Hisense U8Q review: Brightness brilliance

If there's one brand that's been tearing a hole in the TV status quo, it's Hisense. Now claiming to be the global number 1 for TVs over 100-inches, it's a company that has gained a reputation for offering great value, without the sort of spec sheet compromises that are found elsewhere.

For example, Samsung doesn't support Dolby Vision, LG doesn't support HDR10+, some flagship models only have two HDMI 2.1 ports, the list goes on. Hisense, in the U8Q, basically has everything. It's a specs monster.

The 'U' in the name indicates ULED – meaning 'Ultra LED', but what's more typically called Mini-LED – for the 8-series, which places this TV at the top of Hisense's range. The 'Q', meanwhile, indicates the year – in this case 2025-6.

All of which makes the U8Q – or U8QG as it's called in the USA – the company's flagship TV. But it this one of the best TVs out there?

Price & Availability

The Hisense U8Q was announced in May 2025 and has been available since that summer. I've tested it in the 65-inch size, priced at £1,299 / €1,850 / $1,489 / AU$2,800 at the time of writing – but it launched at £2,199, so it's been reduced by around 40%.

It's also available in 55-, 75-, 85- and 100-inch sizes, although not all will be available in all regions. The 55-inch model is currently available for £899 from Currys which is a competitive price considering what you get for the money. Thankfully, this model has decent discounts at all sizes.

What's New?

• Brighter with more dimming zones
• New Devialet sound system
• Better support for gamers

The Hisense U8Q updates and replaces the Hisense U8N from 2024, while offering very much the same proposition – high-end Mini-LED performance. There's been a range of sweeping improvements to the panel used in this TV, boosting the brightness and the contrast.

The refresh rate now sits at 165Hz over the 144Hz of the previous model, while there are 2048 dimming zones – increased over the 1600 previously. That accounts for the higher contrast, while the brightness increases from 3000 nits to 4000 nits.

There awre now three HDMI 2.1 (compared to two previously), which is great for gamers, while the sound system has been reconfigured with Devialet tuning – so it now offers 80W output compared to 60W. There's stronger Wi-Fi, too, while the TV's design is also slimmer than before.

Design

• Central stand
• Solar remote

The Hisense U8Q is pretty hefty compared to high-end OLED models, with Mini-LED requiring a little more depth than self-emitting screen technologies. This TV is, however, a little slimmer and lighter than the model that came before it, despite packing in more speakers.

That's influenced the design too, with a pair of drivers on the rear to boost the bass delivery, while the sides of the TV have a recessed and angled frame, allowing forward protection of the sound from speakers in the edge.

There's a central hexagonal stand, which is always welcomed on a larger TV. As I found with the Sony Bravia 8 II – where the feet are on the extreme ends – it's difficult to find a stand to fit it on. Not so with the Hisense U8Q, which like most of its contemporaries, picks a central position instead. That stand also offers two different heights, which is ideal if you want to add one of the best soundbars.

The remote doesn’t quite exhibit the same aesthetics as the television, taking on a rather long and cluttered design. It looks so big because it has a solar panel at the base to provide charging from ambient light, while there's also a USB-C port for those who live in the dark.

Rather than opting for a minimalist remote, Hisense has gone all-in with lots of buttons. It's a little old school, but some will prefer this, as it's better for direct TV control. My favourite is the "info" button that will call up the specs from some inputs – so you can see the quality that you're watching.

But the most frustrating thing about the remote is the play/pause button, as this doesn't actually pause. Instead, it opens an on-screen controller, where you have to press "ok" to pause. It means that pausing a show can take a couple of button presses – exactly what you don't want.

Picture Quality

• 2048 dimming zones (for 65-inch, as reviewed)
• 4000 nits peak brightness
• Dolby Vision & HDR10+

Hisense has done a lot to push Mini-LED as an alternative to more costly OLED models, leveraging the higher brightness as a way to showcase that this technology can offer better performance in bright conditions.

Wide support for HDR formats is to Hisense's credit, with Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. While both these technologies were the latest standards until late 2025, the recent evolution of HDR10+ Advanced highlights (pardon the pun) a problem with the tech – it can be too dark.

That's where Hisense's picture modes come to the fore, offering various tweaks on the format. There are multiple options when watching HDR10+ content, from Filmmaker Mode (which eliminates all processing) back to a Standard mode (that's brighter), Cinema mode, and more. For Dolby Vision watchers, there's IQ, Dark and Custom – the idea in Custom being that you can tweak the settings yourself.

That allows an easy sidestep to get a brighter HDR picture if you feel it's too dark, without having to adjust a whole collection of settings every time. This is great for those who sometimes watch in bright conditions, sometimes in the dark. Of course, there are a lot of settings to tweak to get the picture to your liking.

Filmmaker Mode can look a little flat to my eyes – and I've had better results tweaking the Standard Mode instead. It's naturally more contrasty, with the risk that some darker scenes can be too dark, losing grip on the texture that's supposed to be in there. It's worth playing with the Adaptive Contrast Settings (and turn it down), as this gives a more natural picture in Standard Mode.

The high number of dimming zones are hard at work to ensure great contrast when need – and it's generally a success. Blooming is kept under control, although I detected some lightening of the bars top and bottom when watching in 16:9 on scenes where bright content was right against these edges.

It’s also worth tweaking the motion smoothing when not in Filmmaker Mode. I used the Custom setting and tweaked things down a little, but there's the flexibility to find a balance that suits your preference. Generally, however, the picture performance of the U8Q is very good.

I tested the TV with a broad range of streaming services as well as Ultra HD Blu-ray and broadcast TV through Freely. Remember that each different source gets its own settings and it's well worth tweaking the settings for standard definition and dynamic range content to reduce the motion smoothing for a more natural look.

Upscaling is generally well handled, although the brightening that comes in through the "Peak Brightness" setting might push things to look unnatural and highlight noise and imperfections. I found that dropping this to lower settings generally gave better results – but again, it depends on preference and the content that you are watching.

There's a glossy screen here, which is treated with an anti-reflective finish, which can't quite deal with local reflections quite as adeptly as the Samsung QN90F (Samsung's rivalling Mini-LED model), but given the high brightness, it's able to cut through the worst of the reflections for great daytime viewing.

Sound Quality

• 80W Devialet sound system
• Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X support

Like rival TCL, Hisense is turning to a major audio brand to boost its sound offering – Devialet, in this case. The U8Q houses a 4.1.2 channel system, distributing the speakers to create a more immersive soundscape.

As I previously mentioned: there's a pair of woofers on the back of the TV; four channels for front, left and right; the bass; and then two height channels. On playing DTS or Dolby Atmos content, a logo will appear on the screen to tell you the TV is decoding that content.

It's backed up by a range of sound modes. Often in TVs these don't do much because of the limitations of the speakers, but in the case of the Hisense U8Q there's enough hardware to be effective. Theatre provides a more immersive soundstage, while Late Night reduces bassy tones that might disturb others trying to sleep.

The sound performance is better than average for a TV: it doesn’t reach to the quality the Panasonic Z95B offers, but some viewers will be happy to just use the speakers as is. More discerning watchers will get a better result pairing with a soundbar, however.

Speaking of which, there are three HDMI 2.1 connections, all supporting 165Hz – which is great for gamers. One of these (HDMI 3) carries the eARC connection to external sound systems, so even those with a couple of consoles to connect will benefit from full-bandwidth HDMI.

User interface

• VIDAA OS
• Freely

Hisense is going its own way when it comes to the user interface, with its own VIDAA OS.

This is a fairly clean interface that I've found to be pretty fast. To avoid accusations that it doesn't support popular voice systems, it offers Hisense's own, as well as Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, should you choose to set those up.

All the major streaming services are in place, as well as the UK catch-up services, here linking into the Freely platform. Freely is rapidly gaining popularity, as it will let you watch live TV without an aerial, so for those who want to put a TV in the kitchen, all you need is Wi-Fi and a plug socket

While that solves an installation problem, Freely is a little slow to navigate and switch channels. It doesn't have the same number of channels as Freeview does either. It's a minor point, and there is a Freeview tuner if you prefer to use it, but I have found overall that Freely better suits my needs.

Hisense U8Q review: Verdict

The Hisense U8Q offers a premium Mini-LED experience to rival flagship models in a number of areas, while offering a slightly more approachable price. The biggest barrier to its success is the even more affordable TCL C8K.

The picture quality doesn't quite reach the heady highs of OLED and, unlike other top models, it feels like there's a little more tweaking to be done to avoid the extremes of either crushed blacks through pushing contrast too far, or desaturated colours because the brightness has been ramped up.

But for those wanting great connectivity, good performance both from sound and vision, at a cheaper price than a typical flagship TV, then the Hisense U8Q puts in a good showing. It's a brilliant bright room solution with high-spec audio-visual formats well and truly under its belt.

Also consider

The TCL C8K is a natural rival to the Hisense U8Q, as both use Mini-LED technology with high brightness and plenty of dimming zones. The TCL is a little cheaper while offering a great experience, the downside being that the Google TV interface it uses doesn't support Freely.

From the big-name brands, the Samsung QN90F is the Mini-LED rival with a glare-free matte display. However, some might feel that matte displays don't look quite as sharp, while it's not as bright either – and, being a Samsung, lacks Dolby Vision support.

Elsewhere, the LG OLED C5's price isn't too far off, offering an uptick in the picture performance, a much slimmer build, but an interface that's a little more fiddly, with weaker sound, and no Freely or HDR10+ support.