Hisense U6H Quantum ULED 4K TV (65U6H) Review – The Best Budget Display For 2022

Hisense has a great lineup of TVs on offer for the remainder of 2022. The brand has simplified its new collection of TVs under the famous ULED branding and not only will you start to see these TVs everywhere because Hisense are the official sponsor of the FIFA 2022 World Cup but they should also go on your list when looking for an upgrade. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some content around this entire new lineup. This includes the Hisense U6H, U7H, U8H, Laser 4K TV L9F and the Hisense 8K Mini-LED U80H. Basically, I’ll be going right from the entry-level TV all the way up to the pinnacle of display technology and the best Hisense has on offer. This lineup also marks the latest from Hisense and replaces the ULED “G” range from last year.

Watch the Hisense U6H Review Below

This video was filmed in High Dynamic Range to produce the best representation of the quality of this display. We recommend viewing it on a compatible TV/display. 

The Hisense U6H is the first TV I am tackling in the range. This TV is the so-called “entry-level” in the ULED lineup but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t pack some fantastic features. In fact, the Hisense U6H is one of the best low-cost displays I have tested. For under R20,000, you’re getting a bright and vivid 4K panel with Dolby Vision support, gaming features such as VRR and ALLM and an all-around decent TV.

Hisense U6H Tech Specs

Hisense U6H Unboxing and Installation

Unboxing a TV is definitely one of my favourite things to open. I just love how brands manage to fit this giant yet fragile display into a cardboard box and the whole experience of unwrapping the TVs and peeling off the plastic makes the sore lower back totally worth it the next day.

The Hisense U6H comes in 55-inch and 65-inch sizes. Unboxing it is just like any other large-format TV. I had to open the top compartment, remove the stands, and the giant polystyrene roof housing and then unclip the box’s shell by removing the black connectors at the bottom one by one. Once done, all you have to do is slide the box up and over the TV and you’ll almost be ready. While a 55-inch TV can easily be unboxed and set up solo, I would recommend getting a second person to help with 65-inch and up. The box and TV size are tough to manage if you’re not freakishly tall like I am.

The Hisense U6H comes with nifty display padding on the front of the TV which comes in handy for placing the TV down flat to install the stands. I wish all brands did this tbh. It saves having to put the TV down on a bed or blanket to avoid damaging the panel. Once lying down flat, I was then able to screw in the two legs which are installed by slotting the T-shaped metal into the bottom of the TV and tightened with the two provided screws.

The TV has a lot of protection around it. Not only is the entire panel protected with a sticker but the sides also have a strip of plastic to prevent damage. The sticker is then peeled away while removing the extra plastics around the rim. I also need to mention that like all TVs, this one can also be mounted to a wall.

Hisense U6H Design

The Hisense U6H looks superb in person. Once up and running the TV is large and even when not turned on, the black glossy panel looks incredibly premium sitting on my TV stand. The top and side bezels on the U6H are only 1.1cm thick and the glass edges give the illusion that the entire front of the TV is a display when it isn’t turned on.

The edges are slightly rounded and they are made from sturdy black plastic. They actually look metal from afar and feature a ribbed design. This helps with gripping the TV and also the overall look of it. There’s also a shiny plastic on the outer edge that adds even more flair to the design.

The TV stands 7.5cm above the surface which is more than enough room for a soundbar. The TV legs also include cable management clips to neatly store cables so they don’t just dangle off the back. The higher distance between the TV and the stand makes it necessary to hide cables away from dangling in the air. There is a Hisense logo on the front of the TV above the sensor and LED light.

On the back, you’ll find the ports. There’s the power port on the right-hand side and on the left, you’ll find two USB ports, AV in, a service port, an antenna port and three HDMI ports. There is one eARC HDMI port and two 4K60 ports. The Hisense U6H also includes a LAN port and Digital Audio Port near the left-hand side.

Hisense U6H Performance

The Hisense U6H makes use of the VIDAA OS. Booting up the TV for the first time I had to log into my account in order to store apps on the device. There are both pros and cons to the VIDAA system. First off, it is incredibly responsive.

I use Android TV in most cases and that platform, while being the most diverse when it comes to apps and custom APKs, can be laggy and slow. The VIDAA OS is quite a pleasure to work with. Apps loaded fast, streams kicked off without any issue and the general app variety should please all South Africans. I was also happy to see how apps stayed alive in the background while moving to inputs and other apps. I could just pick up where I left off quite easily.

Disney+ is the only app not available at the moment on the VIDAA platform. However, Hisense confirmed that the company is currently testing the Disney+ app for VIDAA. Testing started in July and should complete soon. This means you’ll get to enjoy your Disney+ content on your Hisense TV soon. Hisense is also working on a cool new FIFA+ app exclusive to VIDAA. The app will launch ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022 and play host to thousands of hours of live matches, recaps, archives and more.

The TV has a simple menu system that many should understand. The various picture quality settings can be tweaked across whatever app or device you are using and you’ll want to spend some time making things look nice. The TV is powered by Hisense’s Hi-View Engine and Quantum Dot Colour. That combined with HDR and Dolby Vision gives this TV some incredible display power.

Mostly everything I streamed looked excellent on the TV. Colours were vivid, bright scenes were clear and punchy and the panel holds up once calibrated to your preferences. Sport especially looked great on the TV once the smooth motion settings were tweaked. There’s also a Sports setting you should enable when watching the content. This automatically adjusts some of the TV’s visuals. Hisense has focused heavily on enhancing sport to ensure FIFA matches look the best on their TVs.

Hisense says the panel can reach 500 nits of brightness which is sort of right. I measured 442 nits in a 100% window in HDR content which is decent for a TV with this panel. You can increase this a bit more by decreasing the local dimming setting.

Speaking of local dimming, a big feature of the Hisense U6H is the local dimming which uses LED dimming zones and some smart algorithms to dim the areas surrounding a bright image when dark scenes are present. This tech is used to improve dark scenes in games and content while still using LED backlights. The U6H does a decent job with local dimming but I would recommend sticking the settings to “medium”. I found that anything higher decreases the highlights a bit too much. Sometimes images would be way too dark to see on the TV as the local dimming would try and eliminate the bloom and affect the image quality. But this is up to you.

Local Dimming on the Hisense U6H achieves what it sets out to. In a decently-lit room, the TV backlight gives the illusion of pitch-black images in dark scenes. While it doesn’t come close to the quality of Mini LED and OLED panels, this is actually quite impressive for a low-cost TV. Keep in mind that this TV has 32 dimming zones and they work to help achieve better dimming quality.

When it comes to gaming on the Hisense U6H, the TV holds up. The TV supports Auto Low Latency Mode and VRR. You’re getting some solid 4K 60FPS gaming on the Hisense U6H. It is made even better when you take advantage of things like Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision Gaming.

I was surprised to see how well Dolby Vision Gaming held up on the TV too. Most TVs I test often have incredibly bad input lag making games unplayable when the setting is enabled. The U6H worked flawlessly and it was nice to see this mode in action. The TV also works with both local dimming and VRR enabled. This is something some TVs struggle to do. They either have VRR on or local dimming on. Thankfully, Hisense got this right by enabling VRR, which matches the frame rate of the console in real-time while also enabling dimming through the dimming zones.

Lastly, let’s talk about the panel and speakers. The panel packs some decent uniformity. Grey tests showed a clean display meaning your image quality will be great. The Colour space is also decent with almost 80% readings. This means colours are accurate to the content displayed. The panel itself is quite reflective so you’ll want to put it away from a back-facing window.

As for the speakers, these are okay. TVs don’t have the best speakers to start off with so if you want to enjoy punchier, deeper noises and surround sounds, you’ll want to plug a soundbar or home theatre system into this TV.

Hisense U6H Verdict

In the end, I was very impressed with the Hisense U6H. Considering it starts at R12,999 for the 55-inch and R16,999 for the 65-inch, this TV is a fantastic low-cost entry into 4K content and gaming. Its local dimming features and general usability provide a great way to experience modern games and content the way they should be without breaking the bank. Sure, the local dimming might take some time to get used to and you’ll definitely see some blooming here and there but the quality is great regardless of these small issues.

The Hisense U6H is available now in South Africa starting at R12,999 for the 55-inch and R16,999 for the 65-inch. Visit the official Hisense page here to find out more.