Review: Hisense’s amazing ULED TV beats Samsung’s entire range

One of the cheapest TVs on the market is also the best

Nick Ross (Good Gear Guide) on 02 August, 2016 13:41

Superb colours, great upscaling, great contrast, low price. What's not to love?

Conclusion

We’re noticing a sea-change here. While Samsung has delivered a huge range of choices it seems to be relying on its brand and the punchy colours of the 9000 Series to sell all of its TVs. The 7000 Series curved models are highlights as there’s nothing else to challenge them at that price. However, the curved models of the 8000 and 9000 Series are only really there for people who can’t afford an LG OLED TV (except for the $25K 88-inch variant which is King Kong awesome).

For everything else there’s Hisense. It rivals every flat-screen TV on the market for top-quality picture reproduction and colours and it’s more impressive at upscaling than Samsung’s (and LG's) TVs which is very important when watching real-world TV. Hisense's remote might not be as high-tech as the Samsung One remote but it’s very responsive and usable. We also prefer the Opera TV operating system which is better supported than Samsung’s Tizen - so there are more apps too.

So Hisense beats Samsung in most important areas. Does it beat our previous all-rounder champion, Sony's Bravia range? We prefer Sony’s Android operating system which is very well supported with apps. But even then, we found ourselves playing around with Sony’s picture quality a lot more in different circumstances than with Hisense which is very low maintenance and seems to get things right more often. If I had the choice with money being no object, it’s a coin flip between the two. But considering the Hisense costs literally half the price of the Sony (in some variants) it’s no contest – the best all round TV on the market is also one of the cheapest and the Hisense should be your next TV, it’s just as simple as that.