AVS Forum banner

Official Hisense H9F series 55" & 65" Owners Thread (No Price Talk)

318K views 2K replies 265 participants last post by  Saunik 
#1 · (Edited)
Since the H9F just hit the streets this month, and is getting some good reviews I thought I would start a official owners thread. This is high on my black Friday shopping list for a gaming TV :D
 
  • Like
Reactions: crunchman12001
#4 · (Edited)
Cross-posting some of the ownership-related posts from the other thread.

Alright so first thing out of the box, I noticed colors seem pretty decent. It defaults to an "energy saver" profile. I just quickly flipped through the default profiles and found "Theater Night" to be most to my liking though it was a tad warm on colors.

I loaded up XBox and went to check resolution settings. It did not detect that it could do basically anything at first and was running at 480p. I had to go into my TV settings and enable all the various HDMI enhanced mode and check chroma 4:2:2 box in the xbox. I remember having to turn on the HDMI stuff in my Samsung TV as well so that should be pretty normal.

Once I did that and got 4k and HDR working, I loaded up Destiny 2 as I know there are many spots in the game that I was looking at a solid black screen on my old TV. Right away when Destiny launched, the TV flips into an HDR profile mode. So that threw off all settings I had done prior to this. Colors did not look great and blacks and low light was god awful. Same thing as my Samsung I just took out, where darker hallways are just solid black and cant see a single thing. Only on this TV it was even worse! It looked like brightness setting had been turned up WAY too high and everything had a light grey overlay to it and I still couldnt see anything.

I wanted to use the TV a bit before doing manual calibration, but since I couldnt even see anything to even play the game and colors were off too I decided I just had to jump straight into manual calibration right off the bat.

I ended up with an "HDR Theater" as my starting point, everything else once again looked way too "cool" and off balance. This profile still didnt let me see anything even remotely in the dark though, so I went into the xbox display calibration to get things set. Followed the instructions there and got it all balanced "perfectly" according to what Xbox said, .....and it still looked horrible. Possibly even worse. lol

So I just tweaked settings manually and ended up with:
Contrast 28
Brightness 25
Color 54 (this over-saturates a bit but makes things really pop. I would say around 45 is probably more color calibrated)
Tint +8 (never once had to change tint on any display before so this one is weird...)
sharpness 5

Color temp Mid-Low
Red -1 saturation
Flesh Tone correction -2 saturation

Gamma 0 (out of a setting of 0-3)
Gamma gain 10 (defaults to 0, adjustable from 0-20)

I also set the local dimming to high in the backlight settings, this made a large difference.
Active contrast was best left off



These settings finally got rid of the greyness to the whole screen that made it look like 50 (on a 0-255 scale) was the lowest it could go by default. Finally I had real black. With my settings above I could also see into dark areas properly and actually find my way down a dark hallway.

These settings made my game look absolutely stunning. Easily the best LCD I have had so far as far as color, black level, overall contrast, and maintaining brightness. It honestly rivals my LG C7 OLED in many areas. I did notice during calibrating that grey uniformity was quite bad. Corners of the screen and some splotches throughout the screen were quite a bit darker than the rest of the panel. When looking at the Rtings review of the H8F (https://www.rtings.com/tv/reviews/hisense/h8f) I would have to say my panel is slightly worse than the one they reviewed in the H8F :(

As for color gradients, both pre-calibration and post-calibration I still get black crush at the very end of the scale. The last 2 lines on a color scale look the same. This isnt too much of a problem since the HDMI range doesnt actually go down that low in the "limited" setting the TV uses. Which is probably why it is crushed to begin with. On the white end of things, the last 2 lines of the gradient here are also crushed together. Again, out of the display range of limited HDMI though. The RGB color gradients themselves seem quite good. Better right off the bat than other TVs and monitors I have owned. No banding as far as I can tell.

Now onto motion quality since I could actually play the game. First off, I was amazed at how smooth things were. HOLY CRAP. easily the best I have ever seen outside of running 240Hz/240fps in a game on my PC. So I immediately knew from that level of smoothness and the input lag I felt (seemed like around 100-150ms) that the TV had defaulted to interpolation turned on. I went and turned off interpolation (called Motion Enhancement in settings) and immediately most of the input lag went away. It felt like lag was down around 25-35ms at that point. However games running 30fps and no interpolation are a stuttery mess so of course the motion immediately looked terrible.
I changed profile to game mode, reset my calibration settings (which look nearly identical in image quality compared to outside game mode which is nice) and input lag completely fell away. It was not noticeable at all. Honestly that probably means that it was around 10-15ms. Unfortunately I found to my dismay, no motion interpolation in game mode. This is disappointing as many TVs do let you use interpolation for game mode even if it isnt the full quality stuff like outside game mode. So for me this is really bad since I want to primarily use this as a gaming TV.

Playing around in game for a while I can say that this TV really looks good. But unfortunately it does not fit the criteria I want, which is the ability to give the appearance of higher refresh gaming. Things still stutter like crazy with no interpolation and looks like things smear pretty bad. So if you want to use this for gaming, pass on this TV unless you think you can get used to 100ms input lag.

I went and turned the profile back to my calibrated HDR Theater, with interpolation, and played the game for a while. Motion looked absolutely incredible. So smooth. Never have I seen a TV with interpolation quality like this. Smearing was as non-existent as I have seen on an LCD before, it looked like it was running at 120 frames per second. This 480hz interpolation on a 120hz panel really does the trick.

So with gaming out of the way and knowing that it unfortunately wouldnt fit my needs, I turned to Netflix and Hulu. To my dismay, loading up either of these reset my color profile AGAIN. It seems that even if you set the calibration as apply to all sources, it does not. Every source goes to its own profile, and if you watch an HDR10 movie it uses on profile, while an SDR movie uses another profile, while Dolby Vision loads yet another profile. Obviously these are different modes, but it sucks to have to go through calibration for the Xbox dashboard, in game with HDR, netflix basic, and netflix HDR. The only profile I did not have to adjust was dolby vision default. That mode already looked good as is.
At least once everything was set it did look extremely good. Honestly this is by far the best LCD TV I have ever seen. It rivals my OLED in terms of color, contrast, and even to a small extent black levels. OLED only wins in low level greyscale detail IMO. Extremely impressive for a "cheap" LCD.

Watching a movie or TV with motion interpolation on looked incredible. Not a hint of "soap opera effect" normally associated with interpolation. This is most likely due to the panel being 120hz actual refresh rate and interpolation up at 480hz frames. Combined with the color and contrast this is just an incredible TV. If you are primarily going to use this for watching movies or TV shows then I highly recommend it.

After movie and TV watching I wanted to give gaming one more try. I set the XBox to 1080p, and turned on 120hz. Unfortunately this mode is completely unusable. It is extreme smooth in game, just gorgeous. But the TV has some sort of default in the firmware I believe where the left half of the screen has a much higher "brightness" setting than the right half. You can clearly see as significant transition line right down the middle of the panel. Very distracting and completely unusable. So yet another fail for gaming.


So in conclusion:
Movies - YES!!
Gaming - hard pass unless you can play in 100ms input lag to get interpolation
The stuttering and smearing in game (for console) with no motion interpolation on is just your basic stuff that most anything will have with an extremely low framerate. There is no definition to anything in the game world as you make a turn because the framerate updates so slow that you only have a few frames during the whole turn. It also doesnt seem like the panel is refreshing at 120hz, so the actual pixel transition times with 30fps content are a bit slower. Not really anything necessarily worse about this TV than any other when running really low framerate content like most games on console. It is just the nature of 30fps.

The motion interpolation actually makes the panel refresh at 120hz and interpolates frames to what looks like 240fps to me. The specs say it should go 480 interpolation but Id imagine that is only with 60fps base content. It does the best job I have ever seen on a TV for interpolation, it really does look like there are actually more frames being made by the game. Surprising since with every other interpolation I have seen, if you turn too fast in a game and get out if that "sweet spot" the interpolation is designed for you get all kinds of weird motion artifacts. On this TV I did not notice any of that

On the 1080p/120Hz thing: It is definitely a LOT smoother. Like it is running at 120hz. The right side of the panel that is darker actually looks like it maintains the calibration settings I used. The left side that is brighter (not brighter nit wise but brighter software setting brightness) is what looks like it goes significantly out of the calibration settings. The games on console dont actually send 120fps frames, so I cant say for sure it accepts that framerate input, but it does actually refresh the panel at 120hz when in this mode I can tell that much for sure.

Unfortunately the TV is too big to haul upstairs to my PC setup so I cant really test a PC running much higher framerate content or outputting 120fps at 1080p in a game.

I just got this tv 2 days ago also after doing tons of research, scouring rtings site, slick deals, looking at TVs at Best Buy, Costco, sams, etc. The TVs I was closest to getting were an open box 82” Samsung Q6FN (2018 model open box), lg OLED 65 c series, and the Vizio 65” q f series (2018), but I looked extensively at other higher end QLED displays and open boxes. I also ran DSE tests on many of these panels because DSE and bad grey uniformity issues drove me nuts on my Samsung 75 u8550. With BB’s return policy and the fact that they had the 65 h9f at the warehouse 10 miles away for pick up, I decided to test the hype and buy it.

To say I was blown away is an understatement. Blacks are as close to OLED as I have ever seen. Color and brightness are amazing. I tested using amazon prime/Netflix on amazon fire 4K, and call of duty infinite warfare on Xbox one s. I was looking for every reason hate the tv, and return to get the OLED or other high end 65 inch. I will say that initially I had some weird intermittent pausing that lasted 1-2 frames every minute or two, but the firmware that automatically downloaded fixed it immediately. I did not have the same experience as the previous reviewer the the smearing or the split down the center after running various tests on YouTube and playing Xbox. The leads me to believe that you may need to exchange to get the right panel. The only issues I noted on mine were the corners appear to be slightly darker than the rest of the screen, but still better than the other negatives I saw on other panels in person. Game mode works great, calibration globally and by source was easy (you have to switch it to “by source” or “all sources” BEFORE you make changes which is counterintuitive because it’s at the bottom), and I did not have any smearing. If I personally had to give it a comparable rtings score, I would put it at a 8.5-8.7. I can honestly say if it was the same price as the lg 65 c series OLED I saw, and the OLED could match the input lag of this tv (the OLED is far worse) I would STILL pick this tv. Maybe I just got really lucky, but I am that impressed.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Wow the 65" is sold out at BB. I hear nothing but great things on this tv who has it already. So the 65" has slowly rolled out and can be purchased at BB and Amazon. BB is already out of stock and the 55" will be released by the end of July. There was a delay of the 55" variant because the 55" tvs were damaged in shipping. This came from a rep from Hisense named Jeff on Twitter. So as alot of us are waiting on the 55" it should be in stores at BB and Amazon by the end of July. If anyone has the 65" variant please post your impressions in this thread.
 
#7 ·
If anyone has the 65" variant please post your impressions in this thread.
I bought one (from BB) and am pretty satisfied with it. Some random thoughts:


  • Looks pretty good out-of-the-box on Theater Night setting (all other processing doodads like noise reduction and motion smoothing off). Haven't done any other calibrations on it.
  • As indicated by some other owners, corners tend to be darker than the rest of the display.
  • Netflix / Hulu / Youtube / Plex *seem* sharper via the built-in Android TV apps vs via the Roku.
  • Might be a n00b thing, but I'm annoyed that HDR only seems to kick in when an HDR-enabled video is playing - as in, there's no menu item to access HDR settings (I'm probably doing a really bad job of describing this, then again, I'm not sure if this is how all HDR sets behave).
  • I sometimes get a HDCP handshake error with my Roku, but this also sometimes happened with my previous Hisense (cables were checked, replaced, reseated, etc), so might be a Hisense quirk.
  • "Yay" for an Android TV interface, I can now run a VPN natively on the TV instead of having to configure my router.
  • Didn't have a problem finding my Logitech bluetooth keyboard, makes it easy to type stuff in (like app passwords and whatnot).
  • Hisense's "remote control" app on Android is total ****.
  • Have had no luck so far trying to establish an ADB connection with the TV, the prompt on the TV just never seems to come up. If anyone else has tried and has been successful, I'd appreciate any pointers.
 
#11 ·
Pretty hard to determine what constitutes an acceptable viewing angle to a given person. For me personally, from whatever angle *I* find acceptable to watch something, it looks fine.

This is one of those YMMV things. I simply would NEVER watch anything from any angle that just plain doesn't look right. I mean, someone's gotta have a VERY specific set of forced circumstances that would prevent them from simply moving to a better position to watch something. Especially on something that's 55" or larger.

Just my $0.02 worth...
 
#13 ·
Just recently switched from cable (Charter) > streaming TV ( YouTubeTV ). Is the YouTubeTV app available on the Android TV ? The new quantum dot Vizios need to be used on the smartphone app and FireTV not YouTubeTV friendly. Thx
 
#16 ·
Stopped at a Best Buy near me and while the 55H9F was nowhere to be found, I did get to give the 55H8F a real good look. I have to say that the review on Rtings is pretty much spot on. This TV has a terrific picture with pretty much the same peripheral options as the H9F and BB has it for four hundred bucks. I've decided to wait it out for H9F but it will have to absolutely blow the H8F out of the water visually for me to pay extra for it.
 
#17 ·
Heres my complaints so far. Navigating through menus and tv settings can be sluggish. The random dark blotches/dimming in the corners is noticable in menus. Picture settings occasionally revert to default. You wont be able to find the full catalog of apps from the google play store...no amazon prime video app. When I watch 4k movies and it uses dolby vision, It has some weird screen tear and artifacts across the middle of the screen and other areas when I change motion enhancement to "film". With other motion enhancement it goes away.
I had a vizio 5.1.2 soundbar that was working fine but out of nowhere the volume level pop up that appears at the top of the screen keep appearing and disappearing. It did it like for a while crazy until the sound eventually stopped working on both the soundbar and tv. I couldn't even get the tv sound to work. I ended up exchanging the soundbar for the same one and replaced the hdmi cable but still had the same issue. I was able to fix it but doing a factory reset and plugging the soundbar to hdmi 1 arc. I'll try to get the video on youtube soon hopefully.

Besides that, this TV is amazing!! I'll be exchanging my tv but plan to but this same mode.
 
#18 ·
I purchased the last 65" model that Best Buy had in my state yesterday. Initial impressions are that this is an amazing value at $899. TVs that I have owned recently include: LG 65" B8, LG 55" C8, Sony 55" X940E, and a TCL 55" 4 Series model. I currently have this Hisense and the 55" C8. I purchased this TV to hold me over until I purchase a 77" OLED in the next couple of years (waiting on a good sale). The 55" C8 was no longer cutting it size-wise and will likely be sold or moved to another room. I thought about the 6-series TCL models, but did not want to deal with a 60Hz panel.

Obviously, this TV does not have as good of a picture as an OLED. After a bad experience with a renewed 65" OLED on Amazon (third party seller), I decided to give this TV a shot. Blacks are some of the best that I have seen on an LCD. Motion handling is pretty good. Definitely better than my X940E, and close enough to an OLED to where I think I will be able to use this as a primary TV for at least a couple of years. Colors are really good. Settings are finicky, and I had to play around with them on each content type. Dolby Vision was the trickiest. I am hoping that Rtings reviews the TV soon and posts their calibration settings.

The corners are definitely darker in some situations, but this has not bothered me in the 5-6 hours I have used the TV so far. Menu is snappy, but not as easy as my Sony was, or my Shield TV. There is some noticeable halo effect on darker backgrounds due to the FALD backlight. I noticed this mainly with the Netflix logo, and on a night sky scene with stars. Not so much that it is bothersome, especially considering the price.

My main issue with the TV so far has been trying to find good settings for Netflix/streaming on my Apple TV 4K. Since the TV is always on Dolby Vision with the ATV, I have had to manually change the profile when not watching HDR/DV content. This is some of the Dolby Vision profiles do not look good with regular SDR/HD content (I use the Dolby Vision Custom profile for this content), but the Custom profile does not look good with DV/HDR. I will probably either use the built-in streaming apps so that the TV automatically changes between my SDR/HDR/DV profiles, or just manually change depending upon the content.

I watched a 4K blu-ray and a regular blu-ray on my Panny UB-820. Both of these looked amazing on the TV. I usually like a lot of soap opera effect, and crank motion handling to a top custom setting or "Smooth" setting, but have found the "Clear" setting to be the best for me with this TV. There are some noticeable artifacts/blur/trailing with the motion settings cranked. Not nearly as bad as my last Sony, just not as good as an OLED.

I did try gaming for a brief period with my PS4. Obviously motion handling/input response did not feel as good as on my OLED, but it is more than good enough to game on IMO. I will be trying my PC at some point this weekend. I did notice that colors were somewhat washed out in Game Mode.

So far, I am planning to keep the TV and am very impressed. I plan to go back to Best Buy and purchase the 5 year warranty. I don't trust the TV to last more than 2-3 years. I did have a couple of minor issues last night that were resolved by power cycling the TV (brightness changing/overcorrecting, and menu responsiveness, profile retention). These just happened once, but I feel like the 5 year $200 warranty will give me peace of mind.
 
#19 ·
Ha! I didn’t have any of the artifacting you mentioned, but I did have a strange line down the middle once, but then updated firmware and it hasn’t happened since. I recalibrated game mode, and it looks great and lag free. When you said you had lag, were you in game mode?

The dark corners were better on this tv than the other falds I looked at. They didn’t bother me, but I noticed. I have NOT compared to any TCL. Don’t hate me, but I was too much of a brand snob to look. Yes, I know, I bought a Hisense, but the hype and tech sounded that good. That being said, it does sound like there is a QC issue, as some people of issues, and others don’t.
 
#25 ·
https://youtu.be/Lh1CBwzf8uA


This is amazing the H9F looks to be on par. Can’t wait for more comparisons.
In a case like this, it's hard to know how all the TVs are set up...but I have to say that in the very brief video clips at the end, the color on the Hisense is less saturated than the Sony and Samsung, and the picture looks kind of flat. The Sony in particular shows better color and more contrast between dark shadow areas and bright areas, where the Hisense kind of makes shaded areas look too bright. Granted the Sony (and the Samsung) are much more expensive displays.

I do think the Hisense looks comparable or better than the Vizio. The motion on the Vizio looked horrid, if that's representative of actual performance.
 
#26 ·
DUDE........ I just set my 65H9f up and I can already tell the blooming is way less than the Vizio M658 I returned. Looking at really bright white objects next the black background this thing has complete control, almost oled, so glad I took the Vizio back.
 
#35 ·
How is the backlight delay on this? Bright to dark, dark to bright. I had an H8F and I found the 1-2 second delay awful and jarring at times.

How is HDR as far as brightness? I found the H8F just too dim for my taste. SDR was plenty bright though.

Shame to read the grey uniformity issues. H8F had that too. Not unexpected apparently but coming from a 2009 plasma which has none. I found it very distracting whenever a camera pans horizontally or some sports.

Those issues along with slow stuttery Android TV/Menus were my main issues with the otherwise impressive H8F.
 
#37 ·
Hello everyone. I am new here from Indiana. I found this forum doing Google searches for TV's. I have anxiously waited for a new 4K TV this year. I currently own a Vizio 55" 1080P TV. It plays as good as the day I bought it. After doing weeks and weeks of researching, I narrowed down the TV I wanted this year to the Vizio P Series Quantum and the Hisense H9F. I was also wanting the LG SM9500 but over $2,000...no thanks...LOL And Samsung was never considered due to being over priced and no Dolby Vision support.
So, I decided to go with the Hisense due to the Vizio not having a voice activated remote control and it is more expensive than the Hisense. I am waiting on the 55" H9F to come out, if it ever does. I have contacted Hisense several times about this TV and I never get a direct answer. They never have a release date...:(


I was wondering what the owners of this TV think about it. Love to hear from you guys and gals, plus learn about this 4K stuff.
 
#44 ·
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top