Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED Google TV review

Mini-LED TVs are moving into the mainstream, and I’ve been impressed with the Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV Google TV since the minute I unboxed it. I’ve been testing it out for a few weeks and I’m a huge fan. It’s a thin, light TV with spectacular picture quality, and the QLED overlay really enhances colour, contrast, and brightness. The fact that it comes in at such a great price point means Mini-LED will soon be popping up in living rooms everywhere. Here’s a look at what I thought of the 2023 Hisense 55″ 4K UHD HDR QLED Mini-LED Smart Google TV.

Features on the Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV

The Hisense 4K UHD HDR QLED Mini-LED Smart Google TV (Model: 55U78KM) is available in 55 inches, 65 inches, and 75 inches. It’s a very thin TV, measuring only 10 inches (8.8 cm) wide and it’s (44 lbs) 20 kg with the stand.

• 4K UHD resolution with HDR
• Quantum Dot overlay gives you millions of colours and very realistic image quality
• Native 144Hz refresh rate makes gaming and watching sports seamless and blur-free
• 4 HDMI ports (2xHDMI2.1 + 2xHDMI2.0), Ethernet port, and 2 USB (USB 3.0 + USB 2.0)
• Dolby Vision/HDR10/HDR10+/HLG
• Mini-LED backlight technology enhances contrast and gives you deeper, richer blacks, ultra-bright whites, and fantastic colour reproduction
• Full array local dimming for better zone control and realistic picture
• Google TV operating system offers you streaming channels, apps, and more, and you can use your voice assistant to search for content
• Remote control has pre-sets for Netflix, Tubi, and more

Setting up the Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV

One of the things that surprised me most about the Hisense 4K QLED TV is how light it is. I could easily pull it out of the box and set up the stand myself, and that’s not always the norm with a 55 inch TV. The bezel is quite thin, and there isn’t a lot of weight in the back of the TV where the speakers and inputs are.

I like the included stand. It lifts the TV slightly so it’s easy to set a sound bar under it if you’d like to do so. It’s also mountable if you’d like to use a TV wall mount. The bezel looks like a picture frame and I think it would look great on a wall with a flat mount.

Testing out the Hisense 4K TV

The Hisense 4K Mini-LED Google TV is new for 2023. It’s part of a new series of TVs available from Hisense, and they are impressive TVs for quite a few reasons.

Mini-LED backlight with QLED overlay

If you want a fantastic TV without maxing out your budget, Mini-LED is fast becoming the go-to choice. While Mini-LED can’t reach the contrast levels of OLED, the technology lets you enjoy black levels that are so rich you will probably have a hard time discerning it from the true black of OLED. Mini-LED TVs, like the Hisense 4K TV, have thousands of LED lights that make up the backlight instead of the hundreds you’d find in an LED TV, and the addition of a layer of Quantum Dots over the Mini-LED backlight enhances the colour and contrast even more. Take the photo of the cat on the TV as an example. It was taken in a dark room and you actually can’t see the bezel of the TV at all. It was pretty eerie watching in a dark room because the picture was so black it looked like the floating face of a cat.

I’ve had my own Mini-LED QLED TV for a few years and the Hisense 4K TV is far brighter and more vivid than my own. I set it up with the default brightness setting and didn’t adjust it for the first few days. Even though my living room lacks ambient light, the Hisense 4K was more than bright enough set to default picture settings. It has a few different modes you can adjust with the remote control or you can do a deep dive into the picture settings and adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation. I recommend you spend a bit of time tweaking the settings until you find the perfect level of brightness.

The Hisense 4K TV has spectacular colour representation and the picture quality is fantastic. I enjoyed watching everything from reruns of The Crown to sports and everything was very real to life. I enjoyed watching in a dark room at night and I didn’t find the brightness to be too much, and during the day the TV was just as bright and vivid. I think the layer of quantum dots really enhances picture quality, and the TV has 4K upscaling so everything we watched looked great.

144Hz refresh rate is perfect for sports and gaming

It’s nice to see TVs moving to native refresh rates of 144Hz. The standard for refresh rates has been 60Hz or 120Hz for quite awhile. Having a TV with 144Hz ensures smooth motion for sports, action movies, and gaming, and I didn’t see any blur or ghosting on this TV at all. The technology on this TV is a good way to future proof your TV for the latest gaming consoles too, because most only support 4K/120Hz at the most.

We plugged our Playstation 5 into one of the 4 HDMI ports and enjoyed a few games. We streamed a few and played a few on the local drive and didn’t notice a difference in refresh rate or lag between the two. The addition of HDR enhances dark areas in on the TV and the fast refresh rate makes everything seem fluid. We played for a few hours and it very immersive. It’s nice when you’re not pulled out of your game due to lag or judder.

Sports are very fluid on this TV as well. We watched a football game and an NBA game and thought the picture quality and motion control were fantastic. It made me think that the TV would be amazing if it was even bigger. If you have the wall space, the 75 inch Hisense 4K TV would make you the go-to game day person in your friend or family group.

Google TV operating system on Hisense 4K TV

I was happy to see Google TV as the operating system on the Hisense 4K TV. It makes streaming and adding apps so easy, and it’s so simple to set up the TV that anyone can login and have the TV up and running in under 10 minutes. All you need is your Google user name and your phone to scan a QR code and the TV will set up your streaming apps, smart home apps, and more.

I like how Google also gives you the option to use the TV as a web browser and lets you access your favourite apps like TikTok right on the screen. I also like how it has Google Assistant built in so you can use your voice assistant to search for content instead of just tapping with your remote control.

Should you choose the Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV?

The Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV is a great option for anyone who wants to upgrade to the latest TV technology without breaking their budget. I was actually surprised a TV that looks this good is available at such a low price point, and it’s the perfect TV to choose when you want to go even bigger than the standard 55 inch size. If I was bringing it home I would be very tempted to choose the 75 inch size.

Having a TV with 144Hz native refresh rate means your TV will outpace the latest gaming consoles and it offers a very smooth picture when watching fast paced sports, movies, or streaming videos games. Put that together with the superior brightness available thanks to the Mini-LED backlight and you have an easy to use TV with amazing picture quality.

You can find the Hisense 4K QLED Mini-LED TV at Best Buy right now.