Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review – The Best Short Throw Projector Money Can Buy

It feels like just yesterday when I was doing a review of last year’s Hisense Laser TV model, the L5F. The device introduced me to the world of short-throw projectors as it delivered a 100-inch viewing experience from a box positioned underneath a panel. While I enjoyed my time with the device, it did have some flaws which Hisense plans on fixing with the new L9G model. For the most part, the device is a huge step forward compared to the previous model and makes for a definite option when looking at large-scale viewing experiences on the market.

Watch the Hisense L9G review below in video form

You need to know that Hisense doesn’t want you to call this a “projector”. The company is still strung on referring to this as a Laser TV and it makes sense as to why. That naming convention sounds better and in fact, the equipment in use here leans more toward the quality of a TV than a projector. This box can output a 4K HDR picture that is crisp and vivid without sacrificing much to get there. The unit also has a TV tuner in it so the combination of the superior image quality and the TV features definitely makes this more of a TV than anything else.

When purchasing a Hisense L9G Laser TV you’ll actually be buying two products. The first of which is the equipment box where all the magic happens and the other is the 100-inch panel. Hisense will also come out and install the whole thing for you which is pretty great too. This is a 100-inch TV, you probably won’t want to put this up by yourself because well, it is 100-inches. Hisense arranged the delivery and installation of this model and it was a smooth process.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

The installer came by with both products. Usually, there would be two people from Hisense but thankfully, the other guy was off sick so I got to step in and help (I really wanted to). We unboxed the giant panel which came with all the equipment including the wall mounts and level tools. The mounts were measured out and drilled into a special stand Hisense uses for reviews. This stand will likely be replaced by the wall in your house. The panel is then placed onto the mounts and the level tools are used to make sure that the giant board isn’t sitting in a skew position.

Hisense will also then set up the Laser L9G for you. But if you’re wondering what you get in the box, there are a few things. Hisense has included a set of gloves meant for the installation and handling of the product so you don’t get your fingerprints all over everything. There’s also some cabling which includes the power cable and a USB extender. You’ll also get a wrench to tighten and loosen the feet but this can be done with your hands too. There are also some product manuals and two feet stoppers. These are used to prevent the unit from shifting around naturally while cleaning it.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

The Hisense L9G isn’t difficult to set up if you want to do it yourself. There are various settings available and the process is quite simple. You need to centre the device, launch the calibration tools and make sure the shapes are uniform while the image borders are all touching the borders on the panel. You can lift the unit slightly by fiddling with the feet but Hisense wants you to really just set this thing up once and leave it there. I’m just saying that if you happen to need to tweak stuff, you can.

Once the product is set up, you can go ahead and sign-in or create a VIDAA account to download new apps. I didn’t really need to do that because most of the apps I use were already there. But if you want to have everything in sync, you’ll need to.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Hisense L9G 100-inch Laser TV Design

There’s a refreshing new look on this laser TV model in comparison to last year’s one and I really like it. It has a rounder, UFO mothership vibe going on this time and even features some cool glitter finishes that kind of look like stars in the night sky. Well, on the top anyway. The front of the unit features a mesh covering where the speaker is and there’s a white LED strip that shows when the unit is on. You can also turn this off. The sides are full of vents which makes sense because this product needs a lot of breathing room. There’s also one USB port on the left-hand side.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Before I get onto the technical aspects of this unit I need to stress how refreshing it was to not hear the fan all day on this device. The previous L5F had a loud fan that I would hear all day. I also reviewed that in Autumn around cooler weather. This L9G model was reviewed in the summer heat and the fan was there but never a distraction.

On the back, you’ll find the rest of the ports. These include 3 HDMI 2.0 ports, one of which is ARC, one USB 2.0 port, an optical port, audio in, 2 RF tuners, an ethernet port and one VGA mini-jack port.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Of course, the main attraction here is the short throw projector prism which is located in the middle of the top of the unit. Next to it, you’ll also find a sensor that detects when someone is nearby and automatically turns off the bulb to prevent eye damage.

This part of the unit is where the magic happens and it features Trichroma Technology which in short, is a triple light that produces separate light sources for each colour range. Unlike the L5F which used one light source for everything, this Trichroma tech makes light for red, green and blue separately.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Hisense is the first company to use this source of light and it has a substantial benefit over the previous single-source tech. It also allows the L9G to produce a more vivid colour range and a brighter, more accurate image. It also helps produce a higher colour gamut. In fact, this unit has a BT.2020 spectrum of 107% which is pretty impressive and the highest you can get on a TV. This tech is also the reason why the Hisense L9G can reach the peak lumens of 3000.

As for the projector screen panel, it is also not your typical projector board. This panel features ambient light rejection technology, also known as ALR to deflect direct ambient light that hits the screen which helps eliminate glare. This helps keep the image from the source as bright as possible even in brighter rooms. It works hand-in-hand with the Trichroma Laser to make sure that everything you see on the panel is bright, vibrant and crisp no matter what your lighting conditions are in the room you’re in.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Even shining a torch on the panel when it wasn’t being used showed that the light coming from the source was dimmer than it seemed. This panel is quite remarkable in this regard. It means no reflections and even back-facing windows won’t affect the image quality on the projector screen.

The laser system also has its own benefits over a typical projector. The bulb doesn’t need to be replaced and the system can last longer before needing a service. Hisense says it roughly runs for 25,000 hours. That’s over 4,100 days.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Hisense L9G Performance

That is to say that the Hisense L9G Laser TV does a great job delivering all sorts of content you like to watch. The unit can output 4K content without a problem and is rated to reach 3,000 lumens. Of course, measuring brightness on a short throw projector like this isn’t the same as a TV because the light is coming from a separate source and not a backlit LED. So nits don’t matter here. Instead, I actually measured higher than its advertised lumens. I got 3215 lumens when using the vivid picture setting on the unit. That’s pretty impressive, to be honest.

What’s also impressive is that the Hisense L9G can easily produce HDR content just as well as your average TV. Well, even better thanks to its peak lumen count. While it doesn’t support Dolby Vision, it does produce HDR10 or HLG content and it covers the full Rec.2020 colour gamut. In fact, it measures beyond the typical DCI-P3 gamut which most TV make use of.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

This tech shines bright in high-quality content such as streaming and gaming. I was quite surprised to see how incredible some HDR content looked especially when dark scenes put the unit to the test. It handles its automatic contrast very well too. This means the device can adjust dark scenes and the various levels of dark objects in the scene separately. So dark content doesn’t get washed out and you’ll still be able to see the smaller details in these scenes.

To make things even better, colours remained rich and vibrant across the board too. Of course, in bright content, it was gorgeous to see but even in dark scenes, the colours were impressive. I also found that turning down the Light Level setting on some content made things look even better. Sometimes you don’t have to have the light setting on the max. In fact, lower settings produced richer content, in my opinion anyway.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

I also tested gaming because why not? I was pleased with the results. I measured 35ms input lag when using Game Mode. I know what you’re thinking – “this is definitely higher than a TV” and yes it is. However, this isn’t a dedicated TV so the higher input lag was expected. This isn’t ideal for those ultra-competitive games but 34ms on a projector is the lowest I have seen on technology like this and is perfectly fine for gaming.

Input lag aside, I was absolutely blown away at the general performance of this device across certain games. It especially stood out when playing Forza Horizon 5 and Destiny 2 – two games with incredible use of colour. Everything looked fantastic. Motion handling was also smooth. I switched between 30FPS modes and 60FPS modes and it didn’t face any issues on either of them.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

The Hisense L9G does make use of the VIDAA OS in some regions. in South Africa, you’ll get VIDAA and it works as expected. I have honestly grown to enjoy the OS in recent months while reviewing all these Hisense products and the overall experience is fast and fluid. I especially like how apps remain open in the background so you don’t always have to go back to what you were doing.

Lastly, we have the sound. The unit includes four forward-firing 40W speakers in it to help produce sound. The overall quality was pretty great especially considering the speakers are packed into the unit. It gets quite loud and punchy at times. The Dolby Atmos support also helps create a more immersive experience. Chances are, if you’re buying this you probably have a better home theatre system but the box standard sound on this unit is quite impressive and should fill your room with loud, clear sound.

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review

Hisense L9G Verdict

Overall, the Hisense L9G Laser TV is the best short-throw projector system you can get. It really does a fantastic job delivering bright images in almost any environment. To make things better, image quality is top-notch with HDR content vibrant and sharp. I was constantly in awe at how well this system performed. It is thanks to the Trichroma Tech and the ambient light rejection board that gets rid of mostly all reflected light around the TV. You’ll pay quite a penny for this system at R59,999 but if you’re investing in a cinematic setup for your gaming and TV then this is going to be a lot cheaper and more versatile than other options on the market.

This Hisense L9G review was based on a unit sent to us by Hisense to test. You can find out more about the product here

Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV Review
  • Design - 8/10
    8/10
  • Display - 8/10
    8/10
  • Performance - 8/10
    8/10
  • Value - 8/10
    8/10

Summary

The Hisense 100-inch L9G 4K Trichroma Laser TV is one of the best short-throw projectors on the market boasting incredible 4K HDR content and fantastic features across the board.

Overall
8/10
8/10

Pros

Bright image

Vivid and crisp image quality

Nice unit design

Cons

Gaming features lacking

Speakers aren’t the best

Marco is the owner and founder of GLITCHED. South Africa’s largest gaming and pop culture website. GLITCHED quickly established itself with tech and gaming enthusiasts with on-point opinions, quick coverage of breaking events and unbiased reviews across its website, social platforms, and YouTube channel.

3 Comments

  • Ken 3 November 2022

    Hisense are junk! My TV lasted 10 months still under warranty they had to repair it replaced everything inside, 8 months later broke again. They did nothing had to throw it away.Hisense does not stand behind their product repairman said Samsung would have made it good, he also said Hisense are disposable TVs. I didn’t know until I bought one I agree with him.Now all this advertising is going on for Hisense TVs,they are pure garbage! you will regret wasting your money on a Hisense you will be buying another one very shortly!

  • Ken 3 November 2022

    I wanted to add on to my previous comment first of all our TV was not used very often me and my wife both work days and the TV was not used very many hours a day.Also you cannot go on Hisense website and leave a review that tells you something!

  • Tony 13 December 2022

    Thanks Ken. I almost bought a hisense. Maybe I should spend a bit more and get an epson.

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