It’s been some time since we last talked about TVs, and today we’ve got a special one to show you. We’re looking at a 65-inch TV from Hisense, part of their high-end UX MINI LED series. It’s priced at around 5,000 Singapore dollars, and it’s got some cool features that even beat our LG C1 OLED TV in a few ways. This Hisense TV comes packed with numerous features, yet it’s also important to be mindful of some potential limitations – let’s dive in!
First, I want to cover the physical side. This 65 inch TV is not as thin as those super slim OLED TV’s due to what Hisense stuffed inside it, but to be honest this does not bother me and it shouldn’t be a concern for you either. What truly matters is that it looks good from the front, fits well on your TV stand, and leaves room for a soundbar. The sides have small bumps for the built-in speakers, which are part of a great sound system (we’ll talk more about the sound in a bit).
On the back, this TV has interchangeable power plug (the standard kettle lead size which I love). It’s a nice change from those fixed cables. For connections we have 4 HDMI ports which include one with 144Hz 4K support, one for eARC with same video support as well as two 60 Hz ports. There are also two USB ports, with bottom one being more focused on power delivery so you can use it as power supply for dongles or other accessories. Plus, there’s a bunch of audio ports and DVB S and T antenna ports.
Right under the screen, there’s a small microphone and privacy button to turn the microphone off. And right under all that is a simple button to turn the TV on or off.
Now, let’s focus on the main attraction – the display. This TV is using Mini-LED technology with some Hisense own secret sauce. Mini-LED technology is often compared to OLED for its ability to offer high contrast ratios and deep blacks due to the smaller LEDs that provide more localized dimming zones. This means you get less blooming and better control over brightness and darkness in various parts of the screen. And ULED, as described by Hisense, is a proprietary technology that enhances the performance of LED TVs through a combination of different methods, including quantum dots and local dimming, to improve colour accuracy and contrast.
In this range they’ve managed to squeeze up to 20,000 Mini-LED lights with up to 5000 local dimming zones. This amount of light provides up to about 2500 nits of claimed peak brightness. These numbers are for the highest end 85 inch model though. The 65 inch we have here uses 1,456 dimming zones which feature about 7500 LEDs due to its smaller size and peak brightness of up to 1500 nits. Despite this, the first time we turned it on in the dark, it was surprisingly bright, especially since we’re accustomed to the more subdued brightness of our LG C1 OLED TV. The difference in brightness is quite striking.
But from general use, I wouldn’t say that I felt like this panel was much different in terms of contrast. The content looks punchy and very vivid. I pretty quickly turned on filmmaker mode because everything seemed a bit too intense. I’d generally recommend doing this on most TV’s if it has this option – it helps cut down on extra post processing. For example, in one of the movies we watched we noticed some odd artifacts that seemed to be caused by motion smoothing.
While the TV does offer a lot of brightness, I noticed some glare during the day with the curtains open, though it’s not as pronounced as the glare on an OLED display under the same conditions. The high brightness really stands out when you’re watching darker scenes and then open up the menu which has a lot of white on the screen. It can be quite jarring.
The feature that really caught my attention, and I wish other TVs would adopt, is the support for a wide range of video and audio formats, including Dolby Atmos and, most importantly, Dolby Vision. These come with gamer-friendly features like FreeSync Premium Pro, so this ultra-bright TV that supports HDR can actually let you play games in HDR. Another standout is the processing power, which includes a host of features and nearly instant responsiveness. Scrolling through the menus is delay-free, which is such a breath of fresh air. I’ve tried TVs across various price ranges, and this one really shines. It might seem minor, but now that I’ve experienced it, the thought of using anything slower is something I’m not looking forward to.
The software Hisense uses is quite good, but it has room for improvement. They’ve packed it with a lot of apps and most of the popular video streaming services have their own dedicated buttons. While there’s a fair selection of apps in the app store, it doesn’t quite stack up against Google TV’s massive library of over 10,000 apps. For instance, Vidaa comes with pre-installed Plex media player, which is really cool, but personally we moved away from Plex to use Emby and that as an app is not available on this platform, which is a bit disappointing.
I appreciate what Hisense has done with the voice commands. Thanks to the TV’s quick processing, the voice assistant responds really well. However, I would prefer it integrating with more of the larger ecosystems. For now, it seems like only Apple HomeKit is compatible with this model. And, just like with other voice assistants, it can sometimes activate by mistake. It’s worth noting that some other Hisense TVs offer integration with Google Home and Alexa, so that’s something to consider
The mobile phone app is quite handy, especially when you need to input complex login details. You can easily copy and paste text or type from your phone, as well as navigate through apps. But personally, I find the remote satisfactory enough. It may not be LG’s magic remote, but it does the job.
When it comes to sound, I think Hisense has done a good job but I feel that the effort is wasted here, and let me explain. The speakers on this TV are probably some of the best I’ve heard, offering excellent stereo separation and a surprisingly punchy bass. The overhead speakers are effective, though their performance varies with different content. Overall these speakers certainly beat a cheap and maybe even mid-range soundbar. However, considering the TV’s price tag of over 5,000 Singapore dollars, you might be planning to invest in a high-quality sound system to enhance your audio-visual experience. I’m curious to know: would you prefer a TV with decent built-in speakers and a higher price, or a more affordable TV with average speakers, leaving you the option to upgrade your sound system separately? Let us know in the comments below.
To test this TV for colour accuracy we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software and found that depending on the mode it's in the colour space coverage is significantly different, while colour accuracy remains very similar. Let’s go over the results.
In sRGB mode, the TV covers 112% of the BT 709 colour space and 75% of the DCI-P3 colour space. This means it displays 12% more colours than the standard BT 709 space, which is used for HDTV broadcasting. However, it covers only 75% of the DCI-P3 colour space, which is used in digital cinema and has a wider range of colours.
When switched to DCI-P3 mode, the coverage increases to 155% of BT 709 and 104% of DCI-P3. This is a significant improvement, especially for DCI-P3, as the TV can display a broader range of colours more accurately, which is great for watching movies that use this particular colour space.
Lastly, in BT 2020 mode, the TV has 187% coverage of BT 709, 126% of DCI-P3, and 85% of the BT 2020 colour space. BT 2020 is an even wider colour space that’s used for UHD and 4K broadcasting. While the TV doesn’t fully cover this space, it still shows 85%, which is quite good for a consumer TV.
Generally speaking, this panel can and does deliver good amount of colour, but at its default settings it's not the most colour accurate.
In our tests, we found that in sRGB mode, the TV had an average Delta E value of 7.4, with a maximum of 15. Switching to DCI-P3 mode, the average was 7.6, with a maximum of 15.9, and in BT 2020 mode, the average was 7.7, with a maximum of 15.4. These figures aren’t particularly impressive. However, after resetting the settings and switching to filmmaker mode, there was a significant improvement. The average Delta E value dropped to 4.5, with a maximum of 7.7, which is a performance I’d be quite satisfied with for a living room TV. This just comes to show that while the default settings might not be ideal, with some adjustments, you can greatly enhance the TV’s colour accuracy.
When we checked the screen uniformity, most of the screen was fine except for the top left corner. However, this wasn’t noticeable during any of the content we watched. As for the black levels, they’re generally good. Sure, it’s not OLED, and you might see some halo effects during white on black tests due to the screen’s brightness, but this isn’t really an issue when you’re watching regular content. It’s not something that should cause too much concern.
Which leads us to the conclusion, Hisense has packed a lot of features into this TV, starting with a powerful chip that makes the operating system run incredibly fast and supports a wide array of video formats. I am really glad to see support for Dolby Vision in particular. While the colour accuracy could be better and it doesn’t come with Google TV, these issues can be addressed with a dongle, like the Nvidia Shield, for those who need it. Overall, it’s hard to find much fault with this TV – it excels in many areas and is at least good enough in others. What do you all think? Which features stood out to you, and what would you like to see improved or changed in future models? Share your thoughts in the comments below.