36 T3 JUNE 2020CHOOSING A LOW-COST
SUPERSTARSCREEN SAVER
On one hand, buying a budget T V –
maybe for a second room – is easier
than buying a mid-range or high end
one. After all, you’ll surely be going
into it understanding that any budget
T V you end up with will come with
some performance and/or feature
strings attached.
At the same time, though, the
variations between different budget
sets can be truly extreme. Especially
now we have high dynamic range to
think about. Really no true budget
T V has enough brightness or colour
range to handle the demands of
HDR properly, so you’re invariably
looking at a kind of damage limitation
exercise. So much so that short of
budget T Vs just not bothering to offer
HDR support at all, which wouldn’t
actually be a bad option, how well a
particular budget T V ‘maps’ HDR to
its screen’s capabilities is the single
most important thing to look for when
trying to pick a performance-led
budget TV.
The budget T V market is
complicated by its mixture of ‘true’
budget T Vs and sets that started out
as lower mid-range models but have
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Obviously you’ll typically do better
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one – though the Hisense Roku T V
shows that straightforward budget
T Vs can also have lots going for them.
Bargain T Vs
Affordable boxes that won’t break the bank
Best TVs for every budget
HISENSE ROKU TV 55
The amount of quality and features this Hisense Roku TV
(or R50B7120 to give it its more boring name) gives you for under
£300 beggars belief.
For starters, its 4K pictures are remarkably good for its price.
Surprisingly, it uses a direct LED lighting system, rather than an
edge-lit one, helping it deliver an unusually respectable contrast
performance. It also provides a handy selection of HDR picture
modes that let you choose your preferred balance between peak and
‘average’ brightness. Such HDR flexibility is essential, really, on
budget TVs – but precious few rival models offer it. Similarly, while
the Hisense Roku TV can’t deliver a wide range of colours, those it
can look consistently natural by budget TV standards.
What really seals the deal, though, is the R50B7120’s Roku smart
system. This offers a mountain of apps, all accessible within a
no-nonsense, easy to use and impressively slick operating system.
£299, hisense.co.uk