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Hisense H8C TV Review

Tested using Methodology v1.0
Review updated Mar 01, 2017 at 06:31 am
Hisense H8C Picture
7.4
Mixed Usage
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.0
Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.1
TV Shows
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.4
Sports
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
8.2
Video Games
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.2
HDR Movies
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
7.5
HDR Gaming
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
5.9
PC Monitor
Value for price beaten by
: Not at the latest test bench
This TV was replaced by the Hisense H8F

The Hisense H8C is a budget 4k TV, with good picture quality that is uncommon for the price. It has little motion blur and supports a wide range of inputs. Unlike most TVs in the price range, it supports some higher end features such as local dimming and motion interpolation. The Opera TV based smart OS works well too. The biggest downside is the picture quality degrades very rapidly when viewed at a slight angle.

Our Verdict

7.4 Mixed Usage

Good TV for a wide range of usage. When viewed from directly in front the picture quality is good, but it degrades rapidly at an angle. It has little motion blur which is great for sports, video games or PC use. Input lag is also good.

Pros
  • Good picture quality, especially dark scenes
  • Little motion blur
Cons
  • When viewed at an angle image deteriorates rapidly
  • Local dimming doesn't work well
7.0 Movies

Average for watching movies in a dark room. Picture quality is good, but local dimming doesn't work well to improve dark scene performance. Lower quality content such as DVDs or 1080p blurays look good.

7.1 TV Shows

Slightly better than average for watching TV in a bright room. When viewed from in front the picture quality is good, but degrades rapidly when viewed at an angle. Deals with reflections well and can get bright enough to combat most glare. Inbuilt apps work well for streaming or casual watching. Upscaling of low quality content such as cable TV is good.

7.4 Sports

Good for watching sports. Motion handling is great, but some dirty screen effect is visible when watching sports. Picture quality is good, but degrades rapidly when viewed at an angle.

8.2 Video Games

Great for video games. Fast paced motion is handled well due to the great response time. Picture quality is good and input lag is great.

7.2 HDR Movies

Slightly below average HDR performance. Can't get very bright highlights or display a wider range of colors. Local dimming doesn't work well to improve dark scene performance. Picture quality is good.

7.5 HDR Gaming

Good for HDR gaming. Input lag in HDR is good enough for most people. Picture quality is good. Unfortunately doesn't support a wider color gamut or display bright highlights.

5.9 PC Monitor

Good PC monitor. Supports a wide range of resolutions, and supports chroma subsampling at 4k for clear text. Picture quality is good when viewed from in front, but degrades at a slight angle. Motion handling is great, but input lag is slightly higher than ideal.

  • 7.4 Mixed Usage
  • 7.0 Movies
  • 7.1 TV Shows
  • 7.4 Sports
  • 8.2 Video Games
  • 7.2 HDR Movies
  • 7.5 HDR Gaming
  • 5.9 PC Monitor
  1. Updated Mar 01, 2017: Review published.
  2. Updated Sep 07, 2016: Our testers have started testing this product.
  3. Updated Aug 26, 2016: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.

Differences Between Sizes And Variants

We tested the 50" (50H8C). For the most part, we expect our review to be valid for the 55" (55H8C). The newer 65" model (65H8C) has an edge lit backlight as opposed to the full array backlight of the 50" and 55" models, but we still expect it to perform similarly.

If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their Hisense H8C doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we will update the review.

Size Model
50" 50H8C
55" 55H8C
65" 65H8C

Compared To Other TVs

Comparison picture

Top left: TCL US5800 (55US5800). Bottom left: Vizio D Series 4k 2016 (D50u-D1). Middle: Hisense H8C (50H8C). Top right: Samsung KU6300 (UN55KU6300). Bottom right: LG UH6100 (43UH6100).  Unlike our other photographs, this picture wasn't taken under a controlled environment, so do not draw conclusions from it.

The Hisense H8C is a budget TV with an impressive array of features. Depending on your use there may be another similarly priced TV which out performs it, but the Hisense H8C is a good choice for it's versatility. Keep this in mind when viewing our recommendations below.

TCL US5800
55" 65"

The Hisense H8C is a better TV than the TCL US5800. It has deeper blacks, higher peak brightness, better reflection handling, better motion handling, HDR compatibility, and slightly better built-in speakers. On the other hand, the TCL uses Roku's smart interface which has a wide array of apps and is easy-to-use.

Test Results

Design
6.5
Design
Style
Curved No

The design is basic, but there are a couple of nice touches which help it to stand out from other budget TVs. The whole TV is plastic, but the bottom of the TV and the legs have a slightly nicer finish. The borders are quite thin and look good. 

Design
Stand

The stand is quite wide. It is very basic but has a nice finish on the plastic.

Footprint of the 50" TV stand: 9.6" x 36.9"

Design
Back
Wall Mount VESA 200x200

The back of the TV features a textured finish. Half of the inputs are on the back, and half on the side. This means that some of them may be difficult to access if wall mounted.

Design
Borders
Borders 0.51" (1.3 cm)

The borders are quite thin, and made of plastic. They don't look bad, but won't stand out.

Design
Thickness
Max Thickness 3.00" (7.6 cm)

The TV has an average thickness. It is slightly wider at the bottom, and will stick out a bit if wall mounted.

Picture Quality
8.4
Picture Quality
Contrast
Native Contrast
4,152 : 1

The contrast ratio is great, and results in good dark scene performance even in a blacked out room.

2.0
Picture Quality
Local Dimming
Local Dimming
Yes
Backlight
Full-Array

Although the H8C features a full-array backlight, it doesn't have many zones and takes a while to turn regions on and off. We recommend disabling it, as it is not very effective.

A red tint can be seen preceding the white square or circle, this is due to the fact that the red sub-pixel having a different response time than the green and blue one. It is the first time that we noticed a difference big enough that we could see it on our test video.

6.8
Picture Quality
SDR Peak Brightness
SDR Real Scene Peak Brightness
235 cd/m²
SDR Peak 2% Window
165 cd/m²
SDR Peak 10% Window
223 cd/m²
SDR Peak 25% Window
227 cd/m²
SDR Peak 50% Window
249 cd/m²
SDR Peak 100% Window
255 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 2% Window
165 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 10% Window
223 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 25% Window
227 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 50% Window
249 cd/m²
SDR Sustained 100% Window
255 cd/m²

Like the HDR peak brightness, the SDR peak brightness is bellow average. The local dimming dimmed the small highlight, but this is less problematic for regular content than HDR. Overall, the peak brightness is a bit less high than what the TV can reach while in HDR mode, but should be enough to enjoy normal content in a dark room environment.

7.0
Picture Quality
HDR Peak Brightness
HDR Real Scene Peak Brightness
268 cd/m²
HDR Peak 2% Window
204 cd/m²
HDR Peak 10% Window
283 cd/m²
HDR Peak 25% Window
287 cd/m²
HDR Peak 50% Window
304 cd/m²
HDR Peak 100% Window
320 cd/m²
HDR Sustained 2% Window
204 cd/m²
HDR Sustained 10% Window
283 cd/m²
HDR Sustained 25% Window
287 cd/m²
HDR Sustained 50% Window
304 cd/m²
HDR Sustained 100% Window
320 cd/m²

The peak brightness is slightly below average. We do this test local dimming enabled, and we find that the small windows are dimmed. As such, highlights don't stand out very much but the whole screen can get quite bright which is good to counter ambient light.

6.9
Picture Quality
Gray Uniformity
50% Std. Dev.
2.583%
50% DSE
0.226%
5% Std. Dev.
1.162%
5% DSE
0.112%

The gray uniformity is slightly below average. Some vertical bands which are slightly warmer are visible, and all four corners are very dark. Sports or other scenes where there is panning over uniform surfaces will result in a visible dirty screen effect.

4.1
Picture Quality
Viewing Angle
LCD Type
VA
Color Shift
20°
Brightness
30°
Black Level
10°

Even at a slight angle, the picture quality of the H8C degrades very rapidly. This is an issue for anyone who doesn't sit directly in front of the TV.

Update: We have changed the methodology of testing. Since this is an old TV which we don't have anymore, we extrapolated the results.

9.1
Picture Quality
Black Uniformity
Native Std. Dev.
0.88%

The black uniformity is great. On our test picture, both sides are slightly brighter than the center, but this is due to the very narrow viewing angle. Despite that, it is an impressive result for a budget TV and it will help to provide great dark scene performance.

9.0
Picture Quality
Gradient
Color Depth
10 Bit

The TV accepts a 10 bit input, and displays it smoothly. There are some tints visible in the grayscale, but overall a good result without any banding.

8.7
Picture Quality
Pre Calibration
White Balance dE
2.78
Color dE
2.167
Gamma
2.11

Prior to calibration, the results are very good. The colors are slightly oversaturated, and the gamma doesn't follow our target 2.2 curve but for most people this should not be an issue.

9.7
Picture Quality
Post Calibration
White Balance dE
0.41
Color dE
0.9498
Gamma
2.18

The H8C includes similar calibration functions as most other TVs. Using the 2 point and 10 point calibration we were able to very accurately fix the issues in the white balance. The colors were still a little bit oversaturated, but this is still a very good result. You can find our calibration settings here.

8.0
Picture Quality
480p Input

The upscaling of low quality content such as DVDs is quite good. Details are preserved well, and sharp lines appear smooth.

8.0
Picture Quality
720p Input

720p content looks quite good. The image is a little soft, and so some small details are lost.

9.0
Picture Quality
1080p Input

Higher quality sources such as blurays look sharp and crisp.

10
Picture Quality
4k Input

Images at the native 4k resolution appear sharp.

7.2
Picture Quality
Color Gamut
Wide Color Gamut
No
DCI P3 xy
80.3%
DCI P3 uv
86.36%
Rec 2020 xy
58.16%
Rec 2020 uv
65.2%

The TV does not support a wide color gamut. This is only enough for SDR content in the Rec. 709 color space.

Update 10/14/2016: We have retested the color gamut with the latest HDR firmware.

5.4
Picture Quality
Color Volume
Normalized DCI P3 Coverage
56.188%
10,000 cd/m² DCI P3 Coverage
33.67%
Normalized Rec 2020 Coverage
47.473%
10,000 cd/m² Rec 2020 Coverage
28.188%

The color volume of both the DCI-P3 and Rec. 2020 color space isn't very good. Unlikely to see much improvement over an SDR TV.

10
Picture Quality
Image Retention
IR after 0 min recovery
0%
IR after 2 min recovery
0%
IR after 4 min recovery
0%
IR after 6 min recovery
0%
IR after 8 min recovery
0%
IR after 10 min recovery
0%

The Hisense H8C does not present any image retention, even on the first picture of our image retention test. This is pretty good and is in line with other VA TVs that we have tested. This is good news for gamer or people that may use this TV as a PC monitor.

8.0
Picture Quality
Reflections
Reflection
2%
Screen Finish
Semi-gloss

A few direct reflections are not an issue as the semi-gloss finish works well to diffuse them.

0
Picture Quality
3D
3D
No
3D Type
No
2D to 3D
No

The Hisense H8C doesn't support any 3D features.

Picture Quality
Pixels
Type LED

The pixels appear very similar to those found in the Sharp UB30U we reviewed last year.

Motion
8.7
Motion
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate 60 Hz
Response Time
13 ms
Overshoot
0 ms

The response time is great, which results in very good motion performance. Only a very short trail can be seen following the test logo. To dim, the backlight uses PWM to flicker at 500Hz. This is not very noticeable due to the high frequency, but can be seen very slightly in the small duplications following the logo.

3.7
Motion
Image Flicker
PWM Dimming Frequency
500 Hz
BFI
No
BFI Frequency
500 Hz
BFI In Game Mode
No
0
Motion
24p Playback
Judder-free 24p
No
Judder-free 24p via 60p
No
Judder-free 24p via 60i
No

The Hisense H8C isn't able to play movies smoothly from any source. Most people do not notice judder, and so this will not be an issue.

5.0
Motion
Motion Interpolation
Motion Interpolation (30 fps)
Yes
Motion Interpolation (60 fps)
No

The H8C is able to interpolate 30fs content up to the native refresh rate of 60Hz. It is not able to interpolate content faster than this.

Inputs
7.7
Inputs
Input Lag
1080p @ 60Hz
32.1 ms
1080p With Interpolation
48.8 ms
1080p @ 60Hz Outside Game Mode
48.8 ms
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
32.1 ms
4k @ 60Hz
51 ms
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
51 ms
4k @ 60Hz + HDR
53.5 ms
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4 + 8 bit HDR
53.5 ms

With an 1080p resolution, the input lag is great, and for most people shouldn't be a problem. Even with motion interpolation enabled the input lag is quite low which is good.

When tested with a 4k resolution, the input lag was not stable and was cycling from 51.0ms to 67.3ms.

6.0
Inputs
Supported Resolutions
Resolution 4k
1080p @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
No
1080p @ 120Hz
No
4k @ 30Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes
4k @ 60Hz
Yes
4k @ 60Hz @ 4:4:4
Yes

For 4k @ 60Hz support, it is necessary to use HDMI3 or HDMI4 (labelled 4k @ 60Hz). The H8C has a native refresh rate of 60Hz, so does not support 120Hz. For PC, use the 'Game' picture mode. The input lag is 32.1ms.

Update 10/04/2016: With the newest firmware version, the H8C now supports chroma subsampling at 4k. To display it properly, use the 'Game' picture mode.

Inputs
Side Inputs
Inputs
Rear Inputs
Inputs
Total Inputs
HDMI 4
USB 3
Digital Optical Audio Out 1
Analog Audio Out 3.5mm 1
Analog Audio Out RCA 0
Component In 1
Composite In 1
Tuner (Cable/Ant) 1
Ethernet 1
DisplayPort 0
IR In 0
SD/SDHC 0
Inputs
Inputs Specifications
HDR10
Yes
5.1 Passthrough ARC Dolby Digital
Yes
Dolby Vision
No
5.1 Passthrough ARC DTS
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical Dolby Digital
Yes
5.1 Passthrough Optical DTS
Yes
HDMI 2.0 Full Bandwidth Yes (HDMI 3, 4)
ARC Yes (HDMI 2)
USB 3 Yes (1)
HDCP 2.2 Yes (HDMI 3, 4)
CEC Yes
MHL Yes (HDMI 1)
Variable Analog Audio Out Yes

To enable 5.1 passthrough, set 'Digital Audio Out' to 'Raw'.

Update 10/04/2016: With the newest firmware update, the TV now supports HDR10.

Sound Quality
6.3
Sound Quality
Frequency Response
Std. Dev. @ 70
5.41 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ 80
5.23 dB SPL
Std. Dev. @ Max
5.97 dB SPL
Max
85.9 dB SPL
Low-end Cutoff
107 Hz

Average response. Frequency response is decent, but at maximum volume there is pumping and compression present. However, low-end cutoff and maximum loudness is poor, even for a TV. This TV doesn't produce much bass and doesn't get very loud either.

6.8
Sound Quality
Total Harmonic Distortion
Distortion @ 70
0.014
Distortion @ 80
0.028
Distortion @ Max
0.037

Average distortion response. The overall harmonic distortion response is decent at all volume, even though there is progressive rise in distortion as the volume increases.

Smart Features
Smart Features
Apps

The TV comes preloaded with some of the most popular apps, such as Netflix, Amazon Video, VUDU and YouTube. It also provides access to the Opera TV Store to download additional apps.

7.0
Smart Features
Interface
Smart OS Opera TV

The H8C features the Opera TV platform. It is very easy to use, and allows downloading of apps from the Opera TV Store. It feels quite responsive, but does occasionally have issues with browsing menus which requires a TV restart to fix. It is not as stable as some of the other platforms such as Android TV or LG's WebOS. It is able to play photos or videos directly off a USB drive.

10
Smart Features
Ads
Ad-free
Yes
Opt-out
N/A

No ads can be found on this TV's smart platform.

Smart Features
TV Controls

The TV controls are located behind the left side of the TV. They are quite easy to use, but may be more difficult to access if wall mounted.

Smart Features
Remote
Remote Basic

The remote is basic, but provides quick access to some of the most popular apps. It is quite simple to use.

Smart Features
In The Box

  • Manuals
  • Remote

Smart Features
Misc
Power Consumption 63 W
Power Consumption (Max) 121 W
Firmware V00.01.00a.G0921