Verdict
The U8Q is the best Hisense TV I’ve tested so far, delivering impressive picture quality with bright HDR performance, strong black levels and accomplished processing. The sound system is one of the better efforts for a flatscreen TV, while VIDAA smarts fleshes out the TV’s entertainment options.
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Bright, colourful HDR pictures -
Solid sound system -
Accessible smart interface -
Impressive local dimming -
Well built
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Price has gone up -
Average viewing angles -
Audio ducking with AI mode -
Default local dimming setting too bright
Key Features
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5000 nits of peak brightness
Huge levels of brightness from this Mini LED backlight -
HDR support
Support for HDR10 and HLG, as well as Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive -
Gaming
Up to 165Hz refresh rates for PC titles
Introduction
There was a time when Hisense was the plucky underdog in the TV market. The U8Q Mini LED TV is a sign that’s no longer the case.
Back when it first entered the UK TV market, Hisense was all about budget TVs. 10 years later, it’s set its sights higher. The U8Q’s spec sheet is fully loaded with the type of features that would be typical of a top-tier Samsung or LG TV.
All roads have led to the U8Q, and it points to Hisense no longer being the underdog but a genuine challenger.
Price
The Hisense U8Q (or U8QTUK) comes in three sizes for the UK: 55-, 65-, and 75-inch.
In the UK you’ll find the 65-inch size for £2199 – more expensive than the 2024 U8N was at launch which was £1799 at launch.
In the US the U8Q is the U8 and the 65-inch is $2199. Hisense USA tends to aggressively discount its TVs so you can get Hisense U8 for $1200 in some places.
Design
- Slimmer than U8N
- Central stand
- Anti-Glare screen
The U8Q is built like a tank.
It’s not the sleek, slender appearance of a Samsung LCD TV, with Hisense going for a more practical design. At 29.2kg it’s a hefty set, and at a depth of 45mm it’s not the slimmest either.
The screen comes with Hisense’s Anti-Reflection Pro technology that incorporates a ‘special coating’ to minimise glare and reflections. The TV manages reflections and glare in a fine enough manner but don’t expect them to disappear completely.
It comes with a central pedestal stand which means you don’t need much width to plant the TV on. Piecing the stand together doesn’t take too long; less than five minutes for me.
Once the stand is assembled, there’s an area to slip cables through to keep the area clean of clutter. If you’re considering wall-mounting, everything you need is included in the accessories. The rear panel is virtually uniformly flat so it should sit flush to the wall.
Connectivity
The U8Q features four HDMI 2.1 inputs (although according to Hisense’s specs it’s just three), one of which supports eARC for pass-through of high-quality sound to a sound system.
There are two USB inputs (2.0 and 3.0), an Ethernet, two RF tuners, CI+ 2.0 interface slot, digital optical out, 3.5mm out and a composite input. It looks like there’s no Sub output.
Wirelessly, there’s Wi-Fi 6 (including AirPlay 2) and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity.
User Experience
- VIDAA interface for the UK
- New Gaming section
- Freely support
Little appears to have changed with the VIDAA interface (US owners get Google TV instead). Hisense’s VIDAA is a simple operating system both in terms of use and visuals.
It’s never been the flashiest and arguably it could use a more sophisticated appearance. The VIDAA interface on the U8Q doesn’t scream a premium experience despite the price.
Content is laid out in several rows descending down the screen. There are more rows than I remember, with plenty of paid and ‘free’ content to discover. There’s some customisation possible in terms of moving the services on the app row around.
All the apps you’d expect are covered: Netflix, Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, Now, YouTube, Spotify and more.
Ads are at the top and mostly concern Hisense products or highlight new TV series or sports events (like Andor Series 2 and the Club World Cup). Recommendations don’t feel personalised to your tastes – most, if not all of it, is sponsored or trending programmes.
Hisense has taken a leaf out of Samsung’s Tizen interface and created a section for games, with support for cloud gaming apps and the ability to add a controller. There’s also a section for kids to keep them entertained.
Hisense was the first TV brand to jump onboard with Freely and within that umbrella platform is access to UK catch-up apps such as iPlayer and ITVX.
In terms of control there’s the choice of the VIDAA app or the physical remote control. The remote is large but comes with an integrated solar cell to charge it – there’s also the option of charging it by USB-C. You can check the remaining charge in the VIDAA interface.
Gaming
- Up to 165Hz refresh rates
Gamers get HDMI and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro VRR, although it seems certification for Nvidia G-Sync is off the table for another year. Refresh rates have been boosted up to 165Hz for PC gamers (120Hz for console gamers).
ALLM automatically puts the TV into its lowest latency, and in that mode, the Hisense 65U8Q registered an input lag of 13.5ms – slightly more than the 13.2ms I recorded on the U8N. That figure can drop to less than 10ms with VRR enabled.
There doesn’t appear to be any Dolby Vision Gaming mode, but considering how rare support for that is, that’s not a big deal.
Features
- Support for all HDR formats
- Alexa voice control
- 165Hz refresh rates
All HDR formats are covered with the Hisense 65U8QTUK which means HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ Adaptive, and Dolby Vision IQ.
All the processing is performed by Hisense’s Hi-View Engine Pro, which can optimise picture and sound in real-time.
Filmmaker Mode and IMAX Enhanced provide film-industry approved modes, with Prime Video supporting auto-switching when it detects Filmmaker content.
Along with Dolby Atmos there’s DTS:X decoding of immersive audio formats.
The sound system is a 4.1.2 configuration with four speakers (including speakers that push sound out wide), twin subwoofers that make up the .1, and two upfiring speakers at the top to provide height.
There’s 70W of power, which sounds a lot, but Sky Glass Gen 2 has a similar system with a whopping 250W of power.
Hi-Concerto makes the TV’s speakers compatible with a Hisense soundbar for a bigger sound, and there’s WiSA SoundSend that allows a wireless sound system to be connected to the U8Q.
Alexa and VIDAA Voice control are the supported voice assistants with Google Assistant available through connected speakers, and there’s Apple’s HomeKit support too. The US version of the U8Q gets Google Assistant built-in.
Picture Quality
- Bright HDR skills
- Very good black levels
- Less blooming
The Hisense 65U8QKTUK is another TV that boasts a superior brightness performance. Hisense claims a peak brightness of 5000 nits (in certain situations) but similar to the LG G5 OLED, the colorimeter I have taps out at 2500 nits. The Hisense U8Q recorded 857 nits on 100% HDR window – the brightest full screen output that I’ve seen.
The HDR performance is a big improvement over the U8N, which I felt underdelivered and underwhelmed. Black levels were weak on the U8N, there were elements of Dirty Screen Effect and blooming.
The U8Q seems to have not just a higher quality panel but better processing too. However, the one thing I would recommend is that you set the local dimming setting to ‘Low’ instead of ‘High’. Images can look too bright and washed out on the High setting.
With Disney’s Soul (4K Blu-ray), in the scene where Joe falls towards the Great Beyond, black levels are very strong while the brightness of the supernova is bright – as bright as I’ve seen on a Mini LED TV. Some blooming is noticeable as he escapes, although it’s less than on the U8N.
It’s a similar story with The Matrix Resurrections (4K Blu-ray). The scene of Neo on the roof and the light control is very good as the Hisense U8Q marshals the black levels and lights from the buildings with only slight haziness to the image.
The black level and bright highlights contribute to very good contrast – it’s a Samsung-esque performance.
There’s little clipping, if any, in the brightest part of the image; while dark detail in Alien: Romulus is good. Whether it’s the darkest or brightest part of the image, the Hisense allows detail to be seen.
It’s only when you move off-axis that the illusion fails and blooming becomes more noticeable with washed out colours.
The space scenes in First Man (4K Blu-ray) show off the impressive response time and control of the local dimming. Black levels are deep (not quite OLED but not far off). Backlight bleeding (where light spills into the black bars) only pops up when the lights are off.
With Furiosa (4K Blu-ray) in Dolby Vision, the film looks spectacular in terms of brightness and detail.
For the first time that I can recall on a Hisense TV, colours look balanced and not heavy-handed without the need to change the settings.
The picture is sharp without looking like it’s been processed to an inch of its life. The level of fine detail with clothes and the environment of the Wasteland is excellent – it’s the most natural and highest quality picture I’ve seen on a Hisense TV.
Dynamic mode sees all the knobs and dials turned to 11. With Disney’s Cinderella (4K Blu-ray) it looks too bright for my tastes. While black levels hold up, I find skintones distracting and Dynamic mode seems to make the film grain look even noisier.
The HDR10+ performance of the U8N was a disappointment but it’s another area where the U8Q has improved.
The difference between HDR10+ and Dolby Vision is small – if anything HDR10+ is slightly brighter and colourful.
I did notice some odd local dimming issues with HDR10+ in the scene where Rose The Hat visits Abra’s house where the local dimming system couldn’t maintain black levels and motion at the same time. There’s also some black crush (lack of detail) in Dolby Vision and HDR10+ modes.
Hisense’s Ultra Smooth processing offers four flavours: Smooth, Standard, Clear, Film as well as Custom.
It’s best to avoid Smooth. It’s heavy-handed, blurry, soft, with judder (jerky movements) and colours that look washed out. 4K content looks like it drops to 1080p in this mode.
Standard is slightly better but the image looks soft. Both Smooth and Standard are defined by their lack of sharpness and detail.
Clear mode offers more sharpness and clarity. There’s less softness, while judder and noise are basically eliminated. Film is the choice for those who want some processing to avoid film’s 24fps stutter – it’s the most natural and least distracting of the options presented.
Upscaling
- Good colour performance
- Clear and detailed with 1080p content
So the Hisense U8Q very much passes the muster with HDR content, but what about 1080p content most end up watching?
I can’t really complain about the Hisense’s performance with 1080p Blu-rays or streams. Disney’s Tomorrowland benefits from strong SDR black levels and clean, sharp, detailed images.
A Blu-ray of Dune gets the colours right, especially the Atreides’ costumes, which have a green tinge to them rather than black. SDR black levels are solid here, too.
With Pacific Rim, the colour performance looks accurate. Edge definition is solidly defined – clarity and detail are good across the board, skintones appear accurate and there’s no egregious processing applied. It’s not the brightest image in Filmmaker Mode but it’s a satisfying image.
With a DVD it’s fine, though my choice of DVD is an aged disc of Heat (purposely chosen because it does not look great). There’s a grainy, noisy quality with a softness and blurriness to movement that most TVs struggle with – and the Hisense U8Q is no exception.
Colours look accurate but in terms of improving on the DVD, there’s not much that the U8Q’s AI processing can do.
Sound Quality
- Upfiring speakers
- Intelligent Sound mode
- Twin subwoofer
The Hisense U8Q comes with plenty of audio modes, even if the difference between them is slight. The one to stick with is Theatre mode and you should consider enabling the TV’s Intelligent Mode/AI Optimisation.
With Civil War there’s some presence and depth to the low frequencies. TVs like the LG G5 OLED suffer from buzzing and distortion and while that appears from time to time, the Hisense manages it better.
With the Intelligent Sound setting on, it improves the depth of the soundstage by picking up on background details as well as extending the width beyond the TV’s bezels. Voices sound more natural and clearer with it on too.
There is a slight issue with the Intelligent Sound setting in that it causes audio ducking. When there’s a loud scene, the sound system seems to automatically reduce the volume – it happened with both Tenet and Civil War.
Dialogue matches placement on the screen and there’s some height to the sound in Civil War as helicopters and aircraft fly towards the top of the screen. There’s a slight thinness to the sounds in the height channels though, and they don’t reach as high as Sky Glass Gen 2.
There’s decent dynamism but it’s the weight and width of the sound that impresses the most. Hisense has a decent record in producing built-in TV sound systems and this is another to add to the list.
It doesn’t quite have the punch and force of the Philips 65OLED809 but there’s power and scale you don’t often get with a TV. It doesn’t have the energy to replace the best soundbars even if it’s better than you’d find on LG and Samsung TVs.
Should you buy it?
Good picture and good sound
It’s hard to find a TV that offers both good picture and sound, but the Hisense U8Q is one of the few that manages both. I’d still recommend a soundbar but there’s no rush to get one either.
The price for Hisense TVs have been inching upwards over the last few years, vacating the value-added space. If you want a more affordable Mini LED TV, TCL is an alternative.
Final Thoughts
The U8Q is the best TV from Hisense I’ve reviewed.
The picture performance is the best I’ve seen on a Hisense TV. Black levels are very good for any LCD TV, and blooming is managed better. Both upscaling and motion processing are solid.
With Hisense TVs, you had to change settings to get the picture where you wanted – that’s still the case here even if it’s less so.
VIDAA does feel like it could use a facelift. A TV as sophisticated as this needs an interface that represents its premium ambitions. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of entertainment from free to paid services, to gaming and stuff for kids.
The sound quality is better than most flagship (and more expensive) TVs: spacious, clear and detailed with a bass performance that offers some decent welly.
All this quality comes at a literal price. It’s the most expensive Hisense TV I’ve tested. Given its spec and overall performance, the Hisense U8Q is a genuine contender to the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG.
How We Test
The Hisense U8Q was tested over the course of two weeks. HDR brightness was measured with a i1Display colorimeter, HCFR software and Spears and Munsil UHD Benchmark disc.
Viewing angles were observed via a test pattern, gaming input lag was measured with a 4K Leo Bodnar lag tester.
Real-word testing was done with a variety of 4K Blu-rays, Blu-rays, DVD, and streaming services.
- Tested with real world use
- Tested over two weeks
- Gaming input measured
- Peak brightness measured
FAQs
The Hisense U8Q is the model for the UK, and features Hisense’s VIDAA interface and Freely platform. The U8 is the name of the same model in the US, but this version comes with Google TV as the interface.
Test Data
| The Hisense 65U8QTUK is the best Hisense TV I have ever tested | |
|---|---|
| Peak brightness (nits) 2% | 1598 nits |
| Peak brightness (nits) 100% | 857 nits |
| Set up TV (timed) | 277 Seconds |
Full Specs
| The Hisense 65U8QTUK is the best Hisense TV I have ever tested | |
|---|---|
| UK RRP | £2199 |
| USA RRP | $2199 |
| Manufacturer | Hisense |
| Screen Size | 64.5 inches |
| Size (Dimensions) | 1448 x 290 x 914 MM |
| Size (Dimensions without stand) | 838 x 1448 x 45 MM |
| Weight | 29.2 KG |
| ASIN | B0F7WFH1HL |
| Operating System | VIDAA |
| Release Date | 2025 |
| Resolution | 3840 x 2160 |
| HDR | Yes |
| Types of HDR | HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive |
| Refresh Rate TVs | 48 – 165 Hz |
| Ports | Four HDMI 2.1, three USB, ethernet, optical digital out, CI+, two RF tuners |
| HDMI (2.1) | eARC, ALLM, VRR, HFR |
| Audio (Power output) | 70 W |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, AirPlay 2 |
| Display Technology | Mini LED, VA, QLED |
