Hisense U8QG  TV Review

The Hisense U8QG is exceptionally bright in HDR overall. Small highlights are remarkably bright and even surpass 4000 nits, so the TV fully displays the majority of highlights in all HDR content. Naturally, it's not as bright during entirely bright scenes, but those scenes still pop off the screen, and you don't notice a huge drop in luminance.

Our results above are with the TV set to Filmmaker Mode with 'Dynamic Tone Mapping' disabled. Below are the results with DTM turned on, which makes the image even brighter.

• Hallway Lights: 977 cd/m²
• Yellow Skyscraper: 821 cd/m²
• Landscape Pool: 546 cd/m²

There's no noticeable difference in HDR brightness when the TV is set to PC/Game Mode, so you still get an exceptionally bright image while getting the best gaming performance possible.

Our results above are with DTM disabled, but if you like an even brighter image, you can see the results with DTM enabled below.

• Hallway Lights: 1032 cd/m²
• Yellow Skyscraper: 840 cd/m²
• Landscape Pool: 538 cd/m²

The Hisense U8QG has outstanding SDR brightness. At maximum luminance, small portions of the screen are ridiculously bright when they're on screen for a short period. Like most TVs, it's not quite as bright when bright elements stay on screen for a sustained amount of time, but the drop in brightness isn't noticeable. Still, this TV is incredibly bright even during scenes that are entirely well-lit, and it easily overcomes glare from indirect lighting in the brightest environments.

The Hisense U8QG has superb contrast. Its native contrast is impressive, but with local dimming set to 'High', the TV displays blacks that are similar to the inky blacks you get on OLEDs. Furthermore, those blacks stay very deep when bright highlights are also on the screen.

Peak brightness was set to 'High' for this test since most people will want to use that setting for the brightest image possible. However, that setting means the minimum brightness of the cave in the image is 344 cd/m² instead of the 200 cd/m² we typically target. This means that the contrast ratio is a bit inflated compared to TVs with whites set to 200 cd/m².

The TV has very good lighting zone precision, but there's some noticeable blooming around bright objects and subtitles when displayed against a black background. Despite the TV having more dimming zones than the 2024 Hisense U8N, it performs the same when it comes to blooming.

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 U8QG has good black uniformity. With local dimming disabled, dark scenes look gray and cloudy. With local dimming enabled, blacks are deep and mostly uniform across the screen, but there's some blooming around certain bright elements.

The TV has impressive SDR color volume. Like almost any TV, it covers the full range of colors in the Rec.709 color space, but it also covers the vast majority of colors in the wider DCI-P3 color space. The TV's coverage of the widest BT.2020 color space is satisfactory overall, and it does struggle a bit more with some lighter colors. Still, this TV does well with the rare SDR content that's mastered in DCI-P3 and BT.2020, and it performs very well if you don't care about accuracy and choose to force Rec.709/sRGB content into a wider color space for increased vividness.

The Hisense U8QG has outstanding HDR color volume. Due to its superb contrast, it displays dark, saturated colors very well. It also displays all colors very brightly, so you get vivid and punchy colors in all HDR content.

The TV has good SDR accuracy before calibration. There's too much blue and not enough red in brighter grays, which contributes to its overly cool color temperature. The TV's gamma is close to 2.2, but most scenes are displayed darker than intended. Colors have great accuracy overall, but there are some inaccuracies in whites, light cyans, and light magentas. Although most people will be pleased with its accuracy out-of-the-box, color enthusiasts looking for the most accurate image possible will likely want to get the TV calibrated.

After calibration, the TV has superb color accuracy in SDR. Any inaccuracies with white balance, color temperature, gamma, and color accuracy are almost completely gone. The TV is easy to calibrate, and after a proper calibration, color enthusiasts will be pleased with the image.

See our full calibration settings.

The Hisense U8QG has good HDR accuracy before calibration. Its color temperature is incredibly close to 6500K, but there's inaccuracies throughout most shades of gray. Furthermore, most colors are off the mark, which leads to most shades looking inaccurate. Still, most colors are close enough to the content creator's intent that most people will be pleased.

The TV has excellent HDR accuracy after calibration. Its white balance is much better, but there are still some inaccuracies in certain grays. Still, color accuracy is now very good, but there are still tone mapping errors throughout its range of colors that will bother some color purists.

The Hisense U8QG has sub-par PQ EOTF tracking. Almost everything is displayed much brighter than intended, so this isn't a TV that stays true to the content creator's intent in HDR. The TV tracks the PQ EOTF curve much closer with a standardized 10% window, but this isn't indicative of real-world usage, since highlights in HDR content don't take up exactly 10% of the screen. There's a gradual roll-off near the TV's peak brightness with content mastered at 4000 nits. However, this roll-off really isn't doing much to help maintain details in specular highlights, since the TV significantly over-brightens highlights to begin with.

The TV does a great job cleaning up artifacts in low-quality content. Most artifacts in heavily compressed content are removed, and although the TV does a good job preserving detail in the image, you do notice some loss of finer details.

The Hisense U8 does a very good job at upscaling low-resolution content like DVDs or lower-resolution streams. Details are clear enough, but some finer details are a bit hard to make out.

The TV has very good HDR native gradient handling. There's some visible banding in bright greens, but darker reds have no banding at all. All other colors have minimal banding that's hard to notice unless you sit up close to the screen and specifically look for it.

The Hisense U8 has low input lag overall. At the TV's maximum refresh rate of 165Hz, the input lag is very low, which is great for gamers who primarily play PVP titles. When gaming in 1080p @ 288Hz, the input lag is 3.1ms. Unlike the U8N, the TV doesn't support motion interpolation while using PC/Game Mode with a device connected using HDMI.

New to the U8QG is a dedicated USB-C input that can be used as an alternate display port for PC gamers. There's no game bar menu available when using this input, but unlike devices connected with HDMI, you can use motion interpolation in PC/Game Mode when using the USB-C alt-display port. Below are the input lag measurements using the new alt-display port.

• 1080p @ 60Hz: 12ms
• 1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode: 125.5ms
• 1080p @ 120Hz: 6.7ms
• 4k @ 60hz @ 4:4:4: 11.8ms
• 4k @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode: 58.5ms
• 4k @ 60Hz With Motion Interpolation: 21.3ms
• 4k @ 60Hz: 11.6ms
• 4k @ 120Hz: 6.4ms
• 4k @ Max (165Hz): 4.9ms

The TV's input lag is higher outside of its dedicated gaming mode, so you do feel a slight delay when scrolling through menus or pausing content.

The Hisense U8QG supports all common resolutions up to 4k @ 165Hz, and it supports chroma 4:4:4, so it has great compatibility with gaming consoles and PCs. You also have the option to lower your resolution for 1080p @ 288Hz gaming when using HDMI. When using the USB-C port, Chroma 4:4:4 works as intended, but the maximum refresh rate at all resolutions is 165Hz, so 1080p @ 288Hz isn't possible. Also, VRR isn't supported when using the USB-C port.

The TV supports FreeSync and HDMI Forum VRR and is certified as G-SYNC compatible, ensuring a nearly tear-free gaming experience from any VRR-enabled source. It works well across the TV's entire refresh rate range and supports sources with Low Framerate Compensation (LFC), which ensures your games remain nearly tear-free even when your frame rate drops very low. Unfortunately, VRR isn't supported when using the USB-C alt-display port.

Unlike the Hisense U8N, there are no response time issues when your frame rate hovers around 100Hz, which is great.

The Hisense U8 has sub-par pixel transitions at its maximum refresh rate of 165Hz in its native 4k resolution. Transitions are slow across the board, which leads to fast motion looking a bit blurry. You also see some black smearing when transitioning from black.

The TV's pixel transitions at 120Hz are alright. Motion is a bit blurry overall, but it's still clear enough for an enjoyable gaming experience, especially for an LED model.

The TV has disappointing pixel transitions at 60Hz. Motion is blurry due to its slow transitions, and there's persistence blur, so fast motion lacks clarity when gaming in 60fps.

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.

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

The Hisense U8QG's motion interpolation does a very good job bringing low frame rate content up to 30fps to help reduce stutter. Motion looks fluid and very consistent, even in slower panning shots, so the TV is effective in minimizing stutter in 24fps content.

The Hisense U8 removes judder when watching 24p movies or TV shows when the Motion Enhancement setting is set to 'Film,' even from sources that can only send a 60i signal, like a cable box. The TV is also free from judder when watching 25p content through the TV's native apps or an external device that sends a 25Hz signal. Unfortunately, it doesn't remove judder from 25p content being sent via a 60p signal, and since the duration of each frame in a second is very inconsistent, motion lacks fluidity.

The Hisense U8 is free from micro-judder when watching 24p and 25p content from most sources. Even though there's no micro-judder when watching 25p content via a 60p source, there's micro-judder present when watching 24p content via 60p since there's occasional dropped frames.

The Hisense U8 has a good response time for minimal blur behind fast-moving objects when watching most types of content.

The Hisense U8QG has alright color transitions overall. It does a good job of avoiding any severe color artifacts during transitions. However, there's still some unintended intermediate colors in certain transitions, like the hint of blue that's present in reds, which impacts color consistency.

Unfortunately, it does a disappointing job keeping edges consistent with the center of fast-moving objects, which leads to blur trails in fast-paced scenes and sports.

The TV 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 20,000Hz in all picture modes, at all brightness levels, and with local dimming enabled, so it's not visible.

The TV 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 only flickers at 120Hz, and the image is blurry with some image duplication.

The TV has alright direct reflection handling. It lessens the intensity of direct light sources, but your lamp, wall light, or window is still quite visible on the screen.

Please note that our unit has a backwards bend to it, which impacts the reflection of the ring light in our test.

The TV has exceptional black levels in a bright room. Black levels are barely raised in a room with ambient lighting, so they remain deep and impactful.

The TV does an excellent job with total reflections. Its glossy screen finish significantly reduces the intensity of indirect reflections, but direct reflections do cause some noticeable light banding.

The TV has excellent color saturation in a bright room. Colors at all luminance levels are essentially unaffected by ambient lighting, so you get equally as punchy colors in a bright room as you do in a dark one.

The TV has an okay viewing angle, especially for an LED model. There's some color washout/shifting, gamma shifting, and brightness loss when looking at the screen from an angle, but blacks remain deep. It's a decent choice for when you or your friends are watching TV from a slight angle, but it's still not the best choice for wider seating arrangements.

Please note that our unit has a pretty significant backwards bend to it, which actually helps to improve its viewing angle score. Still, the bend isn't a good thing.

The Hisense U8 has disappointing gray uniformity. The corners of the screen are noticeably dimmer than the rest of the image. There are some splotches of uneven brightness across the entire screen, some dirty screen effect towards the center, and a faint grid-like pattern that's noticeable during certain scenes.

On a near-black screen, the TV's uniformity is better, but the edges are a bit lighter than the rest of the screen.

The Hisense U8QG 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 TV uses quantum dots to achieve high color peaks with excellent separation between blues, greens, and reds. This gives the TV great color purity and allows it to display a very wide color gamut.

We don't know for sure which sizes use a VA panel and which ones use an ADS Pro panel, but reviewers like Stop The Fomo have reported that the 55, 75, and 100-inch models use an ADS Pro panel, while the 65 and 85-inch sizes use a VA panel.

The TV has one less HDMI port than previous U8 models for a total of three, but is the first U8 model that supports HDMI 2.1 on all of its ports instead of on just two of them, giving you more flexibility if you own multiple HDMI 2.1 devices. New to the U8QG is a USB-C input that works as a display port, but it doesn't support 1080p @ 288Hz and VRR, which limits its usefulness for PC gamers. The TV supports 4k over-the-air due to its ATSC 3.0 tuner.

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 TV supports all major HDR formats, which gives you great flexibility.

The Hisense 65U8QG looks and feels high-quality overall. It's a pretty thick TV, but unlike the Hisense U8N, the TV's thickness is uniform. Combined with its center mounted stand, it kind of resembles a monitor.

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 higher position (pictured above) lifts the TV about 3.78 inches, so any modern soundbar fits underneath without blocking the screen. The lower position lifts the TV about 2.17 inches above the table, which brings the screen very close to your table.

Footprint of the 65-inch stand: 15.75" x 11.42".

Note that the 100-inch model uses 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. All of the inputs are side-facing, but they're in a recessed cutout that makes them a bit hard to access if you have it mounted to a 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 doesn't have the sleekest design, but it feels well-built overall. However, our unit has a pretty significant backwards bend to it. We don't know for sure how many units are affected by this, and we probably just got unlucky, but if you end up with a bent unit, exchange your unit for another one.

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

The TV comes with the same remote as the Hisense U8N. It has backlit buttons for popular streaming services, and you can use the built-in microphone for voice control.

• Quick setup guide
• Remote
• 2x AAA batteries
• Power cable
• Extra screws

The Hisense U8 consumes a maximum of 208W of power, which is less than the 2024 Hisense U8N.

The Hisense U8 has a poor frequency response. There's almost no audible bass, so movies, shows, and games lack impact; you will want to pair this TV with a soundbar. The profile is well-balanced enough for clear dialogue at lower volume levels. However, dialogue becomes a bit hard to hear as you raise the volume, which is disappointing since the speakers don't get very loud at all.