Hisense U8G TV Review

The Hisense U8G is the second-highest 4k model in Hisense's 2021 lineup, just below the Hisense U9DG. Despite the similar name to the Hisense H8G, this model replaces the Hisense H9G, as Hisense appears to have shifted their lineup this year. Hisense aims to offer high-end performance at mid-range prices, and this model aims to compete with the high-end TCL models and much more expensive models from other brands, like the Sony X90J and the Samsung QN90A QLED.

The Hisense U8G's design is nearly identical to the 2020 Hisense H9G. They've made some slight changes to the stand, and the vents in the back are a bit different, but other than that, the frame is nearly identical.

The Hisense U8G has a very similar stand to the Hisense H9G. It's solid, and supports the TV well.

Footprint of the 55" stand: 28.4" x 10.3".

The back of the TV is nearly identical to the Hisense H9G. There are tracks for cable management, as well as removable clips that help to keep everything neat.

There are clips on the back of the TV for cable management. If you're planning on wall-mounting the TV, these clips can be removed, reducing the total thickness to 3.2" (8.2 cm).

It has good overall build quality. The stand supports the TV well, with little wobble. The border around the screen is metal, but most of the body is plastic. There's very little flex, except around the VESA mounts, but this shouldn't cause any issues.

The Hisense U8G has outstanding contrast, delivering deep blacks, which is expected from a VA-type panel. Contrast is a bit worse than the Hisense H9G, we don't know if this is simply variance between units or not, but it's not a very noticeable difference either way.

The Hisense U8G has excellent peak brightness in SDR, very similar to the Hisense H9G, and glare shouldn't be an issue. There is some variation in peak brightness in very bright scenes. This results in a slightly dimmer screen with some content, like watching a hockey game for example.

We measured the brightness after calibration in the 'Theater Night' Picture Mode with the Backlight set to 'Max' and Local Dimming to 'High'. Setting Active Contrast to 'Medium' results in a slightly brighter picture, but it isn't a very noticeable difference.

The full array dimming feature on this TV does a great job. With local dimming on 'High', dark areas on screen are dimmed, and there's very little black crush, so small bright points of light, like a star field, are still visible. Some scenes still show some blooming, but the algorithms appear to spread the backlight out over a few more zones than it has to, to smooth out the blooming a bit. Subtitles are very bright, but if there's a black background behind them, there's a bit of noticeable blooming.

As fast-moving objects move across the screen, the algorithm can't quite keep up with them, which causes a trailing backlight and the leading edge of the object to appear a bit darker. As each zone turns on and off, this transition is noticeable with our test pattern, but not in real content.

The 55" model we bought has 132 dimming zones according to Hisense. The 65" has 360 dimming zones, so it's likely that the local dimming feature is a bit better.

The local dimming feature performs the same in Game mode as in the other picture modes, which is great. There are some limitations, as local dimming isn't available in certain situations when connected to an Xbox if VRR is enabled on either the TV or the Xbox. Switching out of Game Mode or switching to a lower resolution on the Xbox appears to fix the issue.

The Hisense U8G has impressive peak brightness in HDR. Small specular highlights are brighter than the Hisense H9G and significantly brighter than the Sony X90J, but overall real scene brightness is about the same across all three. We took these measurements in the 'HDR Theater' Picture Mode, which is also the brightest HDR mode on this TV.

Unfortunately, this TV doesn't follow the EOTF properly, displaying almost all scenes in HDR brighter than they should be. If you're looking for an accurate image, this might disappoint you, as some scenes may appear a bit washed out compared to other TVs. Unfortunately, there's no way to correct this, but we have seen reports that Dolby Vision content does force the TV to follow the EOTF.

Switching to Game Mode results in essentially no change in the HDR peak brightness. Like in the 'HDR Theater' Picture Mode, in Game Mode, the peak brightness doesn't track the EOTF properly, so almost all scenes are brighter than they should be. Most games offer an HDR adjustment option, so this shouldn't be an issue for most people.

The Hisense U8G has decent gray uniformity, but there are issues that could be distracting if you're planning on watching a lot of sports. The corners are noticeably darker than the center of the screen, and there are three dark vertical bands near the center of the screen. Dark scenes are a bit better, with significantly less dirty screen effect. This can vary quite a bit between units, though.

This TV has excellent black uniformity. With local dimming disabled, the black background isn't quite black, with slight cloudiness to the entire screen. Enabling local dimming effectively removes this cloudiness from the entire screen, but there's some blooming around the test cross.

As expected of a VA-type TV, the image degrades when viewed at an angle. The most noticeable issue off-angle is the gamma shift, causing the image to appear washed out. Colors stay accurate to a wider angle than the gamma, but it's not as good as IPS-type TVs, like the LG NANO90 2021.

The Hisense U8G has excellent reflection handling. The screen has a slightly different finish than the Hisense H9G, and direct reflections are diffused a bit better, but overall the reflection handling is about the same. Unlike the Samsung QN90A QLED, there's no rainbow streak across the screen, which is great, especially if you have overhead lights.

Out of the box, the Hisense U8G has excellent color and white balance accuracy. There are some noticeable inaccuracies in certain colors, especially with shades of blue, but the white balance is excellent, and gamma is nearly flat, close to our target of 2.2. This is a significant improvement over the Hisense H9G and the Hisense H8G that we tested last year, but this can vary between units.

Update 06/04/2021: We incorrectly listed that this TV has a 2 point white balance calibration. We've corrected it to 20 point.

As the Hisense U8G already had excellent accuracy out of the box, calibration was tough to do and didn't improve the overall accuracy much. Color accuracy improved a bit, but the issues with shades of blue are still there. The white balance is now nearly perfect, but as it was already excellent, this isn't a noticeable improvement.

You can see our recommended settings here.

We didn't notice any issues when using the Hisense U8G to upscale 480p content like DVDs.

720p content, including most cable TV stations, is upscaled well, with no noticeable issues.

Like most TVs we've tested, 1080p content looks almost as good as native 4k content.

4k content is displayed perfectly, with no noticeable issues.

This is a 4k TV that won't accept an 8k signal.

Like most TVs on the market, the Hisense U8G uses a BGR (Blue-Green-Red) subpixel layout instead of the traditional Red-Green-Blue layout. For video content, this doesn't cause any issues, but if you're planning on using this TV as a PC monitor, it might be an issue for text clarity. You can read more about this here.

The Hisense U8G uses Quantum Dot technology, similar to the Samsung's QLED lineup, like the Samsung QN90A QLED, and LG's NanoCell TVs, like the LG NANO90 2021. This allows for a wider color gamut than traditional LCD technology. This results in an excellent color gamut, with nearly perfect coverage of the DCI P3 color space used by most current HDR content and good coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space. These results are a good improvement over the 2020 Hisense H9G and even better than the Samsung QN90A QLED.

This TV has good color volume. Most colors are just as bright as pure white, except for blues, which aren't quite as bright. This is common for LCDs. Thanks to the high contrast ratio, this TV can also display dark, saturated colors well.

The Hisense U8G has good gradient handling, but this is one area where it falls short of the more expensive competitors, like the Sony X90J. There's visible banding in grays, greens, and reds. There are a few noise reduction features, but they aren't effective at reducing banding.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on our unit, but this can vary.

We don't expect VA panels to experience permanent image retention, as the VA panel in our long-term test appears immune.

For the most part, the Hisense U8G has an excellent response time, resulting in clear motion in fast-moving scenes. Unfortunately, there are some exceptions. Transitions out of dark scenes have significantly slower transitions, resulting in noticeable ghosting behind fast-moving objects. This is common for displays with VA panels, though, and is known as black smear.

Like the Hisense H9G, there have been reports of red ghosting in some situations, and our U8G also has this issue. You can see it here along Olivia Colman's hairline in this image taken from The Crown, Season 3 Episode 5.

We've also received multiple reports of motion artifacts in Game mode, sometimes severe, when VRR is enabled. Our response time measurements are taken out of Game Mode, so they don't show this issue. We don't know if Hisense has any plans to correct this issue; let us know in the discussions if you've noticed it.

The Hisense U8G uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to dim the backlight, but the flicker frequency is very high and shouldn't bother most people. Unlike Samsung TVs, like the Samsung QN90A QLED, the Hisense flickers at the same frequency in all picture modes.

The Hisense U8G has an optional Black Frame Insertion feature, which can help reduce the appearance of persistence blur. The BFI feature behaves a bit differently than the Hisense H9G and the Hisense H8G, though, as it can't flicker at 60Hz, which causes duplications in motion when displaying 60Hz content. Note that our scoring here is based only on the supported modes, not how well the BFI feature performs.

The Hisense U8G has an optional motion interpolation feature that can improve the appearance of motion. Subjectively, it doesn't appear to be as good as more expensive competitors, like the Sony X90J or the Samsung QN90A QLED, and there are more noticeable artifacts, especially in busy scenes.

Due to the Hisense U8G's relatively fast response time, there can be some issues with stutter with 24p content, like movies, as each frame is held longer on screen. This is especially noticeable in slow panning shots. If this bothers you, motion interpolation can help reduce it, but this comes at the cost of adding some soap opera effect.

This TV can remove judder from any source. Unlike the Hisense H9G, no additional settings are required.

This TV supports a variable refresh rate, and in our testing, it worked properly from multiple sources, including from an NVIDIA graphics card. We've received reports of a few issues when VRR is enabled, though, including noticeable ghosting in some games, and local dimming isn't available in some cases when playing on an Xbox with VRR enabled.

The Hisense U8G has outstanding low input lag, great for gaming or PC use. The 60Hz input lag is a bit higher than the best TVs on the market at the moment and about double the input lag of most monitors at 60Hz, but still low enough for most people. When running at 120Hz, the input lag is on par with the best TVs on the market and very close to most 120Hz monitors. This is great for gaming or use as a PC monitor, as you can respond quickly to the action on-screen.

The Hisense U8G can display 1440p resolutions, but these formats aren't exposed in the EDID, so it has to be forced. You can do this either through custom HDMI settings on an Xbox or through your graphics card's control panel software as a custom resolution. Unlike the Hisense H9G we tested last year, 120Hz is working properly on all supported resolutions, with no dropped frames.

Except for 120Hz Dolby Vision, the Hisense U8G supports all the features of the new generation of gaming consoles. The PS5 doesn't currently support VRR or 1440p resolutions, but we'll retest those if/when they get added.

New to the 2021 models, the Hisense U8G now has two HDMI 2.1 ports. One of them is also the eARC port, so if you're planning on using an eARC device, you can only connect one other HDMI 2.1 device on the TV.

Unlike the 2019 models, there's no direct connection for composite sources. Instead, it requires an external breakout adapter (included), similar to some LG TVs.

Since this TV can't passthrough the highest quality DTS:X or DTS-HD MA audio formats, if you're planning to watch the latest UHD Blu-rays, it might be best to connect your player directly to your receiver instead of using eARC.

The Hisense U8G has a decent frequency response, similar to the Hisense H9G. As usual for a TV, there's almost no low bass, so it can't produce any rumble or thump. It's a bit boomy in the high-bass, and mid to high treble sounds are a bit under-emphasized, but otherwise, it has a well-balanced sound profile and can get quite loud.

This TV has okay distortion performance. There's some audible total harmonic distortion, but mainly at high volume levels. This depends on the content, though, and not everyone will even notice it.

The Hisense U8G's smart interface has been updated to Android 10, from Android 9.0 on the 2019 models. The interface has changed a bit, and the overall experience is much smoother and faster. The interface is very similar to the new Google TV interface on 2021 Sony TVs, like the Sony X90J, but there are some slight differences.

Unfortunately, like almost all TVs on the market now, there are ads throughout the interface.

The remote has been updated a bit since last year. There are more sponsored buttons, and like usual, you can't reprogram them to your favorite streaming service. The remote has a built-in mic for voice control, and it works well for launching apps or changing inputs, but you can't use it to adjust settings on the TV.

It has pretty standard controls, similar to most TVs on the market. If you're concerned about privacy, there's a physical switch to turn off the built-in microphone, which is rare, and a nice touch.

• Quick Setup Guide
• Remote
• Batteries
• AV Composite adapter
• Power cable