Hisense U9DG dual Dell 4K HDR TVs
RRP $ 3,500.00
advantages
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Excellent backlight control
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Brighter than OLED
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Easy adjustment
disadvantage
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Not as black as OLED
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Not as bright as other LED / LCD TVs
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Expensive
I have been looking forward to Hisense introducing its dual cell TV technology to the US market for more than three years. Now that the time has finally come, I find myself more thoughtful than exuberant.
To be clear, the Hisense U9DG is a very impressive television. I just think that this particular TV – and the technology behind it in particular – is likely to have a pretty small audience.
Is it the Right TV for You? Let's find out.
Out of the box
Riley Young / Digital Trends
Riley Young / Digital Trends
Riley Young / Digital Trends
Hisense does product packaging better than most TV brands. When you order your TV online and have it shipped to you, you know that Hisense TVs are well packaged for the trip and will likely arrive in good condition no matter how many hits the box seems to have on the way.
The U9DG dual-cell television (for strangers, I'll explain the dual-cell technology in a moment) looks similar to other Hisense televisions in that it has decorative bezels on the top and sides, with a shiny chrome strip along the bottom. The U9DG differs slightly in that its silver stripe is much thicker than the U8G or U7G TV, for example, as it houses a front-facing speaker system. It's a look that you will either love or hate. But in the end, the person who needs or wants this TV will likely be willing to put up with the aesthetics anyway.
Riley Young / Digital Trends
The U9DG comes with what I refer to as "Dumbo-Ear" stand mount feet. They are large, so they add up to a large footprint and can only be mounted in one place under the TV. So those who will mount a stand will need to have 56 inches wide and 16.75 inches deep on a media stand.
In all fairness, wall mounting this TV seems like the best way to go.
What is dual cell?
Riley Young / Digital Trends
Every time I sit down to explain another TV display technology I take a deep breath, roll my eyes, and then quickly remember that I'm lucky to have this job and just have to go to work. So here's a quick refresher on two popular TV display technologies and how Dual-Cell tries to bridge the gap in a very unconventional and interesting way that is mostly only of interest to geeks like me.
LED / LCD
In one corner we have the LED / LCD television, a technology that has been iterating for more than 16 years. Today, this type of display includes a series of LEDs that act as a backlight. The light from these LEDs shines through a number of different layers before emerging from the LCD layer as a colorful image that you see on your television.
To prevent dark areas of the screen from looking blurry or milky while other areas of the screen are bright, it is necessary to dim “zones” of the light array in some areas while keeping other areas bright. This is where the term “local dimming zones” comes from.
The more zones the better, because the display has more control over the light and dark areas. And if you can make the LEDs really tiny in those zones, that's even better – hence the advent of mini LED backlight technology.
OLED
In the other corner we have OLED TVs. OLED is a type of display that does not rely on LED backlighting. Organic light-emitting diode pixels – the same as many modern telephones – are "self-emitting," which means that when they are turned on, they generate their own light. Conversely, if you take that current away, they'll go dark – no juice, no light, perfect black levels.
To say that LED / LCD TVs chase OLED TVs in terms of picture quality would be an understatement. OLED's perfect blacks make for amazing contrast that is easily perceived by the human eye, and perfect blacks are hard to achieve for LED / LCD TVs, try local dimming zones, mini-LEDs, and the like.
However, OLED is not perfect. OLED TVs can't get as bright as LED-backlit LCD TVs, and OLED TVs have very little risk of burn-in – but most of the time, they just don't get that bright.
How about some new TV technology that fills the gap and lives somewhere in the middle? That is dual cell.
Dual cell and how it works
To be clear, dual cell televisions are LED backlit. The difference is that a dual cell TV adds a black and white LCD layer to the mix rather than dimming and brightening the zones of LEDs and making those LEDs smaller. This black and white layer (technically grayscale) is used to control the background lighting by only allowing light to pass where it is wanted, down to a pixel-by-pixel level.
Confused? I understand. I hope this cool GIF we made could help.
Now that you have an idea of how it works (there really isn't any point in investigating this TV unless you do) I can tell you that the goal of Dual Cell is to have a TV with you to produce really good black levels like OLED and really great brightness like LED / LCD, bridging the gap between the two. Perhaps you can now understand why I was excited about this new technology.
So, does it work?
Yes, Dual Cell works, just not as well as I would like. Besides, I'm not fair.
Double cell: A tough sell … for now
Riley Young / Digital Trends
Yes, Dual Cell works, just not as well as I would like. Besides, I'm not fair.
If dual cell display technology works as well as I wanted it to, it would be the perfect balance between OLED and LED / LCD TV picture quality and I could go home, my hands on this whole TV review Dust off, point to dual-cell televisions and just say, "buy this".
Fortunately for me, the Hisense U9DG isn't that perfect, so my job is safe … for now.
Unfortunately for Hisense, this means that the reviews of the U9DG are likely to be an awkward mix of qualifying statements and botched details that could get over the head of many people. With that in mind, I'll break down the U9DG as simply as possible.
The U9DG is a high performance television that offers better black levels and shadow detail than most LED / LCD televisions, while also offering slightly more brightness than most OLED televisions. Unfortunately, it doesn't get as bright as on similarly priced LED / LCD TVs, and it doesn't provide perfect black as on similarly priced OLED TVs.
From a performance point of view, the U9DG offers a very specific compromise in image quality that cannot be matched by any other television currently available on the market. This limits the U9DG's appeal to a relatively small audience, which is fine, but then we have to inexorably hit the U9DG's price point – $ 3,500 MSRP for a 75-inch TV – which makes it difficult to put on one to sell already small audiences.
Riley Young / Digital Trends
To put things in perspective, you can get a 77-inch LG C1 OLED for roughly the same price as the 75-inch UN9DG. And considering that the U9DG is aimed at the type of enthusiast who are already considering the LG C1 OLED as an option, I see more people are choosing the LG OLED. Those concerned about burn-in might be attracted to the U9DG, but again I see this as a relatively small subset of people.
Another topic that dampens my excitement for the Hisense U9DG is, believe it or not, another Hisense TV. I'm so impressed with the image quality of the Hisense U7G and the value it represents that my point of view is a bit skewed. It's hard to say goodbye to enthusiastically referring people to the U7G as one of the best TVs you can get under $ 1,000 (if not the best) to explain the U9DG and its appeal, albeit at a much higher price.
Hisense U9DG Performance: Numbers and More
Riley Young / Digital Trends
As always, I tested the Hisense U9DG with a Spectracal C6 meter profiled on an xRite i1 Pro meter, along with the Calman Ultimate software to provide some objective numbers to offset my subjective observations.
What I found out was that my perception that the U9DG wasn't a particularly bright TV was correct.
In the image preset "Theater Day" I measured about 550 nits peak in the standard dynamic range (10% window) with a background lighting setting of 80 and 680 nits with maximum background lighting at 100. This is brighter than SDR needs to be for most people and works well in a room with a lot of ambient light.
For High Dynamic Range, the highest number I saw was around 1,000 nits. Again, these are test samples, not real content, but I don't feel like this TV beats way over 1,000 nits for HDR highlights.
This TV really relies on its black levels to sell it.
In perspective, the Hisense U7G measured roughly the same, and the Hisense U8G measured nearly 2,000 nits (almost double) in HDR – though, to be fair, I got much higher brightness values than other reviewers, and those specs exceeded Hisense's promises.
Anyway, even if you don't know your nits from your nuts – personally, I love the Oregon hazelnut – we can find that the U9DG measures roughly the same brightness in terms of brightness as the U7G which is only half as much costs the 75 inch size. So this TV is really relying on its black levels to sell it.
Riley Young / Digital Trends
And since we're talking about black levels now, I have to mention the LG C1 OLED and its perfect black levels. It's a TV that sells for roughly the same amount of money as the U9DG, but it lags behind the U9DG's peak brightness for HDR by about 250 nits.
The color accuracy was pretty good, but not great. Motion resolution was pretty good, but not great. The image processing is decent, but definitely not great. And what about gaming? Well, the U9DG would make a great gaming TV, but so would many other TVs for a fraction of the price.
All that other stuff
Riley Young / Digital Trends
I didn't spend a lot of time talking about the U9DG's sound quality, voice search capabilities, Android TV platform, or any other consideration as they are very similar in many ways to other Hisense TVs on the market. The sound system is more advanced but not spectacularly impressive so I would suggest a soundbar for audio quality that can withstand the excellent picture quality of the TV.
A television ahead of its time
I think the U9DG falls into a category of television that is simply ahead of its time. It's hard to be a pioneer, and I think Hisense sees it with the bold introduction of a dual-cell TV in the US market. I think Hisense will keep improving its dual-cell technology, and I can see other brands picking up on dual-cell and offering a little competition. Perhaps dual cell will be the next big thing in TV technology. Or maybe its application will remain a bit too niche to reach critical mass and assert itself.
Still, I applaud Hisense for taking the risk. I'm excited to see what the brand can do with dual-cell technology, and I'm excited to see whether it will make Hisense a trendsetter in the US TV market.
Our opinion
The Hisense U9DG Dual Cell TV is a marvel of engineering with better black levels than almost any other LED / LCD TV on the market and better brightness than almost any OLED TV on the market. – I would rate the image quality as very good. However, the black levels of the U9DG are not as good as with comparable OLED televisions and its brightness is also not as strong as with comparable LED / LCD televisions, which makes the Hisense attractive for a very small audience.
Should you buy it?
For most people, the answer is no. The U9DG serves a very specific audience with very specific wishes. Most people will either want a brighter TV or a TV with absolutely perfect black levels.
Is there a better alternative?
For better black levels and advanced gaming features, a 77-inch LG C1 TV is a better alternative for a similar price. For a much brighter TV with solid black levels, the Samsung QN90A is a better choice at a slightly lower price.
How long it will take?
It's hard to predict how long the U9DG will hold up in terms of relevance, as I'll assume Hisense will either improve the technology or abandon it altogether – at least in the US market. In terms of their long-term reliability, I believe Hisense TVs have a solid track record of around 3 years and time will tell if that number gets any higher.
guarantee
Hisense offers a one-year limited parts and labor warranty. I think this is more important than usual as dual cell technology is largely unproven in the US market.
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