HD PICTURE QUALITY HD picture quality was Excellent. Reproduction of fine HD image detail was Excellent. Color accuracy was Excellent, so colors, especially flesh tones, look very natural and lifelike. Excellent contrast—the difference between the darkest blacks and brightest whites—gave images great depth and dimension. Black levels were Very Good, and delivered fairly deep blacks that helped the contrast in darker scenes—Hisense's full-array local-dimming feature helped. Black levels were fairly deep, just shy of the very best models, which gave dark scenes better depth. This was among the brightest models we've tested (with the backlight control turned up), so the picture was well suited for a very sunny room—a lower setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. Its reproduction of smooth edges on image content was Very Good with minimal "jaggies" (jagged edges) for "up-converted" HD-to-UHD images. Deinterlacing of 1080i video was Excellent. However film-mode detection of 1080i film-based content was only Good. More so, the overall quality appeared worse as we viewed from the sides—see our Viewing Angle results, below. There was slight display non-uniformity in our test sample—it appeared as brighter cloudy areas which were most noticeable on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie)—the severity can vary from model to model.
4K UHD PICTURE QUALITY Overall 4K UHD picture quality was Excellent. In our UHD testing, we played native-4K movies and test videos (non HDR) thru the TV's HDMI input, and found their image detail was all there. For color, contrast and black level, the TV performed similarly to its HD picture quality.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE HDR performance had limited effectiveness In our tests, the display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) limited its ability to show the benefits of our HDR 4K content. It could not reveal much contrast between the moderately bright and very bright highlights, while the brightness levels in the mid-to-lower tones, like those in an indoor scene, were preserved. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail, from black to white, with no obvious banding within the gradually shaded areas, but we noted some loss of detail within the highlights of the brightest areas. Brightly colored objects remained nicely saturated.
VIEWING ANGLE This Hisense model has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. We examined the image quality at various viewing angles--its image quality notably decreased as we moved away from the center position. 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 image quality degraded significantly. The picture showed a strong loss of color, so flesh tones looked very washed out. Black levels visibly brightened, and reduced the contrast especially on dark scenes. Halo effects around objects in darker scenes (a side effect of the local dimming feature) also become more prominent at off angles. Lastly, we viewed the image from above and below center screen, and noticed Good vertical viewing angle performance, with only slight changes in color, contrast, and black level.
MOTION BLUR In our motion tests, this Hisense TV had Good motion performance, with some blurring, though this model includes Hisense's "Blur Reduction", a feature designed to reduce motion blur. Although this TV also includes other settings that we found were effective at reducing motion blur, they limited the brightness and added some flicker, so we left these features switched off.
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. Treble (high frequencies) was satisfactory. The overall sound was on the bright side, 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. Overall, though imperfect, most people would find this sound quality acceptable. If sound quality matters to you, you might want to add a soundbar or other external speaker system.
EASE OF USE Consider the TV's stand is 32 inches wide when choosing a table top to place it on. The remote controls the TV via an RF signal and doesn't need to be pointed at the TV. It has a simplified design with a reduced set of buttons, though it includes all the buttons we typically expect, like channel-up/down, mute, and source-input buttons. The remote has a microphone for accessing a built-in voice assistant feature. It also has dedicated buttons for streaming Disney+, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and YouTube.
INTERNET FEATURES This TV provides internet functionality via its "Google TV" portal, with access to a library of applications from the Google Play Store, and a full web browser. 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—and these can be streamed in either HD or (except Hulu) in 4K UHD. It includes a built-in Google Assistant virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming by talking to the remote. Hisense claims it will also support external Amazon Alexa voice assistants (not built in to the TV).
CONNECTIONS This model has four HDMI inputs. It also has two USB ports, an optical digital audio out, a headphone out, an Ethernet port, 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. Analog composite video with stereo audio can be connected via a special adapter (included) that attaches to the TV as a single plug.
WHAT'S INCLUDED You get with this TV: a quick start guide, a remote control with batteries, an adapter for composite video with stereo audio, and a detachable power cord. No printed manual is included.
ABOUT UHD TESTING Ultra-high definition "UHD" can refer to both the TV and program content. While the UHD industry standard includes 4K and 8K, most UHD TVs and UHD content at this time are 4K. A 4K UHD image is presented as 3840 x 2160 pixels—four times the pixel-count of HD. We test UHD TV picture quality using 4K UHD movies, videos, photos, and test patterns to confirm these displays deliver performance to this format's full potential. We examine the TV's ability to reproduce 4K UHD image detail, as well as high dynamic range (HDR)—for TVs that support this capability. Image quality is tested using a UHD movie player connected to the TV's HDMI input, and from files stored on USB flash drive. We also check how well the TV can upscale HD movies to the display's higher UHD resolution while keeping artifacts such as "jaggies" along the edges of image content to a minimum. The best UHD TVs, and HDTVs, present high fidelity images that reveal the full quality of the best source content without degradation.
