Sharp and elegant: the new Chinese manufacturer that wants to conquer the OLED screen market

Hisense's new OLED screen intrigued us a lot.

Let's go ahead and say that the image quality of the 65A9G is excellent and after years in which we got used to LG being almost alone in OLED screens, a new competitor was added to it in the form of Hisense

Ariel Gavish

08/19/2022

Friday, August 19, 2022, 11:00 a.m. Updated: 11:26 a.m.

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Hisense 65A9G (Photo: Walla! Technology, Ariel Gabish)

Unlike smartphone screens where the quality of the screen in direct sunlight is important, in TV screens the aim is for a good picture when the room is as dark as possible.

When you have a good OLED screen at home, and at home we are used to LG's OLED, you can watch even the darkest movies without having to leave any light in the living room.

The Hisense A9G also does well with darkness and there is no compromise in brightness or image quality.

Hisense 65A9G (Photo: Walla! Technology, Ariel Gabish)

Black is the new black

Before starting to talk about the "black quality", or in general about the image quality of the Hisense 65A9G, first a few words about the different technologies in TV screens.

Almost every review of a TV screen will mention the issue of the level of black and how "black is black".

In short, the black level describes the level of darkness that an image can produce.

The blacker the black, the better the depth and richness of the image.

Each technology (OLED, LCD, plasma, etc.) produces black in a different way and at a different level.

It is easiest for plasma screens to "produce" quality black because for this they consume less energy.

LCD screens, on the other hand, have to manipulate the crystal particles of the screen to create "perfect black" and the advantage of OLED screens is that each pixel on the screen gets its own RGB light.

In this way, every pixel on the OLED screen can become black regardless of neighboring pixels, and thus a very high black quality is obtained and hence a very high quality of depth and richness in details.

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picture quality

The black color in the A9G is very high quality and so the range of other colors is excellent.

The resolution of the TV is 4K Ultra-HD with a refresh rate of 100/120Hz.

Its picture quality is very sharp and there is a lot of room for play to suit your personal taste (the default settings are designed to save energy and hence do not bring the screen to its best capabilities).

In the settings menu, you should enter the "OLED Light" mode (which includes several preset configuration modes) and increase the brightness to the "high" mode, which really provides a very high quality of screen brightness.

The menu is rich in image configuration settings and also includes "smart mode" - which tries to adapt the image to the lighting in the room - beyond the HDR image mode and more.

Ultra Smooth Motion is one of the effective options on the screen and it allows smooth movement of objects on the screen, which will suit action movies or watching sports in very high resolution.

If we already mentioned the subject of the menu, we left it in the English language since its Hebrew equivalent was simply shocking.

Much worse than Google's auto-translated spam messages.

One of the two things that is very important to improve on television is its Hebrew localization.

It is not just a menu in Hebrew (which is simply better to ignore) but something more fundamental: Hebrew subtitles.

Let's clarify - we are talking about a situation where you downloaded a movie or series and connected an external disk to the device.

Even after your request, the Hisense 65A9G displays Hebrew subtitles at a poor level.

The space between the letters is sometimes big and sometimes small, sometimes it happens in the middle of the word so the whole translation is displayed in a really wrong way and you will find yourself spending more time trying to understand the subtitles than looking at the picture.

A word to the local marketer - urgent care is needed.

Control and control

One of the things we really liked is the A9G's remote.

It is massive, not too big and not too small and its grip is very comfortable.

It is well built and even if it crashes on the floor from a height it will more than likely survive.

As with most modern remotes, you will find dedicated buttons for Netflix and YouTube;

It's a shame that some of them cannot be programmed for personal preference, and what is missing the most is an INFO button that will display information about the current program you are watching.

Small children will find their way in it easily, including searching for content on Netflix or YouTube (without typing).

If we started with the good things - the excellent screenshot of the A9G - we will continue to the second thing that needs improvement: applications.

The TV comes with some preset apps but we couldn't find access to an app store to look for more.

Yes, you will find the common ones - Netflix, YouTube, Disney, Apple, etc. - and also a media player, but if, for example, you want to install the NBA applet - what do you do?

The MEDIA interface that is presented as one of the applications could also be more enjoyable and convenient to operate.

We'll put that aside for a moment and say you've gotten used to the Hisense media player interface, the real problem is its encoder that fails to display all types of files including some of the MKV files we tried.

Although many of us have switched to consuming streaming services, in our opinion a player that does not know how to play all types of files is very problematic.

Fibrous, not too big and not too small and its grip is very comfortable (Photo: Walla! Technology, Ariel Gabish)

Audio

The audio quality that the screen provides can be very good.

The thing with "could be" is that the screen defaults to using DTS VirtualX, which may be suitable for certain contents but less so for musical contents;

Of course, this most concerns watching concerts, but also a movie or series with a lot of music, or if you use the TV in the living room as the main audio device for music (with Spotify, Apple Music, etc.).

You can switch the audio mode to Dolby Atmos or simply turn both off.

In the lower front part of the TV is the speaker along the entire length of the screen and it does a very good job.

It is designed like a sound bar and actually serves as one.

Connoisseurs with external speakers will prefer to use them, but those who do not have a connection to an external audio system or sound bar will greatly enjoy the sound of the A9G.

The rear speaker and subwoofer are very powerful and provide sharp and accurate sounds, although there is room to adjust the bass level since by default it is a bit overwhelming.

HDR compatibility includes most common formats for high-end screens: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ.

There is also a built-in DVB-T/T2 converter for those who want to use Idan Plus and a Bluetooth connection to a mouse, keyboard or to an external speaker (or headphones).

65 inch screens are significantly larger than 55 inch screens and usually the total weight of the "package" is heavy.

The weight of the A9G65 with the stand (it should be noted is very massive) is 42 kg. If you are planning to install it on the wall, do yourself a favor and call a professional installer. Even in the case of using a stand on an entertainment unit, you should call a friend. It is simply very heavy.

In the bottom line

The 65A9G is a nice attempt by Hisense to move from LCD screens to OLED screens as it tries to join the top along with LG and Samsung.

Its image quality is excellent and the audio quality it provides is also very good, but there is room for improvement in the menu, in Hebrew, in the existence of an app store and in the availability of apps, as well as in the media player which, as mentioned, has difficulty playing all types of files.

The price range of the A9G series (there is also a 55 inch screen) is slightly lower than the LG or Samsung counterparts and there is no doubt that in everything related to Hebrew and localization the two Koreans show their superiority.

A significantly cheaper price for a Hisense screen would have been much more attractive.

The price of the 65A9G is NIS 6,990 and includes a first year full warranty from Newdisplay, the official importer (an additional two years there is a fee for a parts technician visit at no cost).

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