Get high on your senses with this 75-inch unicorn

With a (hopefully short-lived) recession hitting New Zealanders with a one-two punch, splashing out on a big telly can be hard to justify. Still, this Hisense TV might be just what the (Witch)doctor ordered. Their whopping 75-inch U7KNZ TV is priced at a wallet-pleasing $4299, making it significantly more affordable than the $6K you’d usually have to fork out for an XXXL-sized screen. But is it any good?

The market is already awash with affordable TVs, but where the U7K towers over many others is the fact that it’s what the Hisense marketing folk call a 4K “U” TV, meaning “Ultra,” or “ultra-wide colour gamut” (thanks to quantum dots), “ultra-local dimming” (thanks to the use of mini-LED backlighting), “ultra 4K resolution,” and “ultra-smooth motion rate” (the U7KNZ is capable of an impressive 144Hz refresh rate, making it great for gamers).

Then there’s the proprietary Hi-View quad-core video processing engine, which allows the U7K to handle every current HDR standard, including Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive. It’s film-maker mode certified, too. Add to this 4 HDMI inputs, two of which support HDMI 2.1 for 4K/144Hz, VRR, AMD Freesync Premium, and ALLM, and gamers can rejoice. In short, the U7K appears to be one of those all-too-rare consumer electronics unicorns that isn’t just affordable but also offers a crazy amount of spec for your buck.

From a design standpoint, the U7K sports super skinny aluminium bezels, and as the TV is just 77mm deep, weighing in at a tad less than 20kg, it’s wall mountable (it supports VESA wall mount hardware, too). I set the review unit up on an AV cabinet by attaching two T-shaped legs to the underside of the U7K. Where attaching stands to TVs is often an exercise in unneeded complexity and frustration, this setup was dead easy and done in a mere 10 minutes.

The Hisense remote controller is a fairly standard Tupperware clicker. It feels good in the hand and is loaded with dedicated buttons for most major streaming services, including the highly regarded PLEX media centre app. The remote is also kitted out with a mic button and a mic is built into the TV so the Alexa and the VIDAA voice assistant can allow you to use voice commands to drive the TV. If either method isn’t to your liking, there’s also the optional VIDAA remote control smartphone app (Android and iOS).

Around the back, plenty is happening. In addition to 4 HDMI inputs you get an Ethernet socket, composite video (via a single 3.5mm input that comes with a 3.5mm to RCA adaptor cable), two USB-A ports, terrestrial and satellite antenna sockets, a headphone socket and a SPDIF port. Those wanting the simplicity of a cable-free connection are also well catered for, as both Bluetooth 5.0 and 2.4ghz/5Ghz Wi-Fi 6 are supported.

Apart from a few notable exceptions, audio is rarely a high point with flatscreen TVs. That said, the 40-watt 2.1-channel setup on the U7K consists of twin forward-facing speakers and a rear-facing woofer. Sonically, the U7K will never replace a dedicated home theatre setup. Still, its integrated speakers proved capable, belting out crisp and clean audio with more than a hint of bass grunt. While the audio isn’t as dynamic as a good soundbar or home theatre system, it is still fine for standalone use.

In use, UHD/HD HDR-encoded content impressed. This was helped along by a surprisingly decent screen contrast level, which is largely thanks to the use of micro LED backlighting. Perhaps the biggest test of this is ironically at the end of a movie where there’s usually lots of white text on a black background scrolling down the screen. Earlier local dimming backlighting implementations used to result in a halo effect around white text on a dark background. With the U7K, there was little to no blooming noticeable. Similarly, the precise local dimming available with Micro LED backlighting also translated into subtle graduations in black tones, with no “crushing” (or shadow detail being converted into back blobs) noticeable.

Adding to the detailed contrast was the vivid colour palette via quantum dot technologies. While the on-screen action was vibrant, it didn’t feel garish or oversaturated. Out of the box, with no settings tweaked, skin tones, grass and skies all looked natural.

Last (but not least) when it comes to viewing is on-screen motion. There was no ghosting, judder or stuttering in action movies, sports, or other content featuring fast-moving on-screen objects. This also proved to be the case with gaming, with Cyberpunk 2077 on my Xbox One looking good enough to eat.

Things literally shone in 4K while 1080p HD content saw some softening of detail level, but not enough to be so noticeable that it’d detract from viewing. SD content wasn’t brilliant, but that’s simply a case of GIGO (garbage-in/garbage-out), which is well beyond any TV’s upscaling capabilities.

Getting set up was good because it was brief, comprehensive, yet still intuitive. This comes down to the polished Hisense VIDAA operating system. Where many smart TV user interfaces feel like an afterthought, VIDAA feels well crafted. It’s sufficiently easy to fathom that just about anyone can just pick up the remote and go, and the major streaming services are catered for.

All told, the Hisense U7K has a hell of a lot going for it. It might not be a brand that most Kiwis are familiar with, but in testing and in general use, it scored extremely well. Not only is its sticker price attractive but its specs, performance and features are what I’d normally expect in a TV costing considerably more. In short, the U7K is one of those all too-rare consumer electronic bargains where you get far more than you’ve actually paid for.

https://hisense.co.nz/product/75-uled-mini-led-series-u7knz/