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Hisense E78 PRO UK Guide: The Cheapest 144Hz TVs from 50 to 85 Inches

Q: Is the Hisense E78 PRO a good budget TV in the UK?

It is the entry point to Hisense's 144Hz ranges rather than its Mini LED ranges, so the pitch is screen size and refresh rate for the money rather than peak picture performance. We have not measured any set in the range, so we cannot publish verified brightness, contrast or input lag figures. Compare sizes, current prices and the specification list before deciding.

Q: What sizes does the Hisense E78 PRO come in?

In the UK we hold tracked links for five models: the 50 inch 50E78STUK PRO, 55 inch 55E78STUK PRO, 65 inch 65E78STUK PRO, 75 inch 75E78STUK PRO and 85 inch 85E78STUK PRO. All are listed as Hi-QLED panels with a 144Hz rating. Smaller sizes may appear in the range, but we only link to products where we hold a tracked affiliate link.

Q: Is 144Hz worth it on a PS5 or Xbox Series X?

Neither console outputs above 120Hz, so on a console you are buying headroom rather than a higher frame rate you can use today. The more useful question is whether the television supports variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode on its HDMI 2.1 ports, because those affect how smooth the picture feels. Confirm both on the retailer listing.

Q: Do I need a TV Licence for a new television in the UK?

You need a TV Licence to watch or record live television on any channel or service, or to use BBC iPlayer, and this applies regardless of how new or how large the television is. Using the set purely for streaming services other than BBC iPlayer, gaming or discs does not require one. Check the current rules and cost on the official TV Licensing website.

Q: Is an 85 inch TV too big for a UK living room?

Often yes. Measure from where your eyes actually sit on the sofa to the wall and use roughly 1.2 to 1.5 times the screen diagonal as a guide, which puts an 85 inch set at a viewing distance most British living rooms do not have. Also check the width against your wall and whether it will fit through your doorway and up your stairs before ordering.

A 144Hz panel was a flagship feature two years ago. The E78 PRO puts it on a Hi-QLED screen at every size from 50 to 85 inches — here's who that actually helps, which size suits a British living room, and where a Mini LED set is still worth the extra.

By TV Verdict · Published 2 October 2026 · Last updated 2 October 2026

Short answer

If you want the biggest screen your money can buy: this is the range to price up, particularly at 75" and 85".
If you're a PS5 or Xbox owner on a budget: you get 144Hz headroom, but check VRR and ALLM on the listing before you commit.
Most UK living rooms: the 65" is the safe call; the 55" is the flat and bedroom size.
If you watch a lot of HDR in a bright room: spend more on a Mini LED — the U7Q or the U8Q.
If you're furnishing a second room or a first flat: the 50" is the sensible floor, and cheaper than a soundbar-and-TV combination you don't need yet.

Where this guide stands: everything below is based on specifications published by the manufacturer and UK retailers, not on our own lab measurements — we have not yet tested any E78 PRO set. We have not quoted any brightness, contrast, colour coverage or input lag figures, and we won't publish those until we've measured them ourselves. Nothing here is a paid placement.

What the E78 PRO actually is

Hisense sells a lot of television ranges in the UK, and the naming makes it hard to tell which are related. The E78 PRO sits at the value end: it is listed as a Hi-QLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rating, and it covers five UK sizes — 50", 55", 65", 75" and 85".

Two things follow from that, and they're the whole argument for and against this range.

First, 144Hz at this end of the market is genuinely unusual. Not long ago a panel rated above 120Hz was something you paid a premium for. Here it's across the whole range, including the 50" model. Whether you can use it is a separate question, which we'll come to.

Second, it is not a Mini LED television. That's the important line. Hisense's Q8, U7Q and U8Q ranges use Mini LED backlights with local dimming; the E78 PRO doesn't. The Mini LED sets are the ones engineered around contrast and highlight performance on HDR content, and that's where the extra money goes when you spend it.

None of which makes the E78 PRO a bad television. It makes it a television that spends its budget on screen size and refresh rate rather than on backlight engineering. If that's the trade you want, it's a good one. The mistake is buying an 85" screen and then being disappointed it doesn't behave like an 85" flagship.

How it compares with the rest of the Hisense range

	E78 PRO	Q8	U7Q / U7S PRO	U8Q
Backlight	Hi-QLED	Mini LED	Mini LED	Mini LED
Refresh rate	144Hz	144Hz	144Hz	165Hz
UK sizes	50", 55", 65", 75", 85"	50", 55", 65", 75", 85"	50", 55", 65", 85"	55", 65", 75", 85"
Budget goes into	Size and refresh rate	Backlight plus refresh rate	Gaming feature set	Flagship picture performance
Best room	Second room, big dim room, first flat	Main living room	Gaming-led rooms	Bright main living room
Best for	Maximum screen per pound	Balanced HDR and gaming	PS5 and Xbox owners	HDR in daylight rooms

The interesting comparison is the E78 PRO against the Q8, because they cover the same five sizes and carry the same 144Hz rating. The difference is the backlight: the Q8 is a Mini LED set, the E78 PRO isn't. If the two are close in price on the day you're buying, the Q8 is the better television for picture quality and the E78 PRO should be meaningfully cheaper. If they aren't close, that gap is what you're being asked to pay for local dimming — and whether it's worth it depends almost entirely on how bright your room is.

144Hz: what you're actually buying

This is the specification that sells the range, and it's worth being precise about it, because the marketing is not.

Neither the PS5 nor the Xbox Series X outputs above 120Hz. If you're a console gamer, you will not see a 144Hz signal from either machine. What you're buying is headroom: a panel rated above the console's ceiling, which generally indicates a responsive display and usually comes with the modern gaming feature set attached.

The features that matter more than the headline number are:

Variable refresh rate (VRR). This matches the panel's refresh to the console's frame rate and is what stops a game looking juddery when it drops frames. It's the single most valuable gaming feature on a modern television, and it's worth more to you than the difference between 120Hz and 144Hz.
Auto low latency mode (ALLM). The television switches into a low-lag picture mode automatically when it detects a console. Without it you're remembering to change picture settings every time you pick up the controller.
Which HDMI ports are full HDMI 2.1. This is the gotcha. A television can advertise HDMI 2.1 features while only one or two of its four ports support the full bandwidth. If you have a console and a soundbar, check the port specification on the listing, not just the box headline.

All three appear on specification sheets inconsistently between retailers and between production runs of the same model. Confirm them on the listing before you buy rather than assuming a 144Hz rating implies all of them.

If you're gaming on a PC with a reasonably modern graphics card, 144Hz is more directly useful — that's the one case where the headline number is genuinely the point.

Which size for a British living room

Five sizes is a wider spread than the flagship ranges offer, and it's the main reason to look at this range at all. Use the standard 4K rule of thumb: sit roughly 1.2 to 1.5 times the screen diagonal away. Measure from where your eyes actually are on the sofa to the wall — not from the middle of the room, and not from the doorway.

That puts the 50" at around 5 to 6 feet, the 55" at around 5.5 to 7 feet, the 65" at around 6.5 to 8 feet, the 75" at around 7.5 to 9.5 feet, and the 85" at around 8.5 to 11 feet. Most UK living rooms land in the 65" band. Most flats, box rooms and second reception rooms land in the 55" band. The 75" and 85" sets need a room that's genuinely deep, and a wall that's genuinely wide.

Before ordering anything above 65", do two unfashionable checks. Measure the wall — an 85" panel is very nearly two metres wide, and a lot of Victorian and 1930s semi living rooms have a chimney breast that eats into that. Measure the route in — the box has to get through your front door, up your stairs and round any hallway corner. Couriers will not unpack it for you, and large-screen returns are a miserable business.

50E78STUK PRO 50" · Hi-QLED · 144Hz · the bedroom, kitchen-diner and first-flat size; suits viewing distances around 5 to 6 feet Check price

55E78STUK PRO 55" · Hi-QLED · 144Hz · the mainstream second-room and flat size; around 5.5 to 7 feet of viewing distance Check price

65E78STUK PRO 65" · Hi-QLED · 144Hz · the safe default for a UK living room; around 6.5 to 8 feet of viewing distance Check price

75E78STUK PRO 75" · Hi-QLED · 144Hz · for a deep reception room or a converted garage; around 7.5 to 9.5 feet Check price

85E78STUK PRO 85" · Hi-QLED · 144Hz · the cheapest route to a very large screen; check your wall width and doorways before ordering Check price

Smaller sizes exist in the wider E78 PRO family, but we only link to configurations where we hold a tracked affiliate link, so not every variant is listed above. If the size you want isn't shown, check current UK availability directly.

What you give up against Mini LED

Being straight about this matters, because it's the decision you're actually making.

Backlight control. Without local dimming zones, a bright highlight against a dark scene is harder to render convincingly. This is the difference you'd notice most on film content in a darkened room, and it's the main reason the U7Q and U8Q cost more.
HDR punch in daylight. A Mini LED backlight is built to fight a bright room. In a south-facing living room with big windows, this is where the spending gap shows up.
Flagship processing. Upscaling of broadcast and streaming content, motion handling and the picture processing that sits behind them generally improve as you move up the ranges.
Verified performance data. As with every set on this site, we haven't measured this one. Budget ranges are also thinly covered by independent measurement generally, so you'll find less third-party data than you would for a flagship.

What you get instead is screen size per pound, and that's not a consolation prize. A 75" screen in a dim room that you sit four metres from will generally beat a 55" flagship in the same room, because scale does more for the experience than a backlight you can't see working. Size is the specification you notice every single time you sit down.

UK buying checklist

A few things specific to buying a television here that are worth settling before you order rather than after.

Catch-up apps. Check whether the set includes Freeview Play or an equivalent, which is how most British households get BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4 and the rest without a separate box. If you use a streaming stick or a Sky box for everything, this doesn't matter.
TV Licence. You need one to watch or record live television on any channel or service, or to use BBC iPlayer — and that applies regardless of how new or how large the television is. Using the set only for other streaming services, gaming or discs doesn't require one. Check the current rules and cost on the official TV Licensing site.
Stand width. If it isn't going on the wall, measure the width of the feet against your TV unit. Large panels often have feet set wide apart, and a 75" set can overhang a unit that comfortably held a 55".
Wall mounting. A great deal of UK housing is plasterboard over timber studs or blockwork. A stud partition needs the bracket into the studs or heavy-duty plasterboard fixings rated well above the television's weight — not the screws in a generic kit. If it's a chimney breast, a party wall, or you're unsure what's behind the plaster, use an installer.
Delivery and returns. Large-screen delivery is usually a two-person service, and returns of anything over 65" are awkward. Check the retailer's returns terms before ordering, and keep the box until you're certain you're keeping it.

Who should buy it — and who shouldn't

Buy it if…

You want the largest screen your budget allows and you're not chasing flagship HDR
It's for a bedroom, a second reception room, a first flat or a student house
The room is dim or you mostly watch in the evening, where backlight performance matters least
You're a PC gamer who can actually use a 144Hz signal
You need a size the Mini LED ranges don't cover, or the Mini LED equivalent is well outside budget

Buy something else if…

The room is bright and you watch a lot of HDR — compare the U7Q and U7S PRO first
Picture quality is the whole point of the purchase — that's the U8Q
You want the television to look like furniture when it's off — that's an art TV, not this
You want local dimming at a similar price — price up the Q8 before committing

Consider waiting if…

You want independently measured brightness, contrast and input lag figures before committing — we don't have them yet, and we'd rather say so than invent them
You're weighing it against newer panel technology arriving in UK shops, which we cover in our RGB Mini LED guide
A major discount period is close; television pricing in the UK moves sharply around them

Where to check current UK pricing

Prices on this range move with size and with retailer promotions, so check the listing rather than relying on anything you read on a review site — including this one. Compare the current price, what's included, and the delivery terms before ordering.

Check price — 50" E78 PRO Check price — 55" E78 PRO Check price — 65" E78 PRO Check price — 75" E78 PRO Check price — 85" E78 PRO

What we can't tell you yet

We're being explicit rather than hedging. We have not measured any E78 PRO set, so we can't publish verified figures for peak or sustained brightness, contrast ratio, colour coverage, out-of-the-box accuracy, viewing angles, or input lag in game mode. We also haven't confirmed which HDMI ports carry the full 2.1 feature set on each size, or how the panel behaves in a bright room.

What we can do now is narrow the decision using everything verifiable before purchase: the sizes available, the panel technology and refresh rating, how the range sits against the Mini LED models, and how each size fits a real UK room. Specifications here come from manufacturer and retailer listings; measured brightness, contrast and input lag data are pending our own testing. Once our testing rig is running, this page will be updated with measured results.

FAQ

Is the Hisense E78 PRO a good budget TV in the UK?

It's the entry point to Hisense's 144Hz ranges rather than its Mini LED ranges, so the pitch is screen size and refresh rate for the money rather than peak picture performance. We haven't measured any set in the range, so we can't publish verified brightness, contrast or input lag figures. Compare sizes, current prices and the specification list before deciding.

What sizes does the Hisense E78 PRO come in?

We hold tracked UK links for five models: the 50 inch 50E78STUK PRO, 55 inch 55E78STUK PRO, 65 inch 65E78STUK PRO, 75 inch 75E78STUK PRO and 85 inch 85E78STUK PRO. All are listed as Hi-QLED panels with a 144Hz rating. Smaller sizes may appear in the wider range, but we only link to products where we hold a tracked affiliate link.

Is 144Hz worth it on a PS5 or Xbox Series X?

Neither console outputs above 120Hz, so on a console you're buying headroom rather than a higher frame rate you can use today. The more useful question is whether the television supports variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode on its HDMI 2.1 ports, because those affect how smooth the picture actually feels. Confirm both on the retailer listing.

Is the E78 PRO a Mini LED TV?

No. The range is listed as Hi-QLED, which places it below Hisense's Mini LED ranges — the Q8, U7Q and U8Q — in terms of backlight technology. In practice that means the Mini LED sets are the ones to look at if you watch a lot of HDR in a bright room. How large that difference is in practice isn't something we can quantify without measuring both.

Should I buy a 75 or 85 inch E78 PRO instead of a smaller Mini LED TV?

It depends on the room. In a large, dim room where you sit several metres back, extra screen size usually improves the experience more than a better backlight you can't see working. In a small bright room with big windows, the opposite is true. Measure your viewing distance first and let that decide it.

What should I check on the listing before buying an E78 PRO?

Confirm which HDMI ports are full HDMI 2.1 rather than a lower specification, whether variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode are supported, the panel's native refresh rate, the stand width against your furniture, and whether the set includes Freeview Play for UK catch-up apps. Specification lists vary between retailers and between production runs.

Do I need a TV Licence for a new television in the UK?

You need one to watch or record live television on any channel or service, or to use BBC iPlayer, and this applies regardless of how new or how large the television is. Using the set purely for other streaming services, gaming or discs doesn't require one. Check the current rules and cost on the official TV Licensing website.

Is an 85 inch TV too big for a UK living room?

Often, yes. Measure from where your eyes actually sit on the sofa to the wall and use roughly 1.2 to 1.5 times the screen diagonal as a guide, which puts an 85 inch set at a viewing distance most British living rooms don't have. Also check the width against your wall — a chimney breast often eats into it — and whether it will fit through your doorway and up your stairs before ordering.

Keeping this page current: specifications, prices and availability change frequently, and retailers revise listings through the year. We review and update this page as listings change. Found something out of date? Tell us.