness curve (gamma), which allowed us to recover some details in the shadows that were too heavily muted from the factory. The end result for SDR is a picture that is definitely more natural and pleasant to watch. In the case of HDR mode, the success is only partial. Although it was possible to improve the white balance here as well, the color reproduction errors (Color Checker) remained at a high level. Analysis of the EOTF curve (responsible for brightness in HDR) points to the root of the problem: the TV imposes its own interpretation of the signal and does not provide tools to modify this curve. The source of the high errors is not the calibration itself, but the specifics of the device – aggressive and imprecise zone dimming interferes with measurements and is "stiffly" embedded in the characteristics of this model.

The Sharp FQ8 performs adequately with its 10-bit colour reproduction feature, providing smooth transitions between grey shades in the light bulb photo. For optimal results, setting it to medium is recommended, as it avoids issues like grain smoothing or blurring key elements. The "low" setting also yields good results without introducing unwanted visual artefacts.

In terms of upscaling, the Sharp FQ8 TV handles video without overscan, making full use of the screen. The jagged edges of branches are noticeable, but the edges of trousers appear without any clear jaggedness, contributing positively to the overall image quality. Additionally, the TV's AI Super Resolution feature enhances clarity by artificially sharpening jagged elements, further improving the viewing experience.

The evaluation of the image processor must be divided into two separate aspects, as the Haier M90E behaves inconsistently in this regard. The first issue is the upscaling itself, that is, scaling lower-resolution content to 4K. In this task, the television performs quite decently. The algorithms effectively enhance the detail, resulting in a final image that is relatively sharp, clear, and readable. In this respect, it's hard to have major complaints about the device.

The situation looks completely different with materials that have a high degree of compression, which we encounter in older recordings or on platforms like YouTube with lower bitrate. Here, the processor falters in smoothing tonal transitions and masking source imperfections. The television cannot hide compression blocks, resulting in a very harsh, "digital" character of the image. The lack of effective artifact reduction can effectively discourage viewing lower-quality content on this screen.

The Sharp FQ8 features a 120 Hz panel, able to support playback at 144 Hz when connected to a PC, which should theoretically provide smooth motion rendering. The TV includes features designed to enhance film fluidity and reduce motion blur, crucial for more dynamic content. However, in the absence of Black Frame Insertion (BFI) technology, the panel's average response time leads to less-than-ideal results. This results in slight motion blur, which may be particularly noticeable when watching sports or during intense gaming sessions.

The Haier M90E is equipped with a simple yet functional motion smoothing system (MEMC). In the settings menu, the user will find a three-level adjustment scale: low, medium, and high. This allows for tailoring the degree of interference with the image to personal preferences – from gentle smoothing of 24p movies to maximum fluidity (soap opera effect). The system operates stably and fulfills its purpose in typical applications.

The Sharp FQ8 offers several features that cater to gamers, enhancing the overall gaming experience. Firstly, the television is equipped with HDMI 2.1, which brings several advantages. ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) automatically switches the TV to a low-latency mode when a gaming device is detected. VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) helps reduce screen stuttering by adjusting the screen’s refresh rate to match the number of frames generated by the console or PC, providing smoother gameplay, especially in dynamic games. Additionally, the TV supports G-Sync, which synchronises the image with the graphics card, preventing stuttering and screen tearing.

Despite these advantages, the FQ8 has some limitations. The lack of support for HGiG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) means the TV does not optimise the dynamic range for HDR games. Furthermore, while Dolby Vision mode can improve picture quality in supported games, it suffers from very high input lag.

From a hardware perspective, the Haier M90E is a solid proposition. The TV is equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, which ensures support for key technologies: VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (automatic low-latency mode). A plus is also the correct implementation of the Dolby Vision mode for gaming, which maintains a relatively low input lag. Problems arise with software configuration. The biggest drawback is the forced, continuous dynamic tone mapping by the TV's processor. This prevents proper HDR calibration from the console using system panels (HGiG) – the TV ignores source settings and processes the image its own way. We also noted shortcomings in the interface: the M90E does not have a typical "Game Bar" (overlay with parameters), which is a standard among competitors. Cooperation with Xbox consoles at unusual parameters turned out to be problematic – the device has difficulty correctly displaying 1440p resolution at 120 Hz refresh rate. Despite the aforementioned shortcomings in the software, the Haier M90E remains a very attractive screen for gamers. The final impression is saved by a solid hardware base. Native panel refresh at 144 Hz and the presence of full-fledged HDMI 2.1 ports are advantages that are crucial in daily use. If we are looking for a TV that provides high fluidity and supports 4K signals, this model will fulfill its task.