The Hisense 55”, H9F Series, 2160p, smart 4K UHD TV is quality display on a serious budget.
The beauty of this television goes far beyond skin deep. Not only is the Quantum Dot tech with 100+ local dimming zones spectacular, but the glue that brings it all together – Android TV – makes setup & use a real pleasure.
I do have to start off admitting that my sample was received from Hisense in a state quite possibly not representative of what the typical Best Buy customer would receive. Upon unboxing this unit, the actual television was not wrapped in the protective bag – the bag was simply hanging over the face of the screen. Upon powering up the television to begin the Android TV setup process, the screen went straight into the Factory Aging Mode. This is clearly represented by a large, red “M” in the upper left-hand corner of the display area against an otherwise ALL white background.
The remedy to this and to return the H9F to normal operational mode, enter 8 0 8 7 on the remote control. Was kind of shocked the television arrived in this condition but it was easy to rectify with a little help from Google search. After exiting the aging mode, the television has been fine since. Connection to my home Wi-Fi network was easy and reliable. Once back in ‘normal mode’, I performed a version check and found a software update – that installed quickly.
As I had mentioned, the Quantum Dot display is amazingly vibrant & uniform – which is what I would expect from a backlit display that has a zone count exceeding 100. With my Spears & Munsil UHD benchmark disc I was able to verify 120 distinct zones on the 55” H9F. And the Hisense engineers did a phenomenal job of backlight control on this model. Blooming and bleed is very low and probably the best I’ve ever experienced on a non-OLED display. White and grayscale uniformity was also pretty amazing on this television and noticeably better than the lower tiered, H8 series. Color pop is excellent as is edge presentation and overall sharpness. The Motion480 is immediately noticeable on sporting events and Xbox One gaming. Where entry level displays of other competitors, and including the Hisense H8 series, can have some inherent flicker during 4K HDR content – the H9F is free from this type of artifact. Upscaling SD and 1080p content was also solid. 4K HDR Blu-ray disc playback looked fantastic.
This television also incorporates a whole host of automatic picture enhancement and power saving features. My personal experience with these types of options on other televisions varies but I can confidently state that the Hisense H9F makes very subtle changes to brightness & contrast using these features – smoother & far from distracting … and much better than I had expected at this price point.
From the standpoint of physical attributes, this television has extremely slim bezels all-the-way-around, solidly connecting & functional legs and a fantastic remote control. The closed-loop design of the two stands is much better than other designs. The screen treatment does an excellent job of minimizing reflections and the internal speakers are about average – but certainly not great or full sounding compared to more expensive sets that have better low frequency (bass) drivers. The sound is OK. Contrary to some specs floating around out there, the 55 H9F has 4 HDMI ports.
Moving on to the ‘glue ‘that pulls it all together … The Android TV experience on these newer Hisense televisions is akin to something like using a near pure or pure Android OS version on a mobile phone. Two major competitors out of Korea have OSes that incorporate certain levels of Google app functionality but nothing is as smooth & enjoyable as setting up a true Android TV based television with an Android based phone. From the moment you log into your Google account and switch to setting up your television preferences, it becomes immediately clear that Google has designed the work flow of the setup process to be clear, understandable and easy. Within minutes the television was able to respond to inputs from my cell phone – which is a joy compared to using a televisions clunky onscreen keyboard via the remote control – and the process of either controlling the apps inside the TV or casting to it directly from the cell phone was a breeze. IMHO, Hisense made the right choice going ‘full-on’ Android TV. The integration of Google Assistant and Google AI functionality makes navigating the screens, searching for & resuming playback of content super easy.
Vudu, YouTube, Pluto and many other apps ran smooth as silk and respond quickly.
The processor in the H9F is capable & fast – and there is 4 GB of internal storage too.
Another surprising aspect of this television considering the price point…
The value proposition of this television is high considering the quality of the image and the overall performance characteristics provided. If you’re in the market for an affordable but performance-based ultra-LED television, be sure to check out the H9F.
Pros:
Great white/grayscale uniformity, corner-to-corner
Excellent ‘pop’ and color presentation
120 local dimming zones in the 55” model
Solid upscaling performance for both SD and 1080p content
An affordable UHD TV that does Dolby Vision!
Minimalist design with thin bezels and solidly designed base stands (feet)
Powerful processor and 4 GB of internal storage
Smooth, fast and efficient Android TV operating system
Easy to setup, especially with an existing Google account & Android mobile phone
Cons:
My unit arrived in Factory Aging Mode and not completely wrapped in the protective foam-wrap
… but I’m still giving this television 5 stars. It’s just that good.