The Hisense U8N is the best 2024 ULED model you can pick up from Hisense in South Africa. In many ways, Hisense sees the U8N as their high-end TV and I won’t argue with this because the U8N is remarkable. I tried my hardest to find as many flaws as possible with this TV and after two weeks and countless hours of daily testing, I am happy to report that if you’re buying a U8N, you’re getting a very good TV. A TV that packs image quality and tech that you simply won’t find for this price tag.
Watch the Hisense U8N review below
I don’t want to give you the whole cliche “OLED killer” script that every YouTuber has thrown out there but in certain conditions, this TV will fool a lot of people into thinking you have an OLED. During the day, the peak brightness of this TV combined with the deep blacks and ridiculously vibrant colours deliver that OLED experience. At night, the halo and bloom are more noticeable but even then, this TV’s dimming zones and engine do a superb job diminishing those distractions. The U8N is a testament to the potential of Mini-LED.
I will get into the technical stuff for this Hisense U8N review soon but let’s cover the TV model first. Hisense sent over the 75-inch U8N for testing. The 75-inch model is the only one in the range to include an ADS Pro panel. 55, 65 and 85 all include VA panels. ADS Pro is essentially a fancy IPS panel. The 75-inch model comes with 2,000 local dimming zones.
I have already done a full unboxing and set-up for the Hisense U8N so I won’t spend much time on it here. In short, the TV relies on a stand that can be positioned at two different heights. The stand keeps cable management together thanks to its back plastic clip that hides it all away. The back is then covered by a plastic cover. This means you’ll need to have longer HDMI cables to run them to the centre of the TV first, down the stand and then to your hardware.
The stand itself is easy to install once you understand how to either use the higher or lower position. You simply screw in the back mount on either the upper or lower screw holes. The other open holes are then used as support screws for the mount. The TV’s weight was then counterbalanced by the very heavy metal stand that screws onto the base. It all looks quite sleek and the metal stand is clean.
It is all quite an easy process to set up. The IR sensor is 6.5cm off the stand at the highest position and 4.5cm on the lower spot. So be sure to measure the thickness of your soundbar to ensure it will fit under the TV and you’ll be able to still navigate using the remote. You can always download the VIDAA mobile app to navigate around the TV using your phone.
Hisense could honestly get away with this by using a Bluetooth remote. IR remotes are over thirty years old now and I just feel like Hisense should offer something better with these TVs. Or perhaps the option to purchase better remotes and pair them with the TV.
It also doesn’t help that both the US and UK versions of the U8N come with really cool new remotes. The US version includes a silver Bluetooth remote with backlit keys. The UK version includes a USB C charger and solar panel to recharge the battery. A solar panel on a remote. Now that is cool tech
In terms of ports, the Hisense U8N comes with the expected ones. There are four HDMI ports, two of which are HDMI 2.1 and one is used for EARC. There’s an AV tuner, audio out, two USB ports and digital optical out. No real change here. eARC on HDMI 3 means you still lose a high-bandwidth HDMI port if you’re using a soundbar or sound system.
The Hisense U8N is a stylish-looking TV. It is quite thick but it needs to be for all those Mini-LEDs. There’s a small Hisense logo on the bottom left-hand corner of the TV and the back includes some grid texture with a subwoofer in the centre.
The TV runs VIDAA and generally, getting about the menus and launching apps is a breeze. Every menu popped up without lag or stutter. YouTube loaded up fairly fast and moving between that and Netflix was seamless.
I don’t enjoy the ads on VIDAA, to be honest. The home screen is slapped with a giant banner ad at the top of the TV. It mainly shows Hisense adverts. These ads showcase deals for Hisense products across retailers and even Cell C ads for the Hisense phone range. But they can still be annoying. Thankfully, they can be disabled in the Advanced Settings tab under Personalised Ads.
VIDAA as a platform has come a long way. It does include most apps you’ll look for on a TV and if it doesn’t, you can just get an Android TV stick for them. Most people will be happy with the offerings available on VIDAA. I especially enjoy the fluid menus and lag-free navigation.
One other note, VIDAA Art is included in the U8N too. It shows stunning artwork as a screensaver when you’re not using the TV. I know most TVs do this but the U8N’s panel and quantum dot colour bring these to life. I don’t often use these modes but found myself turning it on more often on this TV.
Once set up and running, I did calibrate the TV and adjust some settings. I will share my full settings at the end of this review. But I did the usual tweaks on the U8N. I disabled motion smoothing, changed the colour temperature to Warm 2 and maxed out local dimming.
The U8N includes some handy settings that I also used. Precision Detail I turned on but on a case-by-case basis. Super Resolution I used for older content, 1080p content too which had to be upscaled.
I am happy to say that everything on the U8N works as intended. I didn’t have any settings defaulting back to normal and best of all, Local Dimming worked where it was meant to work too.
If I have to nit-pick, I did notice that, unlike the U7N which can show the frame rate of a game at the top corner of the screen, the U8N doesn’t have this feature. You can see the frame rate in the Game Menu but there’s no way to have it displayed on the screen while you’re playing. You have to always go into the Game Menu to see it. Even then, the menu is oversized and clunky. It also times out after a few seconds. I wish there was a way to show the frame rate on the TV like you can on the U7N. Seems like a feature that should have been there.
Testing out content, the U8N far surpassed my expectations. Whereas dark room and nighttime viewing used to be my preference for gaming and TV watching, I actually enjoyed playing games and watching movies in lighter rooms with this TV. The sheer brightness and again I hate saying it “OLED experience”, this TV offered made this possible.
To add to the OLED experience, the Hisense U8N does include a glossy screen. It is just as glossy as any other OLED on the market but that doesn’t mean it is very reflective. Everything I threw at this TV was still viewable even with a back-facing window and no curtain drawn.
Watching Salem’s Lot, a dark and gritty movie mostly set at night about vampires, wasn’t brought down by the brighter room. Sure, it is better at night but I didn’t have to squint my eyes to see what was happening in the movie.
Of course, brighter content looks even better on the U8N. After testing out some HDR clips from YouTube, I noticed that the TV really shows off its best traits. Colours pop, the black levels are so rich and deep and the specular highlights shimmer on the display.
You’re probably wondering about blooming. The Hisense U8N does a great job cleaning up bloom around objects. In brighter rooms, it is virtually impossible to spot bloom. Throughout my time with the TV, I tried incredibly hard to spot some glow or blooming when watching the TV during the day. I could not. Even black bars when watching movies are clean and pure black.
At night, of course, it is visible but even then, this TV does a tremendous job of blocking out the halo and bloom. Black bars lighten up when the object above them is bright. If you have a completely black screen with one very bright object on it, you’ll also see some subtle blooming. The real magic on the U8N is how bright objects can get while still serving up, I would say “light” bloom. Usually, this is a lot worse.
Playing Silent Hill 2 Remake, this game is mostly dark. Once calibrated and the game HDR settings were tweaked, dark hallways were pitch black. Smaller details did have feint bloom around them but only when placed against these pitch-black hallways. The real eye-opener here was the hallways were still fully viewable and detailed without being diminished by aggressive local dimming. This would be a very different experience from other Mini-LED TVs where local dimming would crush these low-light scenes in an attempt to reduce the bloom.
I simply can’t complain about this U8N’s blooming. While I wanted to find more flaws here, everything this TV does more than makes up for the small flaws I did find. Not to mention the sheer magic this panel delivers when it comes to its vibrancy and peak brightness.
On that note about gaming – it was incredible. Playing Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, the HDR implementation in that game covers all special attacks, fire and zaps. Seeing Goku pull off a Spirit Bomb and have my entire room light up with this massive glowing orb was magical. I didn’t expect it. I knew the U8N was bright but the combination of the colour and the brightness made this game a showcase title on the TV.
I also need to mention Black Myth: Wukong as the Hisense U8N ships with a dedicated colour mode called “Black Myth: Wukong” – I kid you not. This tweaks the panel’s settings to what Hisense believes is the best for the game. I didn’t enjoy it – won’t even pretend to. The fact that Black Myth doesn’t have any HDR implementation means that the game isn’t doing anything to take advantage of the impressive tech in this TV. The result is a washed-out colour mode that, in my opinion, doesn’t look great. Hopefully, when they patch in HDR this will change.
The Hisense U8N does hit some impressive numbers when it comes to the stats. 10% peak brightness window measured 2,879 nits in HDR modes and very similar in Game Mode. The contrast ratio, however, isn’t as great. You’re looking at 89,000:1 with a native contrast of 4,700:1. The contrast is much lower than I expected. I suspect this is due to the ADS Pro panel being used on this 75-inch model. But it isn’t a big deal. Input lag while gaming measured 13ms at 4K 60FPS with 5ms at 4K 120Hz. Another advantage of this panel.
The viewing angle is decent on the Hisense U8N. More so than the U7N. From around 30 degrees, you’ll notice the drop in colour and clarity but the TV still manages to hold up quite well. Best of all, the TV doesn’t have major clouding and blooming from the side. So even if you lose some colour accuracy and clarity, you’ll still be able to clearly see what is on the TV. In short, the viewing angles here are much better than I expected and much better than most LED TVs I have tested.
On the topic of the panel, the U8N I received for review had a fairly clean panel. It had a few edges with some backlight bleed but when local dimming was enabled, it was clean and invisible. Grey uniformity tests also showed little dirty screen effect. Although the corners of the TV had more of it than anywhere else. A common thing with these panels.
Lastly, the speakers on the Hisense U8N are good. The TV comes with its own subwoofer that helps provide a bit more power to the sound and it does a decent job. If you don’t have a soundbar or audio system, these speakers will be usable. However, a TV this impressive should really be combined with an equally impressive sound system.
If you can’t tell by now, I loved the Hisense U8N. To have a Mini-LED TV perform at this level is mind-blowing. The colours, the brightness, the black levels, the glossy screen, the responsiveness, the gaming features. It ticks every box. So much so that the few flaws it has, are completely put to rest by every other incredible feature.
Sure, you are paying a bit more for the Hisense U8N than say the U7N. But this is the TV for those who want the experience of less bloom and retina-frying peak brightness. It is the TV you buy knowing you’ll have very little to regret by doing so.
Hisense U8N Review
Summary
The Hisense U8N is a remarkable TV. Its OLED-like blacks and incredible peak brightness make this TV one of the best displays on the market for its asking price. It ticks every box you’ll look for when it comes to gaming and entertainment. It handles reflections well, has decent viewing angles and its HDR performance is often unbelievable.