The new mid-range king?
The TV landscape continues to evolve with each year. Brands like Hisense and TCL keep pushing the idea of being a lower tier set to the limit. It is not uncommon to recommend these brands to power users such as myself. I have actually moved to prefer Mini-LED to OLED for a variety of reasons, and these companies continue to impress. Today’s example is the mid-tier Hisense U7QG. This replaces last year’s U7N and like most iterations, feels as impressive as last year’s U8N, if not a little more. Hisense has made some really cool upgrades this year and the U7QG ends up being a TV that is easily recommendable to a large portion of the TV buying public.
So let’s kick off with what we first see. Hisense has made a couple of upgrades in the design this year. The back panel is slightly different. The HDMI ports are on the left side and are in a recessed section that is hard to access if you want to wall mount it. The remote is the same as last year’s, which is fine as it is still one of the better remotes out there. It is backlit with several quick-access buttons as well as the customizable heart button. All remotes should have this.
MSRP: $899.99
Size Reviewed: 65 inch
Price I’d Pay: $899.99
The borders are small, but still apparent. The shell is all plastic, and it is quite light. The center mounted stand is nice and the legs have cable management. In the highest position there is just enough room for my Samsung soundbar to fit underneath it, but it does go a little above the bottom border. It looks good though, even if it is slightly at an angle. The TV itself is less than three inches thick, which is pretty standard for a mini-LED.
Next let’s talk about connections. One of the biggest upgrades to this year’s U7 model is that it now has four HDMI 2.1 ports. This means not worrying about not having enough spots for high-end gaming. One of the ports is of course for the eArc, which doesn’t matter which one it is on since all four are 2.1. Each port supports up to 4K at 165Hz and 1080p at 288Hz, which is kind of nuts. The response time has been excellent; this is one of the fastest response times I have measured on a TV of this caliber. For gamers this might be the best option out there if response time is your biggest want.
As for the rest, it is pretty standard with 2 USB ports, one of which is 3.0. There is a 3.5MM audio output jack as well as the standard Digital Optic Out. There is a jack for composite video, but much like other TVs recently, the adapter is sold separately. Finally, we have the ATSC 3.0 tuner, which is huge for people still using OTA TV. This works with Next-Gen TV and I was able to grab quite a few high-quality channels using a pretty basic antenna from Amazon. This is great for people wanting to watch local sports or TV shows.
I have spent some quality time making the U7QG my main TV for a while. I ran it through multiple tests across the board. I play Overwatch religiously, so I was able to test the response time. The game feels great on the TV. I was running it at 4K 120fps and the response time was amazing. Retro games also look great on the set with some great upscaling and popping colors. For games SDR looks amazing, but I was a bit disappointed with the loss of brightness when it comes to HDR. I played around with the settings but could never get it exactly where I wanted it. The colors in HDR on the other hand look amazing. I would love to see an upgrade to the brightness in HDR.
The game bar also returns, and one thing Hisense does that I love is adding the auto theme. So, when I was on Xbox, it was themed for that console, same with PS5 and Switch 2. It is a dumb thing that I love. It also has the crosshair, fps counter, and options for things like AMD Freesync Premium, which have become standard for current TVs. The big boon for this TV is definitely the response time. It made playing games so enjoyable. This is easily the best TV for gamers that are budget conscious without losing out on premium features.
Movies and TV shows are also excellent. I watched the new Superman, and it looked amazing. Again, the HDR is a little dark for my tastes, but it was fine. Older TV shows also show off the upscaling features of the TV. It really brought out some detail in shows from the late 90s and early 2000s. The amount of tweaking I was able to do is nice. Google OS has plenty of features including some AI functionality that works better than I expected. I tested out the content detection, and it worked really well. I am still not a fan of auto brightness based on room lighting, as I said, I am a fan of bright TVs.
Speaking of, this TV gets bright for a mid-range set. It boasts up to 3000 nits, and it shows. Even in my bright room the TV got bright enough for me to have very few issues. While not as bright as its big brother, it still is enough for most people. I actually had to turn it down in some instances, which is not something I regularly do. I like a very bright set. If there was one thing that took time for me to get used to, it was the slight yellow tint I noticed with the picture. Even swapping to standard color temperature, I could still see it.
Just like last year’s model, the U7QG runs the Google TV OS. This is by far my favorite built-in OS for TVs. The interface is nice and clean with a shelf for apps and plenty of recommendations based on your viewing preferences. The interface is nice and snappy and finding content is easy, especially with the voice search. There are also some free TV channels that can be found as well as other free content. It is a solid service and enforces the “if it ain’t broke” mentality.
With upgraded black levels and brightness for days, Hisense continues to improve upon their lineup. The U7QG is once again great value for the price. It matches some of the premium Mini-LED sets from last year, and I feel like it will be the most popular option for 2025. I cannot wait to check out the U8QG at some point for comparison, but this model is extremely impressive. Hisense is easy to recommend to friends and family for a quality TV with just about any feature anyone could want. It is great for gamers with four 2.1 USB ports, and the picture quality is outstanding.
Review sample provided by Hisense.
