This is the Hisense U7K, and there were three things that made me go WHOA on this TV – the impeccable Mini LED picture quality, the remarkable performance, especially for gaming, and its great sound quality. Yep, I’m talking about its built-in speakers, my friend.
Display
Hisense uses what they term “ULED Mini LED” for their displays. For those of you who are familiar with TV panel technology, you would know that OLED provides the best contrast and deep blacks because of its ability to control every single individual pixel.
However, while OLED is quite superior, it comes with a very steep price. And if you opt for a less premium OLED, you might expose yourself to the risk of pixel burn-in.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it refers to retaining a static image on the screen, such as a football score display at the top left corner. It’s like those cheap OLED panels throw a tantrum and hold onto the image and say, “Oh, you watched a football game? Let me show you the score… forever”
Although these issues are less common these days, but it remains a concern, especially for gamers who often encounter static images in their games.
On the other hand, non-OLED TVs have the external “glow” – making everything look a bit more gray, as they have local dimming, which shuts down a part of the light in different areas to make a better picture. So, the more local dimming zones, the better the quality. Increasing the number of zones also means that it needs more LEDs, and that increases cost, the overall energy consumption, and, of course, the overall heat output. So, it’s definitely not a great solution.
So with that, this is where the Mini LED technology, like this Hisense U7K, comes in. The LEDs are smaller than traditional LEDs, and you can fit more of them in the backlight layer. What you get in return are more zones and better lighting control. There’s even the Quantum Dot technology that helps to give excellent color reproduction overall, and this is as close to an OLED image quality that I’ve seen without really being an OLED.
The best part about this TV is that there are endless image customization options to fine-tune the TV to your preferred image style.
I’ve always been a fan of the Filmmaker mode since the image is adjusted to how the movie creator intends it to be. And this time around, I also love the Cinema Home mode, which colors the picture just nicely for my eyes. It’s even enjoyable in a bright room where the light reflections on the screen are not so noticeable. So, yeah, watching movies on this is great.
And since football season is back, I have been watching several games exclusively on this TV, and I have to say that the performance has been great. And fun fact, Hisense is also the official sponsor for EURO 2024.
And since this has up to a 144Hz refresh rate, I was pretty blown away by that. So, I definitely played lots of games on this TV, but I’ll talk about gaming later on.
Performance
The U7K is snappy, and I mean really snappy. The OS used here is VIDAA U7, an excellent OS with lots of free apps available in their app store.
The best part is that it literally takes just 1 second to install the apps from the app store, 1 second to switch between apps, and just 1 second to boot.
I don’t know what kind of crazy magic they use with their Hi-View Engine, but this is the fastest OS that I’ve ever seen on any TV. It kind of reminds me of an iOS for TVs, really – aesthetically pleasing, less confusing menu system, which is more straightforward and very highly responsive too.
Even upscaling from 720p has given good results, but from 1080p to 4K is really excellent. It would be hard to tell from a normal viewing distance that it has been scaled four times, so good job on that front, Hisense. Two thumbs up for that!
There are three things on the remote that I really like. First of all, is the clickiness of the buttons. Secondly, is the AI assistant that works surprisingly well, especially if you don’t want to click one button at a time to input something. And thirdly, and this I would feel is a super underrated feature, which is the fact that the remote has backlighting too. Like, why can’t every other TV manufacturer have this? So, yeah, no more facing the remote towards the TV’s light to see the button, especially if you’re having some late-night movie sessions.
Speaking of the AI assistant, it also supports Bahasa Melayu, so yeah, there are plenty of commands that you can do in Bahasa Melayu, like: “Buka YouTube” “Buka Netflix” “Tutup TV”
Now, the real showstopper is the gaming performance because this U7K can go up to 144Hz at 4K resolution. And with technologies such as quick media switching, variable refresh rate, and the auto low latency mode, it really sweetens the overall deal.
Quick media switching prevents black screens when switching between apps that display different refresh rates for a more seamless experience.
Then variable refresh rates are like smartphones that automatically match the frame rate from your console to your TV, which prevents screen tearing.
And ALLM, or Auto Low Latency Mode, will help you to give you a better response time when it comes to gaming.
So, yeah, whether you’re a console or a PC gamer, this TV has got you covered. And there’s also a dedicated game bar that can show you real-time frame rates and quick settings that you can check if it’s on or off.
On the port side, there are 4 HDMI ports, two of which are HDMI 2.1 capable of displaying up to a 144Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution.
Now, a side note: I like how Hisense labels every port so clearly. So, kudos to Hisense for that. It’s these small quality-of-life things that make it feel that Hisense really cares for its customers.
Build Quality
Before I touch on sound, I want to mention the overall build quality of the TV. They’re using what they call the Blue Metal Ribbon design. It’s like the TV wore a nice fancy suit, and the base of the TV showcases a subtle blue-gray hue complemented by a slim bezel surrounding the screen.
While the main body is crafted with sturdy plastic, the standout feature for me is the metal feet, which gives it a really premium feel. While the stand may seem unusual looking, but Hisense said that this was specifically made like this so it can have a more integrated look if you plan to pair it with a soundbar.
Sound
All right, now let’s talk about the sound. While most TVs have mediocre speakers, the speakers on this Hisense U7K were quite a surprise and unexpectedly good, especially for the bass, for an integrated TV speaker.
Only after testing the sound did I look at the back of the TV and realize there’s a built-in subwoofer at the back. And the speakers in here have Dolby Atmos support too, which overall gives it one of the best built-in sound experiences that I’ve had so far compared to other expensive TVs out there.
So, yeah, for probably 80% of you who are buying this TV, don’t waste your time or your money buying a cheap soundbar, and just stick with this integrated sound system. Because the only reason I feel that you would need a proper soundbar is if you’re putting this TV in a huge open space.
Conclusion
In conclusion, throughout the years of me reviewing Hisense TVs, I have seen how much their products have improved, especially with this kind of price factor.
Now, what is the price, you may ask? It retails at RM6,999. Wait, what? Yeah, it “retails” for RM6,999, but you might be getting some great online retail discounts.
Also worth mentioning is that Hisense is also having a promo from now till the end of December. If you buy selected Hisense products, you can enter a giveaway where you can win cool prizes like vouchers, a Nintendo Switch OLED, or even an iPhone 15 Pro Max, which I’ll leave all that information down below.
So, if you’re looking for enhanced picture quality, a swift user experience via the latest VIDAA U7 software, a very reliable built-in speakers, this is one of the best options that you can get in the market right now, especially for this price range.
