Summary
There are, in my opinion, three different kinds of TVs: those that have precise color reproduction and look fantastic in completely darkened rooms; those that have vivid color reproduction and look fantastic in well-lit rooms; and those that have poor color reproduction and look awful in any kind of space.
Positioned solidly in the center is the Hisense U8K Mini-LED. Deep color saturation is maintained in a space with plenty of ambient lighting, producing very captivating effects. Taking a break from the screen long enough to write this evaluation was difficult.
The Mini-LED Pro with Full Array Local Dimming panel, which helps the TV maintain excellent black levels in settings with greater brightness levels, and the quantum dot layer, which enables the TV to cover a groundbreaking 80% of the Rec2020 Color Space, are essential components of the U8K’s performance. The back of the screen is all business, even if the front is supposed to be a party.
Hisense U8K Mini-LED Google TV review
The Hisense U8K has drawbacks despite these admirable features. We tested a number of them, and among them were moderate input latency (13.2 ms) and rather lengthy load times while switching between streaming apps. The TV has an incredible color volume, but our Delta-E test results indicate that its accuracy of 4.46 is far from ideal.
The Hisense U8K is still among the best TVs available, and I will continue to watch it, despite these problems. However, gamers seeking the quickest response times and moviegoers seeking the most accurate color reproduction may want to consider other options, such as the LG C3 OLED or Samsung S95C OLED.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: News and updates
An upgrade for the Hisense U8K is anticipated in 2024. Hisense unveiled the new U8N model at CES 2024, which will have 3,000 nits of peak brightness, WiFi 6e, ATSC 3.0, and a refresh rate of 144 Hz. The new Hi-View Engine Pro CPU from the firm will be used by the U8N, which should aid with Google TV smart platform load times and navigation performance. Do you want to know more? View our information to the Hisense TV lineup for 2024.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Cost and availability
Along with the Hisense U7K and U6K, the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV is a part of the Hisense 2023 TV portfolio. The only model in the collection to surpass the flagship U8K is the Hisense UX, which is limited to an 85-inch screen size.
If the 65-inch screen is too big for your space, there are two more versions of the Hisense U8K review unit that we tested: a 55-inch variant and a 75-inch one. Unsure about the size to purchase? See our post on “What Size TV Should You Buy?” for some advice.
- $1,299 for a 55-inch Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV (55U8K).
- $1,699 for a 65-inch Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV (65U8K).
- $2,299 for a 75-inch Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV (75U8K).
Regarding price, the U8K is almost twice as expensive as the U8H that was launched last year. Having said that, after comparing the two, I believe the U8K is worth the extra money since Hisense has improved on almost all metrics.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Design
Hisense prioritizes functionality above form in the design of its high-end televisions. For instance, the U8K has a thick chassis for an LED-LCD TV, but this thickness houses a Mini-LED backlight, which is essential to the TV’s outstanding performance.
What is the weight of it then? This TV weighs 56.4 pounds, so installing it will probably take two people, particularly if you want to wall-mount it. Thanks to the U8K’s usage of the 400mm x 400mm VESA Wall Mount Standard, finding a mount that will accommodate the screen shouldn’t be too difficult.
Using the metal legs that come with it, you can prop it up on a table or entertainment center, as I did for our review. To fit in various locations, the U8K offers two distinct leg configurations: a broader stance and a smaller one. For optimal stability, we advise choosing the wider stance (you wouldn’t want this TV to topple over at about sixty pounds), but the narrower stance also works well.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Ports
When you turn the Hisense U8K around, you’ll discover four HDMI 2.1 ports—two of which are HDMI 2.0, one of which is eARC-compliant, and another that can support 4K/144Hz. Two USB 2.0 and 3.0 connections, digital optical audio out, an Ethernet connector, and an RF Antenna Input that links to an ATSC 3.0 tuner are also included in addition to those.
Although some of its rivals provide four full-fat HDMI 2.1 port arrays, the Hisense U8K has enough options to suit 99 percent of ordinary viewers.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Performance
I loaded up a ton of different stuff on the Hisense U8K, ranging from Zoolander in SDR on Hulu to the David Attenburough-narrated Our Planet II and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Everything was clear, vivid, and vibrant.
I began my 4K HDR testing, like I always do, by watching a Netflix nature program. The Hisense U8K performed well. The savannah’s amber tones were shown on film with great clarity, while the rainforest’s bright emerald-green coloration was quite breathtaking. There’s no denying that these colors give off a major “wow” impact while watching TV, even if they may not have been perfectly faithful to their original hues (more on this in our test findings section below).
With Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, I was able to test the TV’s dark depths and motion handling. After some adjustments, both were fantastic. Make careful to set processing to “off” or “low” for the optimal motion experience. The latter will guarantee that no scene seems unduly processed while still adding a few more frames to the fastest-moving sequences. Alter the default image option from “Energy Saving” to “Theater Day” or “Filmmaker Mode” for the greatest black levels.
Both work well.This year, Hisense has advanced its upscaling of HD/SDR video to a new level. Some SDR films from the early 2000s seem impressive for their age, despite the fact that their content hasn’t held up as well. (Zoolander, you have my attention.) Even in HD movies, there was a significant amount of grain, particularly in situations where there were both light and dark sections. However, in bright areas, everything seemed clear and sharp. While it’s still not as good as what Sony and Samsung are doing with object-based upscaling and foreground-background separation technologies, the upscaling is a significant step up over prior models.
Similar to HDR television series and films, HDR gaming is enhanced by Hisense’s game bar on the Hisense U8K. The game bar displays vital information like refresh rate and allows you to adjust the settings, such as raising the gamma when a game seems too dark. Speaking of, the Hisense U8K can easily manage 4K/120Hz from the Xbox Series X and PS5 when they’re hooked into the fourth HDMI port, but it can also support 144Hz if you connect it to a gaming PC.
The only drawback is that as you go off-axis, colors will become less saturated. While this is not particularly unexpected given the prevalence of Mini-LED TVs, Hisense and other firms will need to make improvements in this area to stay competitive with LG and Samsung’s constantly evolving OLED and QD-OLED technologies.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Test Findings
We pitted the Hisense U8K against its most formidable rivals using the Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays, an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, and a SpectraCal VideoForge Pro pattern generator to get some quantitative testing data: the
TCL QM8, LG C3 OLED, and QLED TV Samsung QN90C.
It would be an understatement to say that we are astonished by the Hisense U8K’s test findings. This TV matches and surpasses the far more costly Samsung QN90C in important areas such as SDR brightness and color saturation. Hisense is always the underdog in stories like this one, which is almost like David and Goliath.
The Hisense U8K only underperformed in two areas: input latency and color accuracy (Delta-E), where it received the lowest score out of the four TVs we evaluated. For the former, colors will seem less natural even when they are vivid. Since anything less than 20 milliseconds is regarded as almost undetectable, the latter isn’t a major concern, but it does indicate that serious gamers would be better off using one of the other TVs on the table.
Our testing indicates that the TCL QM8 QLED TV is the main rival of the Hisense U8K. Another member of our team is now reviewing that screen; once that review is complete, we will publish a full-on vs article between them.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Audio
When it comes to sound quality, the Hisense U8K doesn’t cut corners. Its 2.1.2 speaker system is strong enough for the majority of medium-sized living rooms, although it lacks a little bit in the clarity category.
The audio effects from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves filled the area and the music sounded perfectly clear. Dialogue was a little bit tougher to hear in the device’s stock Standard audio mode. However, using the Enhanced Dialogue audio option aligned the midrange with the strong upper and lower sonic range.
There was some height to Dolby Atmos audio files played on the Hisense U8K’s speakers, but not nearly as much as you would get from a specialized Dolby Atmos sound system or even one of the greatest soundbars. For the optimum audio experience, we would still advise getting one of them.
The Hisense U8K’s speaker system may suffice if you can’t afford to upgrade now, but eventually you’ll undoubtedly want to switch to a soundbar.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV’s interface and applications
For good reason, every TV maker is moving to Google TV for its smart platform: it’s easy to use, elegant, and functional. It displays material from every reputable video app as soon as it becomes available, and the more you use it, the better its sophisticated recommendation system becomes. Without a doubt, in 2023, Google TV will be the most competitive smart TV platform.
Finding anything to watch is a rather easy process as long as you stay on the home screen. But, you may notice some lengthier load times if you start switching between apps. Although these wait periods didn’t detract from our experience, we are a bit worried that they could become worse as the TV gets older.
When it comes to app selection, Google TV has everything one could want, and the Hisense U8K’s Google TV offers an amazing experience straight out of the box.
Review of the Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Remote
It’s not all bad news that the U8K’s pack-in remote hasn’t changed throughout the years. While LG bundles a motion control that looks like a Wii with its OLED TVs, the U8K comes with a straightforward Bluetooth voice remote that has hot buttons to the most widely used streaming services and an integrated microphone. Put simply, it’s a dependable remote, if not very inventive.
Although the remote is comfortable to hold, Hisense could have included a remote finding function in case it gets misplaced within the sofa.
Having said that, this Hisense remote lacks some of the ingenuity seen in, instance, Samsung’s latest remotes, which can now draw power from both RF radiation from your Wi-Fi network and sunshine. Although the U8K’s remote is simple, it does the job.
Review of Hisense U8K Mini-LED TV: Conclusion
For the price, I think the Hisense U8K is a very good performance. For just more than $1,000, it has excellent features and flawless performance. Those of us who like to be amazed every time we switch on a TV will most likely find this TV appealing. While the U8K’s oversaturated image is captivating and hard to look away from, accurate colors are still excellent.
While rivals like TCL and Samsung have shown that they can get high brightness from TVs with comparable specs, only Hisense has perfected the combination of vibrant images and high brightness at an affordable price. The U8K is unquestionably excellent if you’re searching for a high-end TV without the high-end sticker tag.
