Hisense 55A85H OLED TV Review Page 2
The set's heavy-handed black level trait is equally evident with HDR10. Just as John Wick is declared excommunicado (John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, 4K Blu-ray), we cut to Keanu Reeves running into Times Square, backlit rain beating down in the darkness. He looks worried. He shouldn't be. On this OLED, he's all but invisible in his black suit amid shadowed commuters.
Filmmaker Mode comes to the rescue. Two minutes into the movie, when Ian McShane exits his car in front of the Continental, the texture in his overcoat is lost in darkness when watched with HDR Standard. The Filmmaker preset reveals more, without the traditional sacrifice in vibrancy. That said, the Standard preset's love of bright primaries is often quite beautiful; the heightened reality of John Wick's Times Square a particular visual treat. Purists will groan, but I suspect many more will approve.
If the various image presets don't hit the mark for you, there are options to tweak beyond the usual brightness, contrast, colour saturation and sharpness; the set's colour gamut can be set to native or auto, and there's manual adjustment of red, green, blue, yellow, cyan, magenta and flesh tone. But I suspect most users will stick with the flashy Standard image preset.
In terms of audio, the A85H can go appreciably loud, thanks to a claimed cumulative 60W of amplification. Again, there's a variety of presets available, including Standard, Theatre and Sports, and you can toggle Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X audio enhancements. With Atmos material there's some nice lateral sound steerage, but the presentation is largely stereophonic.
Firing On All Cylinders
With the A85H, Hisense has delivered a well-specified OLED with plenty of visual chutzpah. Its presets could be divisive, but I found myself generally liking its pictures. The brand's Vidaa smart platform is also firing on all cylinders.
Of course, the reality is it's priced against an LG model which has a full set of 2.1 HDMI inputs and more balanced image presets. My guess is Hisense might drop the price, at which point this becomes an OLED to seriously shortlist.
HCC Verdict
Hisense A85H
Price: £1,299
www.hisense.co.uk
We say: Well-specified and stylish, this OLED will suit gamers and telly bingers alike. Don't expect a cinematic presentation though: it's all about bold colours and punchy dynamics.
Overall: 3.5/5
Specifications
4K: Yes. 3,840 x 2,160 HDR: Yes. Dolby Vision; HDR10; HDR10+; HLG TUNER: Yes.Freeview HD (Freeview Play); satellite HD CONNECTIONS: 4 x HDMI inputs; 2 x USB; optical digital audio output; composite AV input 4K/120 PLAYBACK: Yes SOUND (CLAIMED): 60W (4 x 10W + 2 x 10W) BRIGHTNESS (CLAIMED): N/A CONTRAST RATIO (CLAIMED): N/A DIMENSIONS (OFF STAND): 1,226(w) x 712(h) x 68(d)mm WEIGHT (OFF STAND): 18.1kg
FEATURES: Built-in Wi-Fi; Dolby Atmos audio system; Filmmaker Mode; IMAX Enhanced; Vidaa 6.0 smart platform; Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support; 2 x HDMI 2.1 inputs; Dolby Vision IQ; MEMC interpolation
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