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Our only real criticism of the image is at higher resolutions. Occasionally that punchy approach can take things too far; it doesn’t have the same chromatic complexity as more expensive TVs. The result is that every now and then, the colour of a piece of clothing or skin tone misses the mark. Hisense’s recent strong run of form comes to a shuddering halt with the 55A7GQ. Any good work this TV musters is completely overwhelmed and undermined by a contrast performance so poor that dark or even mid-bright scenes never look remotely convincing. In fact, it’s sometimes hard to even make out what’s going on. A cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface. The kaleidoscope of gases spewed by the multi-dimensional, tentacled monster look terrific, and the characters flying around it are bold and well-defined in all their HDR glory. There’s no adjustment for motion processing onboard, but while there’s some judder it isn't hard to cope with. There’s no blurring and smearing of the action to distract either.Let’s cut to the chase: the 55A7GQ’s picture quality turns out to be hugely disappointing, especially as it arrives amid a generally upward trajectory for Hisense TVs. Assembly is easy and, like before, there’s a cable clutter system to route cables through the protruding ‘feet’ of the stand for a tidier area. The stand supports the TV well, just like it did on the older model, but it takes up a lot of space.
Both the early scenes of Rey’s desert home on Jakku and the lush green forests of Maz’s home planet of Takodana are produced with enthralling colours and so much natural detail that it’s hard to find fault with the picture. Even watching BBC News in SD, the picture is remarkably sharp and stable for a panel this size, even if the colours are more simplistic. As a big-screen fitting for sports and movies, it also starts at a slightly cheaper asking price than the U7QF model it replaces. But does the more affordable price suggest the A7G is a downgrade on what came before? Design We’re now onto VIDAA U 5.0 and if there’s a difference between this version and previous one, then I’m not seeing it. That said, despite its plain appearance, there’s no argument about navigation and operation. The VIDAA interface is easy to use and there’s something to be said about an interface that settles for that level of simplicity.Which leads me to the one egregious aspect of the A7G’s design. The stand is just too big. If you have an area (or whatever furniture you’re using) big enough to accommodate both the A7G and a soundbar – and you will want to partner this TV with a soundbar – then it’s fine. If you don’t, the stand causes some unnecessary faffing about to make space. The 55A7GQ avoids a complete picture quality wash-out on three fronts. First, its native 4K pictures are impressively sharp and crisp. This remains reasonably if not brilliantly intact when there’s motion in the frame, too, thanks to minimal judder and surprisingly little blurring and resolution loss if you call up the set’s decently effective Clear Motion setting. The TV is pretty lightweight even with the stand attached, alerting you to the fact that all that glitters isn’t necessarily metal – but the plastic at the build quality’s heart isn’t apparent from any sort of regular viewing distance. If you are an enthusiast you will be aware of the downfalls with LCD technologies and using them in a dark room, and there is no difference here, but as a living room workhorse the Hisense is very good indeed. The vast majority of consumers will never push the U7QF hard enough to really find all the niggles we did and as such it will be a perfect choice for many. Viewing angles do mean it isn’t really suited to those sitting well off-axis, but when sat head on the image performance is very good and on a par with some much more expensive peers. If you're too close to a TV, no matter how high-quality the image, it's going to look blown out and poor. Too far, and you may as well watch Netflix on your phone.
Smart TVs of all sizes will transform your viewing experience, but what size is right for you will depend on your living space. A 50-inch TV ( wall-mounted or not) will look best from a distance of around 2.5 – 3.5 metres. Any closer and you risk the image looking pixelated, further away and you’ll miss the details. Don’t worry if this means you have to consider a more compact 32-inch TV or larger 65-inch screen option – we’ve rounded up the best of those for you elsewhere.
Bluetooth is a great feature for a smart TV, as it allows you to connect wireless audio devices; like speakers, headphones, hearing aids, or other peripheral devices like keyboards. Can I pair my phone to my smart TV? It’s a curious situation, perhaps exacerbated by the new models in the Hisense range taking more importance. While the Hisense remains a capable performer, it falls short of in a few areas. However, Hisense seems to know where this TV’s strengths lie. It’s not trying to offer finesse, it’s aiming to land a punch. And it does so successfully. The picture is bright and colourful, and even sharper and richer than its apparently identical predecessor. Disappointingly, there are fewer HDMI ports – three instead of four, but ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) are covered across all of them so you could plug a game console into any port and benefit from those features – though they are HDMI 2.0 ports, not 2.1 specified. eARC is supported on HDMI 2 for pass-through of lossless audio. The opening scene in the hut is as revealing in terms of shadow detail as we could hope. It’s worth adjusting the brightness slider in the picture settings until you strike the right balance. In terms of starting points, the 'Normal' setting gets you closest to the best results, but make sure ‘TV Brightness’ is set to max.
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