The Hisense U8/U8N is a mid-range TV released in 2024 and replaces the popular Hisense U8/U8K. It's part of Hisense's ULED lineup, sitting above the U6N and U7N but below their flagship UX model. It has a new chipset and promises better brightness and contrast than its predecessor. The TV is packed with features like Dolby Vision, local dimming, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 144Hz, and VRR support. It uses the Google TV interface, which is loaded with apps and has other smart features like voice control, and the TV has a built-in 50W 2.1.2 channel speaker system. It's available in five different sizes: 55-inch, 65-inch, 75-inch, 85-inch, and a massive 100-inch model.
Our Verdict
The Hisense U8N is great for mixed usage. It has superb SDR brightness and outstanding reflection handling, which makes it suitable for even the brightest rooms. It also looks outstanding in a dark room, with very deep blacks that stay deep when bright highlights are on screen, and watching movies or playing games in HDR is very impactful, with highlights that really pop out. Fast motion has minimal blur due to the TV's excellent response time, which makes it suitable for sports, games, or for use as a PC monitor. Unfortunately, the TV has a narrow viewing angle, so it's not a good choice for watching content in a group setting.
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Exceptional contrast delivers very deep blacks.
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Remarkable HDR brightness for very bright highlights.
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Outstanding reflection handling and superb SDR brightness makes it suitable for very bright rooms.
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Excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast motion.
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Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
The Hisense U8N is very good for watching TV shows. The built-in Google TV OS is loaded with apps, so finding your favorite shows is easy. It has superb SDR brightness and outstanding reflection handling, so it easily overcomes glare in even the brightest of rooms. If you have older shows on DVD or you're stuck watching low-quality or low-resolution streams, the TV's image processing does a very good job of smoothing out artifacts and a decent job at upscaling. Unfortunately, the TV has a narrow viewing angle, so the image degrades when viewed from the sides of the screen. This makes it a bad choice for watching TV with friends or family.
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Outstanding reflection handling and superb SDR brightness makes it suitable for very bright rooms.
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Very good low-quality content smoothing for low bitrate content.
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Does a good job upscaling low-resolution content.
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Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
The Hisense U8N is very good for watching sports. Its superb SDR brightness and outstanding reflection handling mean it overcomes glare in even the brightest rooms, and its excellent response time means there's minimal blur behind fast-moving players or objects. The TV has good gray uniformity, so you won't be overly distracted by the dirty screen effect when watching sports with large areas of uniform color, like hockey. Sadly, it's not a good option for watching the game with friends since the TV has a narrow viewing angle, so anyone watching from the sides of the screen sees a degraded image.
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Outstanding reflection handling and superb SDR brightness makes it suitable for very bright rooms.
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Excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast motion.
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Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
The Hisense U8N is fantastic for playing video games. It has incredibly low input lag for a responsive gaming experience, and its excellent response time means it displays quick motion with minimal blur. Enabling PC/Game Mode has no major impact on picture quality, so you can enjoy the best possible performance without trading in image quality. It's also a great TV to pair with modern consoles or gaming PCs since it supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth and up to 4k @ 144Hz. It also supports VRR, but there's a response time issue when the TV hovers around 100Hz.
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Outstanding reflection handling and superb SDR brightness makes it suitable for very bright rooms.
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Up to 4k @ 144Hz, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and VRR support.
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Excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast motion.
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Incredibly low input lag for a responsive experience.
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VRR issues around 100Hz.
The Hisense U8N is impressive for watching movies in a dark room. It has exceptional contrast that delivers very deep blacks that stay deep when highlights are on screen, and it has remarkable HDR brightness, so highlights in HDR content really pop out. Colors are vibrant, lifelike, and bright in HDR due to the TV's wide color gamut and outstanding color volume. The TV automatically removes judder from most sources, but unfortunately, it doesn't remove 24p judder from 60i sources without introducing a tiny bit of motion interpolation. When it comes to SDR accuracy, the TV is mediocre, so you'll want to get it calibrated if you care about accurate colors in SDR.
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Exceptional contrast delivers very deep blacks.
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Remarkable HDR brightness for very bright highlights.
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Removes judder from most sources.
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Wide color gamut and outstanding color volume for vibrant, lifelike, and bright colors.
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Dolby Vision support.
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DTS audio support.
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Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
The Hisense U8N is outstanding for playing games in HDR. It has exceptional contrast and remarkable HDR brightness, so blacks are deep, and highlights really pop out in HDR. Using PC/Game Mode doesn't negatively affect the image, so you can enjoy the best gaming performance without sacrificing picture quality. The TV has an excellent response time, so there's minimal blur behind fast motion. It also has incredibly low input lag, so there's no noticeable delay between your controller inputs and the action on screen. Finally, the TV has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, up to 4k @ 144Hz, and supports VRR, so it's an excellent option for those looking to get the most out of their modern consoles or gaming PCs. Unfortunately, there's a response time issue when the TV hovers around 100Hz when using VRR.
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Exceptional contrast delivers very deep blacks.
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Remarkable HDR brightness for very bright highlights.
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Wide color gamut and outstanding color volume for vibrant, lifelike, and bright colors.
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Up to 4k @ 144Hz, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and VRR support.
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Dolby Vision support.
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Excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast motion.
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Incredibly low input lag for a responsive experience.
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VRR issues around 100Hz.
The Hisense U8N is excellent for use as a PC monitor. It easily overcomes glare in a bright room due to its superb SDR brightness and outstanding reflection handling. The TV's incredibly low input lag provides a responsive desktop experience, and its fantastic response time means there's minimal blur behind quick cursor movements. It has good gray uniformity, so you won't be overly distracted by the dirty screen effect when looking at large areas of uniform color, like when browsing the web. Unfortunately, it has a narrow viewing angle, so the sides of the screen aren't uniform with the center when you sit close. The TV displays chroma 4:4:4 properly, but the TV uses a BGR subpixel layout that impacts the text clarity, although not everyone will be bothered by this. Finally, the TV has issues at 1080p @ 240Hz with VRR enabled, and there are also issues with 1440p depending on your PC. You can read about this here.
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Outstanding reflection handling and superb SDR brightness makes it suitable for very bright rooms.
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Excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast motion.
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Incredibly low input lag for a responsive experience.
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Image degrades when viewed from the sides.
- 8.5 Mixed Usage
- 8.1 TV Shows
- 8.2 Sports
- 9.0 Video Games
- 8.7 HDR Movies
- 9.0 HDR Gaming
- 8.7 PC Monitor
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Updated Oct 16, 2024:
We changed the TV's Native Refresh Rate to match its maximum refresh rate at its native resolution in the Variable Refresh Rate section of this review.
- Updated Sep 12, 2024: Clarified that the eARC port on the 55-inch model is the same as one of the HDMI 2.1 ports in the Differences Between Sizes and Variants and the Inputs Specifications sections of this review.
- Updated Aug 21, 2024: Mentioned the newly-reviewed Hisense 75U8N in the Viewing Angle section of this review.
- Updated Aug 19, 2024: We retested the TV's Upscaling: Sharpness Processing with the new V0000.01.00U.O0627 firmware and updated the score and text in that section.
- Updated Aug 13, 2024: We retested the TVās 24p Judder and changed āJudder-Free 24p via 60pā from āNoā to āYesā. We also updated the text in that section.
- Updated Aug 01, 2024: We retested the TV's 24p Judder after firmware update V0000.01.00U.O0627 and confirmed there are no changes in performance.
- Updated Jul 16, 2024: Mentioned the newly-reviewed TCL QM8/QM851G QLED in the SDR Brightness section of this review.
- Updated Jun 21, 2024: We added 6GHz Wi-Fi support in the Inputs Specifications section of this review.
- Updated May 31, 2024: We've retested the TVās Pre-Calibration, HDR Brightness, and PQ EOTF Tracking after firmware update V0000.01.00V.00523. We've updated the photos, scores, and text in those sections. We also updated the text in the Updated May 27, 2024: Review published.
- Updated May 22, 2024: Early access published.
- Updated May 13, 2024: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated May 06, 2024: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Apr 22, 2024: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 65-inch Hisense U8N, but the results are also valid for the 85-inch and 100-inch models. The 75-inch model uses an ADS Pro panel, so it performs a bit differently than the other sizes, with worse contrast but a better viewing angle. The 55-inch model is advertised as having a peak brightness of 1800 nits, so it's not nearly as bright, and it has much fewer dimming zones. The 55-inch model also uses HDMI 3 as its eARC port, so you do lose a high-bandwidth port on that size if you plug in a soundbar. Our results aren't valid for either the 55-inch or 75-inch models.
In Canada, the TV is known as the Hisense U88N, and it performs the same. There are similarly named international models, like the U8NAU in Australia, but these models perform a bit differently than the North American models, so our results aren't valid for them. Note that the 55-inch and 100-inch models use two feet instead of a central stand.
| Size | US Model | Local Dimming Zones | Panel Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55" | Hisense 55U8N | 672 | VA |
| 65" | Hisense 65U8N | 1,600 | VA |
| 75" | Hisense 75U8N | 2,000 | ADS Pro |
| 85" | Hisense 85U8N | 1,296 | VA |
| 100" | Hisense 100U8N | 1,620 | VA |
Our unit was manufactured in February 2024; you can see the label here.
Compared To Other TVs
The Hisense U8N is an impressive TV that is loaded with modern features. It's a TV that caters to almost everyone and performs excellently while watching all types of content or playing video games. It's comparable to a TV like the Sony X93L/X93CL, with even better overall brightness and better contrast. Unfortunately, the TV isn't the most accurate, and it favors brightness over accuracy in both SDR and HDR. A TV like the X93L displays an image that is much closer to the content creator's intent. Still, it's an affordable TV for what it does, and there are very few other TVs that deliver such excellent picture quality for a relatively low price. If you're looking for a fully-featured TV but don't want to spend the money for high-end offerings from Samsung, Sony, or LG, it's hard to beat.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best TVs for bright rooms, the best 65-inch TVs, and the best TVs for gaming.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the Hisense U7N. The U8N has better contrast for very deep blacks that are approaching OLED territory. The U8N also has better HDR brightness, so highlights in HDR really pop out at you in dark scenes, and very bright specular highlights even stand out in well-lit scenes. On top of that, the U8N has a wider color gamut and better color volume, so colors in HDR content are more vibrant, lifelike, and brighter. When it comes to bright room capabilities, the U8N has better SDR brightness and reflection handling, so it easily overcomes glare in even the brightest of rooms. However, the U7N has better PQ EOTF tracking, so it’s more accurate in HDR.
The Hisense U8/U8N and the TCL QM8/QM851G QLED are similar TVs, but the Hisense is slightly better overall. With local dimming enabled, the Hisense displays deeper blacks in a dark room due to its higher contrast ratio. The Hisense also has better accuracy in SDR and HDR, so it sticks closer to the content creator’s intent. On the other hand, the TCL is the brighter TV overall, but it has slightly worse reflection handling than the Hisense, so the two TVs perform similarly in a bright room.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the Hisense U8/U8K. It has even better contrast, so blacks are deeper when viewed in a dark room. The U8N is also brighter overall than the U8K, so it handles more glare in a bright room, and highlights stand out more in HDR content. On top of that, the U8N has a faster response time for less blur behind quick motion. On the other hand, the U8K has better pre-calibration accuracy, so it doesn't require calibration if you care about SDR color accuracy.
The Sony X90L/X90CL and the Hisense U8/U8N are both great mid-range TVs, but the Hisense has a better contrast ratio and more effective local dimming feature, allowing it to produce deeper blacks with less blooming. It also gets significantly brighter, especially for HDR content. That said, the Sony has better image processing and a slightly wider viewing angle.
The LG C4 OLED is better than the Hisense U8/U8N in most ways. The LG has better contrast thanks to its nearly infinite contrast ratio, so it displays deeper and inkier blacks, but the U8N is no slouch in that regard. The LG has a nearly instantaneous response time, so there is almost no blur behind fast motion, whereas the Hisense still has minimal blur. The LG also has much better accuracy in both SDR and HDR. However, the Hisense is the better TV for very bright rooms due to its remarkable brightness that makes it easily overcome glare.
The Hisense U8/U8N and the Sony BRAVIA 7 QLED deliver a very different overall experience, so the best one depends on your room setup and personal preferences. If you're the type of person who likes to collect physical media and cares about creative intent, then the Sony is the way to go, as it delivers a far more accurate image that's true to the director's intent regarding brightness, processing, and overall accuracy. The Hisense has better reflection handling, so it's a better choice for a bright room or if you just like a punchier image and don't care as much about accuracy.
The LG C3 OLED is mostly better than the Hisense U8/U8N, although they excel in different contexts. The LGās OLED panel delivers perfect blacks next to bright highlights, with no blooming or lighting zone transitions, making it the perfect choice to use in a dark room. While itās still bright enough for many brighter rooms, it canāt match the Hisenseās peak brightness in HDR and SDR, making the Hisense the best choice of the two for use in that context. For gamers the LG is the better option due to its nearly instantaneous response time, and 4k @ 120Hz support on all four HDMI ports. Still, while the Hisense canāt match the LG when it comes to response time, it does offer 4k @ 144Hz on two ports, making it possibly more interesting for PC gamers with powerful rigs.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the Samsung QN90D/QN90DD QLED in most ways. The Hisense has one of the best contrast ratios for a non-OLED TV, so it displays even deeper blacks than the Samsung. The U8N gets brighter than the Samsung in HDR, so it displays brighter highlights in some HDR content, and it maintains its brightness much better while in 'Game Mode,' so you don't have to see a dimmer image if you want the best possible gaming performance. The Hisense's wider color gamut means colors are more vibrant and lifelike in HDR content, and its better pre-calibration accuracy means colors are more accurate in SDR content. The Samsung does have a wider viewing angle, so the image doesn't degrade as quickly from the sides of the screen, but it's still not wide enough to be suitable for a group setting.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the TCL QM7/QM751G QLED. The Hisense has far better contrast, giving a more impactful experience in darker rooms than the QM7 does. The Hisense is also much brighter in HDR and SDR, and has far better reflection handling, making it far superior in brighter rooms as well. Compared to the TCL the Hisense is also far more accurate in SDR prior to calibration. Ultimately, the Hisense TV has the edge in every category except viewing angle, but on that front, they're both underwhelming.
The newer Hisense U8/U8N is an improvement over the Hisense U8/U8H. The newer Hisense has noticeably improved contrast, giving it deeper blacks, which is especially noticeable when watched in darker rooms. The U8N is also brighter than the U8H, but this won't be noticeable in most content. If you care about image accuracy, the U8H is notably more accurate than its successor in HDR and SDR. Still, the U8N's image processing is vastly superior to the older model. The U8N is also a bit better for PC gamers due to its 4k @ 144Hz support, while the U8H is capped at 4k @ 120Hz.
The LG B4 OLED is generally better than the Hisense U8/U8N, but they excel in different ways. The LG is an OLED, so it has perfect blacks, making it truly stand out when watched in dark rooms. The Hisense also has exceptional contrast, but it still can't quite match an OLED. Still, the Hisense is far brighter in HDR and SDR, easily making it more visually impressive when watched in brighter rooms. The LG has the edge if you care about accuracy, as it's more accurate in SDR and HDR. It also has a much wider viewing angle than the Hisense. Finally, the LG OLED is better for gamers due to its nearly instantaneous response time; although the Hisense offers 4k @ 144Hz on two ports, the LG is limited to 120Hz on its four ports.
The Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED is better than the Hisense U8/U8N. As good as the contrast is on the Hisense, the Sony has it beat due to its better local dimming feature, providing deeper blacks with less blooming. The Sony is more accurate in both SDR and HDR, so it sticks closer to the content creator's intent. Regarding image processing, the Sony TV does a better job at both upscaling and low-quality content smoothing. Both TVs are great options for gaming, but the Sony has a more consistent VRR feature. On the other hand, the Hisense has lower input lag and 144Hz support for PC gamers.
The Samsung S90D/S90DD OLED is better than the Hisense U8/U8N in most contexts, although the Hisense does have its advantages. While the Samsung is a very bright OLED, it still can't match the Hisense in that aspect, especially in SDR. This makes the Hisense a better product for brighter rooms or if you tend to play or watch very bright content most of the time. Otherwise, the Samsung model has the edge in picture quality due to its nearly infinite contrast, wider color gamut, and more accurate image. It also has an almost perfect viewing angle, while the Hisense's viewing angle is rather narrow. Finally, the Samsung is far better for gaming due to its nearly instantaneous response time and four 4k @ 144Hz HDMI ports; the Hisense is limited to two 4k @ 144Hz HDMI ports.
The Hisense U8/U8N and the Sony X93L/X93CL are better than each other in different ways. The Hisense gets brighter in HDR, so it can display brighter highlights than the Sony in HDR content. The Hisense also gets brighter in SDR, and it has better reflection handling, so it overcomes more glare in a very bright room. Regarding contrast and black uniformity, the Hisense is better, so it displays deeper blacks than the Sony. However, the Sony has a wider viewing angle, so the image doesn't degrade as quickly when viewed from the sides of the screen. The Sony is also more accurate in both SDR and HDR, is less buggy, has better overall image processing, and has better speakers built-in.
The Hisense U8/U8N and the TCL QM8/QM850G QLED are similar TVs, but the Hisense is better overall. Both TVs have outstanding contrast and black uniformity, but the Hisense takes it to the next level, so it displays deeper blacks that are approaching OLED territory. Both TVs get incredibly bright, but the Hisense has the edge in reflection handling, so it's a bit better suited for a bright room. The Hisense also has an ATSC 3.0 tuner for 4k over-the-air.
The sizes of the Hisense U8/U8N that use a VA panel are better overall than the Hisense 75U8N (ADS PRO panel) in almost every way. The U8N (VA panel) has significantly better contrast, displaying incredibly deep blacks that are approaching what you get from an OLED. When it comes to brightness, the U8N (VA) is brighter overall, so it overcomes a bit more glare in a bright room and displays brighter highlights in HDR content. The U8N (VA) also has a faster response time, so there's less blur behind fast motion. On the other hand, the 75U8N has a wider viewing angle, so it's better suited for watching TV with a group.
The Hisense U8/U8N is much better than the Hisense U6/U6N. The U8N has the more effective local dimming feature, which delivers very deep blacks that are approaching those found on OLED TVs, with less blooming. The U8N also has much better SDR brightness and reflection handling, meaning it overcomes glare in the brightest of rooms. When it comes to HDR, the U8N has much better HDR brightness, which means it displays brighter highlights that really pop out, and its wider color gamut and better color volume deliver brighter and more vibrant colors. If you're looking for a Hisense TV to pair with your Xbox, PS5, or gaming PC, the U8N is the better choice due to its faster response time, HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and support for up to 4k @ 144Hz.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the LG QNED90T. The Hisense has better contrast, so it displays deeper blacks that are approaching what you get from an OLED. The Hisense is the brighter TV overall, so it displays brighter highlights in HDR and overcomes more glare in a bright room. When it comes to colors, the Hisense has the edge due to its wider color gamut and better color volume. The Hisense also has a faster response time and supports 144Hz, so it's the better option for most gamers.
The Hisense U8/U8N is better than the Panasonic W95A. The Hisense has much better contrast, so it displays deeper blacks in a dark room. The Hisense also displays slightly more vibrant colors and gets brighter in HDR, which leads to a more impactful HDR experience. Additionally, the Hisense is better for gaming, since you can use its local dimming and VRR features at the same time.
Video
Test Results
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.
The TV comes with a metal center-mounted stand that doesn't require a large table to place the TV on. The stand can be adjusted into two different positions. The lower position lifts the TV about two inches above the table, which brings the screen very close to your table. The higher position lifts the TV about 3.54 inches, so most soundbars fit underneath without blocking the screen.
Footprint of the 65-inch stand: 15.75" x 11.42".
Note that the 55-inch and 100-inch models use two feet instead of a central stand.
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.
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.
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.
The TV has very good blooming performance, but there's some noticeable blooming around bright objects and subtitles when displayed against a black background.
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.
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.
The Hisense U8N has remarkable HDR brightness. Highlights really pop out during darker scenes, and the TV is bright enough that very bright specular highlights even stand out in well-lit scenes. Combined with its exceptional contrast, this TV provides a very impactful HDR viewing experience.
These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:
- HDR Picture Mode: Filmmaker Mode
- Local Dimming: High
- Peak Brightness: High
- Brightness: 100
- Contrast: 50
- Black Level: 0
- Dark Detail: Off
- Gamma: ST2084
- Active Contrast: Off
- Dynamic Tone Mapping: Off
- Color Temperature: Warm 1
Unfortunately, the TV has an inconsistent bug that greatly lowers its brightness. We don't know what causes it, but if you find the TV much dimmer than it's supposed to be, you can fix it by restarting the TV or switching the input setting from 'Enhanced' to 'Standard' and then back to 'Enhanced'.
The TV is slightly dimmer in PC/Game Mode, but it's barely noticeable. Highlights still pop out during darker moments in games, and it's still bright enough that very bright specular highlights stand out in well-lit scenes. Combined with its exceptional contrast, this TV provides a very impactful HDR gaming experience.
These measurements are after calibrating the HDR white point with the following settings:
- HDR Picture Mode: HDR Game
- Local Dimming: High
- Peak Brightness: High
- Brightness: 100
- Contrast: 50
- Black Level: 0
- Dark Detail: Off
- Gamma: ST2084
- Active Contrast: Off
- Dynamic Tone Mapping: Off
- Color Temperature: Warm 1
Unfortunately, the TV has an inconsistent bug that greatly limits its brightness. You can read about it here.
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.
The Hisense U8N has superb SDR brightness and easily overcomes glare in even the brightest of rooms.
These measurements are after calibration with the following settings:
- Picture Mode: Theater Night
- Local Dimming: High
- Peak Brightness: High
- Brightness: 100
- Gamma: 2.2
- Color Temperature: Warm 1
- Active Contrast: Off
If you need a TV that gets even brighter than this, check out the TCL QM8/QM851G QLED.
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.
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.
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.
The TV has fantastic SDR accuracy after calibration, but the TV is a bit difficult to calibrate since higher grayscale values don't do much at all. Still, any issues with white balance are gone, color temperature is still essentially perfect, and gamma is even closer to our target of 2.2, with only bright scenes still being a bit too bright. Color accuracy is outstanding, with only minor errors that aren't noticeable to most people.
You can see our full calibration settings here.
The TV has good gray uniformity, but there's some dirty screen effect towards the center of the screen and vignetting in the corners.
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.
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.
Look at the Hisense 75U8N if you need a TV with a wider viewing angle.
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.
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.
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.
The Hisense U8N does a good job at upscaling low-resolution content like DVDs or lower-resolution streams. Details are clear enough, but finer details are a bit hard to make out.
Sharpness processing was calibrated with no over-sharpening for low-resolution content, with the following settings:
- Sharpness: 13
- Super Resolution: On
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.
The Hisense U8N has an excellent response time for minimal blur behind fast-moving objects, but it's slower when coming out of dark states, so there's some black smearing in dark scene transitions.
Unfortunately, like the Hisense U8/U8K, the TV's response time behaves differently with VRR enabled. It's more aggressive with refresh rates above 100Hz, which leads to a faster response time but with more overshoot errors. When the TV hovers around 100Hz, the rapid changes in behavior when it goes above and below that threshold are distracting. There are no issues when running at a fixed refresh rate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The TV gives a judder-free experience with 24p sources like a Blu-ray player and native apps. It also removes judder from 60p sources like some streaming devices and gaming consoles. Unfortunately, it doesn't remove 24p judder from 60i sources like some cable TV boxes, although you can use the 'Motion Enhancement' with 'Judder Reduction: 1' to remove judder from 60i sources without introducing noticeable interpolation or artifacts.
The Hisense U8N supports all three VRR formats, so it has great compatibility regardless of the source. Unfortunately, with 1080p @ 240Hz and VRR enabled, the TV's built-in frame counter shows 72Hz, and there's bad frame skipping, desaturated colors, and chroma 4:4:4 isn't displayed properly. With VRR disabled, 1080p @ 240Hz works without issues.
The TV also has a response time issue with VRR enabled, which you can read about here.
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.
The TV supports all common resolutions up to 4k @ 144Hz on two of its four HDMI ports. Unfortunately, 1080p @ 240Hz only works properly with VRR disabled.
There are also some unusual issues with 1440p. On NVIDIA PCs, the TV displays 1440p @ 120Hz as a scaled 4k image, but with 1440p @ 144Hz, the image isn't scaled and is displayed properly. On AMD PCs, the opposite is true. 1440p @ 120Hz is displayed properly without scaling, but 1440p @ 144Hz is scaled to 4k. On consoles, there are no issues with 1440p @ 120Hz.
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.
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.
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.
Note that the eARC port on the 55-inch model is HDMI 3, so you do lose a high-bandwidth port on that size if you plug in a soundbar.
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.
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.
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.
The Hisense U8N uses version 12 of the popular Google TV operating system. The interface is very smooth and easy to use.
Unfortunately, like almost all TVs on the market, the smart interface contains ads, and you can't disable them.
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.
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.
