HD PICTURE QUALITY. HD picture quality was very good. It did an excellent job displaying the finest detail of HD content. However, image detail was a bit over-sharpened and we could not minimize this in the picture settings. 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 depth and dimension. Black levels are very good, with help from Hisense's vertically controlled edge "Local Dimming" feature, delivering fairly deep blacks that help contrast in darker scenes (though quality does degrade as you move to the sides - see viewing angle). The picture could be driven to a fairly high brightness level with the backlight turned up, so the picture is well suited for a very sunny room. A lower backlight setting is recommended for a dimmer viewing environment. There was visible banding (unnatural contours) on scenes with subtly shaded light-to-dark areas, such as a sky during sunset, rather than smooth transitions. There was slight display non-uniformity that created brighter cloudy areas most noticeable on very dark scenes (or in the black bars of a letterboxed movie). We routinely see this issue with LCDs and severity can vary from model to model. The deinterlacing and film mode operations were excellent on HD content; there was little or no trace of jaggies on the edges of objects for video and film-based 1080i video content, such as from cable.
VIEWING ANGLE. This Hisense has a narrow viewing angle overall, below-average performance among TVs for this attribute. Only those seated directly in front of the screen will see the best picture quality. 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, reducing contrast especially on dark scenes. When viewing the image from above or below eye level to the screen, the vertical viewing angle was good. The picture showed some change in color, contrast, and black level.
ULTRA HD PERFORMANCE. Overall UHD performance is very good with excellent HD-to-UHD upconversion. All native 4K content (non HDR) we played on this model, including movies and test videos, was presented in full 4K detail with excellent fidelity when played back via the TV's HDMI input. Via the USB port, high-resolution photos were displayed in full 4K detail. With regular HD content, the TV's HD-to-UHD up-conversion processing was generally excellent with the edges along diagonals of image content looking very smooth with minimal jaggies.
HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR) PERFORMANCE. HDR performance is very limited. The display's lack of high peak brightness capability (by HDR standards) limited its ability to show the benefits of HDR to full effect on our test videos, while revealing little contrast between moderately bright and very bright highlights within a scene. It did a good job reproducing a greater range of nuanced shadow detail from black to white, with no obvious banding on areas of the image that have subtle shade variations. There was no visible loss of near-white shadow detail in the brightest areas. Brighter colored objects remained nicely saturated.
MOTION BLUR. This Hisense TV has very good motion performance, with minimal blurring on our motion tests, thanks to Hisense's "Motion Enhancement". This feature is designed to reduce motion blur, a shortcoming of most displays.
SCREEN REFLECTIVITY. Though not as mirror-like as on some models, this screen surface is glossy and therefore susceptible to reflections from a nearby lamp or window. It does a good job reducing glare from ambient light and maintains contrast in a brighter room environment.
SOUND QUALITY. This model has good sound quality; about average among the models we've tested. When watching a blockbuster movie, a concert, or TV show, it delivers decent performance but falls short of the better performers. Bass was adequate, which added some fullness to the sound but was lacking in definition a bit, and treble was nicely detailed, while the overall sound was a bit thin and closed in. The speakers could play at a fairly loud volume level and without obvious distortion. Most people would find this sound quality acceptable.
EASE OF USE. On first power up there is an on-screen guide that helps you through setting up the TV. Hisense includes a small, basic Android remote with a reduced set of buttons that support onscreen menu navigation. It does not include a number pad but does provide direct button access to Netflix, Google Play, Sling, YouTube, FandangoNOW, and TikiLIVE streaming services. The TV's stand is 45 inches wide.
INTERNET FEATURES. This TV provides basic Internet functionality with a limited selection of applications via its "Android TV" portal with access to a library of applications. Movie streaming services include Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, HBO Go and HBO Now. Includes built-in Google Assistant, a virtual assistant, which allows you to use natural speech to ask questions, launch applications, and search programming via the remote's built-in microphone. Also provides support for Amazon Alexa.
CONNECTIONS. This model has four HDMI inputs-- one supports ARC (Audio Return Channel), one composite input, and no component input. 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; 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.
INCLUDED IN THE BOX. A quick start guide. A remote control with batteries. A detachable power cord. No printed manual is included.
ABOUT ULTRA HD TESTING: We test UHD picture quality using 4K movies, videos, photos, and test patterns to confirm these displays deliver performance to this format's full potential. We check the TV's ability to reproduce 4K image detail, as well as high dynamic range (HDR) for TVs that support this capability. Image quality is tested using a 4K movie player connected to the TV's HDMI input, as well as from files stored on flash drive plugged into the TV's USB port. 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.
