You want an affordable 4K TV that supports all the main HDR formats: One great aspect about the U8Q is that it fits in all the main HDR formats and has enough brightness to make HDR content pop. If you are looking for an LED LCD TV for dim room critical movie viewing the Hisense U8QF is not the TV for you and you will probably need to search out a higher-priced LCD model or consider an OLED. It is not an enthusiasts TV and there are better options if you can spend a little more.

Let’s start with the issue that caused the most grief with previous Hisense sets: motion. Initially the U7Q’s motion remained awkward and in Dolby Vision films there was smearing at the slightest of movements.The remote is a slim effort but too compact for my liking. Buttons are smushed close together and if you have sizeable digits such as myself, you’ll jab at the wrong button with regularity. It’s also not the most responsive, which doesn’t help. Netflix, Prime Video, Rakuten TV, YouTube and Freeview Play have dedicated buttons, so you can hotfoot to the service you fancy. Hisense U8Q features — Covers the basics for picture and gaming

Updates have made the U7QF better, but not completely absolved it of motion handling issues. It lags behind other manufacturers in this regard. All forms of HDR are supported in HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Hisense says the panel can achieve a peak brightness of 1000 nits, but I’d imagine it’s less than that figure. Nevertheless, there’s a brightness and punchiness to 4K HDR sources that gives a good impression of what HDR can do. The Hisense U7QF is a very good midrange LED LCD that uses Quantum Dot technology and also has Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HLG and HDR10 capabilities along with Dolby Atmos sound onboard. The smart TV system is intuitive and fast with a decent selection of apps as well as Freeview Play and all the UK catch-up services. Gaming input lag is also decent at 17ms but it doesn’t have all the HDMI 2.1 goods for VRR or ALLM.

Whether looking at the dim bulbs of a pub, car headlights gleaming after dark, or the daylight cascading through an office window, this Hisense set was fully able to focus up to 700 nits peak brightness where it mattered, without notable blooming in surrounding pixels. 700 nits isn’t incredibly high, of course, compared to the 1,000-2,000 nits of some new Samsung TVs, but the U7QF knows what to do with what it’s given. Available in 50-, 55- and 65-inch models, the U7Q has an understated appearance. The bezel around the top and sides is thin, met by a discrete silver trim at the bottom. The chassis is made from plastic, and in terms of depth it’s surprisingly slim. The U-shaped central stand is made from aluminium, but it’s sturdy and supports the set well. This cookie is a performance cookie used for internal Bazaarvoice web analytics, to be correlated to the same user for interactions within a particular client domain. This cookie is set by Bazaarvoice. This is a session cookie used for internal Bazaarvoice web analytics to be correlated to the same user browsing session for interactions within a particular client domain.

It has a strong feature set and performs fairly well in some aspects, but the smeary motion undoes a lot of the good work the set does elsewhere. HDR peak brightness and full-field numbers are impressive and in a normal living room that offers excellent levels of dynamics and a rich colourful performance with most content. Only really dark scenes will catch out the U8QF and its aggressive local dimming. SDR content from everyday TV viewing is also very good with a fairly accurate image out of the box with very nice looking colours and no obvious issues. The performance is decent and best suited for broadcast as it serves up clear dialogue quality. It’s also offers decent panning across the soundstage, as well as offering some specificity in terms of where sounds emanate from. HD is a step up in all regards. Colours are better defined and there’s more fine detail for a pleasing picture. There’s a bit of noise around faces, noticeably with wrinkles, and while it’s not the sharpest, it is a satisfactory looking image.The U8Q does not factor in HDMI 2.1, so remove VRR, ALLM, HFR (4K@120Hz) and eARC from the equation. There are no buzz-worthy modes in Filmmaker Mode or Dolby Vision IQ either, so if you’re not concerned by any of those features here’s what the U8Q has to offer. It’s most evident during a stream of a Premier League match on Prime Video. The jerky nature of the image is never fully resolved regardless of which Ultra Smooth Motion mode is used, or whether the de-judder setting is customised. Smooth or Standard are your best bets, but the slight blur and jittery motion that still pervades is distracting.