Hisense H9G – Design and Features
With thinner-than-ever bezels, it's hard for most 4K TVs to stand out in terms of physical design. The H9G is as sleek as any other LED TV, with narrow silver edges around the screen and a unique triangular stand. I actually like this stand a lot – it carries the stability of two legs without requiring a table as wide as the TV itself. That's more exciting than it might seem, as so many TVs today require a huge surface to place them on, particularly if you want an immersive 55- or 65-inch screen size. The set itself isn't exactly slim, but that's to be expected given its full-array LED backlighting – which, combined with its ability to dim each of those 132 zones individually, allows it to darken certain areas of the screen for deeper black levels. Good contrast is the most important feature in picture quality, so I consider this a must-have if you're buying a TV today – especially if you plan on watching HDR movies and playing HDR games. The H9G supports HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision. [poilib element="poll" parameters="id=48767ae9-c12a-41f4-bacd-52258213bcbd"] It also claims 1,000-nit peak brightness, which is great for getting that "pop" out of an HDR image – as is the wide color gamut, which uses a quantum dot layer to offer a larger range of colors for a more vibrant, lifelike image. Ultimately, these are the most important features when it comes to HDR picture quality, and despite its lower price tag – $700 for the 55-inch model, $950 for the 65-inch – the H9G hits the most important specs on paper for a lower price than many of its competitors. That said, Hisense has to cut costs somewhere, and in the case of the H9G, you'll be missing out on some of this generation's latest and greatest gaming features. While the H9G has a 120Hz panel, this merely allows for motion interpolation in movies and will not accept a 120Hz signal from the PS5 or Xbox Series X for high-refresh gaming. (You can manually force 120Hz mode at 1080p, and the TV will display 120Hz in its little information window, but it will merely skip frames and output 60 frames per second – not 120.)
In addition, it doesn't have any HDMI 2.1 ports, which means you won't get variable refresh rate, which cuts down on screen tearing and stutter when a game can't put out a consistent number of frames per second. Not everyone will necessarily care about these features, but given that other TVs offer them at similar prices, it is a bit of a bummer not to see it here. The TV can, however, automatically switch to Game Mode when it detects that you're playing a game, which is a handy convenience. Side-facing ports on the back left of the TV include three HDMI ports, two USB ports, a headphone jack, and a coax input for an antenna or cable connection. On the back, you also get an ethernet jack as well as optical audio out and composite video/audio in, along with a fourth HDMI port. These old-school ports are becoming less common on TVs, so it's nice to see them here, particularly if you have some retro game consoles you want to hook up. 
The H9G runs Android TV, meaning you get one of the more versatile smart TV platforms on the market (albeit a slightly outdated one, with Google TV having since replaced its old predecessor). Android TV not only offers a huge library of apps, but voice-activated Google Assistant as well – with a physical switch on the bottom of the TV to turn off the always-listening microphones. (The LED lights that shine with this switch activated are a bit annoying, though, particularly if you plan on using this in a bedroom.) The remote is mostly well-designed, albeit with some buttons that might confuse some (like a home button right next to the "Apps" button, each of which takes you to a different part of the Android TV interface). It could be better, but advanced users will probably appreciate the number of shortcut buttons available, once you learn your way around. Finally, the H9G has on-board speakers that sound fine, but trust me: if you care enough about picture quality to be considering this TV, you probably want a good soundbar to match. 
Hisense H9G – Testing
In order to verify Hisense's picture quality claims, I ran the TV through a battery of tests using an X-Rite i1Display Pro and a copy of CalMAN Ultimate, as well as some by-eye tests with patterns from Lagom and Blur Busters. I used the most accurate "Theater" picture modes out of the box for testing, with no adjustments except Local Dimming, where noted. SDR test patterns reached a peak brightness of 425 nits on a full-field white pattern, and local dimming will allow smaller portions of the screen to get even brighter than that – in other words, this is a great TV if you have a room with lots of sunlight and need to combat glare. Greyscale and color accuracy were very good on our test unit, with an average deltaE of 2.6 for greyscale and 1.4 for a 47-point colorchecker, and both had a maximum deltaE of only 4.5. That's pretty fantastic for a TV of this price, considering a deltaE value of 3 is considered "good" (and not easily distinguishable by the majority of people). Those values, however, are for local dimming turned off – as with any other TV, turning local dimming on causes greyscale and color accuracy to deviate a bit more, and there's not much you can do to avoid that. [poilib element="quoteBox" parameters="excerpt=This%20is%20a%20great%20TV%20if%20you%20have%20a%20room%20with%20lots%20of%20sunlight%20and%20need%20to%20combat%20glare"] HDR performance was similarly impressive – with local dimming turned on the default setting of High, the H9G reached a peak brightness of 1,283 nits on a 5% window, which is comfortably over the 1,000 nits advertised by Hisense – and I'd bet some highlights can peak even higher than that. Turning local dimming to Medium or Low didn't affect this value much, as it can on some TVs – instead, they merely raise the black levels to minimize blooming. While the H9G adhered closely to the EOTF curve with local dimming off, turning the feature on caused most shades to appear over-brightened – moreso than other LED TVs I've tested in the past. This may result in an image that appears a bit over-brightened in some scenes. Black and grey uniformity can vary from set to set, so my experience may not carry over to your own – but for what it's worth, our review unit had pretty good grey uniformity with very little noticeable banding (a common issue with TVs at this price). Black uniformity was less stellar, with some noticeable glow in the corners, but local dimming helps this somewhat. Response time was mostly good, and the Lagom test resulted in very little flickering in most of the squares. The darkest transition, however, did flicker a bit, and I did notice in Blur Busters' UFO test that the moving ships did have a long but faint trail behind them (more on this in a moment.) I was unable to get an input lag tester in time for this review to be published, but I noticed no issues with the H9G in Game Mode in my day-to-day gaming sessions.
Hisense H9G – Movies and Gaming
The H9G's high-end specs made for an image that really pops in HDR movies and games. Bright highlights like Vader's lightsaber in Rogue One jump right off the screen, and at 65 inches, his presence is more imposing than ever – particularly at the close viewing distance I'm stuck with in my small office. Similarly, colorful films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 look absolutely stunning thanks to the wide gamut. Both of those films also have starry shots that are perfect stress tests for the local dimming algorithm. Set to the default of High, those starry scenes produce a fair amount of blooming around objects like planets or suns. In fact, when set to High, the H9G will turn the backlight off completely in some areas – this produces deep inky blacks, but produces more blooming and a sort of flickering side effect in some scenes (like the opening shot of Rogue One). Turning it down to Medium raises the black levels a tad, cutting down on blooming but making blacks look a bit more grey, and causing the glow in the corners of the screen to become more pronounced. It's up to you which of those settings you prefer – I find a bias light helps mitigate the flaws of both approaches. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/05/29/the-best-tvs-for-ps5-and-series-x-next-gen-console-watch"] That high peak brightness was equally impressive in gaming. Driving across the English countryside in Forza Horizon 4 was jaw-dropping, particularly in moments when the bright afternoon sun would reflect off the rear window of my Corvette. The 4K detail was also clearly visible as I plowed through fields of wheat (okay, I'm not that good a driver.) Motion was a more uneven experience, both in movies and gaming. While the response time on this TV is quite fast, especially in brighter scenes, dark scenes produce some noticeable artifacts. When playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales, for example, swinging through the city during the day is smooth and clear. But during cutscenes, dark parts of the image – like Miles' black hair – visibly smear as they move across the screen. And in dimly lit areas, like the Roxxon lab, it's far more distracting, producing noticeable red ghosting all over the scene whenever you move the camera. Most people tend not to notice these things, but if you're picky about motion – you know who you are – it's enough to be distracting, and potentially even a deal-breaker. I noticed similar issues in darker-toned movies as well, like the final scene of The Dark Knight.
Ultimately, these little flaws aren't surprising at this price point. The H9G is a flagship TV, but from a budget-oriented brand, and you have to sacrifice somewhere, even if it isn't something obvious on the spec sheet. And given the H9G's HDR performance, this is still a very good TV for the price, with downsides most people will find minor or not notice at all. However, other similarly-priced TVs might still offer better bang for your buck, depending on your preferences. 2020's TCL 6-Series, for example, offers more dimming zones to combat blooming (thanks to the Mini-LED backlight), the Roku smart platform, and HDMI 2.1 gaming features like variable refresh rate – making it arguably a better choice for next-gen gamers. Still, if you prefer the Android TV platform or require maximum brightness for a well-lit room, the H9G might be for you. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=best-4k-gaming-tv-for-ps5-and-xbox-series-x&captions=true"]
from IGN Reviews https://ift.tt/3sGYfto
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