The Hisense UR8, touted as a budget-friendly RGB mini-LED TV, has piqued the interest of many with its promise of OLED-like performance at an affordable price. But how does it stack up against its traditional mini-LED counterpart, the Samsung QN80H? To find out, I put them side by side to see which one truly delivers.
RGB Mini-LED: The New Kid on the Block
Hisense introduced RGB mini-LED to the world in **2025**, and I was one of the lucky ones to get my hands on the 116UX, the first RGB mini-LED model. While it impressed me in many ways, I anticipated it would be a high-end tech for some time. It’s only now that we have the UR8 that we can see just how far this technology has come.
The UR8 and the QN80H are two vastly different TVs, but they share a common goal: to deliver excellent picture quality without breaking the bank. The UR8 uses Hisense’s RGB mini-LED panel, which boasts a whopping **4,000** mini-LEDs, arranged in a 1,600×4,000 layout. This setup allows for incredible brightness, contrast, and color accuracy, all of which are hallmarks of OLED technology.
A Side-by-Side Comparison
During my testing, I was struck by just how close the UR8 gets to the QN80H in terms of picture quality. In fact, in many scenes, it was difficult to tell the two TVs apart. But, after closer inspection, I started to notice some subtle differences that set the UR8 apart.
Mainly, the UR8 struggled with local dimming, a technique used to darken individual areas of the screen to create deeper blacks. While the QN80H handled this with ease, the UR8 sometimes produced a “halo effect,” where the dimming wasn’t as seamless as it could be.
What This Means
While the UR8 is an impressive effort from Hisense, it’s still not quite on par with the QN80H in terms of overall picture quality. That being said, it’s getting us closer to OLED-like performance without the hefty price tag. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly option that can keep up with the big boys, the UR8 is definitely worth considering. Just be aware that it’s still a relatively new technology, and there are some growing pains to be expected.
