Hisense 50″ 4K Ultra HD Smart LED Google TV – Metal Gray

 

As a home theater enthusiast and early adopter of the latest display technologies for over 7 years, I was eager to get my hands on the new Hisense 50-inch 4K Google TV to take my movie and TV show streaming experience to the next level. Read below about “Hisense 50″ 4K Ultra HD Smart LED Google TV – Metal Gray” in detail.

Hisense 50″ 4K Ultra HD Smart LED Google TV – Metal Gray

Highlighting Key Features

Straight out of the box, the clean and modern metal gray design immediately made a statement in my living room. But more importantly, the picture quality blew me away. Powered by the Hi-View Engine, colors look incredibly vibrant and lifelike on the 3840 x 2160 panel.

Crystal-Clear Picture Quality with Advanced Upscaling

My old 4K TV struggled with upscaling lower resolution content, but thanks to the dedicated AI processor in the Hisense Google TV, everything I watch is upscaled close to native 4K quality. This makes a huge difference when streaming shows and movies in 1080p or below.

But what sets this television apart is that it’s one of the first to come with the latest Google TV software built-in. As a long-time Chromecast user who streams all my content from apps like Netflix and Disney+, the user-friendly Google TV interface completely changes the streaming game.

My Experience Setting Up Google TV

Getting set up with Google TV couldn’t have been easier. I simply grabbed my existing Chromecast and plugged it into the TV along with the power cable. After turning it on and connecting to my WiFi network, my Google account was pulled in automatically from my Chromecast.

Within minutes I was presented with the new Google TV homepage showcasing personalized recommendations based on my previous viewing history and subscriptions. The sleek interface shows content front and center while neatly tucking away secondary menus and apps on the sides.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my Google account integration also pulled in my YouTube watch history. The “Continue Watching” row now shows videos from YouTube and other apps like Netflix in one place so I can pick up where I left off no matter the source. This is a game changer for those nights when I jump back and forth between apps to find something to watch.

Putting Picture Quality to the Test

As someone who analyzes display quality for a living, I put the Hisense Google TV through its paces testing a variety of content from streaming apps, cable TV, and 4K Blu-ray discs from my collection.

Starting with some 4K nature documentary footage streamed from Netflix, the colors and details absolutely popped thanks to Dolby Vision HDR support and full array local dimming. Shadow detail in darker scenes was excellent showing that the set can hit up to 600 nits peak brightness.

Switching over to 1080p content, I cued up an episode of The Office on Peacock to analyze the upscaling. Small details like the pattern on shirts and objects on the desks retained surprising clarity and weren’t blurred out like I experience on my older 4K television.

Game Mode

The dedicated Game Mode delivered impressively low input lag which is great for more cinematic single player experiences. Though for competitive online multiplayer, serious gamers will still want to stick to dedicated gaming monitors.

Stunning Visuals and Detail

Finally, I wanted to see how a 4K Blu-ray would look so I put on Planet Earth II given all the colorful wildlife footage. On my older set, banding in gradients is an issue but the 10-bit panel on the Hisense Google TV handled smooth color transitions perfectly. And complex textures like fur and trees avoided the overly sharp and artificial look that plagues cheaper 4K TVs.

Across all content from streaming to disc, the picture was highly detailed with vibrant, accurate colors that pop thanks to the quantum dot technology. The full array local dimming also adds nice contrast between bright and dark areas of the image. While LED TVs can’t quite match the perfect blacks of OLED, the Hisense comes surprisingly close for an LCD.

Easy Voice Controls with Google Assistant

A highlight of the new Google TV platform is hands-free Google Assistant integration which makes controlling your content easier than ever. The far-field microphones allow you to use voice commands to search for your favorite movies and shows, get recommendations, and control playback.

After getting “Hey Google” set up, I loved being able to say things like “show me action comedies from the 2000s” to instantly pull up Google TV recommendations without having to type anything. You can even search by actor or director across installed streaming apps.

And if you link services like Netflix and Disney+ to your Google account, you can say things like “play Stranger Things on Netflix” to instantly start streaming. No more fumbling for the remote to click through menus!

During movie nights, I found myself frequently using voice commands to pause when someone needed a break or rewind when we missed an important line of dialogue. I never realized how convenient hands-free controls could be until living with Google TV. My old set felt ancient by comparison.

Room-Filling Audio with DTS Virtual

X While the picture quality excels for the price, the integrated audio system also manages to impress. Two 10W speakers with DTS Virtual:X audio tuning manage to fill my medium-sized living room with an immersive soundstage.

Of course there are limits to built-in TV speakers, but the angled drivers with the pseudo-surround sound processing create a notably wider soundstage versus my older budget 4K TV.

The dedicated Night Mode is also great for keeping booming action movie audio in check if watching late at night when I don’t want to wake the kids. Dialogue remains clear while loud explosions won’t shake the whole house.

For more serious home theater sound, the set does support both ARC and eARC over HDMI for pairing with soundbars and surround sound systems. But the built-in speakers hold their own surprisingly well for casual viewing.

Is the Hisense Google TV Worth Buying?

After extensively testing the Hisense 50-inch 4K Google TV (50G7H), there is no question that this is the best television I’ve ever owned given the balance of performance, smart features, and reasonable price point.

At well under $500, you’d expect major compromises but instead you get a vibrant and highly detailed 4K picture, excellent upscaling of lower resolution content, and the most intuitive smart TV software on the market with Google TV.

While serious videophiles may still want to step up to more premium OLED or QLED sets costing over $1000, the average consumer that wants to maximize value will struggle to find a better overall package than what Hisense delivers here.

Conclusion

The hands-free Google Assistant integration makes finding and playing content easier than ever before. And the personalized recommendations help cut through decision fatigue from endless scrolling when you just want to sit down and start watching something.

If you’re looking for your first 4K TV or want to finally upgrade an older 1080p set without breaking the bank, the Hisense 50-inch Google TV checks all the right boxes. With picture quality that punches well above its weight class and an interface that actually gets smarter the more you use it, this is the 4K TV to beat in 2023. I hope you like reading “Hisense 50″ 4K Ultra HD Smart LED Google TV – Metal Gray”.