TV manufacturer Hisense revealed its 2021 lineup of TVs today, in one of the most entertaining virtual product announcements ever, thanks to the comedy stylings of actor/comedian Joel McHale (and companion).
Top shelf
The stars of the new lineup are the U800GR 8K UHD smart TV, and the U9DG dual-cell, 4K UHD TVs, both available as 75-inch models. The latter is an Android, quantum-dot TV that marries two LCD layers to offer extremely granular control of the backlighting—two million local dimming zones (most have hundreds). The result is close to OLED blacks and great contrast. Truth be told, I’ve seen one. They’re nice.
The U800GR is, well 8K UHD with 4K upscaling and features quantum-dot color, 1,000 nits of peak brightness, Dolby Vision, and the Roku operating system.
Mainstream
The rest of the new 4K UHD TVs will all feature the Android TV OS, quantum dots and full-array dimming. The entry level, 60Hz, U6G will ship in 50-, 55-, 65-, and 75-inch models and offer 600 nits of brightness. That’s enough to do HDR justice.
Hisense
Hisense’s new U8G is it’s top mainstream 4K UHD TV, with quantum-dot color, a 120Hz refresh rate, gaming features, and 1,500 nits of brightness.
Next up the ladder is the 120Hz, 1,000 nit, U7G which is aimed squarely at gamers and adds variable refresh rate, auto low-latency, and Freesync premium. Note that those gaming features are also available in all the TVs with the exception of the U6G. The U7G will come in 55-, 65-, and 75-inch flavors.
The top dog of the Hisense mainstream sets is the U8G, available in 55- and 65-inch variants, with all the features of the U7G, but a whopping 1,500 nits of peak brightness. To date, we’ve only seen that level of brightness from Samsung.
Good stuff
Hisense’s TVs have improved drastically since our first look a few years back. This year, they’re all 4K UHD or 8K UHD, all feature quantum-dot color, and all have full-array dimming. That’s progress. Look for our upcoming review of the U8G.