Hisense U7N review: 7 things I love about Mini LED TV, 3 I don’t - and who should buy it?

If you are looking to make the jump to an OLED or QLED quality TV but don’t want to pay the absolute high-end prices, then it might be time to consider the Hisense U7N.

This Mini LED TV punches well above its weight to provide a proper home cinema experience without having to truly break the bank. 

Prior to being provided the U7N by Hisense for this review, I had only really had experience with LG’s TV offerings having picked one up when I first started university more than a decade ago and stuck with the company out of familiarity.

But within a couple of minutes of setting it up, I realised that I would be getting the typical smart TV experience I have grown accustomed to - just with a slightly different flavour. 

Before I dive fully into the review, I probably should take a moment to explain some of the terminology. You may have heard the terms OLED and QLED (or QNED) if you have been researching new TVs and basically they stand for Organic LED and Quantum LED. 

Your TV is made up of tiny dots, called pixels, that combine together to make the picture you see on the screen. What separates OLED and QLED from your usual LED TVs is the dots are even smaller (each option uses different tech to achieve this) allowing for richer colours, higher contrasts and deeper blacks.

And that brings us to Mini LED, which is not a reference to the size of the TV but to the pixels on the screen. Hisense explains that it “uses thousands of tiny pixels to provide a much cleaner, crisp and realistic picture quality”. 

Now let’s get into the review. Here’s a breakdown of what I loved and a couple of things I didn’t like so much, about the Hisense U7N. 

Love: Incredible picture at competitive price 

Let us start with perhaps the most important part about a TV, how good does the picture look? I have used 4K screens before, admittedly from the lower end of the price spectrum, and never truly been blown away. 

However from the first moment I fired up the U7N, I was utterly awed by the quality of the picture. What particularly caught my eye was how good the darks looked. Usually when I watch a show or movie and it has a section set at night it looks muddy but instead it looks incredibly crisp and you can easily make out what is going on in the shadows. 

The contrast between colours, which is one of the big promised features of these higher-end LED TVs, really stood out to me. It made the picture feel almost lifelike - and a couple of times I had to remind myself I was watching TV. 

And while the Hisense U7N will still cost a pretty penny - £1,299 for the 65-inch model that I tried, from Currys or Amazon - it can be picked up for several hundred pounds cheaper than rival mini LED offerings. 

Love: 4K films feel like I’m in the cinema

Following on from my last point, I decided to finally watch my copy of Alex Garland’s Civil War, which I picked up as a 4K UHD disk but hadn’t got round to watching. And honestly it felt as if I was watching it in the cinema - something I missed at the time. 

The picture was just so crystal clear it was frankly jaw-dropping. I have owned a couple of films on UHD and have struggled to really notice the difference between usual blu-ray ones - at least until now. 

Love: feels like a real next-gen jump 

When I switched from a HD TV to 4K initially, it did feel like a bit of a jump but not quite the quantum leap that maybe I was hoping for. However finally 

Love: how even live sports look fantastic 

A key test for me with any TV is how good live sports look on it. Growing up in a house where each and every possible sporting event was on, it remains an important part of my TV watching life. 

I remember the early days of HD TV with a friend excitedly telling us how you could see the flies buzzing around the cricketers on the screen. Now, I don’t think we will ever quite live up to that claim - but watching England vs Ireland on the TV this last weekend, it felt like this may be as close as we could get. 

It almost felt as if I was in the stand watching the game and not on my sofa. 

Love: gaming features are well integrated 

I tried out both my PS5 and Xbox Series X with the TV and was wowed at the performance. It was so incredibly easy to switch between picture options that prioritised frame rate for Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, essentially in a FPS game, or one that was more fitting for picture quality. 

Love: high quality sound from TV’s speakers 

The TV is capable of Dolby Atmos and Vision for compatible shows and films, while I am not an audio expert, I found the quality of the sound from the TV to be excellent. It had a rich vibrancy any time I fired up a movie, in particular - which is my go-to reference point. 

I don’t currently own a soundbar or surround sound system, so can’t say how it would fare in those kinds of setups. 

Love: how smooth the interface is 

The operating system on the TV was really easy to navigate and use. In this modern age of endless streaming services, finding the apps quickly and conveniently is a bonafide must have. 

As previously mentioned, I have been an LG owner for a decade plus, so I was nervous that I would find using a different smart TV interface jarring but those concerns evaporated almost instantly. 

It is super easy to find all of the important apps on the homepage when you first fire up the TV. Connect to the internet, log-in to your respective streaming accounts and away you go. 

Don’t like: setting it up can be a mammoth task 

A 65-inch TV is an intimidating beast and at first we really struggled with getting it out of the box. And if you are just one person, you may find it extra difficult to actually get the thing setup after it arrives. 

Fortunately Hisense does have some good YouTube videos that help explain the easiest way to get the TV out of the box. Just be warned that this is a beast of a TV and be mentally prepared for that. 

Don’t like: size of the screen is not for everyone 

In a similar vein, a 65-inch TV really is an enormous one and you need to consider how it will fit in your living room/ man cave. If you have a large enough room to accommodate it, knock yourself out but it did feel comically large in my living room. 

In the words of my partner: “Incredible visuals, vaguely threatening”. This was because in our smallish front room it loomed over us like a monolith - although I did get used to it after a few days. 

So just be aware of the size before you buy, because it may not be for everyone. 

Don’t like: occasionally it will just pop up with voice commands 

There is a voice assistant that will occasionally just chime in and try to search for things. I haven’t quite figured out what triggers it and it seems extremely random. 

It is not the biggest gripe in the world but it is irritating if you are watching a show and this problem crops up. 

Who should buy the Hisense U7N? 

This is a TV for real enthusiasts, whether that be sporting fanatics who want to feel like they are in the heart of the action. Or cinephiles who want a real home cinema experience. 

But if you aren’t all about chasing the best picture or need super high refresh rates for gaming, this may not be the TV for you. 

It comes with a big price tag - but less than other rival mini LED TVs - but it offers real value. At least for those looking for the best possible picture.