07 Nov
Blog

Hisense U7G 4K HDR TV Review: Confidently Click Buy Now

Hisense U7G television shows a picture of breakfast items.

Hisense U7G 4K HDR TV

RRP $ 900.00

"At under $ 1,000, the Hisense U7G is an unmistakable value."

advantages

  • Impressive brightness

  • Solid black levels

  • Excellent backlight control

  • Great to play with

  • Easy adjustment

disadvantage

  • Bad off-angle performance

  • Potentially dirty screen effect

My pick for the best TV under $ 1,000 for the past few years went to a TCL TV, but this year Hisense is at least a co-owner of that coveted spot with its U7G 4K ULED TV. At well under $ 1,000, this TV exceeds my expectations almost every step of the way – through the lens of a very picky TV enthusiast (me).

For most people, the U7G is absolutely a breeze. Here's why.

Out of the box

Hisense U7G TV remote control in hand.Riley Young / Digital Trends

Over my 29 years in consumer electronics, I have preached that heavy equipment is premium equipment. Of course, that notion has its limits – you don't want 25-pound headphones. But by and large, the best devices in each category have a certain weight, because even in the digital age, quality components tend to weigh more than cheap components.

This would mean that the Hisense U7G would not qualify as a premium television. It's amazingly easy. So much so that I had serious concerns about its overall build quality and its potential to impress me with its performance. But since I was able to move the U7G from place to place very easily in my test lab, I've found this TV to be well built and should stand the test of time.

Close up of The Hisense U7G TV stand.Riley Young / Digital Trends

As a bonus, the U7G is very easy to assemble and mount on the wall. Stand-alone installation requires just a few feet, and for those using a media center or sideboard, the footprint of the U7G is 47.75 "wide by 10.5" deep.

The box with the TV contains the feet, screws for the feet, a Google Voice remote, batteries for the remote, and some paper-printed product literature that you probably don't need.

Details on the U7G series

While we tested the 65-inch model 65U7G, our test also applies to the other screen sizes available in the series.

Screen size Model no RRP
55 inches

55U7G

 $ 700
65 inches 65U7G $ 900
75 in 75U7G $ 1,200

Put up

Hisense U7G TV with a picture of a chocolate ice cream bar on the screen.Riley Young / Digital Trends

One of the things I like the most about Hisense TVs is their ease of setup – especially when it comes to having the right picture mode presets for all of the different inputs and streaming apps on board.

I realize that a lot of people buy a TV, plug it in, turn it on, endure the necessary setup wizard, and then start watching TV right away without ever touching the picture settings. That's a shame. To get the best picture out of any TV – and the Hisense U7G in particular – it pays to take a little time to make at least a few simple adjustments.

By default, the TV is in a standard picture preset that ultimately suits your tastes, but the TV is also in a low-power mode that I strongly recommend users turn off right away. This eco setting limits the peak brightness of the TV and if you don't turn this off you will never know what your TV is really capable of.

Once the TV's eco mode is turned off, I would also suggest turning off motion smoothing. While motion smoothing is helpful for some fast-moving sports content, it makes movies and some TV shows look artificial and introduces the soap opera effect which I think is terrible. However, not everyone agrees with me. So if you like the smooth looking movement feel free to leave it on – just know, I'll never watch TV with you.

Personally, I think the pro move is to select Theater Day as the picture mode. If the color temperature seems a little warm to you or the picture doesn't seem so vivid, this is normal. Give your eyes a chance to get used to it. I think you will find that it looks a lot more authentic. Theater Day also gives you the best brightness output for SDR content without messing around with other settings.

A photo of kiwi fruit on a Hisense U7G television.Riley Young / Digital Trends

As soon as Theater Tag is selected for an HDMI input, it is also selected for the others. And if you select Theater Tag in one streaming app, that is the default for other streaming apps (again, this applies to SDR content). Most TVs don't offer this convenience, which is why I commend Hisense for making TV setup easy.

For HDR content, I recommend choosing HDR Theater and I recommend Dolby Vision Custom for Dolby Vision. Here, too, these picture modes are used across the board as soon as they are selected for an HDMI input or a streaming app.

One final note on setup: Android TV / Hisense's setup wizard will ask you lots of questions about privacy. Take a moment to read this information and choose carefully based on how well you are collecting data about your viewing habits. Also note that you can keep your ad data to yourself, but at the expense of relevant content suggestions.

Dimensions / specifications

Image of berries on a tree shown on the Hisense U7G TV.Riley Young / Digital Trends

As is common with TV reviews, I used a Spectracal C6 colorimeter profiled on an X-Rite i1Pro spectrometer along with the Calman Ultimate software to measure the out-of-the-box performance of the U7G before making detailed adjustments. Since few people will pay to have such a TV calibrated, I think these numbers are the most valuable.

I checked the peak luminance performance for SDR on Theater Night (283 nits) and Theater Day (566 nits). Theater Day looks just bright enough to provide a good-looking picture in a room with moderate natural light. This isn't overwhelming brightness, but it is definitely above average for televisions priced below $ 1,000. The backlight setting can be increased to increase the brightness in brighter rooms, but the black levels take a beating and look a bit greyish.

For the HDR theater mode, I got between 930 and 950 nits depending on how long I tested the peak brightness. I think almost 1,000 cd / m² in HDR is a good figure for a television in this price range. That's definitely bright enough to make HDR look like HDR, and that's again above average for a TV in this price range.

Interestingly, I found that the HDR standard mode didn't get any brighter than HDR Theater. This is atypical and another reason for me to recommend the HDR theater setting.

I also checked the U7G's 2 point grayscale performance and found it to be flawless. And I don't mean just for Hisense, I mean the grayscale was on Sony A80J accuracy levels. I expected this would result in excellent color accuracy, but oddly enough it didn't.

Normally, accurate grayscale means that the colors are tracking well, but technically the television has chromatic aberrations that go into the visible spectrum. However, they're not so significant that I think most viewers would notice.

Given that the TV is so cheap, a videophile on a budget might do well to buy the U7G and have the color calibrated by a professional. For the modest total cost of ownership increase, I think returning it to the right person might be worth it. However, most people will be happy with the color if they're not downright impressed.

Backlight and black levels

A photo of kiwi fruit on a Hisense U7G television.Riley Young / Digital Trends

I am very impressed with the backlight performance of the Hisense U7G. I have observed little to no blacks (where dark grays / shadow details are represented as black). There was also surprisingly little blooming and halo around light objects on dark backgrounds, which is impressive considering how bright the TV can get.

I have a new favorite piece of content to check black levels, shadow detail, blooming and halo effects all at once: Night on Earth, which is available on Netflix. I watch the show with the subtitles on and quickly learn everything I need to know about backlight controls and the black level performance of a television.

The great thing about this Netflix nature documentary series is that it is shot almost entirely at night – hence the title. They use special cameras and technology to take night pictures – action in nature that has never been seen before. The show is extremely gloomy on average, except where it isn't, which makes for a hell of a torture test, and I can tell you the U7G passed the test with ease.

Close-up of the edges of the Hisense U7G TV stand.Riley Young / Digital Trends

I've seen almost no noticeable blooming from the edges of the TV or halos around bright objects, the best test of which is the closed captions, which are bright white on an almost pitch black background. It's rare that I don't get distracted by a backlight system while watching dark content, but the U7G just got me to enjoy the content – that's a great endorsement.

HDR highlights were exactly what I expected / wanted for a TV in this price range. I think the U7G is a bit high on the brightness curve in terms of accuracy, but it's fun. The U7G reminds me of some Samsung TVs in this regard, but with better blacks for the price. HDR had pop and I enjoyed it.

Movement and processing

The movement performance was good – overall in the middle range. I saw a bit of stuttering and flickering when panning vertically, but that wasn't a consistent problem. Movement problems didn't occur often enough to upset me, which means most people will be very happy with this TV presentation.

Upscaling and processing were generally just fine. The U7G doesn't clean sound as well as a Sony TV, for example, but neither does most TVs. In particular, I noticed a bit of color streaking on low bit depth content from streaming services. The U7G isn't going to make Bob Ross look like a 4K studio master on PBS, but it's good for the type of content most people will be watching today. For the price, I couldn't ask for anything better. You'd have to pay MUCH more to get better build quality so I'm giving it back to Hisense to strike a good balance.

Games

Car video game played on the Hisense U7G TV.Riley Young / Digital Trends

According to the Xbox Series X 4K TV details, the Hisense U7G supports almost every gaming parameter available, including variable refresh rate. I wasn't expecting VRR on this TV, but when I enabled it on the Xbox Series X, I got no argument. What a pleasant surprise! I was only able to verify HDMI VRR and FreeSync support for the U7G – the jury has yet to be on G-Sync for PC gamers.

The U7G will be great for gamers. The input lag is super low (less than 15 milliseconds for 4K and about 7 ms for 1080p and VRR) and the HDR images are fantastic. There is great shadow detail and very little motion blur. All the essentials for a great gaming TV are in place.

Bonus material

The Hisense U7G is an Android TV with Google Assistant support and support for Google smart home devices. It's not as fancy a platform as Google TV, and the U7G has no hope of upgrading to Google TV in the future, but Android TV is a solid platform that will work well for years to come.

Our opinion

The U7G is currently the best TV you can buy for under $ 1,000. This honor was once shared with the TCL R645, however, supply chain issues have raised the price of the TV, leaving the U7G with that title for now. I also have to call the U7G the best TV for enthusiasts who don't have a big budget. This TV proves that you have great picture quality and you can't spend a small fortune.

Is there a better alternative?

At the price, no. The U7G offers unique value in 2021. However, the Hisense U8G only offers slightly higher performance (brightness) for $ 100 to $ 200 more.

How long it will take?

The Hisense U7G is positioned in terms of performance and features to perform well for several years. Hisense provides a one-year parts and labor warranty on its televisions provided they are used in a non-commercial environment.

Should you buy it?

Yes sir. The U7G is a great television. The low price makes it a headless buy.

Editor's recommendations



06 Nov
Blog

Sony Bravia XR Z9J Master Series 8K HDR TV Review

Sony Z9J TV with multicolored, glittering swirls on the screen.

Sony Bravia XR Z9J Master Series 8K HDR TVs

RRP $ 6,500.00

"The Z9J is one of the best televisions of all time."

advantages

  • Incredible brightness

  • Excellent control of the background lighting / black levels

  • Spot-on color

  • Excellent movement

  • good sound

disadvantage

  • It lacks high-end gaming features

  • Very expensive

The Sony Master Series Bravia XR Z9J is one of the most emerging TVs that you can buy today. Sure, LG has its $ 30,000 worth of $ 30,000 8K OLED TV, but among the LED / LCD TVs, the Sony Z9J is the most expensive commercially available TV you can buy. At around $ 6,500 on the street, the 75-inch Sony Z9J makes Samsung's $ 2,600 flagship 75-inch 8K Q900R look like a budget buy in comparison.

Do you need the Z9J? No. Do you want the Z9J? Yes sir. Will you ever own one I doubt it. But here's the thing: none of this really matters.

Allow me to explain.

Pure Sony flex

Streaming options on the Sony Z9J.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The Sony Master Series Z9J is the successor to a line of Z-Series TVs that represent the best that Sony can make. When we talk about "setting the bar" that is the purpose of the Z-Series. If the Z9J could speak on behalf of Sony, I think it would say something like, “Hi. I am the Z9J. I'm the best LED / LCD TV Sony has ever made, and I'm the best LED / LCD TV money can buy. Sony knows TV technology better than any other brand and I am proof of that. "

This Z9J – such a racket. But does it have the means to back up these claims? In most cases, yes.

While the Z9J doesn't quite reach TV nirvana (it seems to have too much self-esteem for an inanimate object), it comes very close to it. I've tested TVs that can get brighter, TVs that can get darker, and TVs with more advanced gaming features, but all in all, the Sony Z9J outperforms them all with the right…. Perhaps more importantly, though, the Z9J is just plain fun to see.

Oh, and the fact that it's an 8K TV? That's just a bonus.

How does Sony do it?

The XR processor is key to the Z9J's outstanding performance.

Details about the Sony Bravia XR Z9J

While we tested the 75-inch model XR75Z9J, our test also applies to the 85-inch model XR85Z9J.

Screen size Model no RRP
75 in

XR75Z9J

 $ 6,499
85 in XR85Z9J $ 8,999

Again with the processor

Image with colorful stripes on the Sony Z9J.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The latest generation of image processing chips from Sony is called the Cognitive Processor XR. For the sake of brevity – and undoubtedly to the chagrin of Sony – I will simply refer to it as the “XR processor” in the following. This processor is key to the Z9J's outstanding performance. In some ways I understand how it works and in others I am completely amazed. Look, I'm not an engineer, I just play one on TV.

What I understand is that the processor is supposed to understand how the human eye / visual system works and then actively maximize the performance of a television by using cognitive intelligence and doing a lot of processes per second. It's not just about how quickly this processor can make decisions, it's also about how meaningful those decisions are. For example, if we see an image of a cheetah on the screen in the grassy plains of Africa, with the cheetah in the foreground and the grasses in the background, the XR processor is likely to put its effort into resolving fine details in the cheetah coat for each Image it appears in instead of trying to add detail to a blurry grass background. That is smart decision making.

Another way to express the importance of this TV's processor: if the Z9J were a car, the XR processor would be its engine. Several other brands build TVs with many of the same parts as in the Sony Z9J, but they don't look like the Z9J because they don't have the Z9J's motor. In other words, you could build the shell of a McLaren 720S to specification, right down to the wheels, tires, mirrors, seats, and steering wheel – and it would look just like a McLaren 720s. But throw a Toyota Camry engine under the hood and that car has no hope of doing anything remotely like a McLaren 720s.

Now that I'm immersed in that auto metaphor, let me go ahead and beat her to death. If I put a McLaren 720s engine in our 720s-looking shell, but gave the car a Chevy Malibu drivetrain and suspension … well, you get it. It still won't work like the McLaren 720s. Likewise, Sony's XR processor needs some other premium mechanics to work its magic. That brings us to the backlight system.

Proven backlighting system

Beautiful starry sky over a bridge on the Sony Z9J TV.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Sony used to call its fancy backlight system "Sony Backlight Master Drive". This is the marketing language for Sony's Secret Sauce lighting system. While LG, Samsung and TCL are promoting mini LED backlight systems, Sony is sticking to a tried and tested system that remains a mystery to anyone who cannot physically disassemble and analyze it – it has simply left out the fancy name. Ask Sony what's going on behind the curtain and it will respond with something like, "We don't say, but it looks great, doesn't it?"

All right, Sony. You won't tell. And you are right. It looks great.

HDR images, both in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, look spectacular.

I don't know how it can be that Sony can use a fraction of full-size LEDs with far fewer dimming zones than the competition and somehow create a TV that looks better than TVs with much more impressive specs on paper, but the company pulls that trick year round for year through. The result is excellent backlighting with minimal blooming and halo effects, excellent black levels, very impressive shadow details and really impressive brightness – all where it matters. HDR images, both in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, look spectacular.

That brings us back to the XR processor. Thanks to the intelligent decision-making of the XR processor, the backlight system does what it does when it has to. At least I think that's what happens. I end up seeing a stunning TV, and with Sony keeping its approach so secret, I can only make one smart guess.

Masterful color

Colorful picture of a major event on the display of the Sony Z9J.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Since it's not enough for me to simply say that the Z9J has impeccable color rendering, I use a Spectracal C6 colorimeter profiled on an X-rite i1 Pro spectrometer and Calman Ultimate software to measure TV performance to eat. In terms of color, the Z9J is an exemplary performer. I've only seen two other TVs with standard color accuracy that can stand up to the Z9J, and these two TVs were also made by Sony (the A90J and the A80J).

Flawless movement

Images of burning firewood on the Sony Z9J TV.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Historically, Sony's strength, cinematic and fluid movement with a minimum of artifacts, is one of the Z9J's more admirable features. There's a fine line between breaking down motion blur and introducing gross motion smoothing that makes an image appear artificial or what I believe to be the dreaded “soap opera” effect, and I've never seen a brand tread that line as neatly as Sony it does. Although to be honest, many of Sony's premium TVs do equally admirably in this category at a much lower price point.

Superior upscaling

With so little 8K content to enjoy (thanks, YouTube, for some amazing 8K footage for 8K TVs, albeit heavily compressed), it's important that every 8K TV is capable of 4K To upscale 1080p and 720p material to 8K resolution without it looking worse than its native resolution. While I feel like most TV manufacturers offer solid upscaling, I'll have to leave it up to Sony as it is cut off from the competition in this area. Pictures just look cleaner on Sony 8K TVs, regardless of the original resolution. But no TV is a miracle worker, and I contend that no 75-inch or taller TV looks good when playing 720p cable or satellite content.

Sound of stars

Close up of the bottom of the Sony Z9J's screen.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

For those of you who regularly read my TV reviews, I'm going to sound like a broken record here. I think a premium TV like the Z9J deserves an equally high quality sound system. Really, a television just doesn't have to sound terrible to be passable in my book. After that, an immersive, immersive audio experience is best delivered from a high quality soundbar (we have more than a few amazing suggestions for the best soundbars you can buy) or even better, a multi-speaker audio system powered by an A / V Device powered is receiver (an admittedly dying type of sound system).

All in all, the Sony Z9J delivers a surprisingly satisfying audio experience with punch, grunt, clarity, and musicality. It's one of the best sounding TVs you can buy. And it should be the price.

Performance metrics

In SDR without adjustments to the user-defined picture mode (automatic local dimming to medium and peak luminance to off). I measured 389 nits of peak brightness from a 10% window. With Auto Local Dimming on low, I measured 431 nits, and with that setting on high, I got 381.

With automatic local dimming to medium and low peak luminance, I achieved 784 nits. With medium peak luminance I reached 1422 nits and with high setting 1902 nits. This is for SDR folks. This is an incredibly bright SDR picture. You shouldn't take this TV outside with you, but you could take this TV outside and still see it in full sun.

With HDR there were variations depending on where the auto local dimming setting was, but the advanced contrast setting had a big impact on the TV's brightness output. At the medium setting, I have a peak brightness of 2,500 nits. Impressive.

I assume that the Z9J is likely to be able to achieve a peak brightness of 4,000 nits with small HDR highlights.

I just went into Vivid mode to grin and it zoomed in to 3,600 nits. Impressive.

Keep the following in mind: Measuring a test pattern with a 10% white window is not a fair measure of real content performance. I assume that the Z9J is likely to be able to achieve a peak brightness of 4,000 nits with small HDR highlights.

Is there something it can't do?

Caleb Denison plays a video game on the Sony Z9J.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Given the mountain of praise I've given the Z9J, one might wonder what its weaknesses might be. It has a couple.

First, the Sony Z9J is not the best choice for gamers who want the latest features supported by next generation game consoles like the Xbox Series X / S or PCs with hot rod graphics cards like the RTX-3000 series. At the time of writing, variable refresh rate (VRR) is not yet supported (at least not in the US) and firmware updates for VRR support in markets outside the US have been less than warmly received. The auto-low-latency mode was only recently (somehow) offered in a firmware update and is supposedly buggy.

While I don't see hardcore gamers opting for the Z9J, with so many other standout gaming TV options available at a fraction of the cost, I think anyone who pays that much for a TV should get everything. All the bells and whistles. The Z9J falls short in this regard.

Car video game on the Sony Z9J.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

In all honesty, I think the Z9J's biggest weakness is that it can't be enjoyed by very many people at home. To say it is prohibitive is a gross understatement. Fortunately, I expect the Sony X95J to match 95% of the Z9J's performance at a much more accessible price point (relatively speaking, of course – it's still pretty expensive). Does the Z9J really have to be that expensive? That's the harsh reality with luxury products, I suppose.

Why i love it

Sony Z9J TV with multicolored, glittering swirls on the screen.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

By the time I saw the Sony Z9J, I would have told you that the TV I was going to buy this year would be either the LG G1 Gallery Series OLED or the Sony A90J OLED – and it would be a tough call between the two. Now that I've seen this TV I'm not sure. No TV stopped me from OLED like the Sony Z9J. I think it's the HDR brightness beat and the way the image seems to jump off the screen into my room in a way I haven't seen from OLED before. Don't get me wrong, OLED is still the king of contrast thanks to its perfect black levels, but the Z9J does so well that I don't have to work too hard to forgive him for suffering a bit in the blacks department. It's just that good.

I spent hours just watching it because it was such an incredible joy to see.

The greatest validation I can give this TV is that I spent hours just watching it because it was such an incredible joy to see. Sure, I probably should have done other work, but I got myself a passport and watched for sheer pleasure knowing it would be a year or so before a TV like the Z9J crossed my test room again.

After all the hours I've spent watching, I want to see it even more. I said that about the few televisions in my life.

Our opinion

Is there a better alternative?

In terms of picture quality, in my opinion only the LG C1 and G1 OLED TVs, the Sony A90 or the Samsung Q900R can hold a candle to the Z9J, and for different reasons. Unfortunately, the blanket answer to this question is yes, as the price of this TV is unjustifiable.

How long it will take?

The Z9J is only held back by the lack of support for some functions related to HDMI 2.1, and these are reserved for advanced gaming problems. In terms of product quality and relevance, the Z9J will still be talked about in five or more years, just like the Z9D is today. Sony offers a one-year parts and labor warranty against defects in televisions used in the home.

Should you buy it?

If you have the resources, beat yourself up. The Z9J is a standout television. Just invite me to a watch party.

Editor's recommendations



03 Nov
Blog

Hisense U9DG Dual-cell 4K HDR TV Review

Tree image on the Hisense U9DG TV.

Hisense U9DG dual Dell 4K HDR TVs

RRP $ 3,500.00

advantages

  • Excellent backlight control

  • Brighter than OLED

  • Easy adjustment

disadvantage

  • Not as black as OLED

  • Not as bright as other LED / LCD TVs

  • 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

The Hisense U9DG TV remote control.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

Close-up on the display of the Hisense U9DG.

Riley Young / Digital Trends

HDMI ports on Hisense U9DG TV.

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?

Pineapple image on the Hisense U9DG TV screen.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

Autumn forest image on the Hisense U9DG TV.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.

Bright red raspberries on the Hisense U9DG TV.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

Crystal horse on the screen of the Hisense U9DG TV.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.

Play on the Hisense U9DG TV.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

Speakers and stands on the Hisense U9DG TV.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.

Editor's recommendations



29 Jul
Blog

TCL 8K 6-Series (R648) HDR TV Review | It’s Not About 8K

Island / beach images on the screen of the TCL 6 series model R648.

TCL 8K 6 series (R648) TV test: Far more than 8K

RRP $ 3,000.00

"An absolutely stunning television for the price."

advantages

  • Excellent picture quality

  • Surprisingly good sound

  • Improved Roku TV remote control

  • Easy adjustment

  • Excellent for playing

disadvantage

  • Bad off-axis performance

Given the popularity of TCL's 6-series 4K TVs in recent years, it might be easy to dismiss the company's move of adding an 8K model as a trending wallet. Fortunately, that's not the case at all. The new 8K version of the 6 series from TCL (series model R648) offers significant upgrades in the right places compared to the 4K-based R635 version, which I rated quite positively.

That the R648 is the cheapest 2021 8K TV you can buy is just the icing on the cake. Read on to learn why this is one of the best TVs to buy this year, 8K or no 8K.

Video review

Out of the box

Beautiful sky and landscape on the TCL 6-Series model R648 Roku TV.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The TCL 8K 6 series TV has a lot more than just an 8K resolution screen, and that was obvious at first glance on the packaging. A colorful graphic shows the TV with a central, brushed metal stand as opposed to the independent stands that we installed on the other sides of previous TCL TV models. This is great news for anyone interested in a big TV screen but short of media stand space.

The 75-inch model 75R648 that I received for review was very well packaged. Unpacking the TV was a bit more complicated than I'm used to, but the likelihood that the TV will be damaged in transit is extremely low.

In the box with the television I found the aforementioned TV stand, screws to attach the stand to the television, some product literature, two AAA batteries for the remote control and a completely redesigned Roku TV remote control.

Plastic cooking grids line the bottom of the TV.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Consider the R648's audio system properly updated.

When I removed a protective plastic bag from the TV, I noticed another major design upgrade: the presence of a subwoofer driver on the back of the TV. The subwoofer is glossy, black, exposed (not covered by a plastic grille) and has a flat surface rather than a traditional conical shape.

When I saw the subwoofer above, I couldn't help but look over the plastic grids that lined the bottom of the TV while installing the stand (which took four screws, a screwdriver, and about 30 seconds of my time). To my surprise, TCL equipped the R648 with independent tweeters that mate with two oval, downward-facing mid-range speakers.

Completely redesigned Roku remote control for the TCL 6-Series model R648 Roku TV.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Seeing an independent subwoofer on a television is rare enough, but one with stereo tweeters and mid-range speakers is virtually unknown. Consider the R648's audio system properly updated.

With the TV in place and plugged in, I clicked the power button on the remote and settled for a 20 minute setup routine.

TCL 8K 6 series (R648) TV details

While we tested the 75-inch model 75R648, our test also applies to the 65-inch model.

Screen size Model no RRP
65 inches 65R648 $ 2,200
75 in 75R648 $ 3,000

To install

I've complained extensively in previous TCL TV reviews that getting the TVs Roku TV operating system up and running was slow motion and that optimizing and applying the TV's picture settings to apps and all HDMI inputs was both a significant hassle and a hassle as well does not match Roku's historically user-friendly approach. To my delight, my complaints have been heard and the R648 now supports a remarkably quick Roku TV setup process along with one of the most intuitive picture adjustment applications I've seen in over 10 years of reviewing TVs.

Once the 75R648 was powered on and connected to the internet, it began running its own Roku TV software update. This only took a few minutes. From there, I was asked to enter the email address associated with my Roku account and received an activation link. After clicking the link, the TV asked if I would like to install a couple of apps (some of which are already part of my Roku profile) which felt a bit like a sponsored advertisement but was quickly over. Then when it came time for the TV to download apps or update pre-installed apps, I expected to go out and have lunch. Fortunately, this process only took a few minutes.

Roku home screen on the Roku TCL 6 series television, model R648.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

However, what I really enjoyed was how quickly I was able to apply my preferred image settings to multiple HDR formats and multiple inputs. After selecting the movie picture mode for its more accurate color temperature and lack of motion smoothing settings, I found that I could change the backlight intensity from normal to bright or brighter depending on how much ambient light was entering the room or how bright the overall picture looked target.

This is a good start, but I expected to repeat this process again for High Dynamic Range (HDR) and then again for Dolby Vision; and not just for every single app I wanted to use, but for every single HDMI input I wanted to use. As you can imagine, this is a lot of work.

But the R648 series figured out what I was up to and had already selected the appropriate HDR and Dolby Vision mode based on my preference for movie preset in SDR for the Netflix app. It also made similar settings for YouTube and all the other apps I like to use. It was similar with the HDMI inputs, where the settings for all inputs were globalized by default, but I could adjust them if I wanted. This is how it should be done folks.

In any case, it should be noted that as complicated as TV setup can be for those of us who love to peak and tweak our picture settings, the R648 made the process a breeze.

Specifications and dimensions

I knew immediately that this TV was something special. I check enough TVs that I can just spot before I start breaking out the target wheel or making calibration adjustments. The HDR images just popped off the screen, the colors were well saturated, bright lights popped up at me, and perhaps most importantly, the black levels and shadow detail looked really good.

Space images on the screen of the TCL 6 series model R648.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Confusingly, however, if you look at the data sheet for the TCL R648, the TV looks very similar to the 4K R635 TV, but with an upgrade to 8K resolution. The processor looks the same, the mini LED backlight looks the same, the Roku OS looks the same. However, when I started measuring the TV's performance, it immediately became clear that the R648 runs with significantly more horsepower than its 4K cousin.

Using a C6 colorimeter profiled on an xRite I1Pro and Calman software, I measured the maximum brightness output of the R648 in film image mode with the backlight setting to normal, bright and brighter. Here is what i got.

In normal, I measured 256 nits in SDR and 910 nits in HDR. This is great for a dark or dark room. In Bright mode I have 346 cd / m² in SDR and 1,226 cd / m² in HDR. In Brighter, the TV hit 460 nits for SDR and 1,563 nits for HDR which, believe me, was more than enough in my test room with quite a bit of sunlight. These are very respectable numbers across the board, and they indicate that the TV is versatile enough to cover a wide variety of room environments.

For those interested in the number of backlight zones, the R648 offers 240 zones on the 75-inch model and 160 zones on the 65-inch model.

picture quality

Mountain landscape images on the screen of the TCL 6 series model R648.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

It's clear that although TCL uses the same backlight hardware, the R648 has been tuned for higher performance. The peak brightness measurements I took are significantly better than the ones I measured with the R635. However, the improvements are not limited to higher brightness.

I've observed that the R648 handles dark areas of the screen much better than the R635 and offers deeper blacks, even around light objects on a dark background – a difficult trick to pull off with higher brightness values ​​across the board.

The higher contrast performance of this combination extended to color performance as well, delivering better saturated colors at higher brightness levels than I saw with the 4K R635. However, other performance metrics remained more or less the same. The motion resolution was solid without motion smoothing, with little jerking or jerking at 30 frames per second and 60 fps content and no noticeable jerking at 24 fps film content. The handling of low bit depth content, such as YouTube videos, was handled like the R635, which means that it smooths out gradients pretty well, albeit not as smoothly as Sony TVs, for example.

Upscaling also seemed to be handled with the same skill, although upscaling 720p and 1080p content to 8K is significantly more difficult than upscaling to 4K. Overall, I'd say the R648 does a good job with 8K upscaling, delivering as sharp an image as can be expected with minimal artifacts. Even so, no TV is a miracle worker, and most cable / satellite content that comes in 720p saw higher definition content from streaming apps like Disney +, Hulu, Netflix, and HBO max significantly.

I really enjoyed watching this TV every second that I sat in front of it.

The upscaling of high quality 4K content was very good with no noticeable artifacts. Familiar scenes from 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray discs looked expertly rendered on the 8K screen. Even when I was only 2 meters from the 75-inch R648, I couldn't see any individual pixels. This made for a very immersive experience.

The Achilles heel of the R648 is its off-axis performance. Typically, TVs with a VA LCD panel have difficulty maintaining contrast and color saturation when moving sideways or significantly above / below the TV. While the R648's vertical axis performance is okay, the horizontal axis performance is limited to a very narrow window and off-axis performance is at the limit to be deplorable. If you have a large viewing area and people sit away from the TV a lot, they won't get the same great picture quality sitting right in front of the screen.

Aside from the strict performance analysis, I can say the following about the TCL R648: I really enjoyed watching this TV every second that I sat in front of it. As a huge fan of OLED televisions and their perfect black levels and the complete absence of backlight anomalies, I was amazed at how well the R648 could captivate me without triggering my inflated sense of backlighting and milky black levels. Is the R648 a replacement for OLED in a controlled lighting environment? No, not in terms of contrast and color. But in a brighter room, it performs significantly better than most OLEDs on the market, except maybe the Sony A90J or LG G1 OLED TVs.

Sound quality

Subwoofer on the back of the TCL 6 series.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The R648 has a beefy sound system that only adds value to the television. The included subwoofer offers solid bass and a room-filling presence that few modern televisions have. Dialogue intelligibility is excellent, while stereo effects are present, if not entirely convincing. My only complaint is that the tweeters seem a bit pumped up, which adds a certain harshness to the highs that I could do without. Admittedly, this harshness was more noticeable when listening to music than when watching TV programs or films.

Games

Car video game played on a TCL 6 series television.Dan Baker / Digital Trends

If it wasn't clear yet that the R648 offers much more than just an 8K screen, I would like to add a little tidbit on top: The R648 offers two HDMI 2.1 ports and as a bonus they are independent of the TV's eARC port.

Using an Xbox Series X dashboard, I was able to confirm that the R648 can deliver 4K120 / Hz and 8K / 60Hz games with variable refresh rate (VRR), Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and HDR at the same time. As with most TVs, 4K / 20Hz gaming is not available in Dolby Vision.

Combine those aspects of picture performance with the respectably low input lag and picture enhancements of the THX game mode and you have one of the best gaming TVs you can buy. Keeping the eARC port free to serve those who have a sophisticated home theater system without restricting any of those HDMI 2.1 ports is an absolute bonus. Only LG can claim to have more gaming-friendly TVs, as it offers four HDMI 2.1 ports in selected models.

Our opinion

The TCL R648 is a standout television and deserves flagship status in TCL's range of products. Its high brightness, solid black level, very good color performance ex works, smooth movements and excellent gaming characteristics make it one of the best televisions you can buy this year. The 8K resolution? That's a bonus. Like most TV manufacturers, TCL reserves its best TV performance for its 8K TV lineup, eliminating the question of whether 8K really matters.

Is there a better alternative?

Not at that price. Samsung's 8K Neo QLED TVs and LG's 8K QNED TVs may offer similar performance in some aspects, but at a significantly higher price. Since the R648 is well above its price, it makes the most sense for anyone who may or may not want to buy a high-end TV with 8K resolution.

How long it will take?

With its two HDMI 2.1 ports, mini-LED backlighting, quantum dot color, and broad support for various HDR formats, the R648 should continue to exist in the future. Future upgrades will likely be incremental. In terms of reliability, TCL's mainstay in TV is growing as TVs from previous years continue to work well.

guarantee

TCL offers a one-year parts and labor warranty on the R648. You can navigate to TCL's registration and warranty information here.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The TCL R648 offers tremendous value for money with excellent performance coupled with a competitive price. While the 8K resolution isn't really what sets this TV apart, it does offer a certain element of future-proofing. You pay a premium for this television but get every penny of performance back.

Editor's recommendations



14 Jul
Blog

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX Review: A $2,999 HDR Dream Monitor?

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX

RRP $ 2,999.00

"The Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX is a brilliant PC gaming device, but its shortcomings are hard to swallow."

advantages

  • Mind-blowing HDR performance

  • Extremely high peak brightness

  • Excellent colors

  • Built-in thread for camera mounting

  • Fast, fluid play

disadvantage

  • No HDMI 2.1

  • Has audible fan

  • Still not a perfect HDR experience

  • Expensive

The ROG Swift PG32UQX was first teased about two years ago, and unlike any gaming monitor in recent history, it has hyped the PC gaming community. You will find forum threads full of excitement. And for a good reason.

According to Asus, the ROG Swift PG32UQX offers overwhelming HDR performance unlike any other monitor currently on the market. In addition, it was the first 32-inch 4K gaming monitor based on mini-LED technology with full-array local dimming (FALD) for HDR lighting with 1,152 individual zones and a peak brightness of up to 1,400 nits.

The catch, of course, was the price. $ 2,999 is more than most complete PC gaming setups, including the PC, monitor, and peripherals. Therefore, it is only realistic to expect absolute and absolute perfection. The ROG Swift PG32UQX does a lot of things amazingly well, but it's not perfect.

design

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQXNiels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

The ROG Swift PG32UQX is quite a large monitor. That's what is expected from a 32-inch display, but the PG32UQX is slightly larger than most 32-inch panels because of its FALD lighting panel, which gives the display a noticeable thickness.

The design style is also quite aggressive, whereby Asus does not shy away from any chance that the PG32UQX is recognized as a Republic of Gamers product. The stand of the monitor has the new but classic tripod design with a downward-facing lighting stamp, the back of the display has strong shapes and a huge, RGB-illuminated Asus ROG logo, and the display's large chin has a small OLED panel in it to display entertaining graphics or system information, such as B. CPU temperature.

Niels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

Indeed, there is a lot to discover here. However, if styling isn't your thing, it's easy to slide the back of the monitor toward a wall, replace the stand with a VESA mount, and then that's all that's left of the display's chin, which may look a bit aggressive .

The tiny OLED display is pretty nifty though – I doubt anyone will mind, especially because it's customizable.

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX

The display's power brick is external, which I think is a good thing because otherwise the PG32UQX would have been even bigger, and there is a thread on top of the monitor for inserting a camera mount – I've tried and this monitor will happily hold mine mirrorless camera with a large lens. Streamer, do you get this?

At the top right there is even a USB port to which you can connect your webcam or camera without having to fumble around behind the monitor.

Connections and controls

Niels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

The ROG Swift PG32UQX offers a variety of connectivity options, but it is not complete. There are three HDMI 2.0 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.4a port, a three-port USB hub, and a headphone jack.

But HDMI 2.1 is actually missing, and that's a big one. HDMI 2.1 is now the standard for multimedia connectivity, with all 2020 and 2021 GPUs and consoles having the interface. Without them, your Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5 can't run at 4K 120Hz with full color support, and that's unacceptable for a high-end 4K monitor in 2021 – especially one that costs $ 3,000. Most new gaming laptops even ship with support for HDMI 2.1.

HDMI 2.1 is missing, and that's unacceptable for a high-end 4K monitor in 2021.

There is an opposite side to this argument, namely that there are hardly any PC monitors with HDMI 2.1 at all. That, and the official Nvidia G-Sync module has not yet been developed to support HDMI 2.1. Still, I find it inexcusable on a monitor of this price and caliber. If you want to use the PG32UQX with a modern console, keep in mind that you are limited to 60Hz or have to sacrifice color: you will never have the best experience.

The display's OSD has somewhat weird controls with a spinning wheel in the center and a button on each side, but it's easy to navigate and most of the settings you need are there.

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQXNiels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

However, there is no brightness control in HDR mode, which is a problem. One can argue whether this matters as the brightness in HDR is supposed to be controlled by the PC and not the monitor, but I still prefer to see some kind of brightness control at all so that the basic brightness for the room is set to a comfortable level can be level.

There is a fan

Before packing up, there is one more drawback worth mentioning: the display has a fan. It turns on the moment the display does, and even though it's not loud, it's audible. This isn't a problem if you're using headphones or playing soft music, but it can be annoying if you enjoy a quiet room and have an otherwise quiet computer.

Mini LED and HDR

If there's a reason to buy the PG32UQX, it's mini LED and its HDR performance. I'll start with the good things: when using the right HDR content, the visual results the PG32UQX can produce are simply amazing. As if the monitor wasn't worth the price all the time, suddenly it was, almost.

LCD panels cannot block all of the light even when they are black, so the ability to dim selected areas (HDR on PC monitors, explained) is necessary to achieve full black levels. By dimming selected areas, the display can also increase the peak brightness in a small area without overly illuminating the entire display. Most PC monitors are edge-lit, with a lamp illuminating the entire display. On "better" HDR monitors, this edge lighting is divided into at least eight zones that illuminate selected columns of the display as required.

As you can imagine, this illuminated pillar effect is undesirable, which is why manufacturers are experimenting with mini-LEDs: a lighting technology that does not illuminate the edge of the display, but rather an array with a large number of individually controllable LEDs placed directly behind the board. This lighting technology is called Full-Array Local Dimming (FALD), and in the case of the PG32UQX these are 1152 zones, which offers complex local dimming control.

In a certain way, FALD actually eliminates the major disadvantages of IPS panels: Backlight bleeding and IPS glow are no longer a problem, since the affected area is simply not illuminated when the display is black. The static contrast ratio is also no longer so relevant, since the area would simply not be illuminated if a black image was displayed.

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQXNiels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

Individual zones can reach a brightness of up to 1,400 nits when displaying highlights, and although I couldn't test that number due to the limitations of my tester, I'll use Asus & # 39; Word on it: Bright lights, sun, fire and others The lights really shot from the screen in almost breathtaking brightness, which was really a sight when an area to the left of this object was completely dark and showed an inky black night sky.

This kind of realistic brightness control is exactly what HDR is all about, and the PG32UQX does more than just deliver. The PG32UQX is a pleasure especially in games with higher frame rates and activated G-Sync. It's not the fastest panel, but it's a lot fast for non-competitive gameplay.

Launch a game that does HDR right and you will be in for a spectacle.

But the technology is not perfect. The IPS panel is only capable of blocking that much light, and although 1,152 zones are orders of magnitude superior to an 8-zone edge-lit display (which barely feels like HDR after the PG32UQX), they're still visible zones, in particular on darker scenes. Simple desktop use is the worst culprit for this – take a black or dark background and hover your mouse over it: you'll see a circular halo of blue light nervously walking around the mouse as it jumps between zones. Or take a white dialog box on a dark background, the edges of which have a strange yellow sheen. This effect can get used to, but it is difficult to ignore and is always reminded of how imperfect the technique is.

However, desktop use is not a really fair test, as individual elements are often much too small for the zones. It doesn't take into account the higher peak brightness levels, and Microsoft's HDR implementation has yet to be refined. However, the halo effect is far less pronounced in dynamic content such as games, movies, or TV shows. This is because individual bright elements are often larger, but also because there is simply a lot more movement going on on the screen.

Launch a game that does HDR right, go into the settings and properly calibrate the maximum darkness and maximum brightness so that the game engine properly addresses the monitor's HDR brightness sensitivity and you will be in for a spectacle. Trust me, you will forget about the halo effect in games and videos.

picture quality

Thanks to its IPS panel, the PG32UQX has great color performance, which, coupled with the 4K resolution at the 32-inch size, make it a dream as an editing display, especially if you are producing HDR content.

We tested the monitor in SDR mode because our tester does not support HDR and the color performance of the panel is impressive. At the beginning of the test, I came across sRGB color clamping, which set color coverage at a perfect 100% of sRGB, which is a much appreciated feature: unclamped sRGB colors can often look oversaturated on monitors with wide color gamut, so it's nice to be around to see the inclusion of this limiter.

When the terminal is switched off, the panel covered a decent 100% of the AdobeRGB and 97% of the DCI-P3 color space, with a Delta-E (difference to the real value) of 1.77 for the color accuracy. Any Delta E below 2 is considered good enough for professional work. The calibration of the display did not bring any notable improvements, but the performance out of the box is quite good.

Gamma performance was perfect too, although I wasn't impressed with the panel's native static contrast ratio. While IPS panels, especially flat samples, generally achieve a result of around 1000: 1, the best recorded contrast ratio I got when testing this sample was 810: 1, which is what I would expect from a curved IPS panel, that occurs due to a bit more bleeding to the print. But that's a flat screen.

Asus ROG Swift PG32UQXNiels Broekhuijsen / Digital Trends

However, this was tested without HDR and switched off the variable backlighting of the panel. We test in this way to properly assess the panel's native contrast ratio without automatic backlight changes affecting the result. With the variable backlight on, the contrast ratio was much better, producing really deep blacks even in SDR mode – and I think most users of this monitor will want to keep the variable backlight on. The only exception would be for color-critical work, as dimmed backlighting causes color shifts in the adjacent areas.

This begs the question of how important it really is that the panel's contrast performance isn't great, which is a difficult question to answer. On the one hand, it shouldn't matter with this type of backlighting, but a panel with a better static contrast performance would block the light better and thus counteract the haloing of the PG32UQX better.

Keep in mind that contrast performance varies widely from sample to sample, and since I have a feeling that this sample performs at the lower end of the spectrum while other reports indicate much higher contrast ratios, you are likely to be luckier.

How about OLED as an alternative?

If you're looking for the perfect HDR experience that doesn't halo under any circumstances, you're probably thinking of something like, "How about just getting an OLED panel instead?" And I wouldn't blame you for this. In fact, that's a good idea, but OLED panels have their own dangers.

The attraction would be that each pixel is its own light source. One pixel could be illuminated with peak brightness and the ones directly next to it pitch black. No halo, just pure and perfect brightness control over the entire panel. HDR would look great on the Windows desktop and in all movies and games without sacrificing visual quality.

But there are a few catches. First and foremost, there are no OLED PC gaming monitors, and the smallest OLED TVs are around 48 inches diagonal right now. This is a little too big to be used on a desk as a PC monitor, especially without a bulge. They're all shiny too, burn-in is a potential risk, especially with the amount of static content that affects PC desktop usage, and to reduce burn-in, peak brightness is also limited so you never quite get the "I have to" get look the other way because it's so bright "dive in."

Ultimately, the choice between mini-LED and OLED is a concession: which one you will tolerate and which one you will not. However, if you're wondering whether to get the PG32UQX or a content-consuming OLED TV, then the PG32UQX is probably not for you – an OLED TV might not last as long, but it costs less than half – and so do I. I'll bet the PG32UQX depreciates in value faster than an OLED reaches $ 0 in value.

Our opinion

The Asus ROG Swift PG32UQX is an amazing device. With an array of 1,152 mini-LED lighting zones, it creates an HDR experience that cannot be compared with any other PC monitor currently available on the market. There aren't many 32-inch 4K gaming monitors on the market anyway, so sitting in front of one that is not only this size but also has FALD lighting is like sitting in front of a unicorn. At least at this point, the PG32UQX offers the most breathtaking HDR performance available on a PC without relying on an OLED TV.

The PG32UQX is at the forefront of what PC monitor technology can do these days, and if you're looking for an HDR spectacle for your desk, it's the tool for the job. But like any cutting edge technology, it's far from perfect and in that regard the PG32UQX feels a bit like a prototype: there's no HDMI 2.1 so it's not exactly future proof and I feel the mini LED tech as it looks well now, will soon be out of date due to new developments. Add to that the usual panel performance lottery, no basic HDR brightness controls, and an annoying fan, and it quickly becomes a very difficult proposition to spend $ 2,999 on a monitor.

Are there alternatives?

No. There are currently no other PC monitors that offer fast 4K gaming performance paired with FALD and this color performance. Your other best choice is an OLED TV like LG's 48-inch C1 model, but it comes with its own tradeoffs, assuming you have enough desk space at all.

How long it will take?

From a functional point of view, I don't see any reason why the ROG Swift PG32UQX couldn't last for at least five years. But between the lack of HDMI 2.1 and the rapidly evolving alternative display technologies, you'll likely itch to replace it long before it breaks, especially if you're someone who loves to be at the forefront of technology.

Should I buy it?

For most players, no. It has a few weaknesses that are guaranteed to be a deal breaker for large groups of buyers, especially at this price point.

If you have deep pockets and just want the best HDR gaming monitor you can buy right now, then the ROG Swift PG32UQX is as good as it gets. But for most of us it's like an exotic sports car: I want to rent it just to experience it, but I don't want to own it.

Editor's recommendations



12 May
Blog

TCL 85R745 4K HDR TV Review: A Huge Value

TCL 85R745 85-inch 4K HDR TV

"The R745 from TCL beats it."

  • Very high brightness

  • Great black levels

  • Impressive HDR performance

  • Good movement handling

  • Solid gaming performance

  • Wash out of the corner

  • Very broad stance

  • Doesn't clean up noisy videos

TCL has decided to make it big and has now launched its XL collection. You may have heard the news because they did a pretty big deal with it. Let me tell you, however, that "big deal" feels a bit of an understatement.

Welcome to my review of the Roku TCL 85R745 85 inch 4K HDR TV. TCL's XL collection includes three models, so I'll explain where this TV fits in the range. Then we'll go through everything from user experience to performance metrics to see if it's worth spending a few extra bucks to create a seriously big screen in your home.

Video review

Jump to: TCL XL list | Out of the box | Setup | First impression | Image quality | Sound quality | Play | Our opinion

TCL XL list explained

First, let's talk about the new TCL XL collection in general as I think the different models available can be a bit confusing for anyone familiar with TCL's model naming convention.

You may know that TCL has an entry-level 4-series, a slightly improved 5-series, and I think a lot of people are familiar with the 6-series as it has been very popular for a number of years. The XL collection moves a little away from that 4-5-6 range, but it's easy enough to understand the differences between the three models.

The base model of the XL collection has neither local dimming backlighting with full array nor Dolby Vision. The R745 tested here has local dimming with full array and supports Dolby Vision HDR. It also has THX Certified Game Mode. The step-up model of this TV will feature OD Zero technology with mini LED backlighting and will be an 8K model that rounds off the line with something very premium. As the name XL suggests, they are all 85-inch TVs.

Out of the box

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

As big as the 85R745 TV is, the TV box is even bigger. If the retailer you are buying this TV from offers a white glove delivery service with setup, consider adding this option. Not only is it difficult to navigate through the box, but some rooms are not large enough to allow the unboxing process.

This process starts by opening the main box like a giant book, revealing a box in a box surrounded by a large amount of padding – at least the TV is very well protected. Inside the inner box is the TV and its accessories, including two legs, screws, batteries, a Roku TV voice remote, and some product literature.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The inner box is designed so that it can be disassembled into parts with the TV standing upright on a cardboard floor. The legs provided can be installed while the TV is in this position. Then the television can be placed in a very wide media cabinet or sideboard.

The 85R745 also weighs a little over 100 pounds, so wall mounting needs to be handled with care. Again, this is likely a job best left for a professional. I encourage those who choose to do a DIY wall installation to anchor a wall mount that is rated for 100 pounds or more in studs. This is no time to trust drywall anchors.

Set up

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

As a Roku TV, the 85R745 goes through a typical Roku setup process that can take up to 10 minutes. Those who don't already have a Roku account will want to create one and have a mobile device or laptop handy to navigate to multiple questions along the way. When all questions are answered, the TV will download any necessary updates and install any requested apps as well as a number of unsolicited apps. From there, I suggest users move their favorite streaming apps to the top of the home screen for easy access. For example, YouTube installed seven lines down after my setup completed

After unpacking, you have a wide range of image settings options. Make sure to turn off power saving mode as it will reduce the brightness of the TV. For the most accurate picture in SDR, you should then select the "Movie" mode. For HDR, I chose "dark HDR". I choose these presets because they offer the most accurate color temperature. However, don't let the "dark" nomenclature fool you. The HDR image is not dark, as I'll explain in a moment. There are actually five settings for the backlight: Darker, Darker, Normal, Lighter, and Lighter – you can adjust the brightness level according to your preference or needs.

First impressions

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Let's go straight to the brutally obvious: this television is huge. And yes, I know it's an 85-inch TV. So it stands to reason that he would be big. For reasons I can't be precise, the TCL 85R745 seems to be kind of bigger than other 85-inch TVs we tested. For example, we just had the Vizio P-Series Quantum X for review – an 85-inch TV too – and somehow the R745 seems bigger. Maybe it's the stand, which is slightly wider than the television and takes up more space in our media cabinet. It's also quite tall due to the height that the legs give. I think that's why it just seems so big in my test room.

But the point is big, right? The idea is to occupy more of your field of view so that you feel like you're in a small theater while watching TV. And this television definitely delivers that thought. Since it's 4K resolution, you can sit pretty close without seeing individual pixels, and when you look at it from the right distance the picture definitely feels cinematic. Now that debut films hit streaming services the same day as theaters, I think the really big screen argument makes more sense than ever.

Image quality and metrics

When it comes to brightness, the 85R745 is extremely powerful. Using the Calman software and a SpectraCal C6 colorimeter On a profile for an X-Rite i1 Pro, I measured 514 nits at the darkest settings in film mode, and that went over 800 when I went to the brightest setting for the backlight. In Dark HDR, the darkest setting for the backlight resulted in almost 900 nits and ran at the highest setting for the backlight up to 2,100 nits. This corresponds to the Hisense U8G and the Samsung QN90A, which I find very impressive.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Fortunately, this brightness doesn't come at the expense of the black levels, which are very good on this TV. You see a bit of halo and bloom around bright objects on a black background, but the backlight system manages to minimize that – that is, when you are sitting in the middle of the TV and looking directly at it. Stand up, move around, or turn the TV down when it's against the wall and the backlight will be much more noticeable. This is a given for most LCD-based televisions. Save the most advanced devices like the Samsung QN90A, which uses a slew of panel tricks to get better out-of-angle viewing.

One problem I noticed with the backlight, however, is that if you have a large, bright picture like this one with a moving object, there may be just a little flicker in the areas immediately next to the moving object. An example that I noted was a windmill centered on a bright blue sky. As the windmill turned, I noticed a small flicker in the sky to the left. The effect isn't particularly obvious – in fact, I think most people would miss it – but something I wanted to mention in order to be as comprehensive as possible.

If this TV has a weakness, it's in the processing department.

The color is immediately pretty accurate in Movie and Dark HDR modes as well as Dolby Vision. You'll need to use one of the higher backlight settings to get the highest color volume in HDR, but the TV is perfectly capable of delivering stunning HDR colors. This is what I expected from TCL: quality color performance instantly.

The movement is also very good even with the movement smoothing measures turned off. I've seen less stuttering with this TV than some of the OLED and other QLED TVs I've tested so far this year, although it has decent response time and high brightness (a recipe for picture stuttering). Jerking is not a problem here at all – film cadences with 24 frames per second look, as I had hoped, very similar to a cinema. All around the movement of the 85R745 is very good. However, I wouldn't use the black frame insert feature – it's called LED Motion Clarity – to try to reduce motion blur as it creates significant flicker.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

If this TV has a weakness, it's in the processing department. I have a feeling the 85R745 is having trouble cleaning up images with shallow bit depth. And that's more important with a large TV like this because when you get a noisy picture it becomes more obvious due to the size of the screen. A fairly loud, compressed video that I use on YouTube to measure how well a TV is at removing noise and preventing color streaks turned out to be a little too much for this TV's processor. As the beach scene darkened from day to night in time-lapse, the night sky turned cobalt blue and I saw a few jumbled black and blue boxes as the TV tried to head or tail what the picture should look like.

Even so, most of the premium streaming apps like Netflix, Disney +, HBO Max, etc. look very clean. It's the more compressed content on YouTube and content in free streaming apps like Pluto that sometimes look a bit noisy. The other thing I noticed was the occasional moiré, but only in tight symmetrical patterns like the grilles in the buildings of a New York flyover shot, which I often use to rate how well televisions handle such patterns. Other areas rich in detail, such as the fine details in bird feathers, remained super clean.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The uniformity of the panel on the 85R745 TCL that was sent to me was… OK. Due to the large screen size of the TV, you are more likely to see a dirty screen effect (spots on the screen) if it is there and I observed some on the sample that I received. However, I haven't seen major vertical bands like the ones I've seen on many televisions over the years. So that's encouraging.

I think it's important to point out that screen uniformity will be a matter of what is known as the "panel lottery". So, there is not much you can do to predict what the TV you have bought will look like. All you have to do is take the TV home and out of the box to see with your own eyes. Hopefully TCL keeps quality control strict and the XL collection looks clean overall.

Sound quality

The sound quality on this TV is good – actually better than expected. I'm not particularly keen on the fidelity, but I'll say that the subwoofer on the back of the TV case delivers an excellent amount of bass so the sound is as big as the screen itself. However, if you have such a large screen, I recommend that you go for a soundbar. Even an inexpensive soundbar offers better clarity. And it just happens that way, and TCL does it too.

Play

The TCL 85R745 doesn't support HDMI 2.1, but it's still a great gaming TV. The input delay is low in the device's THX game mode and supports a variable refresh rate (VRR) and 4K resolution at 60 Hertz. However, to get 120Hz, the TV needs to drop down to a resolution of 1440p or 1080p. In addition, the solid movement handling and the powerful brightness of the television set deliver very satisfactory HDR images.

Our opinion

Overall, I think the TCL 85R745 offers excellent value for those looking for a big screen TV. Due to its impressive brightness and solid black levels, this model is, in my opinion, an increase in performance over the 6-series TVs that TCL praises. In this case, it is already impossible for me not to recommend this TV. I think the real bonus will be price as TCL offers pretty significant value given the performance of its televisions. To take the bow, this is the same high quality, high quality experience TCL is known for, only … bigger.

Is there a better alternative?

It will be hard to beat the TCL 85R745's image performance without spending much more. For example, the 85-inch Samsung QN90A is priced at $ 5,000 – that's a $ 2,000 premium over the 85R745's starting price of $ 3,000. The rundown Samsung Q80A is getting closer at $ 3,700 and is likely to offer similar performance, but that's still $ 700 more. Note that the 85R745's price is likely to drop over time as well.

How long it will take?

Given TCL's previous track record of the build quality and feature set of the 85R745, I think this TV should hold up well into the future.

warranty

TCL offers a one-year parts and labor warranty for non-commercial users from the date of purchase.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The TCL 85R745 offers tremendous value in a large screen television with impressive picture quality and a satisfying user experience.

Editor's recommendations




06 May
Blog

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV Review

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV

Hisense U8G Series 65 "4K ULED TV

"The U8G is Hisense's most impressive television to date."

  • Incredible brightness

  • Excellent black levels

  • Vibrant, bright colors

  • Good exercise

  • Excellent for playing

  • good sound

  • Bad off-angle picture

  • Color problem with low luminance

As a replacement for the popular Hisense H9G from 2020, the new Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV has a lot to offer. The two TVs look very similar, but it depends on what is inside. The H9G was praised as being particularly bright, while maintaining impressive black levels, resulting in high-contrast image quality.

Will we see some improvements and performance improvements with this new model? I hope so, because the U8G costs significantly more than its predecessor. For example. The 65-inch H9G I tested in August 2020 was $ 950 while the 65-inch U8G I tested here is $ 1,300.

In this review, I'll look at peak brightness measurements, take a look at backlight behavior, assess black levels, examine color accuracy and image quality adjustments, and see if it all adds up to make a TV want to buy.

Video review

Jump to: What is ULED? Out of the box | Setup | Connections | Picture settings | Calibration | Processing | Image quality | Sound | Play | Our opinion

What is ULED?

Let's start with the ULED nickname as I think this might be confusing for some people. To be clear, this is a quantum dot TV, so it might as well be called a QLED TV. Hisense only has its own branding, so this TV is comparable to other QLED LED-backlit TVs on the market.

Out of the box

Riley Young / Digital Trends

The Hisense U8G is effectively packaged and should be well protected for transport. There's not much in the box – you get the TV, two legs, screws for the legs, a slightly redesigned remote control, batteries and a composite video cable, and product literature.

Hooking up the TV legs is a breeze, and I really appreciate the central stand that allows larger screen-sized models to fit onto a wider range of stands.

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV stamdRiley Young / Digital Trends

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV side viewRiley Young / Digital Trends

The TV has very thin bezels, except for the lower edge, which is finished with a brushed metal strip. The TV doesn't have a particularly thin profile, so it may not look as elegant on the wall as more expensive competing models.

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR details

While we tested the 65-inch model 65U8G, our test also applies to the 55-inch model.

Screen size Model no RRP
55 inches

55U8G

 $ 899.99
65 inches 65U8G $ 1,149.99

Set up

Riley Young / Digital Trends

The Hisense U8G runs Android TV as the operating system and not the newer Google TV. I reached out to Hisense to find out if the U8G might get an upgrade to Google TV in the future and will update this review as soon as I hear anything. However, I suspect it will stick with Android TV.

As an Android TV, setting up access to apps requires a lot of user IDs and passwords – there's no getting around that. However, if you sign in with your Google account, you will automatically be signed in to your YouTube account as well.

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV remote controlRiley Young / Digital Trends

Speaking of Google: The U8G is equipped with a microphone in the remote control and another in the television for calling up the Google assistant. Make sure to choose the setting that allows the Google Assistant to hands-free use the TV's microphone the way you want. It's easy to miss when you tend to click through the setup options quickly.

links

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV HDMI connectionsRiley Young / Digital Trends

The Hisense U8G has two HDMI 2.1 inputs on the HDMI 3 and 4 inputs. You will find that each is labeled for 4K 120 Hz. It's also worth noting that HDMI 3 is also the eARC connector. So if you plan to use eARC to return sound to a soundbar or A / V receiver, you'll need to use HDMI 4 for your Xbox Series X / S, PlayStation, 5 or HDMI 2.1 equipped gaming PC.

It's also important to browse the picture settings menu, find the HDMI format, and select the "Advanced" option to unlock advanced features like VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), 4K 120 Hz, and automatic device detection.

Picture settings

Riley Young / Digital Trends

The out-of-the-box picture settings I chose (and would recommend to U8G owners) were Theater Day for SDR content, HDR Theater for HDR10 content, and Dolby Vision Dark for Dolby Vision content. Theater Night and Dolby Vision Day are good alternatives depending on the viewing environment. For my calibration and measurement, however, these options made the most sense.

From there, I turned off motion smoothing and made sure the device's local dimming feature was set to high. I left most of the other settings at their defaults as they were set correctly for the image presets I selected.

Calibration and measurements

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TV screen close-upRiley Young / Digital Trends

As part of my calibrations and adjustments, for which I use the Calman software and a SpectraCal C6 colorimeter profiled on an X-Rite i1Pro meter, I set the two-point white balance of a TV. This ensures that the TV uses the optimal mix of red, blue and green primary colors for better color accuracy.

With the H9G, I ran into an issue where I couldn't adjust the SDR and HDR white balance separately. Whether this was a specific issue for this TV or Hisense made a change, this issue no longer exists. I was able to set each of them separately for more accurate readings.

After making these settings, I measured the TV's grayscale and peak brightness and ran a series of color tests.

In SDR, I measured a little over 700 nits of peak brightness, which is pretty intense! When switching to HDR, I got a little more than 1900 nits after adjustments – it was closer to 2,100 before I shifted the white balance. That's pretty incredible, and contrasts the HDR brightness of this TV with the Samsung QN90A, which is a much more expensive TV.

Light colors look amazing.

These brightness numbers are great, but you'll also want to see solid black levels. The good news is that the U8G's black levels are just as impressive as the H9G's, meaning that when the TV is viewed straight on the axis there is minimal bloom or halo. However, once you step aside, those dark colors are lost and the TV's backlight usually shows up. Black turns milky and there are some color shifts too.

As for the color, it's kind of a mixed bag. Light colors look amazing. I found them well saturated, but not oversaturated, very rich and with an impressive range of colors. However, low luminance colors seem to have problems. Objectively, I could tell from the measurements – the darker the color, the more the color missed its target.

You don't often notice this when viewing real content, but there have been times when the image appeared to have some dark, blotchy areas, which at first appeared to be the result of an issue with panel uniformity, but upon closer inspection it actually did to do the performance of the backlight. Again, I haven't seen this often, but it did come up a few times with some of the content I saw. Most of the time I saw the effect when I saw an image slowly fade in – from dark to light. This resulted in a color streak effect that was never present in lighter images. Something to consider.

Otherwise, the backlight on the U8G was very quick to respond – the TV has no problem with delaying dimming or lightening the backlight as I've seen on some other TVs this year. So when something goes black it can go black very quickly, and when an object lights up it lights up instantly.

Processing

The level of detail on this TV is also very impressive. The U8G has fine details with minimal artifacts and passes most of our stress tests with ease. Very rarely do I see the moire effect or the screen door effect on this television. Plus, this particular example has a pretty neat LCD panel. I didn't see any spots or even a lot of vignetting in the corners. It looks great for golf and hockey where you get a lot of green or white and it's easy to see a dirty screen effect.

Movement is impressive on the U8G too. It has great response time and is also very bright, so you will see a jerk when slowly panning images. This can be ironed out with a minimum of motion smoothing, but that can create a soap opera effect that cinephiles like me don't like. Overall, however, the U8G offered surprisingly solid movement performance.

I think my only real complaint about this TV would be part of the macro blocking I saw while watching shallow bit depth content from highly compressed video. I want the TV to clean that up a little better. There have been moments when I saw YouTube and saw a lot of macroblocking (big squares of color) in darker areas. Fortunately, higher quality content doesn't suffer as a result. This is how your Netflix, Disney +, HBO Max, Blu-ray Discs, and PC / console games all look great.

Image quality to take away

Hisense U8G 4K ULED HDR TVRiley Young / Digital Trends

Aside from all of the objective measurements and analysis and just sitting back and watching TV, I could tell that it was difficult not to be impressed with the U8G – when you are sitting right in front of it. This TV is a real blender. The extremely high contrast that the U8G offers is somewhat reminiscent of OLED TVs, and you get that contrast no matter how much light there is in the room because of its exceptional full-screen brightness.

HDR images on this TV look great and luckily there is a lot of HDR and Dolby Vision content out there for you to enjoy these days. The TV looks solid for SDR too, but I'd only say if you are looking at it in a dark room you might want to dim the backlighting a bit as the TV can look almost too bright in general.

sound

Surprisingly, the U8G sounds very good! It has a respectable amount of bass, the dialogue is always very clear, and the highs aren't too harsh, although they sparkle and offer a good amount of high-end detail. Definitely a bonus!

Play

This TV is great for gaming. It has very little input lag in game mode, the HDR images are jumping off the screen, the shadow details are great for first person shooters, and the movement looks solid. The U8G supports VRR and beats up to 120 frames per second thanks to a native 120 Hz panel and HDMI 2.1 inputs. You only get two HDMI 2.1 ports, but that's exactly what we see from almost all manufacturers except LG. So all in all, this TV is great for gamers.

Our opinion

I think it's safe to say that the Hisense U8G is definitely a high-flyer. It improves the H9G in the most meaningful way. The price of this TV tier has increased a bit, but you get performance for the premium you pay. I think the value is very high given the U8G's performance. I look forward to making some comparisons in the months to come as this TV currently looks like it's going to be very hard to beat for the price.

Is there a better alternative?

The Hisense U8G is currently in a class of its own. The closest comparison would be the Vizio P-Series Quantum, which is hard to come by at the time of this review's writing. The TCL 6 series is comparably inexpensive, but this is an aging model and has yet to be replaced. It doesn't get nearly as bright as the U8G. Given the U8G's performance specs, which go well with a premium TV like the Samsung QN90A, it's impossible not to see its incredible value.

How long it will take?

Given the U8G's support for Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDMI 2.1, this should continue in the future.

warranty

Hisense provides a one-year parts and labor warranty on its televisions. More information about the Hisense warranty program can be found here.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you're looking for an affordable TV with very good performance, the Hisense U8G has few peers.

Editor's recommendations




29 Apr
Blog

LG C1 OLED 4K HDR TV Review (OLED65C1PUB)

LG C1 OLED 4K OLED TV

LG C1 Series 65 "4K OLED TV

“The LG C1 remains the preferred OLED television. It just makes sense. "

  • Excellent contrast

  • Perfect black levels

  • Improved processing

  • Ideal for games

  • Impressive sound

  • Sluggish user menus

  • Confusing picture settings

If you are in the market for an OLED TV, then you should check out the LG C1. LG's C-Series OLEDs have been among my top picks (if not one of the top picks) for our list of the best TVs since the C6 was launched about 5 years ago. LG's C-Series has changed, for the most part, incrementally from year to year, and this year is no different. However, the upgrades the C1 OLED received over last year's CX OLED are mostly significant in terms of processing, sound (yes, sound) and games.

Since I've already told you to seriously consider this TV, I would like to take this opportunity to explain why.

Historical, LG C Series OLED TVss have the same panel and the same processor as the more expensive Gallery Series or G-Series OLEDs from LG and better workmanship than the B-Series OLEDs. This year, with the introduction of the new, cheaper A-series, the C1 still justifies its slightly more expensive price. Compared to the new G1 OLED, the C1 is now considerably cheaper because the G1 has received an improved, brighter panel known as the OLED evo. All this to say: the C1 has always hit a sweet spot in LG's OLED range – this sweet spot is now a little sweeter. Now let's examine some details.

Video review

Jump to: Design | Details | User interface | Under the hood | Sound | Measurements | Image quality | Problems | Play | Our opinion

design

The LG C1 OLED looks exactly like its predecessor, the CX: Striking. I'm still amazed at how thin the panel is. When mounted on the wall, the C1 looks very elegant and modern. On its stand, the TV looks equally chic with a brushed metal shovel and offers both aesthetic and functional benefits. There are practically no bezels, which gives the C1 an "all-picture-no-nonsense" appearance.

LG C1 OLED 4K TV standDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED 4K TV remote controlDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED 4K TV side viewDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED 4K TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

This year, the TV remote control has undergone a design change. The new Magic Motion remote control is now a little shorter and has a flattened back. It now sits better in the hand and no longer wobbles when placed on a flat surface. The buttons are few, but far more than on the Samsung remotes or the included Roku TVs.

Another major improvement to the remote control is that it is less likely to click the center scroll wheel and accidentally unintentionally dive into an app or menu.

LG C1 OLED 4K HDR details

While we tested the 65-inch model OLED65C1PUB, our test also applies to the other screen sizes available in the series.

Screen size Model no RRP
48 inches

OLED48C1PUB

 $ 1,500
55 inches OLED55C1PUB $ 1,800
65 inches OLED65C1PUB $ 2,500
77 in OLED77C1PUB $ 3,800

user interface

As with all 2021 OLED televisions from LG, the C1 benefits from a newly designed WebOS Smart TV interface. Rather than relying on a bunch of apps at the bottom of the screen as it did in previous years, LG's custom smart TV platform is now much more like Google TV than Samsung's Tizen interface. It has big tiles for apps, lots of recommended content (possibly too much), and it's easier to read thanks to its dark theme.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

On the menu page, where users select picture presets, adjust picture settings, sound settings, etc., WebOs provides explanations of what each setting does and how it affects the experience. That's what we like about Sony televisions, too.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

While the TV's Settings menu is easier to understand, it is now a little sluggish. I'm not used to seeing a circle graphic about loading as the TV shows different options or the next branch of the menu tree. To be fair, this is mostly only tolerated during the initial setup of the TV. Often times, those who do not surf the menu will not find this repulsive.

Under the hood

The first of three key improvements to the 2021 LG C1 OLED is its processor: The Alpha 9 Gen 4. As in previous years, the visible improvements in this next iteration are minor, but not insignificant. I noticed smoother gradients (fewer streaks of color) and possibly a slightly better preservation of bright highlight details, although admittedly the last part is difficult to measure – this is a purely subjective observation.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Most of the benefits of the new processor are related to what LG calls AI picture and sound processing – AI Picture Pro, AI brightness settings, automatic genre detection, and AI Sound Pro. The first three have different effects on picture quality, while the fourth is designed to improve sound.

To be honest, I didn't find any of them necessary to get a great picture. I'm also not sure how much A.I. is really involved here. I understand that processing detects different picture elements and tries to optimize the picture based on those elements. A dark scene in a Batman movie can benefit from increasing the black levels for better shadow detail in dark scenes, while suddenly retaining the bright highlight details in a bright scene, for example. But in general, I think the C1 did a great job producing a beautiful image without the extra layers of processing and other wizardry. Ultimately, I left all four settings disabled and, as I'll show soon, got great results.

A sound upgrade

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

I don't know what LG did for the C1 OLED, but it sounds fantastic – a bit better than last year's CX OLED. Most of the discussion about sound at a briefing with LG was about AI Sound Pro, which I ultimately turned off (it works fine for adding virtual surround to movies, but I didn't like what it did to music and soundtracks) . Regardless of what improvements were made to gain, driver placement, or overall sound tuning, these were very effective. This TV sounds great! I would still recommend at least one soundbar with a sub for an upgrade.

Through the measurements

If you're not into measurements and data, feel free to jump forward, but I think my nerds out there (and I use the term affectionately) will appreciate this.

A sucker, for those of you who join us right now, is a term used to describe a measure of brightness, and since there's a bit of a sucker war going on – everyone wants a big sucker number to point out their superior HDR capabilities – I thought I would tell you what results I got when measuring the LG C1 OLED.

I started with the TV's ISF Bright picture preset, calibrated the two point white balance where I pulled out a little red, and in the standard dynamic range (SDR) the TV clocked out in 195 nits with the OLED pixel brightness to the default of 80 and peak brightness . When I increased the OLED pixel brightness to 100 I measured 233 nits, and then when I turned the peak brightness setting to High I got 335 nits.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

Depending on how bright you want your TV to be for daily viewing of content in SDR, the C1 should be able to compete with a moderate amount of ambient light in the room.

In HDR, I had to fix the white balance a little more, but when that was done I got 750 nits in a window of up to 25% which is solid. Not as bright as the new and improved LG G1 or Sony A90J OLED TVs, but what I was expecting based on what I got from last year's CX OLED – no changes.

The color measurements were also very good, as always, and that shows in the image quality which, to put it right, is superb.

General image quality

LG C1 OLED 4K OLED TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED 4K OLED TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

I kind of forget how much I like this OLED range from LG. It gets me every time. If you want to see how good the C1 can look – well, I have a wide list of recommended 4K Blu-rays that I would recommend – but available to just about anyone: check out Our Planet on Netflix in 4K Dolby Vision at (required) premium subscription level). It's great recorded and mastered and looks excellent in Dolby Vision. It's a feast of beauty for your eyes.

From top to bottom, the pictures look just amazing.

This TV does almost everything right. It's bright enough to do HDR justice, it's got perfect blacks – which, as I cannot emphasize enough, has a huge impact on the overall look – and the color is deep and rich and vibrant. It doesn't matter what you see, the C1 OLED makes you look at its best, and can and does for a cheaper price than most other OLED TVs.

LG C1 OLED 4K OLED TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED Review screen close-upDan Baker / Digital Trends

The upscaling is good – although not a miracle worker as we discussed earlier – the HDR tone mapping is also excellent. From top to bottom, the pictures look just amazing.

Now we need to talk about some issues that can arise with movement and shadow detail.

Inherent problems

While OLED TVs are an incredible technology, they have some inherent problems and they are incredibly tied to areas where the TV excels.

For example, OLED televisions have an instant response time of less than a millisecond. That is less than a millisecond until an OLED pixel is switched on or off or the color is changed. This is ideal in most cases for reducing motion blur and a real boon for gamers. Unfortunately, when you pair this instant response time with content with a low frame rate (such as 24 frames per second or 30 fps), you run into a problem called "stuttering".

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

This is stuttering, not jerking – this TV does a good job of playing content at 24 frames per second from a cadence point of view. Stuttering is related to how long a television needs to hold a picture before showing the next picture. Another view is what the gap is between the response time of the television and the next picture that emerges from the content.

The effect is shown as a kind of blinking that draws your attention to it and away from the focus object. You definitely have a tendency to notice. This is where a compromise comes into play: you can either endure the stutter or use motion smoothing to reverse it, creating a "soap opera effect". As far as I know, many of you reading this soap opera effect don't mind. Whether this is a disadvantage for you depends on your personal preferences. If you don't mind the soap opera effect, turn on motion smoothing and you're golden. If you're a movie purist, turn it off and put up with the stuttering – otherwise your C1 OLED is awesome.

The next topic to discuss is shadow details. Another way of referring to it might be the term "crushed blacks" which I don't normally use because it feels misleading as it is actually very dark gray that is being crushed and even then it is not being crushed, it is just not showing up. But I digress.

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The problem is that parts of the image that should be darker gray tend to appear black on an OLED because OLED materials don't like to light up at extremely low voltages. Fortunately, LG has compensation for what you can manipulate so you can get better shadow detail at the expense of increased blacks, or better black levels at the expense of shadow detail. This can be an issue with extremely dark films – Prometheus and the opening sequences in Captain Marvel come to mind – but it probably affects the players the most. More on that in a moment.

The final issue to address is the potential for screen burn-in. As I've written countless times (sorry, some things take a while to get old, but I know this is very important), OLED screens are based on organic materials that get darker as they age. If you overuse a particular color or pattern for an extended period of time, that area of ​​the screen may become disproportionately dark and appear to "hang up" on the screen. A good example of this would be a station identification error in the lower right corner of a sports / news network or the ticker at the bottom of the screen showing stock prices or updates to game results.

The fact is, screen burn-in isn't a problem for most viewers. However, if you're the type of person who watches the same channel, say, six or more hours a day, five or more days a week, I would recommend you consider a non-OLED TV – maybe the excellent Samsung QN90A Neo QLED, maybe?

Play

Games on the LG C1 OLEDDan Baker / Digital Trends

Game modes on the LG C1 OLEDDan Baker / Digital Trends

LG C1 OLED - game optimizationDan Baker / Digital Trends

Games on the LG C1 OLEDDan Baker / Digital Trends

I think I can be pretty concise here. The C1 is fantastic for most game scenarios. Only LG equips a good number of its televisions with four HDMI 2.1 inputs. For this reason alone, it's one of the most versatile TVs for gaming. You also get FreeSync and G-Sync compatibility – I don't think any other brand supports both yet. The HDR images are fantastic and the input lag is very low.

Since LG's Game Optimizer dashboard "amplifies" the reduction in input delay, the input delay is less than 10 ms. The Game Optimizer dashboard is also a great place to adjust the black levels for better shadow detail, and there are even presets for different game genres that work quite well. This is just a really comprehensive suite of player-friendly features, so it's impossible for me not to call this TV one of the best for gaming.

Our opinion

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

With its beautiful design, great picture quality, gaming capabilities, and minor improvements over the previous year's model, the LG C1 OLED is the best OLED TV choice on the market.

Is there a better alternative?

For a brighter OLED TV, the LG G1 is a good choice. I also expect the Sony A80J to be a solid competitor in roughly the same price range (though more expensive). For a non-OLED option, the aforementioned Samsung QN90A is also an excellent alternative.

How long it will take?

Due to its extended functions, the LG C1 OLED should continue to exist in the future. It's unclear now if LG's brighter and slightly more accurate OLED Evo panel is slipping down to the C-series, so I wouldn't wait for that to happen. This is a good year to buy.

warranty

LG provides a one-year limited warranty on the C1-Series OLED when purchased from an authorized LG dealer.

Should you buy it?

Yes, if an OLED TV is right for you and it doesn't require intense brightness to display in bright rooms, the LG C1 OLED is currently the best value for money OLED TV.

Editor's recommendations




19 Apr
Blog

Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR TV Review (QN65QN90A)

"The QN90A is a TV knockout."

  • Impressive brightness

  • Fixed black levels

  • Excellent overall contrast

  • Brilliant color

  • Ideal for playing

  • One HDMI 2.1 input

  • Possible screen uniformity issues

If the chatter I see online is any clue, a lot of people have questions about Samsung's Neo QLED TVs. I'm happy to say I have answers. AND some opinions on it. Let's take a look at the QN65QN90A Neo QLED TV, a device that comes with thousands of mini LED backlights and nearly 800 zones of local dimming.

But does it look great? Let's find out.

Jump to: Out of the box | Details | User experience | What is Neo QLED? Test results | About this brightness | Color | From the sweet spot | Image quality | Sound quality | Play | My attitude

Out of the box

A quick fix to the video review (above): Samsung strongly recommends not using the stand mounting method as in the video – and I have to agree. I may prefer my method, but there is a reason manufacturers create these instructions and I would hate it if someone had a bad experience because I made up my mind to become a villain and disregard the instructions. So do what I say (now) and not like me and we'll all be right like rain.

The assembly of the stand is a bit precarious, no matter how you proceed. A positive note, however, is the appearance of the stand. While the TV will flex a little on the stand, this is a safe arrangement. Because it is centralized, there is less of a concern that a media stand has to be wide enough to support it.

Of course, if you're wall mounted – and if so, I recommend Samsung's own no-gap wall mount bracket for the best look – the stand isn't an issue.

Everything else about the unboxing experience is great. There's not a lot of lint, just a bit of plastic peeling off the edges of the TV, and when you're done you're staring at a very attractive TV with almost invisible bezels and a surprisingly thin profile.

Samsung QN90A Neo QLED 4K HDR details

While we tested the 65-inch model QN65Q90A, our test also applies to the other screen sizes available in the series.

Screen size Model no RRP
55 inches

QN55QN90AAFXZA

 $ 1,800
65 inches QN65QN90AAFXZA $ 2,600
75 in QN75QN90AAFXZA $ 3,500
85 in QN85QN90AAFXZA $ 5,000

User experience

Spoiler Alert: I have very few negative things to say about this TV, but one thing I would love to see is the Samsung smart TV interface is being redesigned. That doesn't seem like a big deal if Chromecasts with Google TV and Roku sticks are so cheap these days, but if you used the TV's apps and the like, we'd all benefit from a little update to Tizen.

Samsung QN90A TV streaming and appsDan Baker / Digital Trends

Fortunately, Samsung gets almost all good apps, sometimes before others. If you want to use intelligent assistants, you can choose from the most popular options. We like to have decisions.

While we talk about menus and the like, I have to say hello to Samsung for making this TV so easy to set up and tweak. Choose your preferred SDR picture settings and do some HDR picture adjustments. These are global – across all HDMI inputs and apps – which is a great remedy for headaches for all of us. So yes.

What is this Neo QLED about?

Now let's talk about this Neo QLED business. Neo is Samsung's trademark for its mini backlit LED TVs. You can still get QLEDs with standard LED backlighting – these are a little cheaper – or you can raise extra cash and get into a Neo QLED. For those unfamiliar, mini LED backlighting means the TV has thousands of tiny LED lights instead of hundreds of larger ones. It also has a lot more control zones – just under 800 on this set. In theory, this means that the TV should be able to get brighter, especially on HDR highlights, while keeping bloom and halo effects at bay – this is where you get a glow of light around a bright object on a black background and have a long time the plague of LCD-based televisions.

Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TV close-upDan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Samsung QN90A TV close-upDan Baker / Digital Trends

I'll get into brightness, uniformity, and black level performance soon, but first I'd like to point out that the backlight system seems a little slow. I noticed that when a bright image comes up on the screen after a darker scene, the television says, "Oh, I need to get lighter," and then it does. It may take a second for the TV to catch up at times. To be clear, this is something you don't see often when looking at most of the content – but I've seen it in the content at times before I started taking measurements and noticing it on color window test patterns. It's not something to be upset about, just an indication that there may be room for improvement.

Test results

Speaking of measurements, let's ditch a little. I tested the QN90A with Portrait Display's Calman software, an X-Rite i1 Pro meter, and a SpectraCal C6 meter. In SDR movie mode without adjusting the brightness setting from 23, I got 275 nits straight away, which is great for SDR in most cases. You can increase the brightness to a maximum of 50, and I measured 638 nits with my meter. When I jumped back to HDR in movie mode, I got about 1,583 nits. In standard mode, the TV shot past it and hit just under 1,900 nits – 1867 to be precise.

Samsung QN90A TV remote controlDan Baker / Digital Trends

Now I've seen some comments about these peak brightness numbers being disappointing and I'll have to respectfully disagree. More is not always better. Take the Hisense H9G, for example. The maximum HDR brightness in a similar movie frame setting was a little over 1200 nits, and yet I found it to be unobservably bright at times, most likely due to the processing. On the flip side, the Vizio P-Series Quantum X-Series measures a bit brighter, but honestly, I'd rather see this TV (I'll explain why in a moment). My point is that I am completely satisfied with the HDR presentation of this TV. Part of it has to do with the black levels and backlight controls. Let's look at that.

Brightness, black levels and contrast

I often use a test pattern where white boxes are placed in each corner of the TV screen on an otherwise black background. In this case, I did. I started with SDR and if I look at the pattern with the naked eye you would probably see a little bit of halo around the edges of the white boxes.

Samsung QN90A - flourishingDan Baker / Digital Trends

The HDR enhancement makes the boxes brighter and again it seems like there is more halo, albeit much less than on previous TVs, including the already excellent Samsung Q90T from last year. However, over the years I've learned that bright images on a black background in a dark room can play tricks on the eye.

The brightness and contrast of the QN90A are excellent.

In the video above, you can see that I cover the white box with a piece of cardboard up to the edge. When I do this, the halo or blooming appears noticeably reduced. Why? It has to do with our vision. This isn't the time for an anatomy lesson, but anecdotally we've seen the same pattern supposedly blooming on an OLED TV, and yet we know it can. On an OLED, the black pixels are black. Totally turned off.

What I'm saying is that sometimes what we find blooming when we're in a pitch black room with a white box in our eyes doesn't actually bloom. Don't get me wrong, it's blooming here, but it's less than I've seen in the past, and let me be clear here – the black uniformity on this TV is excellent.

Samsung QN90A Dan Baker / Digital Trends

The problem of shadow detail (often referred to as Black Crush) – or a lack of it – is always an issue, especially for players who need to see details in the shadow in order to play competitive first-person shooters. So I ran low-luminance and high-luminance star field patterns and found that the QN90A came out of black very well. For those who want to purposely increase black for gaming, Samsung offers an adjustment of the settings for just such things.

To sum it up, the QN90A's brightness and contrast are excellent.

colour

Dan Baker / Digital Trends

In the film preset, my measurements immediately indicated that red was a little too far ahead, so I undid that a bit in the two-point white balance menu, and – bam – the color mixing of this TV has reached an extremely impressive area. With HDR, the TV sometimes overshoots or undershoots some colors. Again, this isn't perfection, but the color on this TV is scary good.

From the sweet spot

One of the dangers of using a VA LCD panel is that off-axis issues, blooming, and color shifting become very apparent. I think one of the things that impresses me the most about the QN90A is the off-axis viewing experience. You can see that there is more blooming from the extreme side, but even less than in the Q90T last year, which was again well ahead of the pack. There's also very little color shift – overall, it's one of the best off-angle TVs we've tested here. That means a better place in the house for everyone.

The anti-glare agent is also excellent. If a lot of light comes into the room and you're watching a dark scene, you might see a rainbow effect, but I'd argue that this is better than looking in a black mirror.

Real picture quality

Enough with the nerd stuff. What does this TV look like when you watch normal content in SDR or HDR? It's really damn good. This is proven to be a better TV than the previous Q90T, and that was a pretty good TV already – I know, I repeat myself.

This TV has a very fast response time, which is great news for gamers and movie fans alike.

The images are lush and vivid, colors and HDR highlights pop, and the superior black levels convey a sense of depth that you normally can't get with an LCD-based television. I did notice some screen evenness issues with large swaths of light colors, but overall there was very little dirt-screen effect.

The movement processing is a mixed bag. This TV automatically removes all stuttering from 24p movie content – there isn't even a setting you can access to turn this off, which I think will be fine for most people.

But stuttering. That’s a different story. This TV has a very fast response time, which is good news for gamers, but for movie fans – just like with OLED – stuttering effects can occur. The only way to counter that is by smoothing motion, which creates a soap opera effect that most people seem to hate far less than I do. So maybe it's not a big deal. Movie fans will likely want to choose the lowest setting they can tolerate.

Sound quality

The sound quality of the QN90A is above average. There's not a lot of bass – that's typical – but overall it's balanced and bearable while many of the TVs I test make me wince. It's a little strange that you have to turn the volume up pretty high to get a normal volume in the room, but I suppose that means more precise control over the volume levels.

I'll say that Samsung's object tracking sound is pretty effective too, but not on par with a Sony OLED where the screen is the speaker. Samsung's soundbars go well with the TV, and the Samsung Symphony sound, where the TV's speakers work together with the soundbar, is particularly impressive.

Play

This TV is an excellent choice for gaming because it has remarkably low input lag – less than 10 milliseconds in game mode for all resolutions at 60 Hz and less than 6 milliseconds for all resolutions at 120 Hz. The TV also supports Freesync, but unfortunately no G- Sync. I'm not sure if this is a huge loss for most people as the variable refresh rate is there regardless.

Fortnite on the Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Fortnite on the Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Games on the Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Caleb gaming on the Samsung QN90A TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Either way, HDR gaming is great on this TV too, with very little crushing of the blacks. If you're playing a really dark game, you can turn up the blacks a bit for slightly better shadow detail. I didn't really need to play it in a dark room, though. The TV comes out of black pretty well and retains most of the shadow detail. However, it's the bright highlights that really sold me. Games popping on this TV.

On the other hand, the TV only has one HDMI 2.1 input. So if you own both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, you'll have to manually swap them out, or opt for a full-featured HDMI 2.1 A / V receiver to switch between them. Add a gaming PC to this mix – and it's more of the same.

My attitude

With only one HDMI 2.1 input, no Dolby Vision and a smart TV interface that can withstand a facelift, the Samsung QN90A is not a perfect TV. But by the most sensible measures it is really excellent. Setting all the numbers aside, I like to do a simple gut check – I watch a lot of TVs and some of them are a letdown, some are okay, some are great, and some are real knockouts. I have to put the Samsung QN90A in this last category. I just love to see it.

Is there a better alternative?

At this point, I haven't tested a better LCD TV than the QN90A. I'm excited to see what the Sony X95J looks like this year, and LG's top-notch TV looks promising too, but it's hard to imagine that the QN90A will be significantly outperformed. Another alternative could be the brighter LG G1 OLED, although it comes at a pretty high price.

For more options, check out our best 2021 TVs.

How long it will take?

Although the QN90A only offers one HDMI 2.1 input, it supports the latest and greatest in connectivity and backlight technology. It should last owners for many years.

warranty

Samsung offers a one-year parts and labor warranty for home use and a 90-day parts and labor warranty for commercial use.

Should you buy it?

Yes. The QN90A is a remarkable television with excellent picture quality.

Editor's recommendations




08 Apr
Blog

Vizio V-Series 4K HDR TV Review (V655-H19)

VIZIO V-Series 65-inch 4K UHD LED HDR Smart TV

"Vizio's cheapest TV line leaves a lot to be desired."

  • Very low prices

  • Low entry delay for games

  • Minimal bloom

  • Chromecast, AirPlay 2

  • Bad screen uniformity

  • Overwhelming HDR brightness

The V series is the cheapest TV series from Vizio. The 65-inch model costs less than $ 500 and the 70-inch model costs significantly less than $ 700. That sounds very promising – but what quality can you expect at this price point, and is the V-Series competitive with options like TCL and Hisense?

Details on the Vizio V series

While we tested the 65-inch model V655-H19, our test also applies to the screen sizes available in the series.

Screen size Model no RRP
40 inches V405-H19 $ 229
43 in V435-H11 $ 279
50 inches V505-H19 $ 299
55 inches V555-H11 $ 389
58 inches V585-H11 $ 399
65 inches V655-H19 $ 469
70 inches V705-H13 $ 649
75 in V755-H4 $ 779

Out of the box

Streaming the Vizo V seriesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V-Series StandDan Baker / Digital Trends

Setup of the Vizo V seriesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Side view of the Vizo V seriesDan Baker / Digital Trends

As you'd expect from a TV in this price range, setup is pretty straightforward: screwing in the TV's plastic feet and removing any protective film is all that is required for a stand mount.

The TV itself looks … OK. The V-series bezels are a bit chunkier than we're used to, but that's not surprising in this base price range. In fact, "fundamental" is a word that appears frequently in this review.

Entrances

Vizo V-Series audio connectorsDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series HDMI connectorsDan Baker / Digital Trends

The back of the V-Series has composite video inputs, an antenna input, analog and optical audio outputs and an Ethernet connection. On the digital side (and also on the side of the device) there are three HDMI inputs and one USB input. Note that these HDMI ports are 2.0b and do not support most HDMI 2.1 functions. At first we didn't think this TV supported eARC as nothing was mentioned in the datasheet, but it turns out that an HDMI port supports eARC (more on that later) and is clearly labeled as such.

To install

Setup of the Vizo V seriesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Setting up the V-Series takes a while – around 10 minutes. Thankfully, it's mostly automated, so you can hit the road to have more coffee and just let the TV do its thing. After that, you will need to agree to some terms and conditions related to the Sponsored Content information that you see at the top of the SmartCast home screen. There you land at the end of the setup.

Picture settings

Vizo V series - living pictureDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series - calibrated picture modeDan Baker / Digital Trends

The V-Series is delivered with the image mode on Vivid, which we have switched to calibrated, as this initially gives us the most accurate image. In the Calibrated Image preset, the backlight setting is already set to 100, but most of the other options are set to 50 and can be adjusted to your liking. While the TV has local full array dimming, it is a fairly limited system with only 12 zones so certainly not very advanced. The background lighting is activated in the advanced picture settings. This indicates that the local dimming control is activated by default.

Motion smoothing

The only control available for motion smoothing is the movie mode – there is no other motion menu we could find. Granted, the V series is a basic TV, but it would be nice to have at least some control over the motion settings. It is possible that if you select a different image mode, such as Sports, the motion smoothing will automatically adjust to that content, but the lack of other controls left us wanting.

Audio

Vizo V Series Virtual X Surround SoundDan Baker / Digital Trends

As mentioned earlier, there is no external label on the back of the TV for eARC support. However, we noticed that there is an option to toggle eARC on or off in the Audio menu. We recommend an inexpensive soundbar for the V-Series as the built-in audio isn't very good.

It's also worth noting that the V-Series comes with DTS: Virtual X surround sound enabled, which we turned off as it seemed to give the sound a slurred quality.

picture quality

Vizo V series screenDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series screenDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series screenDan Baker / Digital Trends

After running multiple test patterns and switching between standard dynamic range (SDR) and high dynamic range (HDR), there didn't seem to be much difference between the two formats. The V series supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but the device is not bright enough to improve the picture quality. According to Vizio, the maximum screen is 400 nits.

As for the overall image quality, this isn't particularly special. Bright highlights tend to be a bit washed out, and the color seemed a bit aggressive too. This is forgivable on a budget option and the word "basic" applies again. However, if you're looking for a standout imaging experience, switching to the Vizio M-Series is better with around $ 220 more for the 65-inch model and a more modest upgrade of around $ 90 for the 55-inch model Choice.

We should also note that the screen had some vignetting in the corners and strange bright spots on the sides. Maybe this is an "onscreen lottery", maybe it's a quality control thing, or maybe it's a transit issue. If we had bought this TV we would surely be looking for an exchange if we decided to keep it.

Play

Person playing video game on Vizo V-Series TVDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series gamesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series gamesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizo V series gamesDan Baker / Digital Trends

Vizio touts the V-Series with a pro gaming engine, but it looks like the only real options are the game's low latency (which toggles the TV to the lowest input delay settings) and the game's HDR . And even though our Xbox Series X was automatically recognized, the picture mode was switched to light instead of game, which we had to select manually. You can also toggle the backlight control (the dimming function for the entire array), presumably to reduce the delay.

But when it comes to game features, that's all. Even with HDR games, the V series isn't bright enough for HDR games to make a noticeable difference.

Our opinion

When it comes down to it, the V-Series is designed to be ready to use right out of the box by people who just want a big screen and don't care about the specifics. The perfect use case would be to put it in the garage, man cave, or game room – somewhere where you just want a big screen for the occasional movie or game and something you don't have to worry about or think about. If you want lots of screen real estate at a low price – and that's it – the V-Series is well worth checking out.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes, the Vizio M series would be a better buy for image quality. However, the V series manages to displace the comparable TCL 4 series.

How long it will take?

With Vizio's latest SmartCast system and televisions recording long-term performance, the V-Series should last for years.

guarantee

Vizio offers a one-year guarantee on its TV products. For more information, see the Vizio warranty page.

Should you buy it?

Except for those looking for the most screen for the least amount of money, no. Again, we recommend taking a look at the much more powerful Vizio M series.

Editor's recommendations




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