With Amazon Prime Day in full swing, I bought the Hisense U8N mini LED TV, not only because it ranks among the best TVs under $1,000, but also because it is one of the best TVs of the year

Hisense is known for offering excellent value in premium quality design With a display from Hisense, you can expect serious brightness performance, ample audio range, and an array of gaming features that will make your home entertainment setup more than adequate for everything from the Paris Olympics to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Right out of the box, however, some adjustments need to be made to get the most out of your Hisense U8N TV Not all standard settings are necessary, and having tested the display in a variety of environments over the years, we can attest that there are plenty of settings to change on a new TV

From common setting changes you should make when purchasing a new TV, such as picture mode and brightness adjustment, we will show you how best to approach your shiny new Hisense U8N

For starters, Tom's Guide always recommends changing the TV's picture to Filmmaker mode immediately This mode was designed in partnership with renowned filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, and James Cameron to literally achieve the best picture quality on television

Nevertheless, the Filmmaker mode does not always provide the best picture quality, especially when used with Dolby Vision, as some scenes may be darker than necessary Therefore, this setting change is not all-inclusive, but it will (in most cases) give you the best picture quality you are looking for

And then there's brightness Generally, you want to set it low for standard content and high for HDR, but such changes can be cumbersome for those who like it quick and easy However, not all homes have the same ambient lighting, so a few more adjustments may be necessary

Otherwise, you may want to keep Local Dimming high, Dark Detail (this setting is mainly off, Black Level is left at -1), and Gamma at the standard bt1886 These settings will give you near OLED quality black levels and great image clarity [Settings such as active contrast, tone mapping, low blue light, and super resolution should be ignored and left off These tend to make content look unnatural and are not that necessary, so leave them off Motion Clearness is a setting that should absolutely be ignored for a variety of reasons, including the insertion of unnecessary black borders, so this should also be turned off

Most important is “Motion Interpolation,” which is the sophisticated version of motion smoothing and the bane of Tom Cruise When it is on, it inserts fames into the content to speed up the motion beyond 60 fps, but this results in an unnatural, often “soap opera” look that we don't want

Also, Hisense makes some of the best gaming TVs on the market, and you will want the absolute best settings for everything, including PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC The Hisense U8N has a total of four HDMI 21 ports, but not all of them perform best with the latest gaming consoles or PCs

When gaming, it is best to switch the TV's picture mode to PC/gaming mode, which is usually done automatically Gaming PC users are encouraged to use the fourth HDMI slot with HDMI Extended Format enabled This ensures chroma 4:4:4 support and low input lag

If you are using a modern console, you will need to use the third or fourth HDMI slot, but it is not required; just like PC gamers, setting the Hisense U8N's HDMI format to Enhanced will enable 4K @ 120Hz playback and and you must ensure that AMD FreeSync is turned on

Instant Game Response related to ALLM (Automatic Low Latency Mode) should be enabled, but High Refresh Rate Mode should always be turned off due to unintended drawbacks with TV input latency Otherwise, little else needs to be changed, and in most cases, some of these settings should be enabled automatically

Audio is a little different The Hisense U8N has a 212 channel speaker surround sound system with a maximum output of 50 watts However, you may want to pair your new TV with the best Dolby Atmos sound bar

In that case, we recommend using the first HDMI port on your TV for eARC compatibility As you might expect, the U8N supports both DTS:X and Dolby Atmos, providing cinematic sound for all your audio needs Digital” for Atmos

With all of these settings in place, you can enjoy great sound for all of life's entertainment Not all homes are the same when it comes to ambient lighting and sound compatibility, so be sure to tinker with the more advanced settings to get the best picture for your setup