Hisense U8/U8N Review (55U8N, 65U8N, 75U8N, 85U8N, 100U8N) (2024)

Curved No

The Hisense U8N has a premium design overall. It has thin bezels on the sides and the top, with a slightly thicker bottom bezel. Unlike 2023's Hisense U8/U8K, the TV uses a central stand instead of two feet.

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Uniformity Pictures N/A

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Wall Mount VESA 400x400

The back is made of plastic and has a grid-like pattern that resembles a lot of Sony TVs. Most of the inputs are side-facing, but they're close enough to the edge of the TV that they are accessible when it's wall-mounted. A USB, ethernet, and optical port are located in a recessed cutout that faces the back. Unfortunately, these aren't accessible if you have the TV mounted flush to the wall. The TV has a built-in subwoofer near the top, and you can funnel cables through the TV's stand to help with cable management.

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Borders 0.35" (0.9 cm)

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Max Thickness 2.83" (7.2 cm)

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The TV has great build quality. It's mostly made of plastic, but it's sturdy and well-built overall. The new center-mounted stand provides good stability, and there are no glaring issues with the TV's design. Our unit did have some pixel level smudges, but these aren't noticeable from a normal viewing distance.

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Contrast

Native Contrast

The Hisense U8N has exceptional contrast. Its native contrast is excellent, but with local dimming enabled, the TV's contrast approaches OLED territory. Blacks are extremely deep, and they stay that way when bright highlights are also on screen.

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The TV has very good blooming performance, but there's some noticeable blooming around bright objects and subtitles when displayed against a black background.

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Local Dimming

Backlight

Dimming Zones Count Of Tested TV

The TV has very good lighting zone transitions, but it does struggle a bit with very fast-moving content. There's minimal haloing, but the leading edge of quick-moving objects is visibly dimmer.

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There's slightly more blooming when the TV is set to PC/Game Mode, but outside of that, there's no noticeable difference in dark scene performance.

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Hallway Lights (~1950 cd/m²)

Yellow Skyscraper (~700 cd/m²)

Landscape Pool (~300 cd/m²)

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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600 Nit Tracking Delta

1000 Nit Tracking Delta

4000 Nit Tracking Delta

The Hisense U8N has good PQ EOTF tracking, but unfortunately, everything is displayed brighter than intended. With content mastered at 600 and 1000 nits, there's a small roll-off near the TV's maximum brightness, but the roll-off isn't necessary since the TV is more than bright enough to display content mastered at those nit levels. With content mastered at 4000 nits, the roll-off helps to preserve details in incredibly bright highlights.

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Real Scene Peak Brightness

Peak 2% Window

Peak 10% Window

Peak 25% Window

Peak 50% Window

Peak 100% Window

Sustained 2% Window

Sustained 10% Window

Sustained 25% Window

Sustained 50% Window

Sustained 100% Window

Automatic Brightness Limiting (ABL)

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Wide Color Gamut

DCI P3 xy

DCI P3 uv

Rec 2020 xy

Rec 2020 uv

The Hisense U8N has an excellent HDR color gamut. It has fantastic coverage of the commonly used DCI-P3 color space, with incredible color accuracy. The TV also has great coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space, but highly saturated greens, cyans, and blues are undersaturated and off the mark.

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1,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage ITP

10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage ITP

White Luminance

Red Luminance

Green Luminance

Blue Luminance

Cyan Luminance

Magenta Luminance

Yellow Luminance

The TV has outstanding color volume. The TV displays a wide range of colors at high luminance levels, and dark saturated colors are displayed well due to its exceptional contrast.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

Picture Mode

Color Temp Setting

Gamma Setting

The Hisense U8N has very good pre-calibration SDR accuracy. Gamma is close to our target of 2.2, but most scenes are displayed a bit brighter than intended. The white balance is okay, but there is too much red and blue in brighter shades of gray. Color accuracy is great, but whites, lighter yellows, lighter cyans, and darker blues have minor inaccuracies. Fortunately, the color temperature is essentially perfect.

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White Balance dE

Color dE

Gamma

Color Temperature

White Balance Calibration

Color Calibration

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50% Std. Dev.

50% DSE

5% Std. Dev.

5% DSE

The TV has good gray uniformity, but there's some dirty screen effect towards the center of the screen and vignetting in the corners.

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Std. Dev.

Native Std. Dev.

The TV has superb black uniformity. With local dimming disabled, blacks are a bit cloudy and blueish. With local dimming enabled, blacks are deep and uniform across the screen, with only a bit of blooming around bright objects on a dark background.

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Color Washout

Color Shift

Brightness Loss

Black Level Raise

Gamma Shift

The Hisense U8N has an inadequate viewing angle, so it's not suitable for a wide seating arrangement. As you move off-center, there's significant gamma shifting, color shifting, and brightness loss, and colors look increasingly washed out as you move further away to the sides.

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Screen Finish

Total Reflections

Indirect Reflections

Calculated Direct Reflections

The TV's reflection handling is outstanding. Its glossy coating significantly reduces reflections caused by both direct and indirect reflections, and there's no rainbow smearing. Combined with the TV's superb brightness, it easily overcomes glare in even the brightest of rooms.

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100% Black to 50% Gray

50% Gray to 100% White

100% Black to 50% Red

50% Red to 100% Red

100% Black to 50% Green

50% Green to 100% Green

100% Black to 50% Blue

50% Blue to 100% Blue

The TV has very good HDR gradient handling. There's noticeable banding in brighter blues, but all other colors have minimal or no banding at all.

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Smoothing

Detail Preservation

The TV has very good low-quality content smoothing. It does a great job at smoothing out artifacts in low bitrate content while still preserving details.

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Subpixel Layout

Type LED

Sub-Type

The TV uses a BGR (Blue-Green-Red) subpixel layout instead of the traditional RGB layout. For video or gaming content, this doesn't cause any issues, but for PC monitor use, it can be a problem as it impacts the text clarity, although not everyone will notice this.

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80% Response Time

100% Response Time

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Flicker-Free

PWM Dimming Frequency

The Hisense U8N uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to dim its backlight, which introduces flicker that can bother people who are sensitive to it. Fortunately, it flickers at a very fast 7800Hz in all picture modes and at all brightness levels, so it's not noticeable.

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Optional BFI

Min Flicker For 60 fps

60Hz For 60 fps

120Hz For 120 fps

Min Flicker for 60 fps in Game Mode

The Hisense U8N supports backlight strobing, more commonly known as black frame insertion (BFI). The feature is designed to improve the appearance of motion by strobing its backlight and reducing the amount of persistence blur. Unfortunately, it can only insert black frames at a 120Hz refresh rate, and the image is blurry with some image duplication.

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Motion Interpolation (30 fps)

Motion Interpolation (60 fps)

This TV has an optional motion interpolation feature to improve the clarity of motion, but it doesn't work very well. Even slower-moving scenes have some noticeable artifacts present. In faster-moving scenes, the TV really struggles, and there are distracting artifacts and haloing.

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Frame Hold Time @ 24 fps

Frame Hold Time @ 60 fps

Due to the TV's quick response time, there's some noticeable stutter when watching movies or TV shows, and it's most apparent in slow panning shots.

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Judder-Free 24p

Judder-Free 24p via 60p

Judder-Free 24p via 60i

Judder-Free 24p via Native Apps

The TV gives a judder-free experience with 24p sources like a Blu-ray player and native apps. Unfortunately, it doesn't remove 24p judder from 60Hz sources like most cable TV boxes and older streaming devices that lack a Match Frame Rate feature, although you can use the 'Motion Enhancement' with 'Judder Reduction: 1' to remove judder from 60Hz sources without introducing noticeable interpolation or artifacts.

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Native Refresh Rate

Variable Refresh Rate

HDMI Forum VRR

FreeSync

G-SYNC Compatible

4k VRR Maximum

4k VRR Minimum

1080p VRR Maximum

1080p VRR Minimum

1440p VRR Maximum

1440p VRR Minimum

VRR + Local Dimming Yes

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1080p @ 60Hz

1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz + 10-Bit HDR

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode

4k @ 60Hz With Interpolation

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 60Hz

This TV has incredibly low input lag when set to PC/Game Mode, which ensures a very responsive gaming experience with very little delay between your actions with your controller or mouse and the action on-screen.

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Resolution 4k

480p @ 59.94Hz (Widescreen)

720p @ 59.94Hz

1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

1080p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 144Hz

1440p @ 60Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1440p @ 144Hz

4k @ 60Hz

4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 120Hz

4k @ 120Hz @ 4:4:4

4k @ 144Hz

8k @ 30Hz or 24Hz

8k @ 60Hz

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

The TV is fully compatible with everything the PS5 offers, like 1440p @ 120Hz and 4k @ 120Hz, as well as HDMI Forum VRR. It also supports Auto Low Latency Mode, so you don't have to worry about manually switching to PC/Game Mode to get the lowest input lag.

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Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)

4k @ 120Hz

1440p @ 120Hz

1080p @ 120Hz

HDR

VRR

The TV is fully compatible with everything the Xbox Series X|S offers, including 1440p @ 120Hz, 4k @ 120Hz, HDMI Forum VRR, FreeSync Premium Pro, and Dolby Vision gaming. It also supports Auto Low Latency Mode, so you don't have to worry about manually switching to PC/Game Mode to get the lowest input lag.

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HDR10

HDR10+

Dolby Vision

HLG

HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth

HDMI 2.1 Class Bandwidth

CEC Yes

HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 1,2,3,4)

ATSC Tuner

USB 3.0

Variable Analog Audio Out Yes

Wi-Fi Support Yes (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz)

The TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on HDMI ports 3 and 4, with both supporting up to 4k @ 144Hz. Fortunately, HDMI 1 is the eARC port, so you don't lose a high-bandwidth port when you plug a soundbar into the TV. The TV supports all HDR formats and has an ATSC 3.0 tuner, so you can watch over-the-air 4k content.

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HDMI 4

USB 2

Digital Optical Audio Out 1

Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1

Analog Audio Out RCA 0

Component In 0

Composite In 1 (adapter required, not incl.)

Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1

Ethernet 1

DisplayPort 0

IR In 0

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ARC/eARC Port

eARC: Dolby Atmos Over Dolby Digital Plus

eARC: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1

eARC: LPCM 7.1 Over Dolby MAT

eARC: Dolby TrueHD 7.1

eARC: DTS:X Over DTS-HD MA

eARC: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1

eARC: LPCM Channels (Bitstream)

ARC: Dolby Digital 5.1

ARC: DTS 5.1

Optical: Dolby Digital 5.1

Optical: DTS 5.1

The TV supports eARC, which lets you pass high-quality, uncompressed audio to a compatible receiver or soundbar through an HDMI cable. It supports all major audio formats, so you don't have to worry about compatibility with external sources.

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Low-Frequency Extension

Std. Dev. @ 70

Std. Dev. @ 80

Std. Dev. @ Max

Max

Dynamic Range Compression

The Hisense U8N has a decent frequency response. Thanks to the built-in subwoofer, the TV produces a bit of bass, but it's still not enough for impactful bass to be felt. The TV gets quite loud, and dialogue is clear and easy to understand at moderate volume levels, but the sound becomes unbalanced near and at its maximum volume. You'll want to stick to moderate volume levels for balanced sound.

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Weighted THD @ 80

Weighted THD @ Max

IMD @ 80

IMD @ Max

The TV's distortion performance is okay. There isn't much distortion at moderate volume levels, but the distortion worsens as you raise the volume. At the TV's maximum volume, the distortion is very audible.

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Smart OS Google TV

Version 12

Ease of Use

Smoothness

Time Taken to Select YouTube

Time Taken to Change Backlight

Advanced Options

The Hisense U8N uses version 12 of the popular Google TV operating system. The interface is very smooth and easy to use.

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Ads

Opt-out

Suggested Content in Home

Opt-out of Suggested Content

Unfortunately, like almost all TVs on the market, the smart interface contains ads, and you can't disable them.

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App Selection

App Smoothness

Cast Capable

USB Drive Playback

USB Drive HDR Playback

HDR in Netflix

HDR in YouTube

The TV has a fantastic selection of apps, so it's easy to find your favorite content. You can also cast content from your phone onto the TV or play videos directly from a USB stick.

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Size

Voice Control

CEC Menu Control

Other Smart Features

Remote App Hisense RemoteNOW

The TV comes with Hisense's newly-designed remote that is backlit. It has buttons for popular streaming services, and you can use the built-in microphone to switch inputs, change apps, search within apps, and ask for the weather and time. Unfortunately, you can't change the settings on the TV using the voice controls.

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There's a single button on the bottom center of the TV that can be used to switch inputs and power the TV on/off. There's also a small switch that you can use to turn on/off the TV's built-in microphone.

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Power Consumption 57 W

Power Consumption (Max) 248 W

Firmware V0000.01.00V.00523

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