Expert review of the Hisense 55U8QF

As I take the television out of the box, I notice right away that the 55-inch screen isn't very heavy. The stand is a sturdy, metal tripod, though. The stand consists of 3 separate parts, so I need some time to assemble them. After that, I screw the stand onto the back of the screen. I can neatly cover the screws with a plastic panel. Once I put the screen on the cabinet, it's clear that this is a sturdy and stylish TV.

When I turn on the TV and put on a nature documentary with HDR images, I can quickly tell that the strength of this TV is the high brightness and detailed color representation. I can see many tones of green and blue on an aerial photo, which striking color details in the foliage of a forest, for example. The high brightness especially comes in handy because I'm in a room with bright lights. This way, I'm hardly bothered by reflections on the screen with bright images.

Thanks to the Full Array Local Dimming, the display of black levels on the U8QF is decent as well. Thanks to this technology, dark parts of the screen don't light up because of the LED backlight. As a result, shadows are visibly dark. The powerful contrast also stands out with dark scenes. I can watch night-time images of a coral reef, for example. I see many details in both dark shadows and lighter parts of the shot.

The U8QF has a VA panel. This type of screen usually provides a good contrast, but has a viewing angle that isn't as good. When I'm watching television from the side, I can see the quality of the color intensity and brightness quickly decreasing. This could be a disadvantage if you want to watch TV with a bigger group. Thanks to the high brightness of the screen, i can hardly see reflections on it. I can spot the reflection of a bright light with truly dark scenes every now and then, but it doesn't bother me.

Though you can find a soundbar below the screen, the 2 speakers of the TV combined don't have more power than a standard television, 20W. Still, the power of a speaker doesn't necessarily determine the sound quality. The Hisense U8QF proves this theory. Thanks to 2 modest bass reflex ports on the bottom of the TV, I can clearly hear the bass when I'm watching an exciting movie. As the speakers in the soundbar are pointed to the front, voices sound clear as well.

Thanks to the slim design and the many black buttons, the remote looks a bit messy at first glance. You get used to it pretty quickly. That's because you can comfortably hold the remote and the buttons are angled, so you can easily find them. At the bottom of the remote, you'll find 4 buttons that directly take you to streaming apps. This way, you can easily stream your favorite movies via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Rakuten TV, or watch videos on YouTube.

The smart menu of the Hisense 55U8QF is called VIDAA and has a limited selection of apps. I can find the main streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube, but many other apps are nowhere to be found. I can't find the Disney+ app, for example. Luckily, you can solve this issue if you connect a media player to the TV. You can use many more useful apps to stream content with a Chromecast, for example.