Hisense Series X OLED TV
THE CHEAPEST OLED WE’VE SEEN, BUT NOT BY MUCH. THERE’S BETTER VALUE ELSEWHERE.
A FEW YEARS ago, Hisense’s cheap, 4K LCD TVs appeared on the scene and blitzed the competition in terms of both performance and price – changing the TV market as it went. Now it’s offering, what it believes is, one of the most affordable OLED TVs around. Can it change the market again?
The first issue is the price. RRPs of $3,499 for the 55-inch 55PX and $4,999 for the 65-inch 65PX aren’t particularly cheap. However, as is common with Hisense, they’ve already plummeted to $2,295 and $3,695 respectively. This is $200 less than Panasonic’s superb FZ950 OLED rival, which is pretty compelling…
Every OLED we’ve seen has scored top marks for picture quality and the Hisense is no exception. The true-black performance is as perfect as we’d expect and vibrant colours explode off the screen. While there are individual adjustments, most people will scroll through the multiple pre-set modes that Hisense offers. Highlights include Sports mode (which ups colour vibrancy and enhances audio) plus Game Mode for console games (which ups colours and removes image post-processing to reduce lag and pixelation in fast-moving areas). As with most TVs, Cinema Mode mutes colours and brightness. Dynamic Mode might make colours too in-your-face but Standard Mode is well balanced. There’s also a Standard HDR Mode which boosts highlights and will appeal to many.
Hisense’s 200Hz Smooth Motion helps avoid juddering motion and its upscaling of lower-resolution content is impressive.
Being a budget model, it uses LG’s first-generation panel which doesn’t get quite as bright as we’ve seen recently. Also missing are picture enhancements like HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Consequently, the best content on Netflix and Amazon Prime won’t look quite as spectacular as it can, but only TV aficionados would complain.
A potential issue for those in bright rooms is that the screen is more reflective than rivals – especially Panasonic with its special anti-reflective layer.
However, the TV operates well with the VIDAA U operating system, which is fast but doesn’t offer a great selection of apps. There’s also the RemoteNOW phone app that lets you control the TV from your handset. This was a mixed bag: being able to easily type into on-screen search boxes is a boon but navigating is a bit tricky and having to reconnect each time you switch apps is annoying.
Four HDMI ports are available and all other connectivity is standard. Sound is impressive for a TV so thin, though it can always be improved with a decent sound bar.
In terms of design, it’s impressive. The screen is very thin with minimal bezel and only a slight bulk covering the main circuitry at the rear. The stand is well-designed and belies its cheap price.
All in all, it’s a decent TV that will suit any home. However, it does lack the top-end enhancements of the Panasonic, which offers a slightly-better picture and features. As such, saving a few hundred bucks when you could have the best, top model available may be a false economy.
HISENSE 55PX $2,295 www.hisense.com.au CRITICAL SPECS 55-inch 4K OLED TV, 4 HDMI 2.2, 1 x USB 2.0, 1 x USB 3.0, Ethernet, Digital Audio out, 802.11AC Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDR. Weight 23KG with stand