The Hisense 65U8HQ stands out as a remarkable choice in the mid-range market, offering an ultra-bright 65-inch 4K picture. What sets it apart is its advanced Mini LED lighting system, a feature typically reserved for pricier models.

This TV doesn’t just deliver on visuals; it also impresses with versatile HDR support and the latest gaming features. Additionally, its audio system is robust, featuring a forward-facing soundbar attached to the bottom edge and a substantial woofer on the rear. Could this be the new standard that other high-end brands should watch out for?

Price

When it comes to the cost, you may find a range of prices depending on the features and quality of the product. It's essential to strike a balance between affordability and the benefits you seek. Remember, the most expensive option isn't always the best, but the cheapest might lack critical features you need.

Consider your budget and compare different models to make an informed decision. Look out for discounts and seasonal sales, which can provide great value without compromising on quality.

In summary, understand what you're paying for and ensure it aligns with your requirements and expectations.

When it comes to the global situation, things can get a bit complicated. At first glance, everything seems straightforward. There’s a UK price at £1199 (significantly lower than the TV’s initial launch price), a US price at $1399, and an Australian price at $2799. However, if you delve into the specifications for the slightly differently named models (the UK gets the U8HQ, the US gets the U8H, and Australia gets the U8HA), you'll notice the TVs are not identically specified across each territory.

Their designs differ considerably, and more importantly, it appears that they don’t get the same core panels or local dimming controls. The US model, for instance, uses a VA panel and more than 500 dimming zones, while the UK model uses an IPS panel and 160 dimming zones. The audio systems also differ between territories.

The pricing in each territory is highly competitive for a Mini LED TV, putting it in the same price bracket as many mid-range regular LED TVs. This pricing strategy has the potential to make Hisense a game-changer in terms of reaching a broader range of consumers. However, due to the potentially significant specification differences between territories, this review of the UK model should not be considered representative of the performance and features of the U8H models in the US and Australia.

Design

Our latest product boasts an impeccable design that effortlessly combines style and functionality. Crafted with attention to detail, it's a true marvel in modern engineering. Each curve and line is meticulously sculpted to enhance both aesthetics and user experience.

Key Features

• Elegant and sleek appearance

• Ergonomically designed for comfort

• Built with high-quality materials for durability

This isn't just a product; it's a statement. Whether you're at home or in the office, it seamlessly blends with any environment, giving it a touch of sophistication. Its compact size does not compromise on performance, making it a powerful yet stylish addition to your daily life.

Experience the perfect harmony of design and functionality with our latest release. Embrace the future with a product that's not just designed for today but built to last.

The Hisense 65U8HQ offers a robust build quality, distinctly superior to Hisense’s more affordable models. However, its chubby profile and unremarkable grey frame with a standard desktop stand don’t quite shout premium.

On a positive note, the stand is centrally positioned, making it suitable for narrower furniture. The design gets a lift from the cloth-covered speaker section at the bottom of the TV. The rear-end depth is a small price to pay if it ensures a high-quality Mini LED direct backlighting system.

The 65U8HQ comes with a single remote control that boasts a more premium build. However, it still features a large number of buttons, unlike the minimalist smart remotes from other brands.

The upside to this button-rich design is the direct access to a vast array of streaming apps, including Disney+, YouTube, Prime Video, Rakuten TV, Plex, Netflix, Freeview Play, and Deezer.

Features

Our latest product comes jam-packed with cutting-edge features designed to elevate your experience. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or simply looking for reliability and ease of use, this product has something for everyone.

User-Friendly Design

• Intuitive interface that's easy to navigate

• Ergonomic build for comfortable use over extended periods

• Sleek design that fits seamlessly into any environment

Top-Notch Performance

• High-speed processing to keep up with your demands

• Long-lasting battery life that keeps you going all day

• Enhanced connectivity options for smooth, uninterrupted usage

Exceptional Support

Customer satisfaction is our top priority. Our support team is always ready to assist you with any questions or issues, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free experience.

For more detailed information and to make a purchase, visit our official website. Stay updated with the latest news and releases by following our blog.

The 65U8HQ is the flagship 65-inch TV from Hisense’s 2022 LCD range, thanks to its use of a Mini LED light engine that elevates its status. This advanced feature lights the screen with a greater number of smaller LEDs compared to typical LED-backlit TVs, promising better localized light control and enhanced brightness. The contrast potential is further improved with a local dimming system, where different LED areas receive varying amounts of light for any given frame.

However, the 65U8HQ has some limitations in its Mini LED/local dimming capabilities. It supports only 160 dimming zones and uses an IPS type of LCD panel, which tends to struggle with contrast compared to the VA panel type. Some competing Mini LED TVs support up to 500 local dimming zones, though many standard LED TVs have fewer than 160.

Connectivity is a strong suit for the 65U8HQ. Two of its four HDMI ports can handle 4K at 120Hz video signals, ideal for the latest gaming consoles and premium PC gaming cards. These HDMI ports also support VRR gaming and the ALLM system that automatically switches between video and gaming modes depending on the source. In Game mode, the TV achieves an impressively low 16.5ms with 1080p/60Hz sources, halving this in 120Hz mode. Additionally, these HDMI ports support eARC, which means it can pass through lossless Dolby Atmos sound to compatible soundbars and AV receivers.

The HDMIs also impress with their HDR support, handling both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ premium HDR formats, on top of HDR10 and HLG standards. This dual compatibility ensures that viewers always get the best picture quality from any source. The 65U8HQ even incorporates HDR10+ Adaptive and Dolby Vision IQ systems, adjusting HDR presentation based on room light conditions with a built-in light sensor.

Colors on the 65U8HQ are made using Quantum Dots rather than typical LED filters, opening up an expanded color gamut that complements its high Mini LED brightness. Hisense’s new Hi-View processing engine further enhances the picture quality, working across multiple image areas.

The TV boasts both IMAX Enhanced endorsement and Filmmaker mode, indicating it meets rigorous standards for these features. Filmmaker mode offers movie enthusiasts an easy way to access accurate picture settings without spending much.

The 65U8HQ is equipped with the Vidaa 6.0 smart system, Hisense’s proprietary smart platform, which has become quite effective recently. It’s user-friendly, runs smoothly, and supports a wide range of streaming apps, including Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV, Freeview Play, and YouTube. It also supports multiple voice control systems.

In terms of audio, the 65U8HQ features a forward-facing speaker bar along its bottom edge and a large rear-facing woofer. The speaker system delivers a 2.1.2 channel configuration, offering more spatial audio effectiveness with built-in Dolby Atmos playback than expected from such an affordable Mini LED TV.

Picture

When it comes to picture quality, our latest model excels. It offers vibrant colors, deep blacks, and stunning clarity. This makes every viewing experience truly immersive. Whether you're watching your favorite movie or enjoying a thrilling live sports event, the enhanced visuals will keep you captivated from start to finish.

Vivid Colors

The display technology we use ensures that colors are rich and vibrant. This brings every scene to life with an extraordinary level of detail. Our commitment to color accuracy means you get an image that is true to life, making every pixel count.

Deep Blacks

One of the standout features of our model is its ability to display deep blacks. This contrast ratio brings out the finer details in both bright and dark scenes, providing a more dynamic range. It's perfect for those atmospheric, darker sequences in movies where detail and depth are crucial.

Stunning Clarity

With our advanced resolution technology, you're guaranteed crystal-clear images. From fast-paced action to slow-motion scenes, every moment is depicted with sharpness and precision. This clarity enhances the overall viewing experience, making it more engaging and enjoyable.

In summary, our latest model's picture quality sets a new benchmark. Its vibrant colors, deep blacks, and stunning clarity create an unparalleled visual experience. Don't miss out on the chance to elevate your viewing pleasure with this exceptional display technology.

Hisense's choice to use an IPS panel in the 65U8HQ TV stops it from reaching the high-value hero status it could have achieved.

Right from the start, any dark high dynamic range content reveals significant backlight clouding wherever a bright object appears against a dark background. This clouding is noticeable for both its lightness against the darkest black levels the screen can produce and how far it spreads around the bright object.

This results in many dark scenes having a cloudy, soft appearance, which isn't helped by the clouding extending into the black bars above and below wide aspect ratio films.

You can even see the clouding move around as bright objects change position on the screen, and sometimes it pops in and out in very dark shots as the backlight control system struggles to manage slight shifts in local brightness levels. This is distracting and pulls you out of the TV show or film you're watching.

To moderate the clouding, you can leave the room lights on, which hides the backlight issues to some extent. Turning off the TV’s Adaptive Contrast feature also makes the blooming less aggressive – but this sacrifices image vibrancy, contrast, and shadow detail.

Unexpectedly, the 65U8HQ’s IPS panel doesn’t offer the viewing angle benefits you'd expect. Colors might hold up better from an angle compared to a regular VA panel, but contrast falls off quickly, especially as the clouding problem becomes significantly worse.

On the bright side, with content that’s bright, the 65U8HQ performs well. The TV's brightness is impressive, comparable to the best LCD TVs from brands like Sony and Samsung. This helps the picture look great even in fairly bright room conditions where most of us watch TV.

The 65U8HQ’s colors can look fantastic at times, especially with Dolby Vision content. The additional scene-by-scene metadata seems to bring out the best in the TV’s Quantum Dot system, resulting in a balance of tonal accuracy and vibrancy for the price. However, without Dolby Vision, some tones can look a bit flat, and warm settings like Filmmaker Mode may appear too yellow.

By turning off the over-eager noise reduction systems, the 65U8HQ can deliver a sharp and detailed 4K image. While there are certainly sharper 4K TVs, especially for upscaled HD content, the 65U8HQ provides a natural sharpness that doesn't look gritty.

Despite the TV’s impressive brightness, vivid yet inconsistent colors, and pleasing sharpness, there is one more issue – motion handling. Most motion processing settings result in unusual movement with 24fps films, causing the image to stutter and judder. The film mode setting is the only one that makes this issue subtle enough to be watchable, but it still isn't completely free of awkward moments.

Sound

Dive into a world where every beat, note, and melody is brought to life with exceptional clarity. Our state-of-the-art sound systems deliver an unparalleled auditory experience, ensuring that each sound is crisp, clear, and immersive. Whether you're an audiophile seeking the perfect balance of bass and treble or a casual listener looking for a quality upgrade, our speakers promise to elevate your listening journey.

From the deepest lows to the highest highs, you'll hear every detail, making your favorite songs sound fresh and vibrant again. Tune in, turn up the volume, and let the music transport you to a sonic paradise like never before.

The Hisense 65U8HQ’s audio performance truly shines, often outperforming its visual display, particularly when you avoid using Dolby Atmos mode.

With Atmos turned off, this TV delivers impressive volume levels. The front-facing main speakers ensure the sound is impactful and direct, spreading nicely across the room. The audio is rich with detail, and the dynamic mid-range adapts excellently during intense action scenes.

Dialogue is crisp and appears to come directly from the on-screen action, rather than from the speakers below the screen. Additionally, the large woofer located at the back of the 65U8HQ provides substantial, deep, and well-sustained bass.

Oddly, enabling the TV’s Dolby Atmos decoder causes the audio quality to diminish. The sound becomes more compact and loses its energy and projection, which is contrary to what you'd expect. Strangely enough, in this mode, audio appears to originate from behind the screen, despite the forward-facing speakers.

In summary, if you own a 65U8HQ, we recommend keeping the Atmos mode turned off, even if it defies conventional expectations.

Verdict

Immerse yourself in the ultimate audio experience with the latest innovation in sound technology. Whether you're a casual listener or an audiophile, our top-notch audio equipment will elevate your music enjoyment to new heights. The seamless integration of superior sound quality and user-friendly design ensures everyone can enjoy the rich, detailed audio without any hassle.

Our relentless pursuit of perfection in sound quality means you get an unparalleled auditory experience. Get ready to feel the music like never before, with every note crisp and every beat resonating perfectly. Don't miss out on transforming your listening sessions into unforgettable moments with our latest offerings. Explore the sound possibilities and upgrade your audio adventure today!

The Hisense 65U8HQ boasts premium features that position it comfortably among high-end TVs, a surprising feat for the brand. It delivers sound quality even outside Dolby Atmos mode, and its bright display and Quantum Dot colors truly shine, especially with HDR content in well-lit rooms.

However, the TV's potential is marred by issues with backlight clouding and motion handling, detracting from overall performance.