TCL C75B vs Hisense U7S Pro

During our luminance test, the TCL C75B "spat out" about 380 nits of brightness. We recorded similar results while watching most of the films we tested. These can be considered average – the television does not perform badly in this segment, but around 400 nits is definitely too low to fully experience the magic of HDR effects. Of course, such results are better than those of budget models, which can achieve nearly half as low brightness values. However, for HDR enthusiasts seeking stronger light effects and greater realism, the C75B may prove insufficient. On the plus side, it's worth mentioning the 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 color palette. This is a very good result that easily suffices to enjoy a wide range of colors in content available on popular streaming platforms. Vivid and rich colors are definitely a strong point of this model.

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.

TCL C75B offers many picture modes, but in our opinion, the best choice is the "Film" mode. Although its settings are quite good, the television struggles with certain color reproduction issues. In tests, we noticed that the image had a noticeably pinkish tint compared to what could be considered correct. This effect was particularly noticeable in skin tones, which appeared unnaturally warm. The main culprit of this phenomenon turned out to be the white balance, characterized by an excessive amount of blue and red in both HD and 4K HDR materials.

Another issue was the way brightness was reproduced. The gamma, which is responsible for the visibility of details in darker materials, was definitely boosted, causing details in the darkest parts of the screen to be invisible, lost in total blackness (e.g., the bottom part of the screen in the comparative photo - the area around the actress's ear). Similarly, the situation was reflected in the EOTF curve, which was below the correct value, suggesting that a similar problem may be encountered in 4K HDR content.

Thanks to our experience and the appropriate tools, we decided to take matters into our own hands and see how much could be extracted from this model after professional calibration. Details are described in the next section.

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.

After calibrating the TCL C75B, it has clearly improved in terms of color reproduction. Although the TV does not offer many options for adjusting the white balance, we were able to refine its settings significantly. As a result, the image has stopped being overly pink, and the colors now look much more natural and harmonious.

The gamma jump, which was previously a problem, has not disappeared completely, but we managed to significantly reduce it. This has made the details in dark scenes more visible – both in HD and 4K HDR material.

Unfortunately, the lack of local dimming is still noticeable. The "glowing black" effect remains, but that's a limitation of the display itself. Despite this, the colors after calibration look vastly better, and the image is much more enjoyable to watch.

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.

The TCL C75B has a tonal transition smoothing feature, but unfortunately, we can't praise it. Regardless of the selected level – low or high – tonal transitions in older materials remained visible, as if the feature didn't work at all. It's hard to say something positive about it because, in practice, it seems completely useless.

The image scaling is better. The TV performs quite decently, although on thinner elements, like branches in the background, you can notice slight halos. However, this is not something that significantly interferes with daily viewing.

Unfortunately, a bigger problem turned out to be overscan, which is the trimming of the image edges. In our tests, it happened that news tickers or other elements close to the edge of the screen were cut off. This is definitely something worth paying attention to, especially if we use the TV for watching news programs or content with text on the screen.

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.

TCL C75B definitely has something to offer gamers. The TV is equipped with a panel that can display images with a refresh rate of 144 Hz in 4K, and even 240 Hz in Full HD. These are really great results, especially for a model from the budget range.

Additionally, there are features for improving smoothness and reducing motion blur in films. The "Motion" option allows for precise adjustment of the effect on a 10-step scale, providing a lot of customization options – everyone can set the smoothness to their liking.

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 TCL C75B is undoubtedly a television designed for gamers. It offers almost everything that the most demanding console users need. With the implementation of full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1, the television supports features such as ALLM (automatic low latency mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate) – operating across the full capabilities of the TV, up to 240 Hz in Full HD resolution.

Additionally, the television supports advanced HDR technologies, including Dolby Vision and HGiG, which allows for even better detail representation in HDR-optimized games. The C75B is also equipped with a very convenient interface for gamers in the form of a Game Bar, where you can check all key parameters, such as refresh rate, input lag, or picture settings – all within one click's reach.

In a nutshell: the C75B is an excellent choice for gamers, offering a wide range of features that allow for fully enjoying the capabilities of modern consoles and games.

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.