# Hisense Begins Shipping Its H8 Series of 4K Televisions



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Here’s a company name you need to get comfortable with: Hisense. 

For those of you unfamiliar, Hisense is a Chinese electronics and appliance manufacturer that’s been in the game since 2001. The company has been largely successful in a Chinese market that has shown tremendous loyalty to domestic brands such as TCL, Skyworth and Haier. Its products are price competitive, aimed squarely at consumers looking to buy-in without sacrificing large amounts of cash. On the North American front, Hisense expanded during 2015 by brokering a 27 million dollar deal to purchase Sharp America’s television business, which included Sharp’s TV factory in Mexico – pair that deal with its five year research and development presence at a US corporation headquarters in Georgia, and you can quickly see the company wants a piece of the US market. 

Recently, Hisense announced that its new H8 Series of televisions would begin shipping immediately. First revealed at CES 2016, the H8 Series offers over 8-million megapixels in addition to High Dynamic Range (HDR) functionality and dynamic range operability reaching 1.07 billion colors. If you’ve been following the 4K revolution, then you undoubtedly know that HDR is a game changer far more impactful than 4K resolution alone. Hisense offers HDR at ridiculously low prices. 

The H8 Series ships in 50 and 55-inch screen sizes – which represent sizes that are admittedly small for 4K televisions. Both sets feature multi-zone full LED array local dimming for improved contrast and brightness capability. To combat LCD’s true Achilles heel (motion blur), the sets ship with motion algorithms and incorporated backlight control to help smooth fast action image perception. They also ship with an onboard smart TV and app-based platform developed specifically for the U.S. market at Hisense’s Georgia R&D center. Users can use the sets’ built-in Dual-Band WiFi and HDMI 2.0a connectivity to watch 4K UHD material from sources such as Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube.

The 55-inch 55H8C has an MSRP of $699. Its smaller sibling (50H8C) slides-in a hundred dollars less at $599. Without having performance reviews to gauge true overall value, it’s hard to deny the prices are temptingly low.

In addition to the H8 Series, Hisense has also released pricing information for two lines of standard Hi-Def televisions. The H5 Series comes in 32, 40, 43, 50, and 55-inch models. They too ship with built-in apps, image smoothing technology (43, 50, and 55-inch models only), and built-in WiFi functionality. Pricing ranges from $199 (32H5B) to $499 (55H5B). 

The H4 Series is distinguished by the inclusion of Roku streaming functionality, which tacks on 20 to 30 dollars to the H5 Series pricing. Screen sizes in the H4 Series include 32, 40, 48, and 50-inches. The onboard Roku operating system gives owners access to 3,000-plus streaming channels and a user-friendly search function. Owners can also stream personal videos and photos using the Roku Mobile App for iOS and Android devices. 


Hisense televisions are sold at Walmart and B&H.

_Image Credit: Hisense_


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

I've seen this brand in stores...never gave them much thought, considering them less than a quality product. I never bothered to do any research on this...just kinda passed them over. Which may not have completely fair.


Has anybody owned one of their TV's?
Does anybody know how they stand up against the big name companies (repair rates/failures)?


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I, admittedly, don't know much about performance... My assumption is these TVs are marketed to consumers that make their purchase decision based on (1) price and (2) the "4K" badge.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

There are product reviews for this line of TVs on Amazon, and I will admit that I find the statistical breakdown of the reviews to be pleasantly high. For the 2015 4K model, 63% of reviewers rate the line at 4* and 13% rate at 5*. That gives us a 79% rating of 4*+, which is usually more than enough for me to strongly consider purchasing something. Also, it should be noted that there are presently 286 reviews, but that is divided among the 50", the 55", and the 65" versions. Of concern is the 12% 1* ratings, which usually suggests to me that there are quality control issues... but you've got an 88% chance of getting a good one. I could be wrong about that analysis. 

The first review posted is from a "Top 50 reviewer", and appears to be pretty fair-minded and under the "Vine Customer Review of Free Product" tag. 

Based on that little bit of research, I'd say these are probably well worth the money if you're not looking for a massive screen or best-of-the-best picture quality. I might even go so far as to say these probably fall squarely into my favorite category of "Cheapest Thing Worth Owning". If I ever decide to pick one up (not super likely), I'll be sure to run it through the ringer and let HTS know what I think.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I think there's little doubt these televisions will perform well enough - especially considering price point . If looking at them through videophile eyes, you'll probably find they're deficient in view angle performance, overall contrast capability, brilliance in color saturation, and be lacking in advanced picture controls (multi-point greyscale, color controls, gamma, etc).

Those are guesses grounded by past televisions that fall into the budget range. This is not to say that they're not capable... Just a guess. So, I wouldn't look at them as Ford Escorts that can perform like a Ferrari...the question is, how much value can they truly provide?


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## Blacklightning (Nov 22, 2011)

*Hisense H8 (Hate) Series of 4K Televisions*



Todd Anderson said:


> Recently, Hisense announced that its new H8 Series of televisions would begin shipping immediately. First revealed at CES 2016, the H8 Series offers over 8-million megapixels in addition to High Dynamic Range (HDR) functionality and dynamic range operability reaching 1.07 billion colors. If you’ve been following the 4K revolution, then you undoubtedly know that HDR is a game changer far more impactful than 4K resolution alone. Hisense offers HDR at ridiculously low prices.
> _Image Credit: Hisense_


The HDR functionality of this set is that it can read the HDR10 Metadata and remap it to the TV's capabilities... which are unconfirmed but most likely close to Re709. This is like saying I have an Atmos AVR because it can read the data but it just down scales it to 5.1.

We are going to see more TV's like this as they will be sold as HDR TV's but at a low price. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing... I think I will pass on this one.


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

The only thing interesting to me is that they purchased Sharp. I particularly am disappointed in seeing more cheap Chinese junk coming in just for the sake of affordability. I wonder how CS will be handled, if at all. I see a lot of numbers representing current features but liars can figure, and figures can lie. I don't see a ford escort here but more like I smart car with a Ferrari body kit on it. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Blacklightning said:


> The HDR functionality of this set is that it can read the HDR10 Metadata and remap it to the TV's capabilities... which are unconfirmed but most likely close to Re709. This is like saying I have an Atmos AVR because it can read the data but it just down scales it to 5.1. We are going to see more TV's like this as they will be sold as HDR TV's but at a low price. Welcome to the wonderful world of marketing... I think I will pass on this one.


We'll have to wait for the real specs, it's hard to say where the performance will fall. Hopefully better than worse.


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## prerich (Mar 26, 2008)

Well, Hisense was horrible at one time for reliablility. Now, they seek to erase that image, they are now offering 4 year warranties on their new tv's! I was shocked when I saw a 55 inch 4k with a 4 year warranty.


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