The Hisense U8QG is one of the smartest TV buys I can recommend
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The 65-inch Hisense U8QG is on sale for $1,300 off during Best Buy’s Presidents’ Day sale event, bringing the price to just $860.
If you’re up to speed on modern TV tech, then you might know the difference between OLED and QLED, and perhaps how Mini-LED fits into the ecosystem of television research and development. You might’ve even heard of QD-OLED and Micro-LED as envelope-pushing technologies that will forever change our viewing experience.
According to Hisense, ULED (or Ultra LED) is the company’s proprietary “ultimate viewing experience… that combines 20 different patents to create the most vivid and true-to-life viewing experience.” It deploys these technologies across four key areas: Ultra Local Dimming, Ultra Wide Color Gamut, Ultra 4K Resolution, and Ultra Smooth Motion Rate.
TV marketing nomenclature can get further convoluted because, while you won’t find Hisense’s competitors using the term “ULED” to describe their new models, the 2025 Hisense sub-flagship U8QG also categorizes itself as a Mini-LED and QLED (Quantum Dot) television. So many labels.
Yet most consumers only want to know a couple of things: How do all these labels translate into performance and value? And how does this model stack up to others? I tested the 65-inch Hisense U8QG
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Three HDMI ports are great, especially since the U8QG has a 165Hz native refresh rate, an upgrade from the 144Hz rate in 2024’s U8N model. However, four ports are becoming the standard among premium TVs because you’re likely to use three ports with a gaming console, an external speaker/soundbar, and a streaming device, if not a cable or satellite box. Four ports permit a new level of versatility, from a second gaming system to a laptop connection or a digital camera, and the U8QG falls just short of that versatility.
Having said that, the U8QG is the first Hisense TV to include a USB-C port that can act as an alternate display port for PC gamers, which is quite cool.
How does ULED really look?
When I first powered on the U8QG, the retail mode demos on its screen were arresting. Waterfalls of color and light poured vertically through a montage of imagery that I would call captivating. This is a 4K TV, but when playing high-res video, it looked 8K, at least to my human eye. So let’s break down those four components that Hisense celebrates with the term “Ultra.”
‘Ultra Local Dimming’ in action
This is where the U8QG’s mini-LED aspect really shines (literally) because thousands of tiny LEDs can be controlled with exquisite precision. This means deeper blacks that are actually black, not a murky gray positioned right next to bright, punchy highlights.
The contrast is striking. During a particularly dark scene in “Alien: Romulus,” the U8QG rendered the inky blackness of space with an intensity that can give an OLED a serious run for its money. The distant stars and nebulae popped with brilliant, well-defined light with minimal blooming or haloing around bright objects on dark backgrounds.
Chris Bayer/ZDNET
While it’s not magic (you won’t mistake an old DVD for a 4K Blu-ray), the U8QG’s MediaTek Pentonic 800 chip sharpens and cleans up lower-resolution sources effectively, making them far more appealing on a 4K canvas.
Ultimately, with 8.3 million pixels, we can expect sharp visuals and crisp contrast, and this is the case with all 4K TVs. But as far as I can tell, the “Ultra” part of Hisense’s branding refers to additional technologies it uses to enhance picture quality (like Noise Reduction, Detail Enhancement, and Dynamic Tone Mapping for HDR). Not to dismiss or demystify the term “ULED,” but I want to be clear that it does not describe a whole new category of contemporary TV technology.
Sports and gaming
One way I like to assess motion rate on a TV is to watch NFL (or any sports) highlights, especially of long downfield passes. For the U8QG, the spiraling launches from quarterbacks were fairly tight in terms of blur, and there was almost zero blur trailing the running players. Frantic action sequences in all the footage I sampled retained their impact without devolving into a juddery mess.
Gamers, too, will appreciate the U8QG’s responsiveness, especially with features like ALLM, Game Mode Ultra (another “Ultra”), and AMD FreeSync PremiumPro — all included to enhance fast-action content. Any TV that offers a variable refresh rate (VRR) of 288Hz for gaming has an edge on its contenders, which very well might convert to an edge for you as a gamer. The U8QG reaches this potential, and that puts it in the upper echelon for motion clarity and smoothness in the consumer TV space. And that’s “Ultra” enough for me.
A word on sound performance
The on-device sound quality of the U8QG was surprisingly robust. While it won’t replace a dedicated soundbar or surround sound system for true audiophiles, the 4.1.2 multi-channel speakers deliver clear dialogue and a decent amount of bass for everyday viewing. But as I cranked up the volume, I did notice some rattling bass that the hardware in this TV can’t overcome.
ZDNET’s buying advice
If you’re looking for deep blacks and vibrant colors on a TV that holds up well in ambient light without the price tag of an OLED screen, then the Hisense U8QG
This story was originally published on June 6, 2025, and was updated on July 9, 2025, adding information for a new Prime Day discount.
