Hisense 65U8HQTUK Review: Quantum 4K HDR10+ TV

Hisense has plenty to prove on Mini-LED, and the 65U8HQ sets out to be an affordable route into the technology with clear generational progress. This review is based on that published test, not on a hands-on trial of our own.

Above a certain price, design and build quality cannot be neglected, and the 65U8HQ is a big, imposing set — over 31 kg on the scales — yet keeps a slim profile at just 78 mm thick. Finishes are good overall, though the central pedestal mount is questionable: in two parts, it needs a dozen screws to fix a plastic plate with metal supports to the set before a heavy metal plate is added as the foot, so installation is a little more involved than on most televisions, and the plastics and machining look fairly crude. The system allows no flex — no forward or backward tilt, no rotation — and the set still shifts slightly when handled. Cables route through the plate, hidden by a clip-on cover for a tidy finish, though reaching that central channel to add a cable is awkward given the set's size. The rear materials feel more substantial than on the older 65U8QF, and the audio hardware — a rear woofer and a front soundbar — is neatly integrated. From the front the pedestal is as discreet as can be, allowing a compact 300 mm depth, and the slim frame and integrated soundbar leave the picture centre stage.

Connectivity covers the essentials: four HDMI ports (two 2.1 and two 2.0) allow 4K gaming at 120 Hz along with ALLM, VRR and eARC on one port, joined by a composite input, a headphone jack, an optical audio output and two USB ports. There is an Ethernet socket, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth, and the tuners handle analogue, digital, satellite and cable. Hisense again builds in a soundbar, a 2.1.2 system rated at 70 W with two 20 W speakers, a 20 W woofer and two 5 W up-firing drivers, with Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X support. It goes loud and fills the room impressively for a built-in system, but lacks precision out of the box: the "voice and dialogue" option clearly helps ordinary viewing, while the film and music presets want for relief and punchy bass until you reach for the equaliser and bass boost. Dedicated soundbars do better, but few televisions at this price offer audio this well-equipped alongside a Mini-LED panel.

Vidaa, Hisense's smart platform, has been handsomely reworked; version 6.0 is far more intuitive and modern, clear to navigate, customisable once you sign into a Vidaa account, with a steadily growing app library. The one snag in use is the hands-free mode: the Vidaa Voice assistant kept starting for no reason, to the point of being disabled, though Amazon and Google assistants are supported for anyone who prefers them. The remote is plastic and not backlit — classic, if different from before — and rather long, carrying no fewer than 12 shortcut buttons to third-party services, which is a lot of space given to apps many owners will rarely use.

Unlike its American counterpart, the 65U8HQ uses an IPS panel rather than VA, backlit by 2,560 mini-LEDs with local dimming across 180 zones. That brings wide viewing angles and a consistently bright image, but limits black levels, with native contrast measured at just 1,144:1. Local dimming transforms that: on the "strong" setting black luminance falls dramatically and brightness almost trebles, lifting measured contrast to 71,848:1, against 49,259:1 on medium and only 2,450:1 on low — so the picture gains real depth in dark scenes from the second level up. Mini-LED brings LCD blacks far closer to OLED than before, though some contained blooming appears in HDR depending on viewing angle, along with a little "dirty screen effect" on greys and slight gradient banding; there is no clouding or light leakage, and in normal use these flaws largely go unnoticed. Video processing, handled by the Quad Core Hi-View Engine, has improved with AI assistance, but upscaling is not yet as precise as some equally priced rivals manage. Motion compensation is on by default even in Filmmaker mode, since the set otherwise shows judder on tracking shots; engaged, it smooths the image at the cost of a mild camcorder effect that will bother purists. Peak brightness and an anti-reflective filter make for good daytime viewing, even in a bright room, though the coating handles dark content less well, and an ambient light sensor adapts the backlight to conditions.

HDR is where the U8HQ excels, roughly doubling its peak brightness to 1,650 nits on a 10% window and 1,800 nits on a 25% window. Crucially, Hisense supports both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision — an edge over Samsung and LG — and colour accuracy is excellent, with an average DeltaE of 2.02, Rec. 2020 coverage of 76.38% and DCI-P3 at 95.07%, the Quantum Dot technology delivering on its promise. For gaming it is fully kitted out: two HDMI 2.1 inputs for 4K at 120 Hz, VRR with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, ALLM and a game mode that drops input lag from 110.2 ms to a respectable 14.8 ms. On power, it is not especially greedy at default settings, though the draw more than doubles once local dimming is set to medium or high, and standby, usually under 0.5 W, showed odd spikes of up to 15 W when off.

Hisense has pulled out the stops to build a television worthy of the big sporting occasions without neglecting film or gaming, raising its game on almost every front while keeping the price keen. Despite a panel that lacks contrast by default and a coating less effective than some, the U8HQ comes through with flying colours thanks to Mini-LED backlighting and well-judged local dimming that yields a dynamic image ideal for HDR. No set is perfect — the contained blooming and occasional non-uniformity remain — and the video processing, much improved, still stops short of excellence. This is a carefully made television with a few weaknesses, but a quality-to-price-to-size ratio that rivals struggle to match: it imitates the high-end competition without being a mere ersatz, pairing sound and image at a reasonable standard for a very attractive price.