Verdict
A disappointing flagship Mini - LED from Hisense . While the U8N ’s specs look very promising , its HDR performance is sub - par with non - Dolby Vision mental object .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The U8N represents Hisense ’s flagship telly for 2024 , filled with all the features suit of its status at a monetary value less than its rivals .
The 65 - inchSony Bravia 9would localize you back well-nigh £ 3000 , while theSamsung QN95Dwas £ 3299 when it first launch ( now just £ 2000 at the time of review ) , so the Hisense U8N ’s start price of £ 1799 is rather benevolent in comparing .
Hisense has , as usual , packed slews features to provide value to its more expensive rivals . But as always , the spec on paper can distinguish one tale while the real - world performance order another .
Design
The Hisense U8N comes in two sizes : 65- and 75 - inch , so this is n’t the theoretical account to get if your living elbow room is on the small side .
The soma lineament is on the full-bodied side . You ’ll strain to lift the U8N from its packaging , its total weight is 30.1 kilogram ( anLG G4is just 24 kilo ) . And despite itsMini - LEDbacklight , the depth of the idiot box is around 57.1 mm . Compare that to the Samsung QN95D ’s 21.3 mm and the U8N feels on the chunky side .
The stand is relatively easy to nibble together and there ’s an area to make pass cable through to keep the area clean and free of clutter . The bezels are slim so most of what you see is what ’s on - screen , and there are new front - firing speakers and twin subwoofers ( on the back ) that make up the boob tube ’s strait organization .
Operating system
Hisense ’s VIDAA user interface is a wide-eyed one to get to grips with . capacity is organize into several rows with apps on the top row accompany by live idiot box feed and curated contentedness from a range of television receiver divine service . Scrolling through the user interface is a smooth , reactive experience . VIDAA ’s never been the flashiest port but it ’s light to use .
The UK catch - up apps and resilient feed are brought to you byFreely , which stream over the net rather than through an aerial . It mold well enough and seems to be getting slicker each month . parachute in and out of live current is gentle enough with minimal lag , though it ’s miss a few featuresFreeview Playhad .
you may set the TV up through the VIDDA app , which is elementary and nimble to get through the process of set the boob tube up . you’re able to control and search for message via the app if you favor not to use the remote control .
speak of , the distant control both reckon and feel more agiotage than previous Hisense zappers . It ’s still a fairly boastful social unit , belike suited more for bigger script . With the integrate solar cell the remote can charge itself but it ’s probably more convenient to turn on via USB - C. Anything that gets rid of batteries is worth having in my opinion .
Features
Hisense has rammed the U8N withallthe features . All HDR format are corroborate in HDR10,HLG , HDR10 + Adaptive , and Dolby Vision IQ . You ’ve also gotIMAX Enhancedmode as well asFilmmaker mode , which withPrime Videoautomatically switches when it senses compatible films and programmes .
Hisense refers to the silver screen as a depressed reflection one , head off ambient illumination during the twenty-four hour period ( or , hopefully , at night ) . The jury is a 120Hz one , which should serve with tranquil move with sports while the Total Ambient Adaptive feature automatically adapts the screen ’s performance depending on the ambient luminosity the TV ’s sensing element detects .
The sound system is a step up from the U7N , a 2.1.2 contour with two front - firing speakers and twin subwoofer , fronted by 60W of king .
There ’s DTS Virtual :X decoding and Hisense also offers its own version of Samsung ’s Q - Symphony with its Hi - Concerto , linking the TV ’s speakers with a soundbar . Just to tally to the feature count , there ’s WiSA Ready support to touch base more wireless Speaker to the U8N.
Gamers getVRR(HDMI and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro ) as well asALLMwhich automatically puts the TV into its low latent period .
Refresh rates of up to 144Hz are possible with PC games but there ’s no variety in its input lag performance at 4K/60Hz , which remain 13.2ms . That ’s not bad , but LG and Samsung offer scurvy comment lag out of the box . The Game Bar feature of speech means you could tweak configurations on the fly .
Alexa and VIDAA Voice control condition are the supported spokesperson assistant , as there ’s HomeKit for those in the Apple smart ecosystem .
The U8N have fourHDMI 2.1inputs but the input PC gamers should be aware of are HDMI port 3 and 4 , which support 144Hz refresh pace . HDMI 3 is share withthe eARC(so you ’ll lose one of the ‘ play ’ inputs if you plug away in a soundbar ) , while ALLM is digest across all inputs .
Otherwise , there are two USB input ( 2.0 and 3.0 ) , Ethernet , two RF tuners , CI+ 2.0 user interface one-armed bandit , digital ocular out , sub - out , headphone out and an Ab composite input . Wirelessly there ’s Wi - Fi 6 ( AirPlay 2 ) and Bluetooth streaming .
Picture Quality
There ’s a variant that lies at the heart of the Hisense U8N ’s performance . On paper , its performance is as good as more insurance premium - price Mini LEDs on the market .
In fact , it ’s so shining my sensor struggled to immortalize the measure but on a 2 % and 5 % HDR windowpane , the Hisense U8N collide with 2150 and 2387 nits severally . In Dynamic mode , it reach a blazing highschool of 2577 nit .
And yet its levels of brightness , contrast and black grade with celluloid and television receiver series seemed the opposite word of those upshot . luminosity with Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets ( HDR10 ) rarely reach out the eye - pop levels the bod intimate – the Hisense U8N looked dull sit next to a Samsung QN90D. Colours lacked the same vibrancy , brightness lacked the same level of precision , black floor were more bluish in some cases and contrast was weakly .
For a TV that has 1600 local dim zone , there remainedslight bloomingand backlight bleeding in The Darkest Hour . In Zero Dark Thirty black level were dampen out and miss depth . blanket angles disappointed with colours fade not far off bloc and blooming more noticeable . Despite Hisense ’s call the screen is pensive , the U8N is specially flimsy when dreary scenes are shown .
There ’s even some Dirty Screen Effect towards the edges ( though not as much as theU7N ) . These were all job with the less expensive models so it ’s a disappointment to record them on the flagship tv set .
The underwhelming HDR performance continues with HDR10 + films as Doctor Sleep put in some blueish inkiness with some bleeding towards the position and bottom of the screen . scroll through the modes and the Energy Saving mode offer full black levels than the celluloid modes . Something ’s not quite veracious with the Hisense U8N.
Most of these issues are solved withDolby Vision IQ , which hike up blacks to give them more solidity , gives colours more punch , and inject more brightness into highlight but that only adds to the levels of disappointment – the only sense of sculptural relief is that Dolby Vision is widespread on streaming services and 4 KiB Blu - ray . Streaming Nobody Wants This on Netflix and it ’s a much higher degree of performance .
The Hisense U8N ’s upscaling skills are self-coloured watching a Blu - re of Dune . It ’s not the sharpest figure but given its 65 - inch size of it edge are clear and there ’s a acceptable stage of detail in the close - up of the character ’ faces . colors are undimmed although the U8N ’s SDR performance verges on too bright . Dark scenes in Dune look do n’t go far enough , and its black level carrying into action is n’t always the good . The Sardaukar attack on the Atreides US Army seems to suffer from a lack of clarity and detail in the dark region of the trope .
With a videodisk of Star Trek ( 2009 ) , the U8N is ok . It ’s unsurprisingly easy - looking but it is promising and colorful . Anything in the foreground and the AI processing of the Hi - View railway locomotive smooth out the toothed edges well enough , but anything in the background is perceptibly fuzzier and vague . Movement induce slight indistinctness and softness too , while there ’s more noise than there is on a Samsung QN90D and blackamoor can appear blue .
It ’s not to say that this issue does n’t afflict other TVs but the QN90D massage the bend of lower resolution depicted object better than the Hisense does .
It ’s with the U8N ’s motion processing that Hisense retrieves a few more point on the board . With its Smooth stage setting there ’s judder and it ’s not as sharp or as detail with a noticeably softer image but it bear up well enough .
Standard offers a smoother carrying out or no noise , judder and stutter ; and with the Clear scope , I did n’t make out any issues . I do wish the motion background for Dolby Vision IQ were customisable as there ’s a bit of stutter on its current setting .
Sound Quality
The Hisense U8N ’s 2.1.2 is n’t better than adding a sound system but it ’s a tidy effort if you do n’t already have one .
Dialogue is clear enough though not the crispest or most defined , leading to a slightly muffled delivery at times . Playing the Gom Jabbar scene from Dune and the Hisense U8N get through it without tripping up , but in general , bass reaches for lick over depth , and there ’s little to no dynamism . The U8N is a little tame in full term of excitation .
There ’s also some distortion with abject frequence , a little crackle china detectable with demanding scenes but there ’s breadth and height give up by the sound system ; highs are light and it sounds wide . It ’s a solid effort but liken to thePhilips OLED809 , it ’s not as expert .
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Should you buy it?
It ’s absolved to see what Hisense is going for with the U8N , a TV that ’s apt for any occasion and its specs are reasonably impressive . It bungs in a quite a little of features for less than most of its principal rivals .
While the U8N mostly annihilate the issues that plagued Hisense ’s cheaper model , its HDR performance is dissatisfactory . Unless you ’re watchingDolby Visioncontent , this idiot box seems to fight .
Final Thoughts
I was hoping that the Hisense U8N would be the best of the video I ’d image from the brand in 2024 but its overall HDR carrying out is puzzling , relying heavily on Dolby Vision to boost contraband levels , colour and cleverness .
You ’d be dear off choosing thePhilips OLED809if you ’re shopping at this Leontyne Price . The Samsung QN90D is another choice , and less expensive than the Hisense is currently . You could even opt for Hisense ’s ownU7N , though overall , the U8N offers a more consistent and accomplished image .
On paper , the Hisense U8N looks like it ’ll serve up a spread but in reality , it ’s not the most weft meal . If you ’re still set on this TV , my advice would be to wait for a discount that makes it a more appetising option .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try out every television we reexamine exhaustively over an extensive menses of time . We apply manufacture received tests to liken features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we happen . We never , ever , take over money to review a merchandise .
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FAQs
There are only two screen sizes this Hisense U8N is available in the UK : 65- and 75 - inches .
