My 55U8N Experience (So far)

Long story, but....I initially purchased a 65" Q651g and was underwhelmed (it looked better at Best Buy), so then upgraded to a 65" U6N, but was still not satisfied with the HDR brightness. Then I purchased a 55" U7N, but received a panel with a small dark splotch behind the screen. You couldn't see it from normal viewing distance, but I knew it was present, therefore I decided to switch to a 55" TCl QM751G (My living room is fairly small). Let me tell you, I was blown away at first! The brightness, clarity, HDR impact and motion handling wad great! Even if the color accuracy was less than great, I was almost completely satisfied with my purchase! A few days in, however, I started noticing more and more irregularities in the panel, which turned out to be horrid (much worse than what an acceptable level would be) dirty screen effect. I'm not sure if I just got a bad panel, there was a handling issue, or what, but it was very distracting; especially at night having irregular brightness when watching HDR content, specifically Dolby Vision films. So far, four for four I was either unsatisfied, or I got bad panels. The 55" turned out to be the perfect size for my living room, though. So, figuring the higher end model would have better quality control seeing as the U8N and QM851G are the consumer flagships, I bit the bullet and forked over a bit more than I initially wanted to for a TV ($500 was my initial budget). Seeing as a 55" was the right size and the QM851G doesn't come in that size, I brought home a 55" U8N. Now, I don't know if I got lucky, or if the QC actually is better on the U8 series, but my panel has absolutely minimal dirty screen effect! It's not much brighter than the 55" U7N (1500 nits, 240 dimming zones, 88,931:1 contrast ratio), but the contrast and superior blooming performance more than make up for the marginal jump in brightness (1800 nits for the 55", 672 dimming zones, 282,400:1 contrast). The bump in sound quality alone ended up being enough (for me) to justify exceeding my initial budget! (~735 after tax in Washington State at Best Buy)

I've had my U8N for about 3 days now, and I couldn't be happier! Incredibly deep blacks, extraordinary HDR experience, above average motion handling, great upscaling, more than bright enough for my moderately lit living room, excellent reflection handling, and the best sound quality I've ever heard from a television that I've ever owned. It's clear, fairly deep, and plenty loud (I keep my volume around 16-20 in Theater or Speech). Setup was a breeze! The Google TV is fast, responsive, and I haven't experienced any bugs so far. Dollar for dollar, the Hisense U8N is the best television you can buy! It is absolutely my recommendation for the ideal TV for the average consumer looking for great performance on a budget!

I do, however, have some qualms. The viewing angle is just okay. The colors wash out past about 35 degrees or so and the contrast absolutely plummets, so it's not a good TV for wide seating arrangements (as is almost any VA panel). The color accuracy is about a 7.5/10, but much much better than the QM751. Motion handling could be better, and it doesn't completely remove all judger from all sources. Particularly in 24p content during slow panning shots that have fairly challenging images to process, such as tracking a bird flying against the background of a vibrant green rainforest (I watch nature documentaries from time to time). That brings us to upscaling and processing; I'd give it, again, a 7.5/10 rating. Solid for the price you're paying, but it's not a Sony.

Overall, I'm absolutely ecstatic about my decision to purchase the 55" Hisense U8N (the larger versions are even better!) It's the right size for my smaller living room, which is approximately 12'×14' with 8' ceilings. It gets more than bright enough to handle both SDR and HDR content while watching during the day, along with the excellent reflection handling, even with a sliding glass window directly adjacent and a skylight in my kitchen. Gaming performance is ELITE, I forgot to add. It supports all HDR formats and all versions of DTS audio (I believe). The operating system rocks! Killer sound as far as TV's go. Given all the buyer beware threads on Reddit, you'd think that anyone fully supporting the U8N is a martyr or pariah! If that's the case, then this is the hill I choose to die on. That's how good, to me, the Hisense U8N is.

P.S. The photos DO NOT do it justice!