Hisense U7NAU 4K mini-LED TV – value without compromise (AV review)

The Hisense U7NAU is a mid-range, 4K mini-LED that offers all the features and performance expected for a home TV without necessarily the higher price tag.

It sits in the Mini-LED range, with the U8NAU sitting above (review coming) and the U6NAU below. The key differences (65” all using VA panels and VIDAA 7) are:

	U6NAU	Hisense U7NAU (this review)	U8NAU
Website	Page	Page	Page
Size/Price	55/65/75/85” $1299/1699/2499/3499	55/65/75/85” $1599/2299/2999/3999	65/75/85” $2699/3699/4999
Mini-LED	Mini-LED	Mini-LED Pro	Mini-LED Pro+
Processor	MT9603	Hi-View Engine Pro with AI-SR MT9618	Hi-View Engine Pro with AI-SR MT9618
Brightness nits	400	500	700
Peak HDM nits	600	1500	2800
Contrast	5000:1	5000:1	9500:1
ms	8	3.6	3.5
Dimming zones	240	384	1600
Reflectivity	Low	Semi-gloss	Anti-glare Matte
Panel Hz	50/60	100/120	100/120
Speakers	20W 2.0 – 2 x 10W     DA	40W 2.1 – 2 X 10W 20W subwoofer DA/DTS	60W 2.1.2 – 2 x 15W 2 x 5W 20W subwoofer DA/DTS
Wi-Fi/Ethernet BT	AC 2.4/5Ghz/Yes 5.3	AC 2.4/5GHz/Yes 5.2	AX 2.4/5GHz/Yes 5.3
HDMI	3 x HDMI 2.0b   ARC	2 x HDMI 2.0b 2 x HDMI 2.1 eARC	2 x HDMI 2.0b 2 x HDMI 2.1 eARC
Weight with stand	19.5	20.8	31

Key differences

As you can see, the main differences between the Hisense U7NAU and U8NAU are in brightness, contrast, dimming zones, reflectivity and speakers.

Spoiler Alert: While the U8N is obviously brighter, the Hisense U7NAU does a sterling job for typical TV SDR free-to-air and HDR streaming. But look at the RRP: The 65″ Hisense U7NAU is $2299 versus the 65″ U8NAU at $2699. Harvey Norman has the U7/U8 at $1995/$2295 —a no-brainer.

Australian review: Hisense U7NAU 2024 Mini-LED TV

Note: All specs are for the 65” Hisense U7NAU model. The letter N is for the 2024 model, and AU is for Australia. You must disregard any international reviews as these are invariably based on different panels, operating systems, and electronics used in UK, European, Chinese, and US models (Google TV).

Website	2024 TV range Product page There is no Australian download manual. US manual here but using Google TV.
Price RRP	55/65/75/85” $1599/2299/2999/3999
From	Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, Good Guys, Bing Lee, Appliance Central, Retravision, Videopro
Warranty	3-years ACL
Made in	China
Company	Hisense (founded in 1969) is a Chinese-owned, multi-national white goods and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. It owns appliance brands, including Gorenje, Hitachi, Sharp, Toshiba, and some local China-only brands.
More	CyberShack Hisense news and reviews

New ratings in 2024

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed. You can click on most images for an enlargement.

We are also tightening up on grading. From now on, Pass, for example, means meeting expectations for the price bracket. We consider a Pass mark to be 70+/100 with extra points added for class-leading and excellence.

First Impression – Pass

I have reviewed most Hisense models over the past few years. Each iteration keeps improving, so Hisense is well past the cheap Chinese challenger brand.

The Hisense U7NAU is well-finished and well-made and should last the distance expected of brand-name TVs—at least ten years. That, however, is entirely dependent on TV Operating system updates and security patches.

Hisense has committed to upgrading this to VIDAA 8, which is significantly less than LG, Samsung, Sony, and TCL’s four OS or more upgrade policies.

It is an attractive package with aluminium bezels, two feet linked by a plastic metallised baseplate, a metallised plastic back panel, and an imposing sub-woofer at the rear. At the bottom bezel is a power button/indicator, microphone, and mic on/off switch (for use with Hey VIDAA or Alexa).

The power socket is on the right, and the AV sockets are on the left. It is 1449 x 899 x 295mm x 20.8kg with a stand (77mm thick, 400 x 300 VESA wall mountable) and, at <20kg, should not need wall reinforcement. There is no cable management system to allow for flush wall mount.

Remote – separate battery and solar – Pass

The standard battery remote has backlit buttons, and 12 streaming presets (of which four are useful). As IR, it is directional, needing to be within 3m and pointing at the TV (if your soundbar does not obscure the IR sensor). You can pair it with BT to extend the range and overcome soundbar obstruction.

It is missing the numeric keys that allow you to change free-to-air (FTA) TV channels by number instead of wading through a long electronic program guide, dedicated EPG guide and Channel List buttons (found on the non-backlit U8NAU remote).

Otherwise, it is relatively intuitive to use—home, back, input, settings, info, subtitle, mute, and microphone.

The solar remote (also USB-C rechargeable) has numeric buttons, a guide, and information. It is also IR and somewhat directional, but you can pair it with BT.

VIDAA 7 – Pass

The biggest differentiator is that Hisense runs VIDAA OS versus Samsung (Tizen OS), LG (webOS) and TCL (Google TV). In 2019, VIDAA was hived off as a separate company to pursue an alternative TV OS. Its HQ is in the USA with staff in China, Israel, Poland, Germany, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

VIDAA has two parts. The first is the TV firmware based on Linux. It handles setup and makes the TV work. It runs on Hisense (except in the USA, which uses Google TV) and Toshiba (owned by Hisense).

The second part is the content. The easiest way to describe VIDAA is that it is ‘app-less’, although, for simplicity, it calls them apps. Where other OSs require dedicated apps to be downloaded and installed from Netflix, Prime, etc., VIDAA accesses these via an HTML5 cloud browser. You can access the app-less library based on local copyright and licensing terms.

Because every bit of digital content comes via VIDAA, it offers universal search, content recommendations, free local and global advertising-supported TV (FAST), and central billing. Like all TV OS, VIDAA knows what you watch.

VIDAA 7 setup

It offers various ways to set it up, including signing in with Google or Facebook (Do not use if you value privacy) or, as we prefer – using a junk email account (easy to set up in Gmail, etc.).

You must create a Hisense account to use most smart TV features or VIDAA TV services.

The Home screen uses large icons, and scrolling down the rows offers recommendations, including Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, etc. You can add from the VIDAA App Store but cannot delete pre-installed (paid-for) apps.

The VIDAA mobile application is available for Android and iOS (not tested).

Upside:

• Fast and easy to use
• It can be used as a semi-smart TV without a Hisense account (FTA and digital streaming)
• Offers Automatic content recognition and switching settings to suit.

Downside:

• It needs an internet connection for all smart TV functions (pretty well the same as any TV OS),
• Fewer ‘apps’ (buy a Google TV dongle if you need it).

Privacy – Pass

All smart TVs hoover up what you view, information from profiles and cross-platform share with Google, Facebook, and others. So, Hisense knows about you and monetises that data (as do Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, et al.).

You can turn off some advertising settings but still get recommendations (mainly adverts from Netflix, Prime, etc.).

As with almost all brands, we cannot cut and paste the privacy policy and terms of use for your education.

Ports – Pass

Note: Australian power frequency is 50Hz, so that is shown before the US 60Hz ratings

• HDMI 1, 2.0 (18Gbps) 4K@50/60Hz
• HDMI 2, 2.0 (18Gbps) 4K@50/60Hz
• HDMI 3, 2.1 (48Gbps) 4K@100/120/144Hz, ALLM, VRR, HFR and eARC/ARC switchable (use for a soundbar)
• HDMI 4, 2.1 (48Gbps) 4K@100/120/144Kz, 4:4:4, ALLM, VRR, HFR, FreeSync Premium
• USB-A 3.0 5V/1A/5W for external SSD drives (exFat to 2TB tested) and perhaps digital cameras
• USB-A 2 5V/.5A/2.5W (for flash drives)
• Digital Audio out (Toslink)
• 3.5mm 3-pole AUX in (RCA stereo connector)
• Lan 10/100Mbps
• 3.5mm 3-pole (no mic) headphone
• TV antenna
• Wi-Fi 5 AC half-duplex 2.4 and 5Ghz (for 4K content). Note that it is listed as Wi-Fi 6 AX in some countries – this would be preferable, and we hope Wi-Fi 5 AC is a typo.
• Bluetooth 5.2 SBC codec supports keyboard, mouse and gamepad and one BT stereo headphone or speaker.

If you are going to stream digital content, you need to use Wi-Fi 5Ghz. It requires a relatively strong signal strength router within 10m and at least 50/20Mbps NBN; otherwise, you could experience buffering, image breakup, and possibly lost signal. Full-duplex Ethernet is the best connection for this.

As it does not support Chromecast, you will need a Google TV dongle for Android screen mirror. It supports Apple AirPlay 2 (not tested). MiraCast for Windows PCs over Wi-Fi is at 1280 x 720 x 30fps.

PVR – Not Tested

It can record FTA and digital TV channels to USB (or SSD), not digital streaming channels. It uses the EPG to select +/-24 hours or set a scheduled recording. Recording is 1080p (or a lower native signal resolution).

Power use – Pass

Tests

• Digital and FTA approx. 200Wh
• Dolby Vision approx. 300Wh
• Standby screen off: <.5W
• At 40 cents per Wh, 8-12 cents per hour is negligible.

Voice control – Pass

It has dual mics on the TV (switchable) and a voice remote that supports VIDAA Voice and Alexa via the remote or the TV microphone. VIDAA Voice was hit-and-miss, but most voice assistants are not perfect either.

OK Google (Google Home) and Siri (Apple Home) require a smart speaker.

Games – Pass+

The Hisense U7NAU has two HDMI 2.1 48Gbps with VRR, ALLM and HFR. 120/144Hz Game mode requires a Windows 10 or 11 PC with a suitable NVIDIA GeForce or AMD Radeon graphic card connected to HDM1 4. Xbox X or PS 5 can connect 4K@ 100/120Hz via HDMI 4 (not tested).

There is a game bar for instant feedback on gaming settings and features. 4K@60Hz input lag is <15ms and between <6ms for 4K/100/120.

This may be one of the lowest-cost TVs capable of good game performance.

Parental Control (not tested)

You can schedule blocking by time, channel, program or input port.

Accessibility (not tested)

Settings include Closed Caption, high-contrast text, text-to-speech, Talkback and more.

The mini-LED/Quantum Dot dilemma

Mini-LED replaces Edge-lit (cheap), Direct-Lit (backlit, no local dimming), and Full-Array Local Dimming (FALD) full-sized LEDs and is the brightest backlight for an LCD screen. It still uses LCD ‘gate’ technology, so it can’t quite achieve the inky blacks that OLED can, and all LCDs suffer from blooming/haloing around white objects on dark backgrounds.

Quantum Dot uses different wavelength ‘dots’ excited by the blue mini-LED backlight to produce RGB colours.

Like all mini-LEDs, it struggles to balance brightness, colour accuracy, and contrast. It can be bright, but the colours are oversaturated), and the contrast (black levels) is greyer. Alternatively, it can have natural colours and great blacks, but the brightness is too low. While 384 dimming zones help, the balance issue has been more successfully addressed with the 1600 zones in the U8NAU.

Picture Modes

We were a little disappointed with the colour calibration out of the box. Initially, on Cinema (supposedly the most colour-accurate mode), Delta E was over 4 (considered acceptable). We got it to around 3 with some minor tweaking, and there is potential to improve.

Joe and Jane Average, who predominantly watch SDR FTA/digital TV and some 1080p (upscaled) HDR digital streaming content, will be very happy.

Videophiles will still see crushing in dark areas, blown-out highlights, some blooming, and minor imperfections.

The out-of-the-box presets need work, and Hisense should address this. Hisense and Calman recently announced that its premium Mini-LED Android TV (USA) and VIDAA 7 (Europe) will support Portrait Displays’ latest Calman 5.15.4 release. All professional license levels support Calman’s autonomous SDR and HDR playback calibration methodology. A consumer license level is planned for deployment soon.

Modes

• Vivid (Dynamic): Maximum colour saturation affects Delta E accuracy. Best for very bright rooms.
• Standard: Colour and brightness for typical SDR News, Drama or Documentaries.
• Energy Saving: It can save energy and provide an acceptable image for darker rooms.
• Game: Optimises the TV’s settings on a PC or a game console connected to the TV.
• Sports: Optimises colours where there are large single-colour areas (like a playing field)
• Enhanced ARC: Adjusts for content automatically using viewer data – privacy implications.
• Filmmaker: As the maker intended – not very bright.
• Cinema: Closer to DCI-P3 movies standard

When set to automatic, it selects the correct setting for HDR to Dolby Vision. Overall, these work, but you may need to adjust the brightness.

There is an automatic light sensor to adjust brightness to ambient light.

Summary: Once set up, scroll through the presets to see what suits you. It is best to do this when you usually watch TV because the preset you like during the day may be too bright at night. We recommend Standard (or even Energy Saving with a few tweaks) for most viewing.

You may not be able to see the differences between the settings below as you will likely view this on an 8-bit phone screen or desktop monitor. Look for details in the hair, green eye shadow, red lips and jewels. Also, look at the black background for subtle tone differences.

How does it look – tests

We tested with HDR, HDR10, HDR10+ Adaptive, Imax Enhanced, and Dolby Vision IQ content. All HDR content is automatically identified, and you can choose new presets.

Subjectively and assuming a bright Aussie lounge room

• SDR (FTA and digital TV) on Standard or Energy efficiency modes exceeds expectations.
• HDR/HDR10 (digital streaming) in Cinema or Filmmaker modes meets an average user’s expectations.
• HDR10+ Adaptive uses the ambient light sensor and, in Filmmaker mode, meets average expectations, albeit not bright enough. It is way too tempting to amp up the brightness at the expense of colour accuracy (our eyes crave saturated colours). We had problems finding much commercial HDR10+ content
• Dolby Vision IQ uses the ambient light sensor and meets average expectations. Like HDR10+, it is tempting to select more colourful presets.
• Imax Enhanced is a remastering of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content but uses DTS:X sound and appears only to be supported by Disney+. It has not been tested, but we suspect this TV’s brightness and dimming zones suit Dolby Vision and Atmos more.
• VA – narrow viewing angle 120° (75” does not use a VA panel)

Colour – Pass

It uses an 8-bit + 2 FRC (frame rate control) to produce 1.07 billion colours – all mini-LEDs use FRC. rEAD 8-bit versus 10-bit screen colours. What is the big deal?

DCI-P3 tests art 95% of the gamut, and Delta E is 4 (could get this to <2 with calibration)

Dolby Vision/HDR10+/HDR10/HDR/IMAX Enhanced – Pass

We extensively test with HDR content up to Dolby Vision.

The TV handles HDR/HDR10 (metadata sets the calibration for the entire movie) quite well.

It has an average representation for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ (frame-by-frame calibration). It overly brightens HDR content, crushing blacks and making detail harder to make out in dim or overly bright scenes.

We feel Dolby Vision IQ is a tad too aggressive. However, leave it on as it adjusts the gamma and tone mapping to match the room conditions.

Brightness (nits) – Pass+

HDR content reaches more than the minimum peak brightness.

• 2/10% window 700/1200
• 100% sustained 700

SDR well exceeds minimum peak brightness (any TVs are <400 nits).

• 2/100% 650/1090
• 100% sustained 600

Contrast – Pass

Contrast is the difference between the panel’s blackest black and the whitest white. This claims 5000:1 (test 4700:1), which is static contrast – a popular marketing term.

Black levels are more a very deep grey, especially when viewed beside the U8NAU.

Dimming Zones and Blooming – Pass

The 384 diming zones have overly aggressive brightness control to minimise blooming between zones. For SDR TV, you won’t notice it, but there is noticeable blooming around white lettering on a dark background. It gets worse as the image moves between scenes.

Motion smoothing – Pass

It is a 100Hz panel (Australian electricity is 50Hz) and offers Motion Smoothing 200 (this is not a Hz rating). As far as we can tell, it is a mix of BFI and AI predictive insertion (the difference between the actual frame and the subsequent frames and recognised shapes); ergo, there is some motion tearing and a little lack of sharpness at 50Hz or more. There are visible artefacts around fast-moving objects.

Upscale – Pass

We test with 480/7320/1080p content. In the most basic sense, it upscales to 4K (in 1080p’s case) by surrounding each real pixel with four more.

Hisense also has sufficient AI (from machine learning) to recognise specific objects and colours and use a mix of pixel wrapping and sharpening the image. It works well on 1080p, but even then, object edges can be false.

Off-axis viewing – Passable

This affects your seating layout. We noticed significant colour drop-off past about 130° off angle (90° means sitting straight on). Don’t put this in the corner of a room – put it where most will sit directly in front.

Reflection – Pass

The screen has a low reflection coating and, for the most part, does a good job. But don’t place it opposite windows or where strong lights can reflect.

Dirty Screen Effect and Uniformity – Pass

This is about uniformity of colours, white, and black. It also reflects 384 dimming zones. Each panel can be different, so you may not experience DSE.

DSE is noticeable on the corners. Uniformity is adequate – a definite improvement over the U7K 2023.

Summary: The screen is as uniform as we expected from Mini-LED.

Sharpness – Pass

14-point type is crisp and readable (U7K was 24-point)

Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) – Pass+

It uses PWM, but it is very high at 7800Hz. There is no issue for PWM-sensitive people.

Sound modes – TV speakers only – Pass

The 65” has a 2.1 speaker setup: 2 x 10W Left/Right down-firing speakers and a 20W rear-firing subwoofer.

Presets include

• Standard: Fairly flat neutral frequency
• Enhanced ARC: Automatically adjusts content – privacy implications
• Theatre: Tried to add more surround sound but failed with 2.1 speakers.
• Music: recesses mid to make bass and treble sound more prominent.
• Speech: Recesses bass and treble to make 1-4kHz mid more prominent.
• Late Night: Focus on clear voice only – no bass or treble
• Sport: Attempts to reduce crowd noise and focus on commentary.

These are all overridden by a soundbar and its presets.

Mid-bass starts at 50Hz and builds steadily to 100Hz, where it stays flat to 6kHz, dips to avoid some treble harshness, and then recessed but flat to 20kHz. This is pretty good for TV sound – enough mid and high bass (no room-shaking low bass), flat mid (where all the musically important action is), and decent albeit slightly recessed treble for crisp sound and a bit of vitality.

The soundstage is stereo, as wide as the TV, and very front-centric. DA content has no additional soundstage or height but slightly improves the sound quality.

We noticed a slight speaker vibration at full volume (83dB) in low bass from 50-80Hz.

Joe and Jane Average will never push the volume to this (more like 50% and 60dB), so they won’t notice this.

Read – How to tell if you have good music (sound signature is the key.

CyberShack’s view – The Hisense U7NAU is an excellent SDR and an average HDR TV.

The Hisense U7NAU is an incremental increase over the 2023 U7KAU but perhaps not enough to make this mini-LED a volume seller in 2024.

I had this and the U8NAU side-by-side, and while the latter offers a superior experience, the former will suit most users. I did not mind the viewing experience.

Joe and Jane will love it, never knowing what they are missing. The kindest thing for them would be for the salesperson to upsell them to the U8NAU for not much more.

However, as we know, Aussies who don’t know will buy the biggest TV they can for the price, and the Hisense U7NAU fits that bill perfectly. Harvey Norman has the 65/85” $1995/3695, and you can bet your boots that the late November Black Friday sale will have some Hisense bargains.

Competition

The $1595 TCL C755 with Google TV OS (review coming soon) is the closest competitor. It has 512 dimming zones, 1300 nits HDR peak and a three-year warranty.

The $2999 LG QNED91TSA 2024 – mini-LED TV done almost right with 1000 dimming zones and 1000+ peak HDR nits. It is more of a competitor with the U8NAU 2024.

The $2999 Sony Bravia 7 claims 480 dimming zones and 2000 nits HDR peak brightness. Again, it is more of a U8NAU competitor.

Hisense U7NAU ratings

This uses 2024 ratings with a pass mark of 70/100. Deduct 10 points from earlier review ratings for parity.

• Features: 75—It has all the hardware you need but not as much AI as some competitors. The remote loses points because it lacks numeric buttons and is chock-a-block with streaming presets that most will not use. It gains points for being backlit. The sound is quite good.
• Value: 80 – It is in the ballpark, but shop around for the best price. Its real competition is the upsell to the Hisense U8NAU and TCL C755.
• Performance: 80 – it is incrementally better than the 2023 U7KAU and provides the performance for the masses at a price they can afford,
• Ease of Use: 75 VIDAA is easy to use but lacks a few digital streaming services. It is also full of bloatware that you cannot delete. The absence of Australian online manuals for VIDAA U7 and user guides for the hardware must be addressed.
• Design: 75 – nothing is outstanding – it is a big glass slab.

Final Comment – Hisense U7NAU

Joe and Jane Average will love it. At that price, a 65” Mini-LED which beats all the LED/LCD QNED, QLED, Crystal, UHD, FALD, and Edge-lit TVs.

Hisense U7NAU, Hisense U7NAU