Hisense is a player to be reckoned with in the TV market. With an extensive range that includes OLED in addition to QLED, mini-LED and ultra short throw projectors, they have something to offer for everyone. This interestingly priced OLED seemed a good candidate to test – hence this Hisense 55A86G review.
Hisense 55A86G
Price 1,199 euros
Screen size 55 inches (139 cm)
Type Ultra HD OLED
Connections 4x HDMI (4x v2.0, ARC/eARC, ALLM, VRR), 2x USB, 1x composite video + stereo cinch in, 1x optical digital out, 1x headphones, 2x antenna, 1x ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth
Characteristics HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, Dolby Atmos, VIDAA U 5.2, USB/DLNA media player, DVB-T2/C/S2, CI+ slot
Dimensions 1,226 x 834 x 168mm (incl. foot)
Weight 21.5 kg (incl. foot)
Consumption SDR 110 (G) / HDR 95 watts (G)
Website Hisense.com 8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Beautiful images with strong contrast
- Good color rendering
- Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+
- VIDAA U is user-friendly and smooth
- Solid audio with Dolby Atmos
- Negatives
- No HDMI 2.1 connections
- Image processing with minor flaws
- Peak brightness relatively low for OLED
The style that almost all OLED TVs for their design is now an old acquaintance. The slim screen has a fine metal edge that is barely noticeable and that flows seamlessly into the back. Electronics and speakers are incorporated in the lower half of the device. It is then slightly thicker, in this case about seven centimeters, and is beautifully finished with a diamond pattern. The ends of the housing are hidden behind the screen and are slightly rounded. Thanks to this smart design, the slim profile continues to attract attention.
The foot is often one of the few visible accents that manufacturers can use to give the device an identity. The central base of this Hisense is completely open at the front, which makes it look very light. It is very sturdy, and a handy detail, it is a swivel base. You can easily turn the TV left or right.
One strange choice surprised us. The connector for the power cable is quite far to the side, pointing sideways to the edge of the device. If you are a bit careless with your cable management, you risk seeing the cable beyond the edge of the device. Gently lead it away to the foot.
Good selection of connections, but no HDMI 2.1
The Hisense has four HDMI 2.0 connections that are equipped with ARC/eARC, ALLM and VRR (48-60 Hz). In addition, there are two USB connections (one of which is USB 3.0), a composite video input with stereo cinch audio input, an optical digital audio output and a headphone connection. Gamers may have already noticed, the device has to do without HDMI 2.1 connections, and can therefore handle a maximum of 4K60 or 2K120. We think that’s a shame for a modern OLED, still a premium device.
Moreover, with an input lag of 44.6 ms, it certainly does not score a top result. This will suffice for many gamers, but the die-hard gamers with a PC or next-gen game console probably prefer another device. Via bluetooth you can send audio from your smartphone to the TV, or send the audio from the TV to a bluetooth headset or soundbar.
The 55A86G is equipped with a DVB-T/T2/C tuner, a DVB-S/S2 tuner and a CI+ slot. With a USB hard drive you can pause or record live TV, but recording and watching another channel at the same time is not an option.
A convenient and complete smart TV system
The VIDAA U smart TV platform is a pleasant surprise for two reasons. First, it works very smoothly. Whatever you do, the TV responds quickly, making it pleasant to browse through the range or quickly change a setting. Second, the platform is pretty complete, or at least it will be over the course of this year.
If we look at the main streaming services, you currently already have access to YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, NPO Start, KIJK, and NLziet. Hisense said they will be adding many more services later in the year. In that list we find HBO Max, Viaplay, Videoland, Streamz and VTM Go. On the Home screen, you can organize two rows of apps as you wish, so that your favorite service is never far away.
We also find an excellent media player that supports all major video and sound formats (including Dolby Atmos and DTS) and subtitles, the possibility to mirror your smartphone or to cast Netflix or YouTube.
Hisense offers you an alloy, slim remote. The keys fit closely together, but have a clear profile so that you can recognize them even by touch. The layout is fine, only the rather small Home key we would like to see given more space. We also find the five keys for specific apps that many, certainly less used services such as Facebook Watch or Rakuten TV are not an added value.
What is very useful? The remote uses Bluetooth, so you don’t have to point it at the TV. You can also use voice commands via the built-in microphone, but except for a search we find the usefulness limited.
OLED, a guarantee for high-contrast, intense images
The asset of OLED that you (literally) cannot miss is its intense contrast. In addition, an OLED screen can achieve its perfect black at the pixel level without the influence of, for example, a neighboring pixel that is very bright. That perfect black rendering gives images a lot of depth and emphasizes his rich color palette even more. To take full advantage of this, the calibration must also be fine.
The Hisense provides a ‘Filmmaker Mode’, which must guarantee a reproduction as the filmmaker had in mind. That image mode also delivers fine, but just not perfect results. A lot of black detail is visible and the color reproduction is excellent.
Due to a slight lack of blue in the gray scale, the image takes on a very fine light yellow tint, but without a reference you will almost certainly not see that. The gamma value is a little too high, and that makes mid-tones a little too dark, but here too the error is small enough not to disturb. You can also easily adjust the gamma value via the menus.
OLED and HDR is a great combination, precisely because of its excellent contrast and rich colors. The screen has a color range of 94% P3, more than enough for those intense HDR tones. The peak brightness in HDR Filmmaker mode is 550 nits on a 10% window, and 650 nits on a 2% window. That is still within the typical range of an average OLED TV, but is on the low side. We measure 150 nits on a completely white field, which is an excellent result.
The Hisense also makes very good use of its range. Although the device ignores the static metadata of HDR10, it delivers excellent tone mapping. HDR material that has been mastered at a peak of 1,000 nits, for example, is therefore a bit too dark. But very clear mastered material retains a lot of punch. Black and white detail remains clearly visible, and colors are intense, even in very bright scenes.
In addition to HDR10 and HLG, this TV also supports HDR10 + and Dolby Vision IQ, the HDR formats with dynamic metadata. This way you have a guarantee that you will see the best HDR version on all streaming services that offer this.
Room for improvement in image processing
We easily forget how important good image processing has become. Because we look at so many different sources and formats, the TV almost always has to do a lot of work to get the image on the screen. And although the Hisense is generally quite good at that, there are also clearly some areas where it could be improved. For example, the image loses a little bit of horizontal resolution, and we see traces of Chroma Upsampling Error, which can cause brightly colored objects to have a slightly jagged edge.
That’s a shame, but no drama. At a normal viewing distance and with average footage, they are not really visible on the 4K screen. However, the processor also does not know what to do with compression noise (visible as blocking) or the resulting color bands that you see appear in very soft color transitions. In very dark scenes, this can even cause unwanted flickering in the dark tones.
The processor also has strong points. For example, it ensures very good deinterlacing, so that 1080i images, for example from live TV, appear on the screen without errors. The upscaling is good, but overall very soft. If you want a little extra sharpness, you can adjust that in the settings.
The OLED screen also has good motion sharpness, good for sports and gaming, but in very fast pan images the processor is just unable to keep up with the action and jerks can be visible.
Good audio playback
The slim profile of the 55A86G may suggest that the audio performance is rather mediocre, but that is certainly not the case. The TV has enough power to create a powerful soundtrack. Although deep basses are lacking, there is enough punch in it. The TV is set to DTS Virtual:X by default. However, that sounds quite shrill and we recommend switching that setting to Dolby Atmos for a somewhat fuller, more natural sound.
Our movies gave a good surround feeling, and the results were pleasant with music too. If you like rougher metal, then you have to limit the volume a bit so as not to send the speakers into distortion.
Conclusion
Anyone who buys an OLED TV can now be sure that he is getting excellent image quality. Add excellent sound and a good smart TV system such as VIDAA U, and you have a nice TV. The ample HDR support and solid calibration put the OLED assets well in the light. You have to take those few cosmetic flaws in the image processing, and the lack of HDMI 2.1 connections. They won’t spoil your viewing pleasure either. Only gamers who really demand 4K at 120Hz should look elsewhere.
But there is a lot of competition in the OLED segment, even if it is not about top models. And while the Hisense 55A86G has a lot to offer, it can’t stand out from the competition. We would have liked to see the price a little lower.
â€