HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality fell short, overall. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Very Good, just shy of excellent. Color accuracy was Excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, look very natural and lifelike. 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 moderately low, dimmer than most even with the backlight control turned up—OK for a dark room but not the best choice for a bright room. There was notable display non-uniformity in our test sample—it appeared as brighter cloudy areas which were most visible on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie)—the severity can vary from model to model. 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 Excellent.
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 moderate dimming from the sides. 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.
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) to be lacking and lacked some definition. Treble (high frequencies) lacked detail. The overall sound was 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. Also, at higher volume, its dynamic-compression feature prevented gross distortion, but it slightly reduced the clarity and naturalness of loud peaks. 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 25 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 full number keypad for entering channel numbers. It includes all the buttons we typically expect: power, channel up/down, volume control, mute, source input, menu, and exit. The remote has a microphone for accessing a built-in voice assistant feature. It also has dedicated buttons for streaming Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides internet functionality via its "Android TV" portal, with access to a library of applications from the Google Play Store. Movie streaming services that can be downloaded to this TV, or are built-in, include Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney and HBO Max. Includes built-in Google Assistant, a virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the remote.
CONNECTIONS. This model has two HDMI inputs (one supports ARC, audio return channel). It also has two USB ports, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, WiFi wireless networking; Casting, which allows you to send streaming content from your mobile device to the TV via your home network; Screen mirroring, where the image on your smartphone or other compatible device can also appear on the TV.
WHAT'S INCLUDED. You get with this TV: a quick start guide, and a remote control with batteries. No printed manual is included.
