Hisense U7NAU TV Review – Picture Perfect smack bang in the middle of the market

When it comes to any TV buyer, there’s a bunch of basic considerations and as best I can judge the Hisense U7NAU might sit smack bang in the middle of the range but in your lounge room you’ll think it’s overdelivering.

For this review, we’ve been watching the 65 inch version of the Hisense U7NAU – it’s also available as a 55, 75 or 85 incher. At CES Hisense stated that the U7 model would also come in 100 inches but that doesn’t seem to have eventuated.

As Hisense invest more and more into Mini-LED backlight technology, this model gets the higher level Mini-LED Pro technology in the hope of increasing brightness and improving the local dimming.

From my eye, both are a winner – there’s no question about the brightness of this TV it really pops and we placed it in a rather bright area of our home in the dining room/kitchen where we have large double glass doors directly to one side of the TV. Watching at night or day time didn’t ever seem to be bothered by it at all.

From a local dimming point of view – this is the holy grail in the TV world. OLED TVs are able to illuminate every single pixel on its own, LED backlit TVs do this in larger areas, and Mini-LED TVs do it in even smaller areas – the smaller the better, and that’s measured by an increase in “local dimming” zones.

This year’s model has triple the dimming zones of last year and I think when you watch in the darkest room, and watch things like movie content you get a fantastic experience.

On a pure black or white screen with just a small amount of contrast there is a small lack of consistency, that’s about the only time you might notice that you’ve gone for a lighting technology probably 2-3 levels off the top teir.

Hisense quote a peak brightness of 1500 nits which I can’t challenge, but what I will say is that on a decent side angle the picture washes out and loses brightness and colour.

I noticed this peeking my head in while cooking the BBQ – the show on Netflix seemed “washed out” and I wondered if that was just how it was shot – nope, a real reduction in the viewing experience, but I would think that in most lounge rooms that wouldn’t be an issue as it was a rather acute angle, probably past the 45 degree mark.

However, on value, this is impressive. Originally listed at $2,299 you’ll find it for around $1,699 which is a fantastic price for this unit.

The VIDAA operating system on a Hisense TV has come a long way, and like their big-screen counterparts they’ve put a lot into making the home screen a home of content.

We have a Hisense in our main lounge room, and the only frustration I have constantly is on the home page clicking right on the arrows to browse through the App list and I’m not on the app list, I’m on a large header bar at the top of the screen – surely people just want to navigate apps – make that default! And or make it clearer what is highlighted on screen.

There’s no apps missing, so no need for any extra box or dongle here if you are just using streaming apps.

If you’re hooking up to gaming this unit does feature 144Hz Game Mode Pro which is enabled over HDMI 2.1 with Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency and more.

Switching into an episode of Chicago Fire on Amazon Prime and the TV automatically flicks into Filmmaker mode to deliver the perfect picture for that show.

Checking around the remote, and the VIDAA TV button brings you to Hisense’s range of Internet TV channels. By my count there were around 38 different channels. A long way from the range on Samsung TV Plus, but still some great free viewing experiences right out of the box – all you need is internet!

My review model came with two remotes, one traditional, one the new larger “solar charged” unit. I opted for the basic model every time, just a simpler, lighter option – and far more app shortcuts on it too.

A critical thing to do before you buy this TV though is to check your space, and measure twice. Because frankly, at just $100 more (at the time of publishing) you’re mad not to get the 75 inch model!

Find it at JB HiFi & Hisense