Compare: LG OLED G4 vs Hisense U7NQ

LG G4 is a strong contender for being the best television of 2024. Thanks to the combination of OLED black and MLA technology, we will get an incredibly dynamic and vibrant image that will surely captivate us completely. LG G4 is also proof that televisions equipped with an OLED panel supported by MLA technology are indeed suitable for viewing in bright rooms. The operating system, while not as open as the competition, allows for many possibilities. Its greatest advantage is the well-known remote with a cursor, which makes controlling the unit (in our opinion) one of the most convenient on the market. Factory colour reproduction, although not at a high level, after undergoing calibration, can be considered almost reference-quality, providing a truly cinematic image. No wonder post-production studios choose televisions from this manufacturer. They uniquely offer such a deep capability to adjust the image, thanks to 3D LUT calibration. It seems that the biggest (and perhaps only) drawback of this television is the tonal transitions, which, while far from perfect, cannot be said to detract from the viewing experience. The remedy is provided by the manufacturer themselves, and enabling the "Smooth Gradation" function will remove the vast majority of any choppiness. LG G4 also performs exceptionally well when watching all kinds of sports or other dynamic scenes. The motion smoother is incredibly advanced and allows for adjustment of smoothness to suit individual needs. Thanks to HDMI 2.1 ports with full functionality and the manufacturer's attention, the tested television will find its place in the homes of many passionate gamers. Each of the essential features works flawlessly, and the low input lag in every mode is very pleasing. In summary, LG G4 is an incredibly versatile television, allowing for entertainment in excellent quality both at night and during the day.

Hisense, even though it has only recently been operating in the Polish market, shows that it can create televisions that have a lot to offer. The model U7NQ stands out with excellent picture quality, thanks to Mini LED technology. The blacks look really good, and the brightness is impressive, which translates to enjoyable viewing both during the day and in the evening. Dolby Vision adds an extra effect here, especially in films with rich details and strong HDR. When it comes to motion fluidity, it's hard to have any complaints. The fast 144Hz panel combined with low input lag and gaming features like VRR and ALLM ensures smooth performance in games and a clear image in dynamic scenes. Even sports look flawless – everything is clear and without blur. On a daily basis, the television performs well. With a high brightness level of 915 nits, it can be used even in bright rooms without much issue. The program recording feature proves useful, allowing for greater flexibility in planning viewing sessions. However, there are minor things that can be annoying. The VIDAA operating system, while running quickly, doesn't offer as many apps as more popular platforms. Notably absent are Tidal and Spotify, which may be a limitation for some. In HDR gaming, the lack of HGiG support causes less precise detail reproduction. When using the TV as a monitor, sometimes font issues can be observed, especially on dark backgrounds. Hisense U7NQ is a television that surprises with its good picture quality and motion fluidity. Despite minor drawbacks, such as a less developed operating system and the absence of HGiG, it will perform well for both everyday viewing and gaming. It’s a solid choice for those looking for a modern device with rich features at an affordable price.

LG G4, with its OLED panels produced for over 10 years, delivers perfect contrast, black levels, and detail reproduction in the darkest scenes. It's worth noting that the panel itself is equipped with MLA (Micro Lens Array) technology, which LG showcased just a year ago with the launch of its predecessor. The use of an organic panel not only allows for achieving pitch-black blacks but also provides extraordinary immersion and a three-dimensional effect in the image, which is hard to find even in the best Mini LED TVs. Such image quality is closely linked to OLED panel technology, as each pixel is controlled by an electrical impulse rather than shading filters on the panel. Therefore, if we want to achieve black, the pixel is simply turned off. This is very evident in test images, where the spotlight provides high brightness while being perfectly separated from each other. The situation remains unchanged in the challenging scene from "Sicario 2," where no imperfections from zone dimming can be seen, which we might encounter in LCD TVs.

Hisense U7NQ is a television that uses a VA panel, key for achieving good contrast and appropriate black depth. The use of this technology translates into very vivid picture quality when watching content in a dark room, where blacks acquire the right saturation and resemble deep tar rather than faded ash. Moreover, the television features Mini LED backlighting, which in the tested 65-inch variant offers an impressive number of 713 local dimming zones. Naturally, smaller sizes will have fewer zones, and larger ones more, positively affecting the overall contrast.

In very favorable conditions, the television achieves a contrast level of around 40,000:1. The local dimming technology handles managing bright and dark areas of the image exceptionally well, ensuring that the television faithfully reproduces details in complex scenes. Despite the large number of zones, there can be contrast issues in particularly demanding scenes where small, bright elements are set against a dark background. Sometimes the television may dim these elements too much, causing a loss of brightness, while at other times it may overly brighten them, leading to a halo effect—glows of light surrounding objects. This effect can be noticeable, for example, in a scene from the movie Sicario 2, where bright glows around the titles can be bothersome.

Nevertheless, the use of Mini LED technology with local dimming results in significantly better overall picture quality than televisions without this technology. The effect is particularly noticeable when watching movies in a dark room—blacks are deeper, and contrast is more pronounced, allowing you to fully appreciate the details hidden in dark shots.

LG G4 guarantees an incredibly vibrant HDR effect, placing the television firmly at the top of the rankings. The highest model in the manufacturer's 2024 portfolio, equipped with the second generation of microlens technology (MLA), has achieved a maximum brightness level of 1474 nits in real scenes. The only area where the product of the Korean manufacturer may fall short compared to LCD televisions with Mini LED backlighting is during a full-screen scene featuring a lot of white. If we were to disregard the latter scene, the average result would be even higher. It's also worth mentioning scenes with very fine details, where each one shone at full intensity, which is not as evident in non-OLED televisions. The combination of such brightness and wide coverage of the DCI-P3 color space ensures that HDR materials are more engaging than ever before.

The Hisense U7NQ 65 television showed impressive capabilities on the luminance chart, surpassing the 1000 nit barrier and achieving very high brightness scores effortlessly in the first, third, and fifth test scenes. However, just like before, in the second and fourth test scenes, such as from the film Sicario 2, there are significant issues with maintaining brightness, and results around 200 nits are very disappointing. Despite the large number of dimming zones, the algorithm in the television that controls these zones is unable to respond adequately — in this case, it strongly dims small elements like the moon or the light from a helicopter. Bright light that should dazzle us is too dim to be considered an HDR effect. Nevertheless, the television deserves praise for its high coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut, at 96%, which allows it to accurately render most film scenes.

The best factory mode in terms of colour reproduction was "Filmmaker". This is the one we used during our tests. Let's check how its characteristics looked before the calibration process. Taking a closer look at the white balance first, we can notice a significant dominance of red and green colour. As a result, the image had a warm yellow tint. This is the kind of characteristic we usually observe in "Cinema", "Filmmaker", or similarly named modes. The effect of such a colour balance was clearly visible in both SDR and HDR content, which, after switching from "Standard" mode, was distinctly yellowed. Now let's move on to two graphs that are responsible for brightness characteristics, and consequently, image contrast. The first one (Gamma), representing materials with a standard colour palette, performed decently. For most of the time, the midtones and bright whites were represented very accurately, however, it noticeably lost the darkest details which blended into a black patch. On the other hand, HDR materials, represented by the EOTF curve graph, exhibited a significant drop in contrast due to a strong boost in brightness. There was also an issue with the colours themselves as seen on the "ColorChecker" graph since they were noticeably undersaturated.

The Chinese manufacturer offers various picture settings in its televisions, but the best mode in this model is undeniably the Filmmaker Mode. Despite its name, this mode has its issues: the white balance, although roughly correct, is characterised by a strong dominance of warm tones due to the prominence of red hues, both in 4K and HD material. The Colour Checker test confirms these errors — deviations in samples can be seen in improper shades. As for brightness characteristics, the gamma responsible for HD material shows values below 2.4, which leads to some screen brightness. Meanwhile, the EOTF curve shows the television's problems with displaying small light elements, as confirmed by the previously described paragraphs.

The manufacturer has been implementing extensive support for the calibration process in their LG televisions for many years. Therefore, we used 2- and 20-point grey scale adjustments along with an advanced CMS (Color Management System) and got to work. As you can see, thanks to the procedure carried out, each of the parameters has significantly improved. The use of tools has resulted in extremely beneficial effects, which include: studio colour reproduction, recovery of details in dark areas of the image, appropriate brightness characteristics, and proper colour saturation. Thus, we have maximised our approach to the reference image, or the one that the film director saw on the preview monitor. It is worth noting that the LG G4 televisions are the only ones that allow for even deeper intervention in image quality due to the capability to calibrate with 3D LUT matrices. However, this solution is recommended only for post-production or graphic studios.

Hisense TVs offer a range of image correction tools that allow you to adjust settings to your own preferences, which is why we decided to use these capabilities to bring the image quality closer to reference standards. In terms of white balance, we were able to eliminate the dominance of red, resulting in more neutral colours, which allowed for a more realistic image in both 4K and HD content. We noticed a similar improvement in brightness characteristics. The gamma, which previously led to excessive brightness on the screen, has been corrected, contributing to better detail reproduction in darker areas of the image while maintaining natural tonal balance.

However, the biggest challenge was calibrating the EOTF curve, which is responsible for brightness in 4K content. At first glance, the EOTF value looked almost perfect, but detailed tests revealed somewhat different results. When we looked closer — especially using the filter on the right side of the EOTF chart — we noticed how the TV manipulated 4K film content, often significantly boosting brightness. This effect was particularly noticeable in scenes from films like Pan and Billy Lynn, where the TV attempted to artificially increase the brightness of elements, impacting their naturalness. Despite these imperfections, the calibration yielded positive results, especially in terms of tonal improvement. For most users, the end result should be satisfying, particularly if they are looking to bring image quality closer to professional reference standards.

The tonal transitions presented on LG G4 are not among the top performers. Each scene played from a BluRay disc with 10-bit HDR exhibited noticeable choppiness in the colour transitions. This was particularly evident in the case of the film "The Green Knight," where issues related to posterisation were especially pronounced. This effect could also be observed in films with moderate to high brightness, such as "The Martian" or "Kingsman," which is rarely seen in televisions (especially of this class), which took us by surprise. Such results suggest that in scenes with low luminance and a lot of black, this issue will be troublesome, even for a layman.

Hisense U7NQ offers excellent smoothness in tonal transitions. Overall, the image is very well balanced, and the transitions between different shades of colour are nearly flawless. For more discerning viewers, slight banding can be noticed in darker tones; however, these imperfections are minimal and do not significantly impact the overall picture quality. The tonal smoothness is of a very high standard, making viewing content on this television exceptionally enjoyable, with no noticeable issues with gradients and colour transitions.

The tested television did not perform well with content rich in tonal transitions, resulting in a strong posterisation effect. However, there is a partial remedy for this ailment. The manufacturer has equipped the LG G4 with a smoothing system called "Gentle Gradation," which we can apply at three levels: Low, Medium, and High. Each of these options guarantees quite high smoothing effectiveness on bright colours, though low on darker ones. We recommend primarily using the first one due to the fact that the other two interfere with directorial intentions, removing film grain.

When watching lower-quality content, the efficiency of the television during upscaling is extremely important. The image from the tested television is sharp and clear. However, attention should be paid to the jagged edges of fine details and minor issues around characters, such as the creation of a halo effect, which occurs due to the sharpening imposed by the LG G4 even when the slider is set to the lowest value, which is 0. It is worth noting that this is a change in relation to the LG G3, which did not impose such strong image sharpening, even when the appropriate slider was set to position 0.

When it comes to smoothing tonal transitions, despite the presence of the "Smooth and Gradient Image" feature in the test sequence, we did not notice that the feature added anything — we recommend turning it off. As for upscaling, the television handled our model quite well, and the branches in the background are not overly jagged — the image appears quite plasticky. However, it has been slightly cropped by the so-called overscan.

The maximum refresh rate that we can set on the LG G4 is 144 Hz. Naturally, this is only possible by connecting the LG G4 to a very powerful PC. Otherwise, we will be operating at a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, which is recommended if we primarily want to watch sports or content with high motion dynamics. For those who require high fluidity of image, the manufacturer has implemented a multi-level motion smoother called "TrueMotion". It has been divided into two separate sliders that adjust the sharpness of moving images (De-Blur) and judder (De-Judder). Both sliders can be set in the range from 0 to 10, with each increment affecting the degree of smoothing, so everyone can find their sweet spot.

The LG OLED G4 panel features an average response time of 0.78 ms (which directly results from our measurements), allowing for an incredibly clear image, unattainable by LCD televisions, which have response times of even several milliseconds. This is clearly visible in the "UFO Test" images, showing the absence of any trailing blur behind the object. Furthermore, the LG OLED G4 test showed that the television offers the ability to precisely adjust motion smoothing functionality, allowing users to choose the ideal level of image interpolation. We particularly appreciated this during fast-paced action in video games, where the LG G4 performed exceptionally well, minimising any blurriness. Thanks to OLED technology, this model eliminates so-called ghosting, ensuring that the image remains sharp even in the most dynamic sports or movie scenes.

Hisense U7NQ has a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which definitely enhances motion smoothness. For movie enthusiasts, there are two features available: judder reduction and motion blur reduction. The judder reduction function minimises the effect of so-called judder, that is, unpleasant image jumps, particularly noticeable at lower frame rates. Meanwhile, motion blur reduction helps to sharpen fast-moving objects, which is useful when watching dynamic action scenes.

When it comes to trailing, the television has a decent response time, which means excessive trailing is not visible, except in specific situations, such as the test with the alien on a dark background. In such cases, slight artifacts may appear, but overall the television handles dynamic images well, providing satisfying motion quality.

The LG G4 television supports all features that make up the HDMI 2.1 standard. During testing, each feature activated without any issues, which allows us to consider the television as designed for gaming. Its performance will certainly be appreciated by both console users and those connecting the LG G4 to a computer. It’s also worth mentioning the proper implementation of the HGIG (HDR Gaming Interest Group) mode, which ensures that games mastered to brightness levels beyond the maximum luminance of the LG G4 will correctly map tones, keeping the game image true to the original.

A nice touch is the presence of a special GameBar that we can bring up at any moment to check game parameters, but most importantly, to change them quickly. More importantly, turning on VRR technology does not degrade contrast, which is often a problem in televisions with local dimming or Mini LED backlighting. Of course, this is thanks to the OLED panel itself, characterised by pixel self-emissiveness. As a journalistic note, we will only mention a slight grey flicker, which, however, is somewhat normal when VRR is enabled.

In summary, the LG G4, like practically all OLED televisions, is an ideal product for all kinds of gaming and online competitions. With full HDMI 2.1 ports with a complete bandwidth of 48 Gbit, features such as VRR, ALLM, G-Sync, FreeSync, or HDR Dolby Vision gameplay will bring a lot of joy.

Hisense U7NQ offers everything a gamer might need for comfortable gameplay. The TV supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, providing an extremely smooth image, especially in dynamic action games. The VRR (variable refresh rate) feature ensures the image adapts to varying frames per second, eliminating stuttering and tearing. Additionally, there is an ALLM (automatic low latency mode) function that automatically switches the TV into game mode, minimising input lag.

The TV also supports Dolby Vision, which is particularly important for gamers who value high contrast and rich colours in games that support this format. The Hisense U7NQ also features a Game Bar, allowing quick access to key settings during gameplay, as well as support for G-Sync technology, further reducing image tearing.

Unfortunately, despite its wide range of features, it lacks support for the most popular HDR format in gaming — HGiG. This may be disappointing for gamers who expect optimal detail reproduction in HDR scenes. Nevertheless, the remaining features make the Hisense U7NQ a solid choice for any console gaming enthusiast.

The input lag of the LG G4 is impressively low in every scenario. Even the most dedicated gamers will surely appreciate the very low input lag at demanding 4K 120 Hz settings with HDR, which is just 5 ms. It's also worth noting that the lag at the same settings, but with Dolby Vision HDR enabled, remains unchanged, which is not as obvious with the competition. Therefore, it deserves the highest rating and recommendation.

The input lag on the Hisense U7NQ is outstanding, at a maximum of 16 ms, which is a great result even in Dolby Vision mode. This achievement is worth noting, as the Dolby Vision mode often increases latencies in other TV models, but here it has been avoided. Thanks to the low input lag, gameplay is smooth and responsive, which will be appreciated by both casual gamers and more advanced users.

LG G4 paired with a PC performs excellently, thanks to an incredibly low latency of just 5 ms, which is practically instantaneous response between the mouse, eye, and screen. A crucial aspect while working on the screen is the readability of text, which is very good in the case of the tested television.

The RWBG pixel arrangement has no significant impact on the display of fonts or letters, which is a considerable advantage over Samsung's QD-OLED matrices. Users of both Windows-based PCs and macOS will surely be pleased with the performance on the tested LG G4 television.

Hisense U7NQ offers full support for chroma 4:4:4, which ensures good font readability, especially when working with text. Overall, the image quality and visibility of letters are at a satisfactory level. However, it's worth noting the issue related to displaying fonts on a dark background — in this situation, the letters become practically invisible, and only vertical subpixels are visible.

The undisputed advantage of OLED screens equipped with MLA technology is their performance when viewing from various angles. To the naked eye, there are no noticeable changes, regardless of where we are watching from. This type of screen maintains consistent brightness, saturation, and white hue, unlike LCD matrices or OLEDs without micro-lens technology (MLA). The only matrices that can match them are those produced by Samsung Displays, using quantum dots, namely QD-OLED.

The viewing angles on the Hisense U7NQ are typical for a VA panel. Unfortunately, they leave much to be desired. The television does not have a coating that expands viewing angles, which results in a significant drop in image quality when viewed at an angle. Colours become washed out, and contrast noticeably decreases, making this television best suited for direct viewing. This is a limitation that needs to be considered, especially if we plan to watch television with a larger group, where viewers may be seated at various angles.

The glossy coating of the display in LG G4, although it may sound like a downside, is actually quite the opposite. Thanks to it, the LG G4 television maintains very high efficiency and effectively suppresses all reflections, "holding" them only at their source. It's also worth mentioning the quality of black during the day, which in the case of WRGB displays produced by LG Displays is outstanding. OLED MLA displays, despite their many advantages, are somewhat inferior in this case, but still better in the context of competition from Samsung, whose QD-OLED displays fade under light. The combination of brightness at around 500 nits and the glossy coating allows for daytime viewing of the television, unless the user has a living room with large glazing.

Hisense U7NQ comes equipped with a satin-coated panel that moderately suppresses reflections. Despite this, a brightness level of 915 cd/m² is impressive and ensures the TV performs very well even in bright rooms. Thanks to such high brightness, watching content during the day is not a problem, and the image remains sharp and clear even with a large amount of external light.

LG uses the well-known proprietary system WebOS, which has been around for many years. The system offers virtually all the essential applications, and those that are missing can be counted on one hand, such as CDA or KODI.

WebOS also provides the highly valued ability to perform operations using a cursor that appears when the remote control is moved. The convenience of such a feature is invaluable when entering queries or passwords for portals. WebOS, like most systems, also supports functions such as screen mirroring, AirPlay, voice search in Polish, and the ability to connect headphones via Bluetooth. On a more practical note, WebOS allows us to use both headphones and the TV speaker LG G4 simultaneously, which will certainly be a significant advantage for those with hearing disabilities. Among the more interesting features, particularly appreciated by sports fans, is the option to enable an alert for upcoming matches, ensuring that we never miss a broadcast. The home panel also deserves praise, allowing for control of all smart devices connected to the home network. For example, the end of a laundry cycle will be signalled by a notification in the top right corner.

In summary, the WebOS system, although less known and with some limitations compared to Android TV, offers stable and fast operation and supports most features that users might need. It is a solid solution for those looking for a simple and effective operating system in a television.

Hisense U7NQ uses the VIDAA operating system, which generally runs quickly and smoothly, offering a user-friendly interface. There are plenty of apps available, but unfortunately, it lacks music streaming apps like Spotify and Tidal. This is a limitation that may deter users looking for a more developed app ecosystem.

The television offers many useful features that increase its versatility. The ability to record shows, support for AirPlay, as well as Bluetooth for connecting various peripheral devices ensure that the Hisense U7NQ can successfully serve as a central hub for home entertainment.

Hisense U7NQ has a modern look thanks to its narrow bezels and elegant single stand, which fits well with the rest of the device. However, the device itself isn't one of the slimmest on the market, especially compared to competing models from Korean manufacturers known for their exceptionally thin televisions. Despite this, the Hisense U7NQ still offers an aesthetic and stylish design that will easily blend into most interiors.

The default file player on the LG G4 performs quite well with most photos, although it's surprising to find a lack of several equally popular ones. It can successfully play videos recorded in virtually all the most popular formats, including Dolby Vision. The only codec that the G4 cannot play is H.266 VVC, although this is currently quite rarely used. However, it's important to note the supported photo formats, of which there are only two: JPEG and PNG. Users of Apple phones may feel disappointed by the lack of support for the HEIC format, which is the default format when taking photos. The remedy for this is to use the built-in AirPlay feature. Lastly, we should also mention the lack of support for TXT subtitles.

In our test of the Hisense U7NQ, the built-in media player handles most popular video and audio formats, making it a very versatile solution for users. However, there are some shortcomings with less common image formats, such as Apple's HEIC. For typical formats like JPEG or MP3, the television performs flawlessly, easily meeting the multimedia needs of most users.

The assessment of sound quality is always subjective. However, we must give credit to LG G4 for maintaining a fairly good level of sound clarity. The biggest drawback of the built-in audio system in the television is the low bass range. However, it’s important to look at this from a different perspective — anyone opting for this television will likely have a home theatre system. The key in this case will be broad support for audio codecs, including DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Atmos.

Hisense U7NQ offers quite decent sound that will satisfy most users. The bass is noticeable and is definitely a plus, adding depth to action scenes and music. Unfortunately, there is an issue with the high tones — at louder volumes, the dialogues can be tiring, which affects the viewing comfort. Despite these imperfections, compatibility with all popular audio formats such as DTS and Dolby Audio is a major advantage of this model and provides versatility in sound, regardless of the source.

LG OLED G4 vs Hisense U7NQ

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

TV efficiency during daytime

Details about the matrix

TV features

Playing files from USB

Apps

Sound