Hisense 55” Series 7 4K Ultra HD LED LCD Smart TV greatly outshines its price tag

THIS mid-range television outshines its price tag by offering astounding picture quality, alongside a number of other impressive features.

Sleek design and awesome picture quality for a decent price.

REVIEW

IT can be a tough choice when deciding whether to invest in a new TV for your home, especially if the old faithful in your lounge room is still doing the trick.

While upgrading might seem like a large and unjustified financial investment, believe me when I tell you that you will not regret your decision.

In 2007, I purchased a Samsung and after recently adding an Apple TV to make it a smart television, I was content with the picture quality and functionality.

Or so I thought.

I recently got my hands on Hisense’s 55-inch Series 7 ULED Ultra HD television and it became apparent that I had gravely underestimated the benefits a new TV would offer.

As a mid-range television, it outshines its price tag by offering astounding picture quality, alongside a number of other impressive features.

The television has an ULED or Ultra LED display, offering 4K Ultra HD resolution.

“Protected by 17 patents, ULED technology enhances colour, contrast, resolution and motion with a combination of advanced hardware and software,” Hisense describes on its website.

So what are the key features of the 4K ULED TV Series 7?

Wide Colour Gamut

Hisense 4K ULED TV offers a colour gamut of 91.2 per cent of Rec. 2020 and 99.98 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour spaces.

What this means is reds are much brighter, there are deeper vivid blues, there are a wider range of greens and much sharper yellows.

In fact, the display offers 1.07 billion true-to-life precisely tuned colours and hues for remarkably detailed imagery.

Ultra Contrast

Supporting many local dimming zones across its matrix of backlit LEDs means certain clusters of the screen will light up when the picture is brighter in certain spots.

This creates blacker blacks set against the purest of whites, which makes for vibrant images and greater contrast.

The television also supports High Dynamic Range, which boosts the contrast offering greater detail in the highlights and shadows

For all of its capabilities, this television is surprisingly thin.

Ultra HD Resolution

The television is Ultra HD, which makes it four times the resolution of traditional HD displays.

This rating has to do with the amount of pixels a 4K TV contains.

While traditional HD has 1920 x 1080 pixels, UHD offers a 3840 x 2160 resolution — only slightly smaller than the resolution 4096 x 2160 pixels seen on cinema screens.

With a display containing more eight million individual pixels, the Hisense TV transforms everything into a lifelike, detail-rich experience.

Ultra Smooth Motion Rate

The televisions use proprietary motion estimation and compensation (MEMC) algorithms, which Hisense calls UltraSmooth Motion.

This creates and inserts frames into the picture for reduced blur and smoother transitions, which offers sharper edges and revealing detail.

What does all this mean?

If you have upgraded your television recently, some of these details might be lost on you as you would be used to upgraded picture quality.

However, if you are like me and your television is a little dated, the picture quality will jump out from the get go — there will be no need for a side-by-side comparison to see the difference.

It must be mentioned that while the TV supports 4K Blu Ray players in HDMI ports 3 and 4, if you were hoping to stream Netflix in 4K you will need an internet connection speed of at least 25 megabits per second.

Unfortunately, my internet is still in the dark ages, so I was unable to test this feature.

A number of inputs for all your essential home entertainment needs.

Design

The television unit is sleek and sexy, with a brushed metal edge measuring about 1cm thick.

Two small stands are easily installed on the bottom of the television, offering a minimalist look.

Having shown off the television to numerous friends that have visited, they have all commented on how elegant it looks for its price range.

Operating System

The television range has an Opera based OS, which is easy to navigate with simple tasks such as browsing content or switching input.

There is an app store and a number of apps that come as standard, although after doing some searching the offering wasn’t extensive.

While including popular apps like Netflix and YouTube — both have specialised buttons on the remote for easy access — for more of a detailed offering of apps, you will still need a digital media player like Apple TV.

Final words

If you want a new television that offers beautiful picture quality without the hefty price, I can’t recommend this enough.

The 55-inch featured in this review has a RRP for $1999, although a quick Google search shows it retailing for a little as $1395.

The Series 7 also ships in 50-inch, 65-inch, 70-inch and 75-inch.

What are your thoughts on Hisense’s 4K ULED Series 7 televisions? Continue the conversation on Twitter @mattydunn11.

NOTE:Some customers have had trouble connecting HDR 4K-enabled peripheral devices via HDMI to their 4K ULED Hisense 7 Series TV due to compatibility issues with some external devices that are newer to market.

Hisense has issued a firmware fix, which is accessed by contacting 1800 447 367 or emailing [e-mail] with your model number.