Amazon's Black Friday sale is going strong, and one discount in particular will appeal to those on the hunt for a new TV – the Hisense U8N 65-inch Mini LED TV has now hit its lowest-ever price on Amazon, where it’s now available for £800. That’s down from £889, and a significant drop from its £1800 launch price.
The U8N earned a solid four-star rating from when we put the 65-inch model through our vigorous testing room gauntlet earlier this year, revealing it to be a substantial step forward for Hisense's Mini LED offering. While it stops short of the five-star excellence demanded of the very best TVs, it proved to be a well-balanced performer that delivers strong results once properly calibrated.
Central to the U8N's appeal is its Mini LED panel equipped with 1600 dimming zones and a claimed 3000 nits of peak brightness – a considerable upgrade over the previous Hisense U8K's 1008 zones and 1500-nit specification. The TV uses Quantum Dot technology and Hisense's custom Hi View Pro image processor, which the manufacturer claims offers significantly more advanced local dimming control than rivals.
Gaming credentials are strong too, with the U8N supporting 4K/144Hz for PC gamers and 4K/120Hz with Dolby Vision gaming for console players. The set supports all current HDR standards, including HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, plus IMAX Enhanced content. Two of its four HDMI ports operate at the full 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 specification, though one doubles as an eARC connection for soundbar users.
Where the U8N particularly impressed our reviewers was in its picture quality once we moved away from the overbaked out-of-box settings. In our recommended Filmmaker mode with adjustments (Local Dimming set to High, Adaptive Contrast in Low, motion processing in Film mode and Colour Profile on Warm 2), the TV delivered a balanced image with solid black levels, accurate colours and excellent detail retention.
Playing demanding 4K content, including Top Gun: Maverick and Blade Runner 2049, the U8N demonstrated strong contrast without the blooming issues that often plague Mini LED sets. Whites remained controlled, and bright scenes retained plenty of detail. Shadow detail proved impressive too, with every wrinkle and texture visible even in darkly-lit sequences.
The U8N also excelled at upscaling, handling our True Grit test disc with wonderfully accurate processing that retained both shadow detail and the film's intentional grain. This talent extended to streaming 1080p content, where shows looked sharper without losing their sense of realism.
The trade-off for these strengths is that the U8N doesn't quite match the perfect blacks, pixel-level contrast control or vibrant colours of step-down OLED rivals, including the LG C4 and Sony A80L, the latter of which is now available for only a few hundred pounds more. Motion handling also showed minor issues during particularly challenging sequences, with the occasional ghost frame visible during quick panning shots.
Build quality proves robust, with the TV feeling well-constructed and durable, though its stand lacks a swivel mechanism – a minor annoyance when accessing rear ports. The UK model runs Hisense's VIDAA U7.6 operating system, which provides apps for all major streaming services including Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, plus a Freely tuner and catch-up apps for BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and My5.
The in-built 2.1.2 speaker system supporting DTS:X, IMAX DTS and Dolby Atmos delivers acceptable performance at sensible volumes, but quickly becomes strained above 50 per cent, with distortion and rattle creeping in. Most users will want to pair the U8N with one of the best soundbars for a truly immersive experience.
Still, at £800, the U8N represents excellent value for a Mini LED TV with this level of performance, particularly for those who want high peak brightness and strong gaming features.
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