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Updated January 10, 2024·
If you're looking for a TV that offers a superior gaming experience and is excellent for watching movies and cartoons, the Hisense U8K is a strong choice, particularly with its impressively high contrast and good performance in both dark and bright rooms. It offers a great picture quality overall and is equipped with great speakers, supporting advanced audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. It's also more budget-friendly. Alternatively, the Sony X85J, while more expensive, offers a high-quality viewing experience, especially for sports content and has very low input lag, making it good for gaming as well. However, it may not perform as well in dark rooms and doesn't have local dimming which can impact contrast. Also, it lacks some high-end features like Dolby Vision which are present in the Hisense U8K. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Hisense U8K (LCD)
- Best in class for bright room
- Very good for dark room
- Very good for gaming
- Very good for movies & TV
- Excellent for cartoons & animation
- Good for use as monitor
- Very good reflections
Advantages of the Sony X85J (LCD)
- Good for sports
- Best in class for upscaling
- Best in class motion processing
Key differences
Picture Quality
8.7
7.3
8.21/10
CONTRAST
7.88/10
9.2/10
COLOR VOLUME SCORE
7.3/10
miniLED FALD
PANEL TYPE
LED
VA
PANEL SUB-TYPE
VA
The Hisense U8K (LCD) has very good picture quality, while the Sony X85J (LCD) has good picture quality.
Movies & TV
8.5
6.5
8.21/10
CONTRAST
7.88/10
10.0/10
BLACK UNIFORMITY
6.9/10
7.0/10
UPSCALING
10.0/10
Yes
HDR10 SUPPORT
Yes
Yes
HDR10+ SUPPORT
No
Yes
DOLBY VISION SUPPORT
Yes
The Hisense U8K (LCD) is very good for movies & TV, while the Sony X85J (LCD) is only fair.
The Hisense U8K excels in watching movies and cinematic TV due to its superior black uniformity, resulting in deep and consistent black shades, which is crucial for dark scenes. In comparison, the Sony X85J, while providing good performance, has less effective local dimming and black uniformity, making it less ideal for viewing content with a lot of dark scenes or in very dark environments.
Sports
6.3
7.2
3.5/10
MOTION PROCESSING
10.0/10
144Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
7.6/10
INPUT LAG SCORE
7.6/10
7.0/10
UPSCALING
10.0/10
9.1/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.5/10
Yes
HLG SUPPORT
Yes
The Sony X85J (LCD) is good for sports, while the Hisense U8K (LCD) is only fair.
The Sony X85J delivers a better experience for sports viewing mainly due to its superior motion processing capabilities and response time, ensuring smoother action with less blur during fast-moving scenes. On the other hand, the Hisense U8K is disadvantaged by its lower motion processing quality and fair response time, making fast-paced sports less clear, despite its better handling of reflections which would be more beneficial in a bright room.
Gaming
8.6
7.6
6.8/10
RESPONSE TIME SCORE
7.8/10
7.6/10
INPUT LAG SCORE
7.6/10
3.5/10
MOTION PROCESSING
10.0/10
90.0/100
GAMING LOCAL DIMMING
0.0/100
9.2/10
GAME HDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
7.5/10
The Hisense U8K (LCD) is very good for gaming, while the Sony X85J (LCD) is good.
The Hisense U8K is ideal for gaming primarily due to its superior motion handling, as it has a higher refresh rate and lower input lag, ensuring a smoother and more responsive gaming experience compared to the Sony X85J, which, while still good for gaming, doesn't perform as well in these specific areas.
Cartoons & Animation
9.1
8.6
8.3/10
COLOR GAMUT SCORE
7.3/10
9.2/10
COLOR VOLUME SCORE
7.3/10
9.1/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.5/10
8.6/10
COLORS OUT OF THE BOX SCORE
9.1/10
7.0/10
GRAY UNIFORMITY
8.2/10
The Hisense U8K (LCD) is excellent for cartoons & animation, while the Sony X85J (LCD) is very good.
The Hisense U8K is rated higher for watching cartoons and animations primarily because it exhibits very good colors straight out of the box, and both its color gamut and color volume are considered excellent, which is crucial for vivid and varied on-screen animations. While the Sony X85J also offers excellent colors out of the box, its color gamut and color volume are merely deemed good, potentially resulting in slightly less vibrant animations compared to the Hisense U8K.
Bright Room
9.7
7.3
5.3/10
VIEWING ANGLE
5.3/10
9.1/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.5/10
9.1/10
HDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
7.1/10
8.9/10
REFLECTIONS SCORE
5.9/10
The Hisense U8K (LCD) is best in class for bright room, while the Sony X85J (LCD) is good.
The Hisense U8K is better suited for bright rooms due to its excellent SDR and HDR brightness along with very good reflection handling capabilities, enhancing its performance in well-lit conditions. On the other hand, while the Sony X85J also has good brightness levels and decent reflection handling, it doesn't perform as well as the U8K in such environments.
Cost
$698
$1,000
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
The Hisense U8K (LCD) has a price of $698 and the Sony X85J (LCD) costs $1,000.
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Key similarities
News, Talk, & Other TV
8.6
8.2
9.1/10
SDR BRIGHTNESS SCORE
8.5/10
7.0/10
UPSCALING
10.0/10
The Hisense U8K (LCD) and Sony X85J (LCD) are both very good for news, talk, & other TV.
The Hisense U8K performs very well in upscaling lower resolution content and has excellent SDR brightness, which makes it suitable for viewing news and TV programs in well-lit rooms. The Sony X85J, on the other hand, offers superb upscaling and very good SDR brightness as well, complemented by pleasing colors right out of the box, resulting in a clear and vibrant picture for the same types of content. Both TVs have high contrast and local dimming (although the Hisense has better local dimming), which helps to produce deep blacks and rich picture quality, factors that are somewhat important for watching news and talk shows.
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How the Hisense U8K (LCD) and the Sony X85J (LCD) compare to other TVs
Spec Comparison
 |  | |
| Hisense U8K (LCD) | Sony X85J (LCD) |
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
$698 | $1,000 | ||
Brand | |||
Brand | Hisense | Sony | |
Release Date | |||
Release Date | August 1, 2023 | April 3, 2021 | |
Full name | |||
Full name | 55U8K | KD-55X85J | |
Screen Size | |||
Screen Size | 55" | 55" | |
Screen Resolution | |||
Screen Resolution | 4K | 4K | |
TV FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Operating System | |||
Operating System | Google TV | Android TV | |
Sound Quality Score | |||
Sound Quality Score | 8.3/10 | 7.5/10 | |
NextGen Ready | |||
NextGen Ready | Yes | Yes | |
HDMI Ports | |||
HDMI Ports | 4 | 4 | |
Coax Ports | |||
Coax Ports | 1 | 1 | |
DISPLAY QUALITY SCORES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Picture Quality Score | |||
Picture Quality Score | 8.7/10 | 7.3/10 | |
Bright Room Score | |||
Bright Room Score | 9.7/10 | 7.4/10 | |
Gaming Score | |||
Gaming Score | 8.6/10 | 7.6/10 | |
Movies & TV Score | |||
Movies & TV Score | 8.5/10 | 6.6/10 | |
Sports Score | |||
Sports Score | 6.3/10 | 7.3/10 | |
PHYSICAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Dimensions w/o Stand (H x W x D) | |||
Dimensions w/o Stand (H x W x D) | 28.2" x 48.5" x 3" | 28" x 48.5" x 2.8" | |
Dimensions with Stand (H x W) | |||
Dimensions with Stand (H x W) | 30.5" x 48.5" | 30.9" x 48.5" | |
Weight without Stand | |||
Weight without Stand | 41.2 lbs | 37.1 lbs | |
VESA Mount | |||
VESA Mount | 400 x 300 | 300 x 300 | |
DISPLAY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Color Depth | |||
Color Depth | 10 bit | 10 bit | |
Black Frame Insertion | |||
Black Frame Insertion | Yes | Yes | |
Auto Low Latency Mode | |||
Auto Low Latency Mode | Yes | Yes | |
Contrast | |||
Contrast | 8.2/10 | 7.9/10 | |
Local Dimming | |||
Local Dimming | 8/10 | 2.5/10 | |
SOUND | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Speaker Setup | |||
Speaker Setup | 2.1.2 | 2.0 | |
Speaker Power | |||
Speaker Power | 50 W | 20 W | |
Dolby Atmos | |||
Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes | |
DTS:X | |||
DTS:X | Yes | Up to DTS Digital Surround, Bypass only | |
Get a great deal on the Hisense U8K (LCD) or the Sony X85J (LCD)
About Hisense
Hisense, a Chinese TV manufacturer, entered the US market in approximately 2011 and has since acquired TV divisions from various companies such as Toshiba, Sharp, Hitachi, and NEC. Currently ranking as the fourth largest vendor in terms of sales volume, Hisense aims to capture a wide range of TV budget segments. They offer exceptional value with TVs that often outperform their competitors at similar price points, making them a compelling choice for consumers. In the US, they use Google TV as their smart TV software which provides the largest app selection and a very modern user interface, however it is not as user friendly as the software from other vendors.
About Sony
Sony stands as a highly experienced and widely trusted TV manufacturer, earning a reputation that surpasses all others. A Japanese company, Sony has been making TVs for far longs than it has been making Playstation game consoles. Sony's high-end TVs are often regarded as the ultimate choice for videophiles, representing the epitome of quality, albeit at a premium price point. Renowned for their advanced and precise motion handling, as well as their cutting-edge local dimming algorithms, Sony consistently delivers unparalleled performance in these areas. They include Google TV software with all their TV sets, which grants access to the largest selection of apps available and they also include Bravia Core which is a movie streaming platform specifically for Sony TVs that offers higher picture quality by using more bandwidth.
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