Hisense has wowed us with amazing quality TVs at ultra-affordable prices over the past year, largely thanks to the development of its new ULED technology, which combines elements of traditional LED TVs and new quantum dot technology. The latest model in Hisense's ULED lineup is the Hisense H9F, and on paper it has a lot to offer: with up to 132 local dimming zones, a modern design, and built-in Android TV, this could be the TV to beat. less than €1,000. But in a world where Vizio and TCL make their own low-cost TVs, this once-neglected area of the TV market now faces fierce competition. Does the Hisense H9F outperform the others? We've been testing it for a few weeks to find out.
Price and release date
The Hisense H9F comes in two screen sizes, 55-inch and 65-inch, and both are available for purchase at most major retailers. In terms of price, the 55-inch 9H55F is available at €599 while the 65-inch 9H65F costs €899. For comparison, the rival Vizio M-Series Quantum comes in four screen sizes (43, 50, 55 and 65-inch) and starts at €349 for the 43-inch and goes up to €799 for the 65-inch version. . There's also the QLED TCL 6 series that comes in two screen sizes, 55-inch and 65-inch, which cost €599 and €899 respectively.
(Image credit: Hisense)
Integrated
The Hisense H9F offers a slightly more modern design compared to the lower-end Hisense H8F we reviewed earlier this year, and we quite like it. The TV now comes with stylish silver metal legs with a unique design that extends to the side. More importantly though, the legs seem to be stout and there's little wobble to speak of. The stand is quite large in size, but it is much narrower than some TVs that place individual feet on each side. The modern look isn't just about the legs, it's also about the relatively slim bezels around the top and sides of the screen. The bezels are just a little over a quarter-inch thick, and while the bottom bezel is a bit thicker, it doesn't look out of place. The panel itself is also thin. At its thickest point, towards the bottom of the TV, it's about three inches, but at the top it's much thinner and generally looks very skinny given its tapered design. Port, the television is quite powerful. There are a total of four HDMI ports, including one with ARC, two USB ports for power and local media, optical out, 3,5mm audio out, Ethernet port, and composite in. With four HDMI inputs, you should be able to connect all your devices, including game consoles and external streaming players. With an Apple TV 4K, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch, we had more than enough ports, and we bet most others will too. We're looking at the 65-inch TV model, but it's also available in a 55-inch model, which will work best for most small-to-medium-sized living rooms. Even as someone who regularly reviews large TVs, the 65-inch can get a bit heavy, so be sure to measure your space before you buy it. The remote that came with the Hisense H9F is fine, but it seems dated in a world of super-simple remotes like the Apple TV 4K. The remote comes with everything you need, including channel controls, software controls for Android TV, and a Google Assistant button, which is a nice touch. There are also quick access controls for some popular apps, including Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, and Vudu. The remote generally worked well and you'll get used to using it, although it's a bit of a pain.
(Image credit: Hisense)
Smart TV (Android TV)
If you buy a Hisense TV, you'll get a TV with one of two operating systems: Roku or Android TV. It is one of the Android TV models. For some this will be good news, for others the opposite. While Android TV in general is a bit divisive, it's gotten better in recent years. Currently, Android TV is presented with a row of apps at the top and rows of content for each app below. This is not a bad setup, although there is a lot to take in at the same time. As you'd expect from one of the top TV operating systems in 2019, you'll be able to download all your favorite streaming apps. However, Android TV also benefits from the behemoth that is the Google Play Store, giving you access to many apps you might not find on platforms like Apple's tvOS or Roku. On anything other than Nvidia Shield TV, Android TV can be slow to respond and unresponsive, and that has continued to be the case here. While Android TV on the Hisense H9F wasn't as bad as other TVs, we think all Android TV manufacturers need to start taking more powerful processors more seriously if they want customers to have a decent smart TV experience. The lag was particularly bad with the Google Assistant. We've gotten used to having to wait a second or two before speaking when we press the Assistant button, but the essence of Assistant is to be helpful and responsive, and we often end up manually navigating to apps and content using the assistant. It's also important to note that it wasn't always slow, sometimes it seemed to speed up and provide a much better user experience. This was especially true after the television had been on for a few minutes. The advantages of Android TV may outweigh the disadvantages. Features like Google Cast and integration with your Android phone come in handy. While it's slow, Google Assistant is still as smart as ever, so if you're plugged into the Google ecosystem, Android TV in general is a great solution.
(Image credit: Hisense)
The slow smart TV platform is the worst of the Hisense H9F, but the image quality is by far the best. Since many may end up using another streaming device anyway, picture quality is also the most important thing to consider, and this TV is up to the task. Overall, the Hisense H9F was able to deliver excellent picture quality while watching HD and SDR content, although like any TV you may want to play around with the settings a bit. A variety of picture modes are offered here, including Vivid, Standard, Energy Saving, Movie Day, Game, Sport, and Movie Night. Vivid was too exposed for our liking, and we ended up keeping the TV as standard most of the time. Fortunately, there are also manual settings, so if you want to adjust things at a more granular level, like contrast and brightness, you can. The TV was generally able to upscale HD and SDR content to look pretty good. We watched The Office for the tenth time in this review, and noted that the TV offered generally vivid colors and detailed images, without any major visual artifacts or other issues. Granted, you won't get a picture that compares to watching 4K or HDR content, but we found that the TV can refresh content better than anything we've tested in this price range. Black levels when viewing SDR content were also better than most. Again, the issue here is that you can get better if you spend more, and OLED panels will deliver deeper blacks. But the Hisense H9F was able to deliver deeper black levels than similarly priced models, and with almost no blooming, which is more than most models in this price range can say. Even compared to some of Samsung's lower-end QLED models, like the Samsung Q60R, the black levels on the Hisense H9F are impressive.
(Image credit: Hisense)
If it wasn't already clear, we were quite impressed with the TV's picture quality while watching HD and SDR content. However, upgrade to 4K and HDR content and things will get even better. The TV supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision, so most modern content you watch will be supported. The display modes are the same as when you watch SDR content, but optimized for HDR. Thus, you will get "vivid HDR", "standard HDR", etc. Interestingly, the TV seemed to use HDR Cinema by default, even when the mode was set to Standard while watching SDR content, it still switched to HDR Cinema for HDR content. HDR Theater has been our preferred picture mode for HDR content. We did see some streaking when showing similar colors, but it wasn't bad at all, and barely noticeable except to the trained eye. It's also not as bad as others in this price range. In HDR, colors are wonderfully vibrant and black levels are ultra-deep. OLED panels are known for their deep blacks, but Hisense has spent a ton on its ULED technology, and it really shows here. Motion smoothing was also pretty good on this TV. Many just prefer to turn it off, but we've found it looks pretty good here, as long as it's tame. There are plenty of motion smoothing settings you can play around with, but we ended up switching between the Standard and Off presets. Some love it, some hate it, and on this TV you can do whatever you want with it. When appropriate, motion smoothing certainly helped create clearer, more detailed game and action scenes while watching sports.
(Image credit: Hisense)
Ring
What the Hisense H9F offers in the audio department isn't great. If your budget is maxed out after buying the TV, the TV's built-in speakers will work just fine, but don't expect a lot of depth or detail here. The bass response on the speakers is a bit limited. When it comes to things like explosions, motors, and kick drums in music, the sound is generally thin and lacks the oomph most will want from their audio experience. The mids are underwhelming too, and the low-mids are there, sure, but they're dwarfed by the boosted high-mids that make overall speakers a bit cheap. It's common in TVs, cheaper speakers, and cheap headphones, but still something to keep in mind. The area that suffers the most is the high range. The detail is...