2019-09-01_Computer_Shopper

42 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379

HISENSEHASMADEno secret of its

ambitionto becomeameaningfulplayer in

the high-endTV arena, but it’s also been

pragmaticenoughto realise it has farmore

visibility(and credibility)at the oppositeend

of the market.That’s why the HisenseA6200

range is four-strongand eye-catchinglypriced,

with the 50in H50A6200UKmodel costing

£379,the 43in H43A6200ULmodel amere

£329,and the 55in (H55A6200UK)and 65in

(H65A6200UK)modelsgoing for£479 and

£699 respectively.

TV design is atrickydisciplineat the best

of times and, when aTVisbuilt down to a

price,itbecomesalmost an afterthought.

Therefore,the no-frillsdesign of the

H50A6200UKshouldn’t come as asurprise.

Build quality is perfectly acceptable,

however,and while the direct-backlight

configurationmeans the black bezels are a

little chunkybymodern standards,it’s by no

means an ugly thing.

The worst offenders are the feet, which are

cheap-feeling and positionedawkwardlyat

either end of the frame.It’s anotherof those

TVsthat necessitates asupport that’s almost

as wide as the screen itself,socheck the

width of your rack before buying.

BITSAND PIECES

Of the three HDMI inputs provided at the

rear,two are full-bandwidthHDMI 2.0b ports

that support4K HDR video at ahigher frame

rate(60Hz), bit depth or chroma.There are

acouple of USB sockets,which are handy if

you want to go old-schooland playavideo

from afile.Alternatively,you can use them to

power an external HDMI streamingdongle

such as an AmazonFire TV Stick or aRoku

StreamingStick+ withouthaving to occupy

an extra socket at the mains.

Operationis via alarge infraredremote

control.Again, you can’t go expectingdesign

flourishesat this sort of money, but at least

it’s logicallylaid out, and we like the fact that

it has four big direct-accessbuttons to the

TV’s built-in Amazon,Netflix,YouTube and

Freeview Playapps.

HISENSE

H50A6200UK

★★★★★

£379•From http://www.amazon.co.uk

VERDICT

TheH50A6200UKisadecent,low-cost50in

TV,evenifit’sterribleatHDRplayback

50in LCDTV

The VIDAA USmart TV platform is

serviceableenough.In some ways, it’s

preferable to the more accomplishedSony

and Samsungalternatives,which tend to load

ontheoptionstillnavigationgetsintimidating.

It’s not that quick in operation,but it has all

the obvious streamingand catchup options

readytoroll.Italsogivesaccesstoaremarkably

thoroughsuiteofcalibrationoptions,

althoughit’s doubtfulanyonewantingto keep

costs down to this extent is going to payto

have their budget50in TV calibrated.

Pictureperformanceis acombinationof

pleasantlysurprisingand sadly predictable.

Viewingangles, forinstance,fall intothe

secondcategory.This TV uses aVA-type LCD

panel, which means if you’re sitting any more

than 20° off-axis, colourstake on awashed-

out appearanceacross the whole frame.

More pleasantlysurprisingand, again,

typical of the VA-type panel used here is the

H50A6200UK’sreasonablydeep black level. In

the Cinemanight mode,colours look natural

and realistic,at least as farasstandard

dynamicrange (SDR) content is concerned.

GONE DARK

AlthoughHDR content is supported, the

H50A6200UK’stechnicallimitationsmean

HDR content isn’t presented in avery

convincingmanner.Apeak brightnessof just

200nits(when HDR content routinely

demands1,000 or 4,000nits)means HDR

imageslook washedout rather than vibrant.

Highlightsare severely clipped,and the

colour paletteismuted where it should be

vivid. The panel covers amere 84% of the

DCI-P3 colour gamut used in HDR, which

explainswhy colourslook so dull.

Screen uniformity is below par,too,with

noticeablebandingin darker tones and a

visible dirty screen effect, while the leftand

right sides of the screen are noticeably

brighter than the centre.

The 60Hz panel also spells problemsfor

motiontracking.The H50A6200UKhas no

motioninterpolationand, as aconsequence,

can’t reduce motionblur.Slow pans in 24fps

content are particularlytroublesome,

judderingobviously.

It’s not all bad news, however.Asan

upscalerof sub-4Kcontent, the H50A6200UK

serves up clean imageswith fewissues,

althoughthey’re alittle on the softside

comparedto top-tier TVs.

The H50A6200UKalso makes sense as a

budgetscreen forgamers. Despitethe lack of

adedicated game mode,ithas an input lag of

only 27ms forboth 1080p SDR and 4K HDR.

This is where the lack of motioninterpolation

or significantvideo-processingalgorithms

works to the H50A6200UK’sadvantage.

Finally,sound quality from the

H50A6200UK’sbuilt-in speakersisn’t bad.

Theycan go surprisinglyloud and have

considerablebody,althoughit should go

withoutsaying that even abudget sound bar

will deliver abig audio upgrade.

DEAL IN

It has its ups and downs,but considering

the price and the screen size,the Hisense

H50A6200UKdeliversdecent performance.

In particular,its performancewith SDR

content is decent,with natural-looking

coloursout of the box and areasonably

deep black level. It might not supportHDR,

but forsuch alow price,that’s forgivable.

VincentTeoh

SCREENSIZE50in•NATIVERESOLUTION3,840x2,160•

VIDEOINPUTS3xHDMI,1xComposite•TUNERFreesat,

Freeview•DIMENSIONS718x1,127x244mm•

WARRANTYTwoyearsRTB•DETAILShisense.co.uk•

PARTCODEH50A6200UK

SPECIFICATIONS

CONNECTIONPORTS

HDMIx3 USBx2

Ethernet

Composite

S/PDIF RF CI

Pictureperformanceisacombinationof pleasantly

surprisingandsadlypredictable