Hisense has a lot to offer for budget-conscious buyers. This 55U8HQ, for example, does not only come out with mini LEDs and quantum dots, but also with universal HDR support, a solid audio configuration and a lot of gamer features.
Hisense 55U8HQ
Price: 999 euros
What: Ultra HD LCD TV (MiniLED FALD, 14×8 zones, Quantum Dot)
Screen size: 55 in (139 cm), flat
Connections: 4x HDMI (2x V2.0, 2x V2.1 eARC/ARC, ALLM, VRR, 4K120), 1x composite video, 1x stereo minijack, 1x optical digital out, 2x USB, 1x headphones, 2x antenna, bluetooth
Extras: Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+ Adaptive, HDR10, HLG, WiFi (802.11b/g/n/ac/ax) built-in, VIDAA U6 OS, USB/DLNA media player, DVB-T2/C/S2, CI+ slot
Dimensions: 1,233 x 784 x 300mm (incl. foot)
Weight: 24.5 kg (incl. feet)
Consumption: SDR 82 (G) / HDR 170 watts (G)
9 Score 90 
- Pros
- Price
- A lot of brightness
- Beautiful, wide color range
- Handsome HDR images
- Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+
- VIDAA U is user-friendly and smooth
- Very good audio performance, Dolby Atmos
- HDMI 2.1 with all gamer features
- Negatives
- Moderate contrast
- Local dimming zones sometimes visible in HDR
- VIDAA You are still missing some local streaming apps
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Mini LEDs make the operation of the backlight more efficient, but they are by no means a guarantee for a slim device. Witness to this is this Hisense, which has a profile of almost eight centimeters. Hisense has done its best to make it a little more elegant. The dark silver frame with slightly beveled edges, the fabric cover of the speaker bar at the bottom of the device, those details give the design some flair. The TV stands firmly on a wide foot plate, but we find that the neck can still flex quite hard in front and back.
Now also with HDMI 2.1
Last year the Hisense models we tested still had to make do with HDMI 2.0, this year there are two HDMI 2.1 connections available. They provide 48 Gbps bandwidth, and therefore support 4K120.
Hisense has thought of the gamers, also ALLM and VRR (HDMI VRR and AMD Freesync) are available and the input lag of 7.6 ms (2K120) and 16.5 ms (4K60) are excellent. The combination of Dolby Vision and 4K120 is also possible. ARC/eARC is available on one of the HDMI 2.1 connections. Now the audio performance is very good, as we will see later, but if you still want external audio, you only have one HDMI 2.1 connection.
The list of connections also includes two HDMI 2.0 connections, two USB slots, a composite video and stereo cinch input, headphones and optical digital audio output, Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth. Please note, a USB port, the Ethernet port and the optical digital audio output point to the back.
Because they are somewhat recessed in the chassis, the chance of wall mounting is less real. The device has a DVB-T/T2/C tuner, a DVB-S/S2 tuner and a CI+ slot. You can pause and/or record live TV with an external USB hard drive.
VIDAA U, a smart TV system with a future
In essence, we only require four things from a smart TV system. It must work smoothly, so the interface must respond quickly. It should be clear so that you don’t have to click endlessly to get anywhere. You have to be able to personalize it, after all, everyone has their own favorites. And it should support as comprehensive a list of the most important and popular apps as possible.
With that in mind, we can give VIDAA good points. The interface works very smoothly, also in the settings menu. The Home screen is clear, with a row of apps in the center of the screen. You can adjust that row so that your favorite apps are first. With some apps, such as Netflix, a row of recommendations will appear as soon as you select the app tile. Further down there are recommendations from various streaming services. That’s less useful, but it doesn’t bother either.
Good points so far. For personalization we score VIDAA U average, that part is only moderate with most systems. You can set user profiles, but as mentioned on the Home screen you can only edit the row of apps.
And then there’s the offer. That is excellent for international services. There’s YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, but no HBO Max yet. There is still room for improvement in local services. The Netherlands is already reasonably well served: NPO Start, KIJK, and NLziet. In Belgium, the offer is still empty, but Streamz and VTM Go are reportedly in the pipeline.
The new Hisense remote took us by surprise. Rather than being more compact and, above all, simpler, it goes back in the direction of more keys, namely no less than twelve shortcuts for apps. We think that’s really exaggerated, especially since it’s unlikely you’ll actually use all twelve.
We can be clear about the lower part of the remote. It looks old-fashioned, but the layout is good, the keys have a pleasant, light touch and the icons or inscriptions are clear. He doesn’t deserve bad points, but he doesn’t deserve good points either.
Limited number of dimming zones
Mini LEDs and local dimming are often guarantees for excellent contrast, but a lot also depends on the type of LCD panel. For this 55U8HQ that is an ADS panel, a variant of IPS. It is therefore no surprise when we measure an ANSI contrast of 1160:1, which is quite typical for such a panel.
How much can local dimming improve that? The number of zones is in any case quite limited, 14×8 (112). In Filmmaker mode (SDR) we get 1740:1 to 2100:1. That’s not a big improvement, but the dimming algorithm does keep zone boundaries well hidden, while you get a lot of shadow nuances.
A soft halo around large bright objects against dark backgrounds is inevitable, but that is much less disturbing than a visible zone boundary. Light accents are understandably dimmed.
You can get even better black and contrast by setting Local Dimming to the medium position, but then it is possible that you sometimes see a zone boundary.
In HDR Filmmaker mode, the TV is reaching the limits of its contrast. Quite a bit of black detail disappears and the TV cannot avoid seeing zone boundaries if the background is very dark. Still, the Hisense has significant advantages for HDR.
For starters, it supports all major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. The mini LEDs deliver 1,440 nits of peak brightness on a 10% window and 588 nits on a completely white screen. And thanks to the quantum dots, it has a color range of 96% P3, which is without a doubt excellent. The tone mapping also intervenes very well, so that even on very clearly mastered images, it still gives many shades of white and excellent colors.
In predominantly clear and colorful images, the Hisense therefore achieves above-average performance. The calibration of the HDR Filmmaker mode is also very good, with only some oversaturated red tones. In SDR, the Filmmaker mode has a red tint in the grayscale, which is visible, for example, in skin tones that look a bit too red.
Image processing
Good news, Hisense has fixed some of the minor image processing flaws we saw on their models last year. This means that they are already very close to what we see with other brands. The deinterlacing of 1080i images is good, the processor eliminates random noise quite well and the upscaling creates relatively soft images, although that is not a disadvantage. You can almost never undo images that are too sharp, while here you can give the image a little more spice with a little extra sharpness.
Blocking due to heavy video compression and color streaks in soft gradients remain a weaker point. The processor cannot combat it effectively. The 120 Hz screen delivers good motion sharpness, which sports fans and gamers will appreciate. The TV has a black frame insertion option, but that did not provide extra detail and cost some brightness. The motion interpolation shows that the processor could use some extra muscle power. In fast pans, the image still stutters, and there are relatively many image errors.
Strong performance for movie sound
The visual inspection of the device already reveals a hefty audio configuration. Not only is there the front-firing speaker bar at the bottom of the screen, but there’s also a woofer module in the back and even upward-firing speakers at the top of the rear. Together good for 70 Watts of power and the TV supports Dolby Atmos and DTS HD.
After a whole series of film fragments and pieces of music, we are convinced, this is more than we expected, especially for this category. Switch to Dolby Atmos (instead of DTS Virtual X) in the settings for a more pleasant, fuller sound and test which preset you prefer to hear. The set produces ample volume and does not go into distortion quickly, with a very burly bass line (sometimes a bit too intense even), and a good surround experience. Only the Atmos height effect was less intense than expected.
Conclusion
Hisense puts in an excellent performance with the 55U8HQ, and that for a very competitive price. With the negatives, we have to point out the moderate contrast, and the local dimming, which can be somewhat visible in dark HDR images. But don’t let that discourage you.
The 55U8HQ is perfectly at ease in a lit living room where bright content is predominant. There he can optimally play out its solid brightness, wide color range and universal HDR support. The screen also has a fairly wide viewing angle.
The powerful audio performance leaves an excellent impression. VIDAA U is a great smart TV system, although it still lags a little behind the competition when it comes to support for local apps.
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