Conversations around the best TVs for gaming – those offering HDMI 2.1 connections and dedicated, dynamic gaming modes – are typically dominated by Samsung and LG. But in the U8NAU Mini-LED TV, Hisense has a strong and worthy competitor with a clear advantage on price tag. If you’re looking for a solid gaming TV, and particularly if you’re upgrading from an old model, the U8NAU is a fantastic option that won’t break the bank for the features it offers.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve been reviewing the 75U8NAU – the hefty 75-inch U8NAU variant – and I’ve been mightily impressed by the TV’s capabilities, particularly while reviewing games using the PS5 Pro. This TV features two HDMI 2.1 ports, and two HDMI 2.0 ports, as well as an accompanying 144Hz Game Mode Pro that enhances crispness and fluid motion while gaming. What results is consistently smooth gameplay with bright colours, and well-defined sharpness.
Visual clarity and crispness
In my experiences gaming across a range of TVs and monitors, my biggest bugbear is always text tearing on-screen. It happens when there’s a disconnect between the GPU and the monitor, with a frame rate disparity causing a judder or visual “tear” on screen. It was something I watched closely while using the U8NAU, but I never noticed any significant issues here.
Whether I was streaming through New York as Spider-Man, or roaming through the wilds of Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, text on-screen, and those finer details, remained solid and crisp, never drifting or shaking. It was likely a combination of Game Mode Pro and the PS5 Pro’s solid output that contributed, but regardless of the tools, it was impressive to watch the TV in motion.
Beyond visual clarity and smoothness, what was also impressive about the Hisense U8NAU was its array of colours. Of course, this depends on the sorts of media you play – but in exploring Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, the U8NAU displayed the full gamut of the natural world. You’ve got your autumn shades of yellow, orange, and green, the blue skies overhead, and in the wintery regions of the game, the pure whites and and dark greys of mountains.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was also a stunner, as you can see in this article’s cover image. The skyline of New York was shockingly blue throughout gameplay, contrasted against the grey slate of city skies. As I flung myself through the air as Miles and Peter, I was able to marvel at the sunset, and watch as crispy, bright god rays shined down on me. In close-up shots, the impressive detail of each Spider-Suit also shone, with individual threads illustrated crisply, strand-by-strand, on screen.
Read: PS5 Pro review – A real gut-buster for those who covet virtual beauty
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the colour spectrum of the Hisense U8NAU allowed for detailed fantasy landscapes to shine in magical blues and purples.
Like Horizon, the clarity of the TV also allowed for individual details to shine – like tiny branches, grass, and the leaves of trees. I also particularly appreciated the smooth flow of my Rook’s luscious hair, which danced on screen with every sword fight.
Booming sound
As an additional perk, the U8NAU has a surprisingly robust sound system in-built, with booming, deep notes and those crispy higher tones – all with a good degree of directionality. I usually use a soundbar, but found the TV delivered an impactful audiosphere as standalone – likely thanks to its multi-channel 2.1.2 surround sound, and Dolby Atmos features.
Comparison is the only challenge
All that said, it’s worth noting the Hisense U8NAU is a slight step down from the top range of the market. That’s by design, of course – this is a mid-range TV designed to give colours great colour and crispness, on a reasonable budget. The 75U8NAU currently goes for around AUD $2,995 at retailers, when it’s not on sale. The equivalent 75-inch Mini-LED TVs it’s reasonably positioned against go for closer to AUD $3,995 (LG’s, for example).
For that slight step down, you will see a drop, by comparison. Notably, the U8NAU’s colours lack a full richness and depth you’ll see on those more expensive, upper end TVs. But it was only that I’d switched directly between the U8NAU and a Samsung S90D that I noticed the slight colour blanch. For those purchasing the TV standalone, and not being so nitpicky about colour range, there’s likely to be no qualms whatsoever.
More to the point, this was an out-of-box comparison, with no tweaks to colour depth, dynamism, and contrast. With a lot of tweaking, you can get more vivid colours on the U8NAU. I never quite managed the same level of rich blacks and saturated blues and reds I saw on my personal TV, but you can get a good approximation.
In playing regular media, the difference between this TV and pricier models was most clear in darker scenes – the U8NAU can’t quite reach a solid contrast with those deeper blacks.
Beyond this, I did have a few other minor issues with the U8NAU. Overall, I don’t love the design of the stand – it’s a bulky hexagon shape which takes up a lot of room. I’m also not so enamoured by the TV’s VIDAA operating system, which is riddled with ads and confusing menus. Perhaps that’s more of a complaint about modern TVs in general – as most TV UIs give off tacky energy with full-screen ads for Duck Dynasty, and whatever’s going free on Tubi.
The U8NAU’s much-touted AI features are also fairly disappointing, with its “deep neural network” seeming to boost pixels and offer upscaling only by flicking on some alternative contrasts and colours. I tried it out on multiple films, and found a negligible difference. In fact, I generally preferred to leave these AI features off.
But all of these complaints can be shrunk in importance by the simple fact that the U8NAU is still a very good TV, for a very reasonable cost. For a Mini-LED TV with such crispness and clarity – not to mention excellent gaming performance – it’s a fantastic performer in its price range.
It’s only by comparison that you’ll see the TVs biggest flaws, and the reality is that most folks won’t notice enough of a difference for the price tag to matter less. If you’re looking to upgrade your TV, and you don’t go in for brand supremacy, the Hisense U8NAU is a very sturdy, reasonable option.
Four stars: ★★★★
Hisense 75-inch U8NAU Mini-LED TV
Release Year: 2024
Price: AUD $2,995
A Hisense 75U8NAU Mini-LED TV was provided to GamesHub on a temporary loan for the purposes of this review.
