HD PICTURE QUALITY HD picture quality was Very Good, overall. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Very Good, just shy of excellent. Color accuracy was Very Good, with flesh tones in particular, looking natural. Contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—was Good, so images had some depth, but it was not the best. Black levels were overly bright, unfortunately, worse than many TVs. Image brightness was Good (with the backlight control turned up), making it a suitable choice for all but the sunniest rooms. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content deinterlacing of 1080i video was Very Good (minimal "jaggies"), and film mode detection from 1080i content was Good.
VIEWING ANGLE This Hisense model has a wide viewing angle overall, better than that of most TVs. It will provide fairly consistent picture quality, with fewer problems than most TVs, for typical viewing conditions—say, if your family is seated across a long sectional or in chairs off to the sides. Our examination at various viewing angles indicated reasonably good consistency. In our tests, the picture did show some slight dimming from the sides, but not to a distracting degree. With dark scenes this model doesn't fare quite as well. When viewed from the sides, the depth of black levels varied depending on our vertical position. As we moved closer to the screen this limitation became even more apparent, especially if seated on the floor looking upward where black levels brightened significantly. When we viewed the TV from the sides the image had some loss of quality. We viewed the image from above and below center screen, and saw Excellent vertical viewing angle performance, with no significant changes in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR In our motion tests, this Hisense TV had Good motion performance, with some blurring. It does not have a special feature to minimize motion blur.
SOUND QUALITY We got sub-par sound quality, with below average performance. It could be acceptable for typical programming, but its shortcomings would be obvious with movie soundtracks and music. In our listening evaluations, we found the bass (low frequencies) was notably missing, and had a slight amount of rattle or buzzing during our bass-heavy sound clip. Treble (high frequencies) was satisfactory. The overall sound was overly bright, thin and closed in. This TV should be OK if the room isn't too noisy—we found the speakers could produce a Good volume level and without obvious distortion. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system—but if this smaller-screen set is a secondary TV, you might find its sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE Consider the TV's stand is 27 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. On first power up, an on-screen guide appeared—which you could choose to follow when setting up the TV. The remote controls the TV via an IR light beam which must be pointed at the TV. It has a simplified design with a reduced set of buttons. It includes many of the typical buttons: power, volume control, mute, menu and exit buttons. But annoyingly it lacks the channel up/down and source-input buttons. It also has dedicated buttons for streaming Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Hulu.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "Roku TV" portal, with access to a library of applications from the Channel Store. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney, Apple TV and HBO Max. Claimed support for external voice assistants (not built in to the TV) include Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri HomeKit.
CONNECTIONS This model has three HDMI inputs (one supports ARC, audio return channel), one USB port, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, WiFi wireless networking, DLNA—to access files within your home network, and AirPlay—for sharing videos, photos, music, and more from Apple devices to the TV.
WHAT'S INCLUDED You get with this TV: a quick start guide, an electronic user guide via the TV's menu, and a remote control with batteries. No printed manual is included.
