Hisense U8N Series TV Review: Solid Picture Quality for the Price

8.3/ 10
SCORE

Hisense U8N Series

$640 at Best Buy

$921 at Amazon

Pros

• Excellent design and ease of use
• Peppy picture with non-HDR material
• Relatively affordable

Cons

• Black levels are crushed in HDR
• Picture not as dynamic as rivals'

Although we may think of CRT as being the oldest TV technology, it's actually liquid crystal displays. LCD was discovered a whole decade earlier than cathode rays in the 1880s. The display type is really quite old, especially compared with the youngster OLED, but LCD continues to improve with TVs like the Hisense U8N and the 2024 TCL QM8 by implementing the latest in lighting tech, including mini-LED backlight and quantum dot color.

In my side-by-side comparisons, this Hisense offered excellent contrast and maintained that fine balance between picture quality and price. It runs on the Google TV interface and so it integrates well with Google's smart home system and Android phones. The rival TCL QM8 pulls ahead of the Hisense U8N in terms of picture quality -- mainly due to improved brightness from its more numerous backlight LEDs -- the Hisense is also more affordable. It's also worth noting that the TCL QM8 doesn't come in a 55-inch size. 

If you're looking to spend around $1,000 on a 65-inch TV then the Hisense U8N is the best I've tested in terms of overall performance. If you're looking for a TV that can squeeze out an even better picture, it's worth paying more for the TCL QM8 or the LG C4 OLED. 

Hisense U8N series TV sizes

I performed hands-on testing of the picture quality of the 65-inch Hisense 65U8N, but this review also applies to the other screen sizes in the series. All sizes have similar specifications and should exhibit similar picture quality.

• Hisense 55U8N (55-inch) 
• Hisense 65U8N (65-inch)  
• Hisense 75U8N (75-inch) 
• Hisense 85U8N (85-inch) 

A dash of design

The biggest change to the Hisense's design, since last year's U8K, is that a centralized pedestal stand replaces the awkward clawfeet of before. A pedestal design makes it easier to place this TV on a smaller stand (and is arguably more stable if knocked).

The screen, which features "Anti-Glare Low Reflection technology" is surrounded by a thin black and silver frame. Unlike the LG C4 with its fancy carbon fiber back, the U8N is constructed of a more traditional mix of metal and plastic.

I've seen a bunch of TV remotes in my time and the Hisense feels the way a premium clicker should (but usually doesn't). It's made of plastic but it boasts a high-end finish. That Hisense provides a remote like this on a relatively affordable television is even more impressive. 

The year of Google TV 

Panasonic has opted for Fire TV in its premium offering, but if you're buying a new Hisense, TCL or Sony television it will boast Google TV onboard. Google TV is better than the manufacturers' proprietary interfaces we used to see even a few years ago, but I prefer the simplicity of an Apple TV (which is only available in a separate device). Hisense's Google TV interface is not only quite busy but it's largely immune to customization; the only home screen item you can really change is the order of the apps in the shortcut bar. The content recommendations, of which there are many, stay under the control of Google. 

Correspondingly, my colleague Chris Wedel looked at integrating Hisense's similar Canvas model into a smart home so head over there if you're keen to know more. The upshot is that if you use Google Assistant or have a Nest smart speaker then a Hisense Google TV will integrate very well. For my own tests, I used apps including Netflix and Fandango At Home and found that while they weren't as zippy to load as a Google TV Streamer you don't really need an add-on device.

Although the Hisense does offer a simpler, apps-only mode, just as with the TCL and the Streamer, it is the most restrictive of all. The interface looks super simple with a main carousel image and rows of apps but search is weirdly disabled.

Mini-LED and high refresh rates

The U8N LCD television uses a mini-LED backlight, and it's the small size of these LEDs that enables the TV to have thousands of local dimming zones. At 2,000-plus zones, the U8N has double those of the earlier U8K; the QM8 dwarfs them both at 5,000 zones. Full-array local dimming allows the screen to dim and brighten different areas simultaneously and this ultimately increases contrast and therefore picture quality.

The Hisense U8N has a 120Hz refresh rate, which can lead to better motion performance than 60Hz TVs. Like most TVs in its class, U8N uses quantum dots to improve color performance. Like most manufacturers that aren't named Samsung, the Hisense supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range formats.

The audio system features a five-speaker 2.1.2 configuration but most of these drivers face into the wall or downward. I didn't test the TV's sound quality specifically, but even a budget soundbar would likely sound better.

Like last year's TV, the Hisense U8N includes a built-in ATSC 3.0 tuner for NextGen TV broadcasts. Given the format's slow rollout and the prevalence of FAST TV, you may never use this feature.

Hisense U8N vs. TCL QM8 vs. Roku Pro: Picture quality compared

For this review, I compared three 2024, 65-inch LCD TVs at various price points: the $1,100 Hisense U8N, the TCL QM851 at $1,300 and the $900 Roku Pro. I watched them side-by-side with a combination of both HD and 4K content, in a darkened theater environment and with the lights on.

TV and movies

When watching program material, I found the U8N fits in between the TCL QM851 and the cheaper Roku Pro which nicely correlates to each screen's current pricing. I discovered the Hisense offers superior black levels and contrast to the Roku, but isn't quite as dynamic as the TCL, although it did depend on whether I was watching HD or 4K HDR material.

For example, the U8N exhibited similar shadow detail to the TCL when watching standard HD (non-HDR) material like the opening scene of the horror movie It. Young Georgie is seen fumbling around in the basement and, in a precursor to what's to come, sees what looks like a pair of eyes in the darkness. In HD both the TCL and Hisense render these highlights and the shadowy detail of the stairway in a similar fashion. As an experiment, I tried changing Hisense's Gamma 2.2, but it looked too washed out in this scene. The default 2.4 may seem dark but didn't adversely affect HD performance. It was only when switching the scene to HDR that the TCL pulled ahead and the Hisense tendency for crushing HDR blacks became evident. 

As I noted in the TCL review, the Hisense can obscure low-level shadow detail, and this was illustrated in Oppenheimer's launch scenes. At 1.51.26 we see the launchpad set against a predawn sky, and on both the Roku and the TCL you can see light in the sky and a hint of mountains in the background. By "contrast" there was no visible sky on the Hisense, and a shining light in the top third of the screen was also obscured. 

Whether it was HD or HDR, it was the TCL that drew my eye every time with bolder colors, better contrast and brighter highlights. The Hisense followed behind thanks to its better contrast than the Roku, but the less-expensive Pro TV managed to hold its own in terms of color.

Gaming 

The jury is still out on whether Variable Refresh Rate is a useful thing to have on a TV or not. I say this because not everyone connects a high-end gaming PC to their TV, and not every new console game supports higher refresh rates. For example, you won't find 4K/120Hz support on the latest Call of Duty Black Ops 6 but you will find it on the platform game Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Nevertheless, the Hisense will still support both 120Hz and 144Hz and I confirmed the two relevant ports as 4K/120Hz-ready after connecting an Xbox. The TV automatically detected the Xbox and turned on auto low latency mode. 

In terms of gaming, either the TCL or the Roku would be better due to their better shadow detail with HDR -- as you'll use when connecting a PS5 or Xbox. If you can't see an enemy hiding in a corner it can put you at a huge disadvantage. 

Bright lighting

It may not have as many dimming zones as the TCL and possibly uses fewer LEDs as a result, but the Hisense was nonetheless capable of eye-scorching brightness. This means that the TV was capable of meaningful levels of contrast in a lit room. I could still see myself reflected in the TV despite the TV's "Low Reflection" coating but during most scenes, it wasn't distracting. The Samsung S95D remains the high watermark for taming reflections in a bright room, but it's also a lot more expensive.

Settings and picture mode notes

Of the three TVs I compared, the Hisense had the most accurate test results when measured with our Konica Minolta meter. I believe this is what contributed to the TV's excellent showing with HD material. The only less than "Good" readings were for black levels and Gamma. You can adjust the black levels for HD content by going to Picture > Brightness > Gamma > 2.2, but I found that this washed the picture out too much.

When it came to SDR material it was the Filmmaker with which the TV performed best and led to the readings above. Meanwhile, I couldn't find a completely suitable HDR mode -- none of them were able to make the predawn sky easier to see in Oppenheimer, for instance -- while Imax mode was best. 

Check out how we test TVs for more details on the Geek box and our TV testing methodology.

Portrait Displays Calman calibration software was used in this review.