Hisense 50H8F 4K HDR TV Review A Big Screen on a Budget
Hisense 50H8F 4K HDR TV Review: A Big Screen on a Budget Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Best Products > TVs
Android TV is a widely used operating system in smart TVs, with a robust app selection and support for AI assistants. The remote included with the 50H8F can be used to give commands to Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant. Android phone and tablet owners can control their TVs with any number of apps, but using Google Assistant with the remote is just as convenient. Android TV's home screen brings apps and their content right to the surface. Side-scrolling ribbons showcase new and previously-watched content, with auto-playing previews right from the home screen. The result looks a little cluttered, but it couldn't be more user-friendly. By eliminating loading screens between apps, Android TV makes browsing much easier. I rarely had to load an app to find something to watch. Throughout testing, there was one recurring problem: instability. Apps frequently crashed or became unresponsive, especially the Hulu app. The only way to resolve this was to reset the TV, but the problem was so common I usually watched something else instead. Instability issues should be resolved by updates and fixes, but in the three months that the 50H8F was being tested in my home, I noticed no improvement. By eliminating loading screens between apps, Android TV makes browsing much easier.
Hisense 50H8F Review
A newcomer to the budget TV market with a lot to offer
By Sandra Stafford Sandra Stafford Writer Fayetteville State University Sandra Stafford is a writer who specializes in tech and writes about all sorts of gadgets—tactical flashlights, blue light-blocking glasses, therapy lamps and more. lifewire's editorial guidelines Published on September 17, 2020 Tweet Share Email We independently research, test, review, and recommend the best products—learn more about our process. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission. 4.5Hisense 50H8F 50-inch 4K Ultra HD Android Smart LED TV
Lifewire / Sandra Stafford What We Like Affordably priced Sleek design seems high-end Android TV has many apps and features Local dimming for darker blacks What We Don't Like Apps frequently freeze or crash Motion blur is common Uneven backlighting in corners Underpowered speakers The Hisense 50H8F is a budget 4K TV with a surprisingly nice display, Google Assistant, and Chromecast built-in, making for a user-friendly interface. View On Amazon 4.5Hisense 50H8F 50-inch 4K Ultra HD Android Smart LED TV
Lifewire / Sandra Stafford View On Amazon in this article Expand Design Setup Process Image Quality Audio Quality Operating system Price Competition Final Verdict Specs With few budget newcomers to the TV market, the competition between brands is making better TVs cheaper than ever. Hisense is one of these new arrivals, offering the 50H8F a 50-inch 4K HDR TV that boasts Android TV functionality and a beautiful entry-level 4K display for under $400. I spent nearly a month testing it, to see how it stacked up against rivals on our best cheap TV list.Design Sleek and modern
With an edge-to-edge glass panel and a super-thin 0.2-inch bezel, the 50H8F has a sleek design practically indistinguishable from the higher end brands. Other than a small red LED and the logo, the whole TV including the legs is a simple black. The stand has thin metal feet with a wide 9-inch footprint that felt perfectly stable in testing. Most of the USB and HDMI connectors on the back of the TV are facing to the left, so they're easy to get to whether the TV is mounted or not. The 50H8F is well-designed and of decent quality for its price. The 50H8F is well-designed and of decent quality for its priceSetup Process Convenient setup with Google Home
The Hisense 50H8F can be set up with the Google Home app or with on-screen prompts. The numerous prompts take several minutes to get through. Location, Google Assistant, automatic content registration, and other permissions are all enabled at the beginning. After various logins, a fairly unnecessary five-step tutorial, and any updates, the TV will finally be ready to use after several minutes. A slow setup is no big deal, but I lean toward the trend of streamlining setup wherever possible. Lifewire / Sandra StaffordImage Quality Great display for a dark room
It’s going to be difficult for most consumers to enjoy the quality difference between 1080p and 4K on a 50-inch television, thanks in part to the relatively small amount of native 4K content available. That said, with an entry-level 4K TV priced as reasonably as the 50H8F, there’s no reason not to be an early adopter of the technology. New releases and old favorites like Jaws are being converted to 4K, and the quality differences are more noticeable if your TV is fairly close. Local dimming allows the 50H8F to achieve deep, uniform blacks. There is a small amount of blooming, but the only time I noticed it was when stark whites and blacks were on the screen together. Backlighting was inconsistent enough to create a few dim spots on the screen, but it was another problem only noticeable when the screen had large spans of the same color. There was enough contrast that small details in dark scenes weren't lost, even in a brightly-lit room. Local dimming and a great contrast ratio make this TV perfect for watching movies in bright and dark environments alike. Slow response time does cause problems with motion on screen. A persistent blur trails behind fast-moving objects regardless of which picture settings are used. Long action scenes, like the lightsaber showdown in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, suffer from blur significant enough to be nearly unwatchable. Despite that, the 50H8F has an overall decent display. The 50H8F does offer a picture setting to address some of the motion handling problems, albeit mostly for video games. Game Mode reduces input lag by disabling processor-intensive features like smoothing and motion enhancement. The picture setting doesn’t affect the appearance of games noticeably, but the performance gains are huge. Without Game Mode on, a noticeable white blur trailed behind Ori every time I played Ori And The Blind Forest, even without the game’s motion blur enabled. Landing on narrow pillars and avoiding flying spikes is much easier with Game Mode’s reduced input lag. Ori looks much better as well, crisp and smooth as he jumps around the dark forest.Audio Quality A soundbar would be ideal
The 50H8F has two 10W speakers, which feel a little underpowered for TV of this size. The sound itself is clear, but soft sounds like characters whispering in movies or ambient noises are usually lost. Because there is no auto-leveling, I had to adjust the volume between commercials and scenes every time I watched anything. As with most TVs, the 50H8F would benefit greatly from a soundbar or dedicated speaker system.Operating system Great support makes up for instability issues
Android TV is a widely used operating system in smart TVs, with a robust app selection and support for AI assistants. The remote included with the 50H8F can be used to give commands to Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant. Android phone and tablet owners can control their TVs with any number of apps, but using Google Assistant with the remote is just as convenient. Android TV's home screen brings apps and their content right to the surface. Side-scrolling ribbons showcase new and previously-watched content, with auto-playing previews right from the home screen. The result looks a little cluttered, but it couldn't be more user-friendly. By eliminating loading screens between apps, Android TV makes browsing much easier. I rarely had to load an app to find something to watch. Throughout testing, there was one recurring problem: instability. Apps frequently crashed or became unresponsive, especially the Hulu app. The only way to resolve this was to reset the TV, but the problem was so common I usually watched something else instead. Instability issues should be resolved by updates and fixes, but in the three months that the 50H8F was being tested in my home, I noticed no improvement. By eliminating loading screens between apps, Android TV makes browsing much easier.