Hisense 2018 Series 7, 8 and 9 TVs

HAVING REDEFINED TV VALUE IN RECENT YEARS, HISENSE IS NOW STUCK IN A MID-RANGE MIRE.

A FEW YEARS ago, Hisense changed the TV market by offering one of the very best TVs you could buy at a fraction of the price of rivals. However, things have changed a little in the interim. Hisense now considers itself a premium brand and its prices aren’t quite as impressive as before. Furthermore, thanks to better performance and value from rivals, its models don’t stand out from the crowd so much anymore.

The 2018 TVs have all been designated the “P” suffix – last years’ models were “N.” At the top end is the Series 9, with colour provided by QLED technology and contrast provided by its ‘Prime Array Backlit’ system, which offers over seven hundred local dimming zones (65-inch version – there are over 1,000 dimming zones on the 75-inch model) to help produce images with true black and subtle detail in very dark scenes. At the same time, the powerful lighting system is capable of ramping up brightness to a whopping 2,500 nits, which makes it one of the brightest screens on the market. These technologies mean it’s the only member of the range that supports 10-bit colour depth (meaning silky smooth colour gradients with no ugly banding) and is subsequently Ultra HD Premium Certified. However, at this end, we’d like to see either Dolby Vision or HDR10+ certification as Netflix and Amazon (respectively) both offer content to support it (and it makes a noticeable difference). The good news is that both the 65-inch and 75-inch P9 models have dropped by over $900 to $3,596 and $5,496 respectively. If your primary demands are for an ‘affordable’ big, bright TV, then the P9s are worth a look.

Below the P9s are the P8s which also come in 65-inch (dropped to $2,496) and 75-inch ($3,996) variants. Both are now over $1,000 cheaper than when they launched. They’re similar to the P9s in most ways, but having standard LCD lighting instead of the rear-lit technology means that contrast and brightness aren’t as good and it misses out on Ultra HD Premium certification.

Below this is the P7 range which stretches from 50-inch ($999) to 75-inches ($3,050). These eschew QLED for Hisense’s own ULED which has always impressed us: colours are still punchy and vibrant.

All of the TVs make use of Hisense’s own VIDAA U 2.5 operating system, which is fast but doesn’t support all of the catch-up and streaming services that we’d hope for. However, you can connect your phone to control channels and cast direct to the TV.

There’s definitely some good value in Hisense’s range, but it collides with some of the industry’s top models at the higher price points. The relatively-cheap, large, bright screens are now the most attractive features, but you’ll be paying more for those than slightly-smaller, top-notch OLED models now. At the lower end of the market, TCL has muscled in, offering arguably better performance on cheaper TVs that support the superior Android operating system. As such, we can’t give Hisense an award for value anymore.

ALL OF THE TVS MAKE USE OF HISENSE’S OWN VIDAA U 2.5 OPERATING SYSTEM, WHICH IS FAST BUT DOESN’T SUPPORT ALL OF THE CATCH-UP AND STREAMING SERVICES THAT WE’D HOPE FOR.