Shopping for New TV 65" soon Anything beat a hisense U8H for value?- not paying 2k for OLED.

[Tdbo]

I'm leaning towards LG for our next TV. My phone and almost all our appliances are LG, some likely close to 20 years old and only the 17 year old washing machine died so far.

I bought an LG OLED last year and have been happy with it.
I'd say that LG is as good as anything out there right now, and I haven't been brand loyal since Mitsubishi stopped making consumer video products.
However, I just put a Hisense 32" in our basement as a Treadmill TV.
It is no LG, however for $79. I didn't expect it to be.

 

[350Rocket]

You should read reviews on the Sony. Not just one person
Out of the box experience says nothing about quality components and longitivity
Im not disputing that review, if it makes you happy it's a good deal!
I stand by my comment about features vs reliability and make sure to check other reviews and comments from owners at the end of those reviews, in including Amazon, almost 20% of buyers have issues 1 to 3 stars, that means 2 out of ten. 12% on the Sony have issues

I told you what I buy and why.
Scroll down to the bottom of these reviews and read what common people say as well. Take some with a grain of salt and others of possible issue. Must keep in mind most all reviews are out of the box to only a couple months old, then calculate out.
Again, Im not knocking the brand, only what I do and what I buy. You very well may have a great choice with the U8H if you think it will be reliable. The reviews are impressive a long time ago I gave lessor name brands a look and past on them but that doesnt mean they wont live a long time, I think for me, its just a matter of which one in those budget friendly name brands will be a lemon or not.

One must also check which country the reviews are coming from as you will see a note that the u8h uses one type of screen in the UK and another type in the USA. (last review on the links below) This is kind of what I mean with budget brands but as long as you get what you think you are getting all is good.

Ps. for what it's worth, I rather have the Hi-Sense or any other LED than a OLED so I wouldnt think bad about not having one. A bright screen is important to me, we dont live in a cave and like a nice bright house. OLED are beautiful in dark rooms, just not for me but is for many. Though honestly as a brand LG is great.
I could care less about the sound on any of them, they will never match an audio system or sound bar, physical constraints make that impossible.

If I seem stuck on Sony its because reliability and things you dont read about often such as superior upscaling how much that matters now I dont know, our Sony 65 inch is around 4 years old now think x900 series or 900x

Hisense U8/U8H Review (55U8H, 65U8H, 75U8H)

The Hisense U8/U8H is a mid-range 4k TV released in 2022. It's the second-highest model in Hisense's 2022 ULED lineup, sitting above the Hisense U7H and below th...

www.rtings.com

Sony X90K/X90CK Review (XR-55X90K, XR-65X90K, XR-75X90K, XR-85X90K)

The Sony X90K/X90CK is an upper mid-range 4k LED TV released in 2022. It sits above the Sony X85K and below the Sony X95K, and it's Sony's lowest-end model in 20...

www.rtings.com

Sony XR X90K review: an affordable 4K TV that's perfect for PS5

Sony’s full-array LED TV is the brand’s best-value set

www.techradar.com

Hisense U8H (65U8H)

Hisense’s mini-LED shines bright for a budget TV

www.techradar.com

"But high brightness isn’t the only thing about the U8H that impresses. It uses a Quantum Dot filter for enhanced color, and the 504 local dimming zones on the 65-inch model deliver deep and detailed blacks. (According to Hisense, the 65-inch U8H model sold in the UK has 160 dimming zones, and it also uses an IPS panel as opposed to the VA one found in the US version.)"

Someone paid a lot of money for my 2009 Sony KDL-46v5100 when it was new. I'm the third owner, I got it from my roommate, the second owner, when he took his own life about 6 or 7 years ago. (I am not getting rid of this one no matter what because of that)
If I look at more budget modern TVs I don't see any improvement from my old one. The nicer ones definitely look better, but it's not night and day to my eyes. We had a 51" Samsung that my wife had when I moved in with her and it was newer than the Sony and the picture went out a few years back and the Sony replaced it. It's smaller but the picture is definitely nicer.

I'm not saying I'm buying a Sony to replace it, because they are expensive and we are on a budget...but sometimes you get what you pay for. Maybe the Sony will last 14 years like this one did and that helps offset the cost.

My father in law has an ancient Sony projection tv in his basement that will need to be cut in half to remove it when they replace it. The picture is terrible but today's standards and I think he said they had to replace the bulb, but it still works, something like 25-30 years later.

 

[JavierH19]

My LG has an IPS panel and the contrast is…. Well “friggin awful” a gross understatement.

The contrast on my Samsung's ips panel isn't that bad but i did tweak the picture settings and made it noticeably better without making the image look weird like when you overdo it. Have you tried that. Also is it the viewing angle that makes the contrast look bad?. I had to adjust my wall mount to get the best forward viewing angle for its height.

 

[350Rocket]

The contrast on my Samsung's ips panel isn't that bad but i did tweak the picture settings and made it noticeably better without making the image look weird like when you overdo it. Have you tried that. Also is it the viewing angle that makes the contrast look bad?. I had to adjust my wall mount to get the best forward viewing angle for its height.

My 14 years old don't is LCD and it still has reasonable contrast. I think i did tweak the settings a while back. Not sure if that stays saved when it gets plugged in but it looks good to me still.

 

[Cropduster172]

I second going with a TCL

my brother bought a 75 inch TCL and its pretty nice. I also have a small 32 inch TCL in my garage and its holding up just fine being in a different environment with temperature changes etc.


I myself bought a 50 inch Phillips 4k model from walmart for around 220 and its pretty nice as well.

I researched it thoroughly in 2020 when we moved into our then new home. I settled on a 75" TCL 6 series based on reviews almost everywhere. It turned out to be an excellent choice.
Also have three Hisense TVs. A 55", 58" and a 65" at our beach house. I bought the 65" R7 in 2019 for $350. Every time I watch a movie, a show or an Eagles game, me and anybody/everybody watching are amazed at the picture quality. I have it connected to a decent little 5.1 surround setup so I can't speak to the sound quality. Plus having tried the Google smart platform once, I'll swear by Roku all day long.

 

[14Accent]

I picked up a 55" U6GR a few months ago to replace a failed 10 yaer old Vizio P-series. I'm absolutely blown away by the picture that a $359 set can provide in today's world.

 

[Cropduster172]

I picked up a 55" U6GR a few months ago to replace a failed 10 yaer old Vizio P-series. I'm absolutely blown away by the picture that a $359 set can provide in today's world.

That's the one I put in out family room about 6 weeks ago. Have to agree. Picture is amazing. Picked it up at Best Buy...$359.

 

[Danno]

Had our Sony 85" local dimming, going on 3 years. Costco purchase. Picture still amazes me everyday. Sony 90 series is what I would get. Costco has best value extended warranty by far.

 

[Dave9]

I bought a Hisense, and it broke just out of warranty. Never had a TV so short lived. Side note: I've repaired a lot of TVs and monitors, this wasn't worth the bother, just to have expectation of same failure again.

Forget Rtings, because they don't test long enough (nor does anyone, nor would I expect them to) to find faults. What I mean is they are making mountains out of mole hills trying to find differences in TVs when for most people, those differences disappear once you are watching a show you enjoy, unless of course, you can't watch the show you enjoy because YOUR TV IS BROKEN!! Yes I have some animosity towards Hisense, especially after their tech support did Jack Squat to resolve their defective firmware Android OS builds. It does no good to get a replacement TV with the same OS bugs.

Buy a major 1st tier brand that builds towards their reputation and stands behind their warranty. Extended warranty is a crapshoot with loopholes. Buy a major brand.

However before my Hisense died, it was extremely annoying how buggy their Android OS build was. The TV would lockup even when turned (soft-) off and have to be unplugged from the wall for a hard reset and reboot then repeat that again every few weeks, or sooner than that if you used any of the smarts of the TV at all, which I did not, I just wanted it as a monitor for aux inputs. Ridiculous. In case you wonder, no it wasn't hardware-defective, it did this for months with the classic symptoms of an OS memory leak till Android locked up (I had installed NO apps on it, never was stable enough to bother), and there was no point in exchanging it under warranty for same thing with same buggy firmware, even after a firmware update.

Hisense cuts too many corners. It's cheaper for a reason.

 

[Skippy722]

I bought a Hisense, and it broke just out of warranty. Never had a TV so short lived. Side note: I've repaired a lot of TVs and monitors, this wasn't worth the bother, just to have expectation of same failure again.

Forget Rtings, because they don't test long enough (nor does anyone, nor would I expect them to) to find faults. What I mean is they are making mountains out of mole hills trying to find differences in TVs when for most people, those differences disappear once you are watching a show you enjoy, unless of course, you can't watch the show you enjoy because YOUR TV IS BROKEN!! Yes I have some animosity towards Hisense, especially after their tech support did Jack Squat to resolve their defective firmware Android OS builds. It does no good to get a replacement TV with the same OS bugs.

Buy a major 1st tier brand that builds towards their reputation and stands behind their warranty. Extended warranty is a crapshoot with loopholes. Buy a major brand.

However before my Hisense died, it was extremely annoying how buggy their Android OS build was. The TV would lockup even when turned (soft-) off and have to be unplugged from the wall for a hard reset and reboot then repeat that again every few weeks, or sooner than that if you used any of the smarts of the TV at all, which I did not, I just wanted it as a monitor for aux inputs. Ridiculous. In case you wonder, no it wasn't hardware-defective, it did this for months with the classic symptoms of an OS memory leak till Android locked up (I had installed NO apps on it, never was stable enough to bother), and there was no point in exchanging it under warranty for same thing with same buggy firmware, even after a firmware update.

Hisense cuts too many corners. It's cheaper for a reason.

Rtings started doing long term tests for things like burn in and brightness degradation.

They also had an issue with their Hisense U7G, it burned up a connector going to the backlight that was likely improperly installed, a new connector fixed the TV. I will agree though you’re definitely playing the “lottery” with a Hisense. Some people have no problems, others have HUGE uniformity issues or it outright dies like what happened to my sister. Would I buy another? Maybe, only had mine for a year or so now… if it makes it to year 5 I’ll be happy that my children haven’t broken it (RIP my beloved curved Samsung) and that it lasted.

Longevity Burn-in Test: Updates And Results From 100 TVs

Our accelerated longevity test has been running for over two months now, and we've already encountered some very interesting results.

www.rtings.com

 

[Rand]

Well the U8H went on sale today picked it up for 800$+ tax 65"
a few basic changes to the calibration and impressed so far.
2000$ tv it is not.. but 1500$+ to match this one spec wise.

This has the newer google tv platform vs the older android tv.

I saw a U6H 75" in person for 630$ almost took that one home.
Looked amazing good at that price.

These are VA panels but fwiw the side color shift was much less than many of the other models at bestbuy.
I was expecting it to be worse as I've had VA computer monitors before.

Living room is fairly dark. If I could have snagged one of the LG B2 OLED clearanced at target that was my first option.

The brand hisense made me nervous.. but I've had name first tier namebrand POS's plenty of times..
TV sound is quite good for a TV.. has a back sub too.
I am using my old samsung soundbar with it but the subwoofer died on that so might look for an new one.

Dolby vision looks *VERY* good on disney+

I'll update at 6month and a couple years if I remember.

 

[Warstud]

I see it's to late but Walmart has the 65" TCL QLED on sale for $398

Walmart .com

 

[Rand]

Since I got a bunch of thumbs up in this thread.. I figured I'd update it

Still love the TV. Had to unplug it once as the built in "smarts" lost wifi connection for some reason.. works fine after the "reboot".

A good HDR tv is another dimension to watching shows... Esp. modern such as Disney+ the HDR is amazing.

 

[xmanjeff]

Well the U8H went on sale today picked it up for 800$+ tax 65"
a few basic changes to the calibration and impressed so far.
2000$ tv it is not.. but 1500$+ to match this one spec wise.

This has the newer google tv platform vs the older android tv.

I saw a U6H 75" in person for 630$ almost took that one home.
Looked amazing good at that price.

These are VA panels but fwiw the side color shift was much less than many of the other models at bestbuy.
I was expecting it to be worse as I've had VA computer monitors before.

Living room is fairly dark. If I could have snagged one of the LG B2 OLED clearanced at target that was my first option.

The brand hisense made me nervous.. but I've had name first tier namebrand POS's plenty of times..
TV sound is quite good for a TV.. has a back sub too.
I am using my old samsung soundbar with it but the subwoofer died on that so might look for an new one.

Dolby vision looks *VERY* good on disney+

I'll update at 6month and a couple years if I remember.

i picked up this one a few weeks ago for 800+ tax, seems prety good

Let us know you're not a robot - Sam's Club

www.samsclub.com

wish i would have waited for the one you got

 

[AutoMechanic]

I know you got one already but just want to say I have been very impressed with my TCL 4K TV. It is a great TV I’ve had it since Black Friday and the picture quality is outstanding. It’s a Roku TV which is my preference. It makes my parents 2017 Philips TV look like it’s 15-20 years old because the picture quality is so good. A lot of people I know also have Hisense and I’ve heard very few complaints so I think it will last for awhile. Also I don’t play games much but it makes my Xbox 360 games look amazing and so much more clear from the hand me down Dynax tv my grandma gave me years ago. Also learned from this thread that Sony still exists lol haven’t seen any of their products in a long time. I thought they were defunct.

 

[dogememe]

TCL really delivers good value. And they aren’t junk. Not sure about Hisense but I’m glad you’re enjoying your new TV

 

[Rand]

TCL really delivers good value. And they aren’t junk. Not sure about Hisense but I’m glad you’re enjoying your new TV

Hisense competes pretty well. TCL just like everyone else has many different lines.. and the good ones are $$$$ too.
I considered a similar model. in TCL's lineup.

 

[350Rocket]

I know you got one already but just want to say I have been very impressed with my TCL 4K TV. It is a great TV I’ve had it since Black Friday and the picture quality is outstanding. It’s a Roku TV which is my preference. It makes my parents 2017 Philips TV look like it’s 15-20 years old because the picture quality is so good. A lot of people I know also have Hisense and I’ve heard very few complaints so I think it will last for awhile. Also I don’t play games much but it makes my Xbox 360 games look amazing and so much more clear from the hand me down Dynax tv my grandma gave me years ago. Also learned from this thread that Sony still exists lol haven’t seen any of their products in a long time. I thought they were defunct.

Probably because their old stuff lasts so long. Lol. We have a 15 year old 46" in the basement and then a couple other 12 year old models in the house and my father in law has a 25 year old projection TV in his basement he refused to give up. It's like going back in time watching TV on that thing.

 

[alarmguy]

Those sony's are rated much lower than the U8H I am looking at.
The sony x95k is the closest costs 80% more and is rated lower.

Sony X90K/X90CK vs Hisense U8/U8H Side-by-Side TV Comparison

The Hisense U8/U8H is much better than the Sony X90K/X90CK. The Hisense has much better reflection handling, and it gets significantly brighter, so it's a better choice for a bright viewing environment as it can better overcome glare. The Hisense delivers a more impactful HDR experience, as it...

www.rtings.com

I saw this thread got some new life and I took a second look. You know what I noticed in this review and maybe a key point of mine and others.
Do you know that term "one hit wonders"?
Well I bought a Sony for our main TV based on reviews is true but I base it on the complete review as to what matters to me.
I feel the same can be said about Samsung.
Both brands priced in the mid to upper tiers I feel will be more reliable and "stable" So this is why I bought a (at the time) $1500 65 inch Sony (x900) and would do the same today, though the prices have come down, now known as I think the X90. Anyway I think the same would be true for Samsungs line of TVs in the lets say$1200 + range.

Anyway I noticed in the review you provided backs up what I am saying. The Hisense reviewed great (though it doesnt do well at all in sites like Amazon etc from the public.
But I wonder how rtings.com rated it so highly when in their own tests they show a huge decline in picture quality after only 14 months and the Sony picture quality stayed exactly the same over those 14 months. I just feel buying a mid to upper priced Sony (or same Samsung, maybe LG too) will contain better quality components that will perform with stability over the long term.

From the link provided above I did this screen shot of what I am talking about. Im actually quite shocked that the Hisense took a huge hit in quality after 14 months. Leads me to believe other comments in sites from Amazon etc are correct too.

After only 14 months, look at the uniformity of the Sony picture compared to the HiSense. The high sense has gone in the toilet also look at the decline in the graph below those photos. How or why did they rate it so high? Or maybe this was added 14 months later and not part of the initial review? Maybe this is why this website is going to long term ratings as there seems to be a pattern here?
When they did the initial gray test, the Hisense screen was brownish gray, now it has a giant blue blob in it.

PS. I see @Skippy722 posted long term test link in post #30 above. I saw it last year and forgot about it.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Probably because their old stuff lasts so long. Lol. We have a 15 year old 46" in the basement and then a couple other 12 year old models in the house and my father in law has a 25 year old projection TV in his basement he refused to give up. It's like going back in time watching TV on that thing.

That’s crazy considering I’ve never heard good things about the brand till reading here lol . I still have a Sony portable DVD player that’s got to be at least 15 years old. That’s one of the few Sony things we ever owned. Everybody I know that is into electronics says they avoid Sony for all things so I don’t know I guess it’s a matter of opinion haha.