Just installed my new Hisense 65U6G 65" TV (1 Viewer)

[Mike Up]

I had a LG 55UM7300 in the living room and I have a LG 47LW5600 1080P Passive 3D TV in the media room. This new Hisense 65U6G blows both away. I simply can believe how good the TV performs. It performs better than some of the Plasma TVs I had or installed around 2010.

The LG 55UM7300 had really good colors and was pretty bright with great viewing angles. It also had a pretty good HDR Picture. The picture looked better in colors and brightness of the set compared to the LG 47LW56600 but this TV doesn't have local dimming so black areas were brighter and hid some shadow detail. Also while good with light reflections didn't do as good as the Hisense 65U6G.

The 47LW5600 local dimming had only 12 zones with the edge lit panel but was much much better than the 55UM7300 for dark areas and scenes.

I previously tried a Samsung 55RU8000 "premium" (Samsung's Definition) and it was by far had the worst picture out of any TV I've seen to date. Washed out side viewing angles, dim picture, even darker HDR picture, color didn't pop, and it had a known defect with HDMI communication to some HT Receiver mine included. The worst was it universal frame dimming which cycled the entire picture brightness and was very irritating. Also it's contrast was only good if directly looking at it, just a few degrees to the sides and blacks lightened up to the levels of the 55UM7300 and was actually worst because now black levels were not constant just outside a few degrees. Also picture wash out with side viewing and was really bad at extreme side viewing. LOUSY TV.

The Hisense 65U6G is awesome. It is VERY bright. "A LOT" brighter than 55UM7300 and the 47LW5600. It's black levels remind me of CRT and plasma. Completely black with it's 60 local dimming zones and stays black even if off to the side even at wide angles. The picture barely washed out and still looked great to the extreme sides. Not as good as the 55UM7300 but still very good looking like a IPS panel. Colors are awesome beating the 55UM7300. Even with local dimming off, black levels are still very good with some normal LED LCD clouding. Clouding is completely gone with local dimming on. Android TV looks very good but I could care less as I use streaming devices. I like the audio as Dolby digital can stay in 5.1 while listening to the TV speakers in 2.0. The LG 55UM7300 and Samsung 55RU8000 made you select 5.1 optical audio or TV speakers in the menus. The LG 47LW5600 also allows 5.1 optical audio while listening to the TV speakers like the Hisense 65U6G.

Downfall is that the aspect ratio is fixed at wide and not selectable when using the digital sources. Not really liking that but at those resolutions, everything is in the wide aspect ratio anyhow and the streaming devices add their own side black bars to 4:3 content.

Also the LG 55UM7300 had panel (IPS) glow more at extreme side viewing when really close to the TV. The Samsung 55RU8000 had this same glow with a VA panel but not quite as bad. The Hisense 65U6G has hardly any glow, about none.

Prices were the same for the Hisense 65" 65U6G ($650) and the 2019 65" LG 65UM7300 ($650 but had burnt pixels and no more in stock so went with 55") and the 2019 Samsung 55" 55RU8000 ($650). New 2021 models seem to have the same prices as the previous 2019 models. My 2011 LG 47" 47LW5600 was $1500 normally and bought at $750 on a Black Friday Sale.

Seen no sense in getting the Hisense U7G or U8G models as I don't need the eARC or gaming VVR, and the extra brightness those sets offered didn't seem in line with the extra cost over the U6G. I was actually happy with the 55UM7300 brightness so going over twice that or slightly below was all I really needed.

The HIsense 65U6G seems to be a huge bargain with Rtings.com putting it's performance in line with other makes costing up to $1300 or twice it's price.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I’m glad you like your U6G. I bought a 65U8G last fall. Still images look great in 4K but motion was vastly superior on my 720P Panasonic Viera plasma that it replaced and the plasma also didn’t suffer from stutter and motion artifacting like the Hisense does. The 65U8G also tends to suffer from distractingly bad red smear when watching Blu-ray discs, even after the latest firmware and TCON update. UHD discs don’t exhibit this problem though. I’ll most likely sell it and buy a quality OLED when I can afford to.

 

[Mike Up]

I’m glad you like your U6G. I bought a 65U8G last fall. Still images look great in 4K but motion was vastly superior on my 720P Panasonic Viera plasma that it replaced and the plasma also didn’t suffer from stutter and motion artifacting like the Hisense does. The 65U8G also tends to suffer from distractingly bad red smear when watching Blu-ray discs, even after the latest firmware and TCON update. UHD discs don’t exhibit this problem though. I’ll most likely sell it and buy a quality OLED when I can afford to.

Glad you like your plasma, just not for me.

I haven't noticed any noticeable issues with motion as I haven't noticed on my other TVs either. I had a low end LG Plasma that was terrible with image retention, black areas that were more grey, brightness flicker and had a really bad picture with low brightness output. I returned it and bought the LG 47LW5600 that was so much better in every way over the LG Plasma.

I installed a 50" Mid-end Panasonic Plasma for a good friend and it had very low brightness, image retention, and changing or flickering brightness.

It was at that time I realized that Plasma wasn't a good replacement for my higher end 36" CRT and 40" CRT TVs I had. The LG 47LW5600 was a very good replacement offering much improved picture quality.

I think OLED will be a good set but most have only average brightness plus screen burn in, not sure about image retention that results in terrible ghosting that Plasma TVs have. But they have great colors, wide viewing angles and true blacks.

So far the Hisense 65U6G is a great TV, far exceeding anything I previously had or installed. Yeh, it's been about 8 years since I've installed any HT or TV for anyone but I'm really impressed with this Hisense model.

Maybe with the new OLED Evo panels, I'll go that route on my next TV or even a reasonably priced midend OLED TV.

 

[Mike Up]

I couldn't go back and edit as that feature is now disabled but the worst issue with plasma that drove me nuts was phosphor trails. This smeared the image badly from fast motion. Thought I had mentioned that in the previous post but left it out.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I never noticed phosphor trails in the 10 years I had my plasma.

 

[Mike Up]

I never noticed phosphor trails in the 10 years I had my plasma.

I guess I'm more sensitive to it than you. I've seen it on most Plasma TVs with motion and it drives me nuts. Glad you don't notice it.

Nothing is perfect and everyone can have different things they are more sensitive to than others. I've never been bothered by LCD Motion and hate the soap opera effect too. Plasma TV is something I just don't like as others love it and hate LCD.

Now I'm hoping OLED will be the best of both worlds, I'm just going to let it mature a bit more before jumping in.

Each to their own.

 

[Mike Up]

Just found out that Dolby Vision isn't easy to get as HDR10. Found out that my Roku Ultra 4670 does not support Dolby Vision. I thought it was suppose to with an update but doesn't at this time. The next gen newer Roku Ultra 4800 does support it.

Since I didn't need the headphone remote, Ethernet, USB or micro SD card, I skipped the newest Roku Ultra and purchased a Roku Streaming Stick 4K 3820 that does support Dolby Vision.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max does support Dolby Vision but kept reverting to 1080P with Dolby Vision until I found out why. The HDMI 2.0 Format must be changed from Standard to Enhanced in my Hisense 65U6G settings. Actually I had Advanced initially set but it somehow reverted back to Standard. By doing all of this, I now get Dolby Vision in 4K 60P on all the apps I tried. I set the Fire TV stick with matching frame rates but it came back at 60P stating that's the real frame rate.

The internal apps in the Smart TV section or Android TV 9.0, Dolby Vision always played back at 4K 24 FPS or 23 FPS. Absolutely no setting for frame rate so 60P could not be selected.

I'm thinking that the apps themselves in the Firestick are stuck at 60P as Roku made that statement for Netflix on it's streaming players, as Dolby Vision wouldn't playback at 30P if your television required it.

As for Dolby Vision, it is really weird operating compared to HDR10. With HDR10, settings work as they do with SDR content. Dolby Vision highjacks the settings and does a lot behind the scenes that aren't adjustable. For the Hisense, the TV mode goes to Dolby Vision Bright, Dolby Vision Dark, or Dolby Vision Custom. Only those 3 picture modes are available for Dolby Vision content. Dolby Vision Bright and Dark have all the same backlight and picture settings, Gamma and calibration are greyed out and not selectable. However even with the same settings, the dark setting is much darker than the Bright setting with backlights at 100. So there's no adjustment. However both look stunning, more clear and brighter on the Fire TV 4K Max Stick compared to the HDR10 on the Roku Ultra 4670. Dolby Vision looks like HDR should had all along. Very pleased that this very high performing $650 65" Television has this feature while much more expensive TVs don't have it.

After my Roku stick 3820 gets here, all my 4K media players on my living room system will now be Dolby Vision capable!

 

[Clinton McClure]

For the Hisense U8G models, there are some good picture settings at AVS. Here’s the link . I don’t know how any of these settings would translate to the U6G line. For SDR, I use the Theater Night settings, for HDR, I use the custom HDR Theater settings, and for Dolby Vision, I use the DV Custom settings. I run with all motion enhancements disabled and even went into setup and disabled every built in app on the tv that I can. After the a full hard power cycle, the picture on the tv is 95% better than it was, however, because it’s LED, studder on all 24fps content (read: pretty much all movies) is still a bit noticeable and pales in comparison to a quality plasma like my Panny Viera was and 1080p Blu-rays still have really bad red smear during dark scenes. Overall, I’ve changed my opinion of the U8G panels from “avoid” to “acceptable” but it still pales in comparison to a good OLED.

 

[Mike Up]

For the Hisense U8G models, there are some good picture settings at AVS. Here’s the link . I don’t know how any of these settings would translate to the U6G line. For SDR, I use the Theater Night settings, for HDR, I use the custom HDR Theater settings, and for Dolby Vision, I use the DV Custom settings. I run with all motion enhancements disabled and even went into setup and disabled every built in app on the tv that I can. After the a full hard power cycle, the picture on the tv is 95% better than it was, however, because it’s LED, studder on all 24fps content (read: pretty much all movies) is still a bit noticeable and pales in comparison to a quality plasma like my Panny Viera was and 1080p Blu-rays still have really bad red smear during dark scenes. Overall, I’ve changed my opinion of the U8G panels from “avoid” to “acceptable” but it still pales in comparison to a good OLED.

Thanks!

The rtings.com settings look great and that's what they recommend. I have to agree.

Glad the hard re-boot worked for you. I've had to do that on most of my electronics when performance issues or quirks came up. It's helped 90% of the issues I've had.

I've never liked active contrast as it looks un-natural with whiter flesh tones. I still have no problem with the 65U6G's motion. Looks no worse than any other television I've seen and no smear at all.

Still am amazed with the picture quality of this television. It's a best bang for the dollar for sure.

 

[Mike Up]

I did find some things out the more I play. The aspect ratios and other greyed selections are only disabled in 4K. They are active in 1080P.

Also got my Dolby Vision issues straightened around. Found that you do have to have HDMI 2.0 Format at Enhanced for Dolby Vision to operate. Otherwise Standard HDR10 will show up.

Also Prime Video is pretty bad. Takes for ever for movies/shows to go up from HD to UHD. Guess it monitors internet speed. Also Prime Video likes HDR10+ which is very good as Dolby Vision. So a lot of content isn't Dolby Vision but HDR10+. Also when you have your purchased movies transferred to Prime Video from Movies Anywhere, it's strips the HDR content all together or changes it to HDR10 or HDR10+. Found this all on of my Streaming devices. Not happy with the way Prime Video does this for sure.

Got my new Roku Streaming Stick 4K with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and it works like a champ! Not nearly as quirky as the Fire TV Stick 4K Max.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I exclusively use ATV 4K boxes on all of my TVs.

 

[Mike Up]

I exclusively use ATV 4K boxes on all of my TVs.

If that's Apple, I've read quite a few quirks with them and HDR as well. Maybe now things are better but a lot of posts about Fire TV and Apple TV.

Myself, I don't care for Apple as a company or their devices, but that's just me.

If you mean Android, the Android TV system plays all HDR content fine. It plays Dolby Vision content at 24P on Netflix, VUDU, and Disney Plus while Fire TV's and Roku's Netflix, VUDU, and Disney Plus play their content at 60P.

I'm a huge Roku fan and have been buying their streamers since the Roku 2. I thought I'd give the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max a try as I've gone with Amazon Music Unlimited/HD/UHD and those are the only devices that play that content to my Denon receiver untouched. But I'm honestly not happy with their quirkiness next to Roku's reliability.

 

[Robert Crawford]

If that's Apple, I've read quite a few quirks with them and HDR as well. Maybe now things are better but a lot of posts about Fire TV and Apple TV.

Myself, I don't care for Apple as a company or their devices, but that's just me.

If you mean Android, the Android TV system plays all HDR content fine. It plays Dolby Vision content at 24P on Netflix, VUDU, and Disney Plus while Fire TV's and Roku's Netflix, VUDU, and Disney Plus play their content at 60P.

I'm a huge Roku fan and have been buying their streamers since the Roku 2. I thought I'd give the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max a try as I've gone with Amazon Music Unlimited/HD/UHD and those are the only devices that play that content to my Denon receiver untouched. But I'm honestly not happy with their quirkiness next to Roku's reliability.

I've experienced and heard the exact opposite with AppleTV units performing better than Roku units.

Paramount+ - Paramount+ Streaming Service (Formerly CBS All Access)

Paramount+ has finally gotten around to including ALL of the I LOVE LUCY half-hour episodes on their service. Prior to this, they had a hit-or-miss selection of shows. I happily noticed this just the other day. I requested they do this every few weeks on their customer service form. I guess...

www.hometheaterforum.com

 

[Clinton McClure]

Agreed, Robert. I’ve tried Fire Sticks, ChromeCast, and Roku all three in the past and I found the Apple TV, particularly the ATV 4K to be a better experience. It is a flagship streaming product that demands a premium price but I’m heavily involved in the Apple ecosystem so it’s a perfect fit for me.

 

[Mike Up]

I've experienced and heard the exact opposite with AppleTV units performing better than Roku units.

I'm a Roku and Android guy. I've never liked how Apple has conducted their business or how their devices control personal media. While I was doing my search about HDR issues with streamers, many many threads on Apple TV came up along with Fire TV stating HDR content problems.

I've found with the Fire TV stick 4K Max, restarts are needed or reboots to get HDR and UHD Music from Amazon Music Unlimited/UHD to work correctly. My Roku 3820 stick works flawlessly with HDR, not any issues.

I will state that Roku does absolutely no transcoding of Dolby Digital content so if the source is only Dolby Digital Plus and your receiver is not, it will play PCM instead. Fire TV does do transcoding which is a big plus. I use the television in my media room to transcode DD+ to DD before it goes to my older Denon AVR-3803. Fire TV will transcode Dolby Digital+ into Dolby Digital. I also use my main living room TV to transcode Dolby Digital+ into Dolby Digital since all devices are connected to my TV for 4K. My Denon AVR-2312ci receiver is not 4K compatible so devices need to directly go to TV, then I use optical digital out to my Denon receiver. Optical outputs are not compatible with Dolby Digital Plus only Dolby Digital.

Transcoding capability only matters when using a HDMI audio stripper with a digital optical output, which does no transcoding itself. Also when using an optical cable to your receiver. Also when you have an older receiver that is not compatible with any surround formats other than basic Dolby Digital and DTS.

 

[Mike Up]

Getting back on topic with the Hisense 65" 65U6G TV, the brightness is excellent. It's almost overbearing in SDR even when the backlight is set down to 60 with Theater Night picture mode. I've found that 40 or 50 provides a more comfortable brightness even with one 100 watt (equivalent) lamp to the side of the viewing position. With the backlight at 60, it does give a "wow" factor to the picture though. The Theater Day picture mode's backlight setting of 90 is great for a room fully opened to the day time sun but is downright to bright for evening viewing.

 

[Mike Up]

It seems the 65U6G doesn't have any of the red smear as rtings.com stated. I guess they had found it on the U8G and very slightly on the U7G. Perhaps due to their 120Hz panels.

Also Rtings.com has stated that response time is great on the U6G as poor response times create motion blur.

 

[Greg.K]

Just got a 65” Hisense U6GR (the Roku version instead of Android TV) for a bedroom TV. I plan to use an AppleTV 4K with it so the Smart TV firmware doesn’t matter much to me as long as it stays out of the way.

interestingly it supports eARC & VRR (albeit 60Hz only) unlike the U6G.

it’s definitely no match for my 77” LG CX OLED but for 1/6 the price it is pretty impressive.

 

[Mike Up]

I'm a Roku guy through and through, but love the Android interface on the 65U6G. I have probably about 10 Roku Devices.

I have a large collection of DVDs and that was the main reason why I went with the 65U6G Android version. For some reason, Roku devices and TVs can not use a 480i/480P program and upscale it incorrectly. Rtings.com pointed that out on the 65U6GR and pretty much every other Roku TV.

If it weren't for that issue, I would had considered the 65U6GR version. According to rtings.com, while the 2 TVs are similar, they are not the same in Smart TV interface, performance or features. Here's a review comparison.

I use my older Denon AVR-2312ci which isn't compatible with eARC so that feature wasn't a concern to me. When I upgrade receivers, I would have all media plugged into the receiver which makes eARC not a consideration again.

I don't have any video game boxes and don't play video games so the VRR wasn't something I'd ever use. The 480p resolution accuracy was a large consideration as well as having Bluetooth for headphones. The Roku 65U6GR doesn't have Bluetooth for some weird reason.

If I didn't watch DVDs and was an avid gamer with different video game boxes, plus needed eARC compatibility, I'd be all over the 65U6GR TV. The 65U6G and 65U6GR are very, very similar.

Good luck with yours. My only complaint with this TV is the smell of 'off-gassing'. I've had this on other TVs and Electronics but this TV is a bit worse than most. It's documented on the internet as having some bad 'off-gassing'. Now it's finally dissipating so it may not even be an issue from here on out.

 

[Greg.K]

I'm not too concerned about upscaling 480p content on this TV, it's just going in the bedroom and will be pretty much limited to streaming. Any DVDs would be ripped and streamed via Plex.

In any case I tried setting the Apple TV to output 480p and the TV and all of the picture size modes (direct/zoom/stretch/etc) all worked as expected, so maybe they've fixed that issue.

The biggest annoyance about the U6GR was having to activate Roku on it before even being able to use the TV at all, even to use the HDMI inputs.

Really?

I assume all Roku TVs are like that? I suppose most people buy them to actually use Roku but it shouldn't be required.