humax 20.1 tft lcd tv brands

It"s a common refrain: consumer electronics are too complicated and cumbersome for the average user. And even if you"re a "power user" who enjoys the latest and greatest tech gear, you"ve still got to deal with the inevitable rat"s nest of cables and wires that invades your living space once you connect two--let alone more--devices together. It"s those two problems--complexity and cable clutter--that the Humax LD2060 aims to eliminate. This 20-inch flat-panel LCD TV includes a built-in DirecTV satellite TV tuner, so subscribers can receive hundreds of channels of programming without the need for an external receiver.

From an aesthetic standpoint, the LD2060 looks similar to any other LCD flat-panel you"ll see--which is to say, pretty nice. The screen is ringed by a black border, while the stand and nonremoveable side-mounted stereo speakers are silver. Controls are split along the top and bottom edges: nine satellite control keys on the top side, five TV controls--volume, input, power, and settings menu--below. Of course, you"ll never have to touch those controls, thanks to the Humax"s unified remote. The well-designed clicker puts all the satellite and TV controls within reach. A slider on the remote toggles its controls between the built-in satellite receiver (such as scrolling through DirecTV"s onscreen programming guide) and the TV itself (picture and sound adjustments and so forth); it can also be programmed to control two other A/V devices, such as a DVD player or VCR.

Getting the Humax LD2060 up and running on DirecTV was about as easy and straightforward as we could hope. Because CNET"s New York office has an existing DirecTV subscription, we just popped the RF coaxial cable off our existing box and screwed it into the back of the Humax TV. After sliding the included access card into the slot on the side, a quick call to DirecTV customer service had us up and running in less than five minutes. (You"ll be charged the same for using the LD2060 as you would for adding a standard DirecTV box to your account--so if you"re replacing an existing box, it"s a wash.) All in all, the LD2060 delivers an experience that"s all but identical to a standard DirecTV receiver--you have access to the same onscreen guide and basic functionality that you"d get with a standard satellite receiver, as well as access to all of the same channels in your package--excluding any high-def ones, that is.

The Humax isn"t going to compete with larger and more expensive TVs in terms of picture quality, but it does offer a basic complement of picture controls, including four picture modes (dynamic, mild, standard, and movie) and five color-temperature presets (two warm and cool settings each, plus a baseline "normal"). We didn"t bother with a full calibration, opting instead to eyeball the basic picture-control settings (tint, contrast, color, sharpness, and brightness) on the Warm 2 preset. As to be expected with an LCD, black levels were lacking. We also noted a bit of red push, but edge enhancement wasn"t overly pumped up, and off-angle viewing was better than average for an LCD. In other words, picture quality was resoundingly fine on DirecTV programming and DVDs--the same that we"d expect from other non-HD LCD panels of this size and native resolution--640x480.

The LD2060 also offers a "="" rel="follow">vertical compression mode, so you can see the full resolution of anamorphic DVDs at their proper aspect ratio. What was annoying, however, was the lack of independent input memories: if you customize the settings for watching DVDs or video games, for instance, you"ll need to readjust them when you return to the DirecTV programming.

If you want to use the LD2060 to watch only satellite TV, just two wires need to be connected: the power cord and the satellite line. (Add a standard telephone wire to the equation if you want to take advantage of any of DirecTV"s pay-per-view offerings.) Thankfully, though, the Humax isn"t a one-trick pony: It has three other A/V inputs--one component and two composite--so you can connect as many as three other video sources. While that will certainly introduce more of the wire clutter that the integrated satellite receiver is designed to avoid, the flexibility to add, say, a DVD player, a VCR, and a game system will certainly be welcome for anyone building a mini-entertainment center. A single set of A/V outputs lets you record your DirecTV shows to a VCR or a DVD recorder, though anybody used to a TiVo or other DVR will lament the dearth of a built-in hard drive. Furthermore, if you buy the LD2060 and subsequently decide to dump DirecTV, the additional inputs guarantee that you"ll always have a usable flat-panel monitor--you can hook up a cable box or even a Dish Network receiver to any of those inputs. Interestingly, the component inputs accept 480p and 720p/1080i high-def sources. But given that they"re all scaled to the LD2060"s 640x480 native resolution--and the fact that it"s a small 20.1-inch screen to begin with--there"s no big advantage to using HD video sources. Likewise, you won"t find any DVI or VGA inputs on the LD2060, but the low-res screen wouldn"t be conducive to doubling as a PC monitor anyway.

While there"s a lot to like about the Humax LD2060, it"s worth remembering that it"s designed to appeal to a fairly small segment of the market: DirecTV viewers looking for a small, no-fuss, flat-panel television. At its original $700 price tag, the lack of wide-screen aspect ratio, high-definition display, PC monitor support, and a built-in DVR were all the more glaring.) By comparison, 20-inch LCD TVs from no-name and top-tier manufacturers are readily available for less than $400.) But Humax has since dropped the list price of the LD2060 to $600--with online pricing coming closer to $549. That makes this TV a much more palatable buy, and it"s a big reason we"re not grading it more harshly.

If you like the idea the of the LD2060 but want to hold out for an HD version, stay tuned: Humax is planning to release a 32-inch wide-screen LCD flat-panel HDTV with a built-in high-def DirecTV tuner in the fall, though pricing has yet to be set. In the meantime, if you"re a DirecTV viewer looking for a no-hassle second television--and you can find it at a discount--the Humax LD2060 is certainly worth your consideration.

•Subscription to DirecTV and satellite installation required •20.1-inch, 4x3 aspect LCD screen, 640 x 480 resolution •Inputs: Composite A/V x2, Component A/V x1; Outputs: Composite A/V •Includes tabletop stand •Faroudja DCDi deinterlacing and scaling •Price: $699 A while back, I tested the Samsung SL10D10, a 10-inch DirecTV/LCD combo model with a small swiveling screen that was cute as a button, though awfully small for most applications. But 20 inches is about the perfect screen size for most secondary rooms in the home: kitchen, bathroom, office, etc. It"s large enough to read news headlines, stock quotes, or sports scores from a good distance away, but small enough that it doesn"t dominate the room.

LCD TVs are known for bright images, and the Humax LD2060 is no exception. This will be a big plus where the set will compete with lots of ambient light. I did detect that the LD2060"s screen is prone to brightness and color shifting when viewed from off-angle, which, though not uncommon on LCD sets, was more noticeable here than on others I"ve used. If you"re wall-mounting the TV, I"d recommend using an articulating arm so the set can be angled to face the viewing position head-on.

Humax wisely licensed Faroudja"s deinterlacing and scaling technology for converting different signal formats to the TV"s native resolution. This produced generally jaggie-free images whether I watched movies or video. I still don"t "get" soccer, but the LD2060 was adept at keeping everything in focus as I watched players maniacally race up and down the pitch during the World Cup. It couldn"t make the games any less boring, however.

A diminutive 3-watt stereo amp powers the tiny speakers, which nonetheless delivered enough umpf! to overcome competing noise. They won"t deliver the full richness of the free XM music stations included in your DirecTV subscription, but you won"t feel cheated either.

DirecTV receivers can be sluggish responding to channel and menu changes. Although the LD2060 didn"t keep up with my cable box, it was far quicker than the standalone HD-DSS receiver I had on hand.

BOTTOM LINE Humax"s tagline is "Easy Digital," and the company"s goal is to make people"s lives easier by simplifying technology. For DirecTV subscribers, that"s exactly what the Humax LD2060 does. Enjoy digital satellite on a flat-panel digital TV in any room without wondering where to put the satellite receiver or how to hide the wiring. Just plug this set in, connect to your dish, and enjoy! This is definitely the right tool for that job!

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Humax 20.1 inch LCD DIGITAL TV & Humax Remote Control. Humax 20.1 inch LCD DIGITAL TV with Remote Control No HDMI The Tv has the following inputs Scart Component PC The default password is 0000. Collection preferred as the tv itself weighs approx 12kgs Local 5 mile delivery available Can use as a PC monitor Once received please re test the tv within 24-48 hours and confirm working as shown Thank you Humax 20.1 inch LCD DIGITAL TV with Remote Control No HDMI The Tv has the following inputs Scart Component PC The default password is 0000. Collection preferred as the tv itself weighs approx 12kgs Local 5 mile delivery available Can use as a PC monitor Once received please re test the tv within 24-48 hours and confirm working as shown Thank you

Usually when you’ve got a 32in TV going for just £390, you’re talking about some no-name model you can pick up from the shelves of your local supermarket. But today that paltry sum can bag you the LGB-32DST from Humax, a brand which, while hardly premium, is certainly generally considered to sit at a slightly higher level than the Bushes, Goodmans, Prolines and Fergusons of the AV world. So here’s hoping the 32DST turns out to be as big a bargain as it initially appears.

The 32DST’s connections are a touch disappointing in one sense, as they only include two HDMIs when we like to find three these days. The reality, though, is that the two HDMI situation is pretty much par for the course at the Humax 32DST’s price point. And you do at least get some pretty reasonable accompaniment in the form of the de rigueur component video port, a D-sub PC jack, and a digital audio output – among other things.

On a bigger TV this would be a serious crime. But we guess we can live with it on a 32in TV, where the extra finesse of 1080p/24 is harder to appreciate anyway. It’s also worth considering that had such a budget TV tried handling progressive signals and, especially, 24Hz feeds, it might actually have ended up making a royal mess of things. So perhaps the 32DST’s decision to top out at 1080i playback is merely the action of a TV prepared to accept its limitations.

It’s imperative that we point out here, too, that the 32DST is not a Full HD TV, boasting instead a native resolution of 1,366 x 768 pixels. This is only to be expected of such a cheap set, and obviously makes 1080p/24 compatibility less of an issue as there’s going to have to be image scaling to translate a 1080-line source to the TV’s 768 lines of pixels anyway.

Humax claims a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 for the 32DST – hardly one of the highest around. However, in a move typical of the LCD market, this ‘native’ figure can be boosted (to an unspecified level) by a dynamic backlight arrangement that adjusts the picture’s brightness in accordance with an assessment of the image content. As in, the darker the image content, the lower the backlight output, to improve black level response. You can adjust the backlight to any of three ‘manual’ levels too if you don’t fancy the auto setting – an important touch for reasons we’ll come to later.

The 32DST’s reasonably tidy onscreen menus have one or two surprising tricks up their sleeve given its price. You can, for instance, call up picture-in-picture functions, and adjust the way the set delivers skin tones. Plus there’s a multi-level noise reduction facility, and SRS TruSurround XT to deliver a pseudo surround sound effect using just the TV’s speakers.

Happily the 32DST has more success with its pictures. With HD sources, for instance, the picture is considerably sharper than might be expected given the set’s 1,366 x 768 resolution and lowly price tag. There’s precious little of the general softness and lack of detail that afflicts many cut-price rivals, and even better, there’s nowhere near as much LCD motion blur to contend with as we would have expected.

At this point I’d normally expect to have to bang on about how severely the budget Humax’s picture quality drops off with standard definition. But actually, while there’s certainly a small increase in motion blur, and obviously not as much fine detail in evidence, the picture is nothing like as noisy and indistinct as with some, nay many other (especially budget) LCD TVs we’ve seen.

I also like the way you can watch the 32DST from a really quite acute angle before the contrast and colour response start to drop off to any large extent – we still see some quite expensive TVs still struggle with this problem.

Also, if you use the ‘Auto’ backlight mode that on paper should give you the most effective contrast throughout a film or TV show, the screen sometimes adjusts its brightness so frenetically that the picture almost seems to be flickering.

Does Humax’s LGB-32DST set new standards of picture and sound prowess? Of course not. But does it nonetheless perform markedly better than you might expect of a 32in TV costing south of £400? Definitely.

We test every TV we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.

LG is one of the largest TV manufacturers in the world, and they"re one of the few companies that make both OLED and LED-backlit TVs. Their OLED TVs offer the best value and performance compared to other brands, with an amazing selection of streaming features and fantastic picture quality. LG TVs run their proprietary webOS smart interface, which is well-organized and easy to use and has a great selection of streaming apps. LG also has a unique remote called the Magic Remote that has a point-and-press feature, making it easy to navigate through the menus. LG also leads the industry in terms of gaming features. They were one of the first brands to adopt HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on their TVs, and most of their lineup, including their LED models, support advanced gaming features like G-SYNC variable refresh rate technology. On the other hand, their LED models deliver poor picture quality, especially for dark room viewing, as most use IPS panels with a very low contrast ratio and poor uniformity.

The best LG TV we"ve tested is the LG G2 OLED. It performs a lot like most other OLED displays, but it features a new-and-improved OLED panel that allows it to display brighter whites than previous generations. The G2 features a unique design, as it"s designed to sit flush against the wall with the included wall mount, but it doesn"t come with a stand. If you want a TV with a stand, the LG C2 OLED is also a fantastic choice. They have the same great features as most of LG"s other OLED displays, including amazing gaming features like FreeSync and G-SYNC variable refresh rate, low input lag, and HDMI 2.1 bandwidth on all four HDMI ports. Overall, the C2 and G2 are two of the best TVs you can get for gaming.

Humax (휴맥스) is a consumer electronics company. Founded in South Korea in 1989, it manufactures set-top boxes, digital video recorders and other consumer electronics. It is publicly traded on KOSDAQ.

Listed on the Korean stock exchange (KOSDAQ), Humax Co. Ltd of Korea is one of the world"s leading digital set-top box manufacturers, exporting its products to more than 90 countries across the globe.

In 1997, the company opened a manufacturing facility in Northern Ireland which won a Queen"s Award for Enterprise – International Trade 2002, but which has since closed. Additional production facilities are located in Korea, Poland (2004), India and China. Humax recorded revenues $1 billion in 2010.

Humax is a member of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies that is promoting and establishing an open European standard (called HbbTV) for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.

Humax was involved in the UK digital switchover trials in 2006 and the UK"s Freesat digital TV service and Freeview HD services. It also manufactures YouView set-top boxes for BT and Plusnet"s IPTV and Freeview television services.

And for those of us who prefer recordings to catch up, don’t want to pay for Sky channels, or just want to cut back on subscription direct debits, free-to-air digital channels on Freeview or Freesat are essential. We think you can’t beat the convenience of pausing, rewinding and recording your favourite live TV, and you’ll need one of the best set-top boxes to store those programmes.

Good quality TV set-top boxes give you access to a wide range of free-to-air digital channels – or to subscription channels through Sky or Virgin – and will let you record them to catch up later. That’s helpful if you’re a Wimbledon fan but the kids want to watch something else.

Once you’ve connected them to an aerial or satellite dish, all of today’s TVs pick up one or both of the UK’s free-to-air digital TV services (Freeview and Freesat). But, you can only pause and rewind live TV if you have a set-top box. There are benefits to getting a pay TV subscription box from the likes of Sky or Virgin too, as these have more premium channels for extra movies and shows. We’ve included Freeview, Freesat and subscription boxes in our roundup.

They all connect to your TV via an HDMI cable and deliver hundreds of channels (if not more) through either your aerial or dish. They come with built-in storage for recording your programmes, and many of the best set-top boxes connect to the internet to bring your streaming services like Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime Video straight to your TV.

We try out the best set-top boxes and test out all the functions, including pausing and rewinding live TV, using them just like you would at home. We experiment with recording programmes, checking how many you can record and watch at once, and we look at how quickly you can navigate around the interface to find your recordings, so you can get on with watching The Repair Shop as soon as possible. We also check how easy it is to access catch-up and streaming services from the box.

That’s what we found in our analysis of more than three years of Consumer Reports’ TV ratings. Our crack team of statisticians looked at prices and CR’s test results from March 1, 2019, through March 1, 2022, for a number of leading TV brands sold in the U.S. The results are shown in the charts below, broken out by screen size, which is the first factor people usually consider when shopping for a television.

As you can see, TVs from LG, Samsung, and Sony earned top scores in our testing across just about every size range. And generally, sets from these companies cost more than their competitors’ TVs.

Prices and average brand scores tend to drop off in step with each other, according to our analysis. One major change this year is that some secondary brands, including Element, Philips, and Westinghouse, no longer appearin our list. Sharp is no longer in our listing; it stopped selling TVs in the U.S. for several years but began selling them again in 2022. RCA is represented in just two screen sizes, where it has the lowest Overall Score, and in one instance the lowest price by a large margin.

In their place, we now have more models from up-and-coming brands such as Hisense and TCL, as well as from a few retailer-specific brands such as Insignia (Best Buy’s house brand) and Toshiba (sold through Amazon and Best Buy). TVs from these brands have been gaining market share at the expense of other lesser-known brands that were once regularly included in our analysis.

Although we’ve tested a few TVs from Onn, Walmart’s house brand, we didn’t test enough sets in any one screen size for it to appear. We hope to include it in next year’s evaluation.

The takeaway, however, remains the same: Though it’s sometimes tempting to buy a much cheaper TV, especially during big sales events, you could be accepting a trade-off in quality. And you might not have to pay much more—or even any more—to get a better television.

This information should be useful if you choose a TV largely based on brand. However, it’s smart to use this analysis as just one factor when you’re shopping. The charts below are average prices and scores. Performance can vary by series and even by model within a single brand. That means that some brands with a lower average Overall Score might have a model or two that did very well in our tests. If they’re priced lower than comparable sets from bigger brands, they might be worth considering.

Major brands dominate the top of this slice of our TV ratings, which include 70-, 75-, 77-, 82-, and 85-inch TVs. That list now includes TCL, which has become one of the three top-selling brands in the U.S.

The average price figures we show are a bit higher than the average for all big TVs on the market. That’s both because the largest sets carry a premium and because CR tends to purchase a lot of expensive, high-end sets. That allows us to test the latest features, such as Mini LED backlights in LCD/LED TVs, which can help boost contrast and reduce halos, and high dynamic range (HDR), which can produce brighter, more vibrant images.

We test these flagship models from all the brands, but with major brands there is a much greater difference in pricing between the least and most expensive sets they offer. For example, for TCL there’s a $600 difference between the cheapest ($700) and priciest ($1,300) 75-inch TVs in our current ratings. With Samsung, that difference is dramatic: $1,900. (See the best big-screen TV bargains for sets 70 inches and larger.)

You’ll see that Sony, Samsung, and LG top the list in terms of average Overall Score and average price. Given their high average scores, sets from any of these TV brands might be worth considering. Sony TVs tend to be expensive in part because the company, like LG, now offers OLED TVs, which tend to cost more, but also because it exited the budget TV market. The takeaway for shoppers is that a premium set from Sony might not be more expensive than a premium set from a competitor—the company just doesn’t compete in lower performance tiers.

TCL, Vizio, and Hisense are additional brands to consider, especially if you’re on a budget. With TCL and Hisense, higher-end sets (the 6- and 8-series TVs from TCL, and 8-series sets from Hisense) have done very well in our tests, offering a lot of bang for the buck in terms of both picture quality and high dynamic range (HDR) experience. TCL’s higher average price is due to its top-tier sets having newer technologies (Mini LED, 8K resolution), plus a push into very large screen sizes. The company also offers many low-priced sets that haven’t done as well, lowering the brand’s Overall Score. Vizio sets have done well for overall picture quality across the board, though they generally fall behind a bit when it comes to HDR.

This has become a popular screen size for people looking for a large TV. And you’ll see that LG, Samsung, and Sony top the list in average Overall Score and average price here, as well. One reason for the fine showing by both LG and Sony is they offer OLED TVs that have consistently been at the top of our ratings. Samsung’s top QLED (and Neo QLED) TVs have also done very well in our ratings, and the best of those sets now rival OLED TVs in performance. All these sets tend to be pricy.

In this size category, we again see much greater differences in pricing between the least and most expensive sets from major brands than from smaller players. For example, there’s a $600 difference between the cheapest ($400) and priciest ($1,000) 65-inch Hisense TVs in our current ratings. With Samsung and Sony, that difference is a whopping $2,400. One reason for Samsung’s large spread is the debut of itsfirst QD OLED TV ($3,000), which is now in our ratings (though it arrived too late this year for our statistical analysis). Sony TVs tend to be expensive in part because the company offers several OLED TVs, which tend to cost more, and because it stopped making lower-end LED/LCD sets. (See the best 65-inch TVs under $1,000.)

As in the 70-inch size category, Hisense, TCL, and Vizio appear to be good options for those on tighter budgets. Their better-performing sets tend to be pricier but still less expensive than comparable TVs from LG, Samsung, and Sony. Hisense has the best balance of price and performance of the group. But given the wide differences in performance and price between the best- and worst-performing models within these brands, you should look at specific models to determine the best value.

If you’re shopping for a 55- to 60-inch set, you’ll see a particularly wide range of prices and brands. That’s because some TVs this size are relatively bare-bones when it comes to features, while others come loaded with lots of features. These can include 120Hz refresh rates, full-array LED backlights with local dimming, more effective HDR performance, and special gaming features, such as low-latency modes and variable refresh rates.

Average prices go from a low of $342 (for Toshiba, which makes Fire TV Edition sets sold at Amazon and Best Buy) to a high of $1,034 (Sony’s average). As we note above, Sony focuses on higher-priced sets, and both Sony and LG’s average prices are pulled up by their OLED sets—these TVs can look great, but they tend to cost more than all but the very best LED/LCD models.

Two years ago, Vizio began offering OLED TVs, but that hasn’t yet had a big impact on its average price, because the majority of its sales are still less expensive LED/LCD TVs.

For those shopping for a TV in this size range, CR’s analysis shows that Samsung, Sony, and LG again tend to have the highest-performing TVs—along with the most expensive ones.

Of these three brands, LG sets seem particularly attractive, with a high Overall Score and an average price below these two other brands’ average prices. In last year’s analysis, however, LG’s average price was much closer to the lower-tier brands’. This could be in part because of LG offering 48-inch OLED TVs. This year, there’s a bigger price spread between the major and secondary brands. That could be because major brands tend to adopt the newest technologies first.

In fact, the price range is fairly narrow in this size category once you get past those top three brands. Hisense and TCL emerge as good possible options for those on the tightest TV budgets because their average price is actually lower than a few brands’, such as Vizio and Toshiba, that have lower average scores.

Remember, though, that the price and performance averages are for entire brands, not specific models. The best way to see how individual TV models perform is to check our ratings, which are based on extensive testing and evaluation.

These days, 32-inch TVs have largely been commoditized; most are either 720p or 1080p regular high-definition TVs rather than 4K models, and there are even some low-priced basic models that lack a smart TV feature.

You may notice that Samsung is missing from this size category; there weren’t enough tested models in our analysis this year for it to be included. It’s the only brand in our current ratings that offers 32-inch 4K TVs with HDR, but those sets are more expensive, and consumers don’t seem to want to pay for the higher resolution in sets this small. Samsung does offer a number of less expensive HD sets, which are in our ratings. Shoppers seem to buying based on price rather than brand.

With both price and performance averages so closely packed among the brands, smart shoppers are likely to look to other criteria in our TV ratings, such as screen resolution, sound quality, or reliability, or features such as built-in access to streaming content, to help make a buying decision.

In addition to TV performance, there are a few more things to consider when choosing among brands. One is how easy it is to get the TV repaired in a timely manner. Major brands typically invest in parts and service networks, so you’re more likely to find an authorized repair center nearby.

Reliability problems appear to be less of an issue, based on our surveys, because TVs are among the more reliable products Consumer Reports analyzes. But not all brands do as well as others, which is why you should check a brand’s reliability in our TV ratings.

Because most sets are now smart TVs that connect to the internet, we’ve added privacy and security scores to our ratings. We evaluate the various ways TV brands collect, use, and share consumer data; how well they protect it; and how transparent they are about their data practices.

Last, consider the manufacturer’s warranty, which could be shorter with an off-brand TV. Most of the TVs in our ratings carry 1-year parts and labor warranties, but that can vary, so check before you buy.

@consumerreports An inexpensive TV is no bargain if the picture quality disappoints you. See ratings and reviews at cr.org/tv #techtok #tv #shoppingtips #tvtech ♬ original sound - Consumer Reports

I"ve been a tech journalist for more years than I"m willing to admit. My specialties at CR are TVs, streaming media, audio, and TV and broadband services. In my spare time I build and play guitars and bass, ride motorcycles, and like to sail—hobbies I"ve not yet figured out how to safely combine.

The Hisense U8H matches the excellent brightness and color performance of much pricier LCD TVs, and its Google TV smart platform is a welcome addition. But it’s available in only three screen sizes.

The Hisense U8H is the best LCD/LED TV for most people because it delivers the performance of a much pricier TV yet starts at under $1,000, for the smallest (55-inch) screen size. This TV utilizes quantum dots, a full-array backlight with mini-LEDs, and a 120 Hz refresh rate to deliver a great-looking 4K HDR image. It’s compatible with every major HDR format. And it’s equipped with two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs to support 4K 120 Hz gaming from the newest Xbox and PlayStation consoles. Add in the intuitive, fully featured Google TV smart-TV platform, and the U8H’s price-to-performance ratio is of inarguable value.

Chief among the U8H’s many strengths is its impressive peak brightness. When sending it HDR test patterns, I measured an average brightness of 1,500 nits, with peaks just north of 1,800 nits (a measurement of luminance; see TV features, defined for more info). To put that into perspective, consider that the 65-inch version of our budget 4K TV pick (the TCL 5-Series) typically costs around half as much as the 65-inch U8H but achieves only around 30% to 40% of its brightness. On the other side of the coin, the 65-inch version of our upgrade pick (the Samsung QN90B) costs almost twice as much as the 65-inch U8H, but it achieves only nominally higher brightness. Adequate light output creates convincing highlights and image contrast and (when necessary) combats ambient light from lamps or windows. It is a necessity for any TV worth buying—especially if you hope to watch HDR movies or play HDR games—and the U8H simply outpaces most TVs in its price range (and some in the next price bracket up, too).

Key to this functionality is the U8H’s employment of mini-LED backlighting with local dimming, which allows this TV to produce very bright light while still maintaining satisfyingly deep black levels that are typically free of blooming (or light bleed that’s visible around bright objects against a dark backdrop). This not only ensures impressive image contrast, it also makes the U8H a viable choice for most rooms, whether they’re brighter than average or dimmed down like a movie theater.

That’s not to say the U8H has pixel-precise light control—it’s not an OLED TV, after all—but it does a terrific job most of the time. In fact, in our tests, the U8H bested last year’s upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90A, in certain scenarios: The intro to Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix features the filmmaker against a pitch-black backdrop. Though last year’s QN90A failed to maintain perfect control over dimming elements during this scene (the black backdrop brightened distractingly once a sufficient amount of brighter content appeared on screen), the U8H did not. (For the record, the newer QN90B also passed this test.) The U8H’s mini-LEDs also help the screen look uniformly bright: Although the U8H is still not as good as an OLED TV in this respect, it shows very little indication of being a backlight-driven display, even during tricky scenes with large swaths of dim lighting.

The U8H’s brightness, black-level integrity, and local-dimming abilities make this an excellent TV for watching HDR content. The U8H is capable of playing HDR content in all of the major formats (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG), but when it comes to impressive HDR, what’s under the hood is much more important than format compatibility. The most crucial thing for good HDR is high brightness and deep color saturation, and the U8H’s quantum dots achieve the latter. It’s not as simple as just having quantum dots, however: While many TVs (even the budget options) have quantum dots nowadays, what is often not taken into account is that brightness directly affects color saturation. For example, both the 2022 TCL 6-Series and the Hisense U8H are equipped with quantum dots, mini-LED backlights, and local dimming. But because the U8H is notably brighter than the 6-Series, it also achieves a higher total color volume. During our color-volume testing, the U8H exhibited color ranges at more than 100% of the DCI-P3 color space (the range of color needed to properly display HDR content), and it is capable of roughly 10% more total color volume compared with the 6-Series.

What does this mean in real-world terms? It means that the Hisense U8H truly excels as a modern 4K HDR TV, whether you’re watching the latest episode of Rings of Power or playing Overwatch 2. While watching HDR content side by side on the U8H and on our upgrade pick, the Samsung QN90B, I was truly surprised by how similar they looked at times, given that our upgrade pick is much more expensive. That said, though the U8H achieves impressive results where light output and color volume are concerned, it also exhibited some occasional video processing and upscaling issues (see Flaws but not dealbreakers), which videophiles and AV enthusiasts may take umbrage with. But in general, the picture quality punches well above its weight, metaphorically speaking.

And thanks to Hisense’s inclusion of Filmmaker Mode, it’s easy to rein in the U8H’s brightness abilities for a more-subdued and filmic experience in a darker room. Our measurements revealed that this mode has a very accurate white balance, mostly accurate colors (green is a bit oversaturated, but not egregiously so), and a perfect “dark room” gamma (which controls how quickly the video signal transitions from dark to light). Additionally, the TV’s 120 Hz refresh rate means it can play Blu-ray discs at 24 fps without the judder that’s usually present on TVs with 60 Hz refresh rates.

The TV’s higher refresh rate also reduces motion blur in faster-moving sports and allows for smoother, more stable motion in games. Two of the four HDMI inputs support 4K gaming at 120 Hz. The U8H measured low input lag while playing in 4K resolution, and Hisense’s helpful GameZone setting in the picture menu allowed me to confirm the presence of 120 Hz playback and variable refresh rate during games.

The onboard Google TV smart platform is another feather in this TV’s cap. As usual, however, it will be much more satisfying to use if you have a Google account and already take advantage of Google’s connected services, like Photos. The experience of navigating the TV’s smart features—scanning QR codes to sign into apps, using the onscreen keyboard, and browsing your Google Photos to set a photo as a screensaver—was very satisfying in terms of responsiveness and speed. Powering on the TV and booting into an app took just seconds. The included Bluetooth remote is also equipped with a handy “Hey Google” button, allowing you to pull up Google’s assistant and use voice commands to search for content or set a reminder. If you have multiple users with their own Google accounts, you can designate separate profiles (attached to a Gmail account) so that each user can customize the experience to their liking, as well as access their own Google Drive or Photos. While some reviewers have reported instances of momentary freezing while using the U8H’s platform, I didn’t personally experience any instances of slowdown that were egregiously worse than with any other smart-TV platform.

In terms of design, the Hisense U8H is not as svelte as our upgrade pick, but it’s plenty sturdy and doesn’t look or feel cheap. Two narrow, metal feet jut out from beneath the panel and steadily hold the TV. They can be attached in two separate spots, either closer in toward the middle of the panel or out toward the edges, to account for different-size TV stands. The feet are also equipped with cable organization clasps—a nice touch for keeping your TV stand free of cable clutter. Though the TV is primarily plastic, its bezels are lined with metal strips, providing a bit more durability in the long run. I moved it around my home, and it was no worse for wear, but we’ll know more after doing some long-term testing.

The Hisense U8H has some difficulties with banding, or areas of uneven gradation, where transitions that should appear smooth instead look like “bands” of color (sometimes also called posterization). Like many current 4K HDR TVs, the U8H uses an 8-bit panel rather than a 10-bit panel, which affects the color decoding and color presentation process. This is usually relevant only with HDR video and games. When playing games on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, I saw a few instances where the content wasn’t rendered correctly and displayed ugly splotches of color on the screen. However, this almost always occurred during static screens (such as a pause menu or loading screen); I rarely spotted it during actual gameplay. Hisense has stated that it would address the problem in a future firmware update, but at the time of writing it was still present. This is a flaw that may give dedicated gamers pause, but we don’t consider it to be a dealbreaker for most people.

I also saw occasional instances of banding with TV shows and movies, though they were few and far between. The U8H isn’t the best at upscaling sub-4K content, so videos with a 1080p or lower resolution looked a little soft. You can get better overall video processing and upscaling by springing for our upgrade pick (this is one reason it’s more expensive, after all).

Although the UH8 TV has four HDMI inputs, only two of them are fully HDMI 2.1–compatible. And one of those is designated as the eARC input (intended as an audio connection for a soundbar or AV receiver connection). So if you’re pairing an external audio system with the U8H, you may have only one input remaining that can support HDMI 2.1 features like 4K 120 Hz playback, variable refresh rate, and auto game mode; this could be a dealbreaker if you own more than one current-gen gaming console. If you’re in that boat, you may want to splash out some extra dough for our upgrade pick. Additionally, folks using pre-HDMI source devices—like the five-cable composite connector with green, red, blue, and red/white audio inputs—should be aware that this TV requires an adapter to allow those devices to connect, and an adapter is not included in the box.

Finally, like most TVs that use vertical alignment (VA) LCD panels, the U8H has a limited horizontal viewing angle, which may be a bit annoying if you’re hoping to entertain a large crowd. Our upgrade pick uses a special wide-angle technology to address this.

For gaming, use the game picture mode (the TV should switch into this mode automatically when paired with the newer game consoles), and then go into the Gaming submenu to make sure the right settings (VRR) are enabled. We recommend leaving the HDMI setting in “auto,” unless you notice that your game console is incorrectly identified.