Hisense A85H review – The perfect OLED for late-night movie

TV sets are a permanent element of our website and it is no different in this case. Review of Hisense A85H, this year’s TV with an OLED matrix from a Chinese manufacturer that stole my heart. It is not perfect, but for many people it can be one of the most interesting options in its price range. Is Hisense A85H bright enough? Does it offer a good picture? Does it have good sound? These and more questions will be answered in this Hisense A85H review.

Set and price

At the very beginning, I am forced to praise Hisense A85H for securing the TV. The cardboard box is almost the size of the one in which I received the 65-inch Philips The One . Inside you will find a lot of styrofoam and foam, which are responsible for ensuring the safety of the TV during transport. In addition to these elements, inside we will find a two-element, swivel leg, the TV itself, the remote control, the power cord, and a lot of paperwork. 

Hisense A85H is available in two sizes, with the 55-inch version currently costing £1,199.00, and the larger, 65-inch version costs £1,599.00 . With such a small difference from the price of the smaller model, I would suggest paying extra, unless we are limited by the size of the space in which we want to place the TV. 

Check the current price of Hisense A85H

Specification

• OLED matrix
• Resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels
• 120Hz refresh rate
• 2.1.2 60W speakers
• Brightness up to 800 nits peak
• VIDA operating system
• 4 x HDMI, 2 x USB
• Support for Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HLG, Dolby Atmos, DTS
• VESA 300×200
• Power consumption up to 350W in HDR
• WiFi, Bluetooth, DVB-T2

Build quality and construction

Hisense A85H, like the vast majority of OLED TVs, has a much thinner upper part of the housing due to the lack of the need for additional backlighting. In the lower part, we find a larger element with all the electronics. On it we will find a set of connectors, VESA mount, and speakers . Everything is done surprisingly well. Despite the very slim housing, which begs to be hung on the wall, the TV is very rigid and I was not afraid of anything when mounting it. The frames are very thin, including the bottom, where only on the corner we find a small and unobtrusive manufacturer’s logo. The whole looks very elegant and inspires confidence. 

Also noteworthy is the leg that is attached to the TV. I can’t say that it provides the greatest stability of the TV, because unfortunately it is not. You can see a regression here compared to the A9G or Hisense U8QF model, which was the flagship model two years ago. 

Hisense A85H visibly wobbles, but the base has another great advantage. It is rotatable. We can easily rotate the TV without worrying about it falling. This can be useful in homes where the sofa on which we usually watch TV is set at a different angle than the kitchen or dining room. This is obviously a relatively small advantage for most people, but for some it can be a very important factor. 

Remote

It makes me very sad that Hisense no longer includes its sleek metal remote, even with the flagship model. It is still my favorite TV controller. Instead, we get a classic, plastic remote control that fits comfortably in the hand and is very universal. It has many shortcuts leading to various applications, as well as a full set of rubber buttons with which we can easily operate the system and watch TV with the help of DVB-T2. The microphone comes with mics that work well for YouTube searches, but other than that I preferred to use it normally. 

The power supply is a classic solution, with the help of two batteries of fingers. The remote control is relatively comfortable, and it works without any problems. During the period of reviewing the Hisense A85H TV, I never had to aim exactly at the TV so that it knew what I wanted to do. However, the buttons are quite slippery, and due to their number and unusual arrangement, you have to get used to them a bit . Most function keys, however, are of little use. Among the most popular applications, we will find Disney+, Netflix and YouTube. 

System

Hisense A85H operates on the proprietary VIDAA system. Proprietary solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage is the lack of many applications such as HBO Max and Player , or music applications such as Spotify and Tidal. The manufacturer supports the development of its platform, also largely guided by the needs of our domestic market. There are significant gaps, whether compared to TVs with Android TV, such as Philips OLED707 or TCL C735, but also compared to TVs with Tizen, such as Samsung Q80B. 

However, VIDAA has an equally large set of advantages, starting with the amazing smoothness of operation. Hisense A85H is one of the smoother TVs I have recently reviewed. The device boots up very quickly, as do all apps. Not once have I had a problem with disappearing applications or system jams.

The only thing I noticed that might be problematic is that when jumping between apps, the TV reluctantly loads them from RAM . In the vast majority of cases, they would reload and not return until we left them. Instead, we return to the home screen of the application. Interestingly, this always happens when we use the button on the remote control. However, if we decide to go to it from the home screen, there is a greater probability of returning to the previously watched movie. 

Another big advantage of the VIDAA system are simple and relatively clear settings. We have a lot of picture and sound modes to choose from, as well as more accurate options in both cases. It is worth to turn on the “Filmmaker ” function, which brought the best results in the reviewed model. However, the night cinema and the day cinema did not run away significantly, making all of them worth using. In terms of sound, I personally opted for the DTS mode. Dolby Atmos sounds a bit too artificial for me, and sound amplification turned off gives us a bit boring effects. 

TV sets with the VIDAA system, including Hisense A85H, can also be operated using the application available for smartphones with Android and iOS systems. Thanks to it, we do not have to look for a remote control. With its help, we can easily replace it, because we have access to all the options that we find on the controller. An additional feature that can be very useful is the keyboard. We can enter passwords more easily than click through with the help of arrows in each direction. In addition, no one will suspect our password to any of the applications. 

Image quality

Hisense A85H is equipped with an OLED matrix with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. According to the manufacturer, the maximum peak brightness is 800 nits. Starting with numbers as standard, the TV offers reasonably low display errors in Filmmaker, Night Cinema and Day Cinema modes.

The average deltaE was below three, which in theory means it is not visible to the human eye. However, the maximum errors are larger and in the case of the DCI-P3 color space they amount to six. In everyday use, however, they are not very visible. The more attention-grabbing element for me is the gamma. The deviation is not big because we went from the standard 2.2 to around 2.35. But for me, it’s the first thing I notice. Interestingly, in this case it is not associated with a large black crush. In addition, the TV fills 98% of the DCI-P3 color space and less than 74% of BT.2020. 

If you’re more interested in visual impressions, I’m in a hurry to get to you. Hisense A85H is a TV that offers a truly sensational picture quality. A small black crush, very accurate colors with a high level of saturation, as well as infinite contrast that results from the use of the OLED matrix . Thanks to this, all materials viewed on the reviewed screen looked great. Of course, I decided to watch my favorite classic, The Family Guy, which is basically a small challenge for TVs and I can’t have any problems in this aspect. 

From live-action films, I decided to describe Rogue One , one of the best films from the Star Wars universe in my opinion. It is also interesting to include in the review because it has all kinds of scenes that can be problematic to display. We will find in it both colorful scenes and those maintained in subdued tones. Lots of very bright elements as well as very dark shots. In almost all of them, Hisense A85H worked perfectly. In the case of shades of gray, there is a slight tendency to turn to too warm colors, which can be quickly corrected in the TV settings. 

In the case of contrasting, bright or colorful shots, I can’t fault anything. The OLED matrix allows us to preserve details in bright shots, as well as in contrasting moments. The second slight error resulting from too high gamma is the loss of details in blacks , which is visible in dark scenes. Of course, this is more visible during the day or in bright lighting than when viewed in a dark room. The image in Hisense A85H is also very natural. It evokes very pleasant feelings in everyday use.

The TV is also great for games and sports. OLED matrices have a minimal response time, and the total input lag is equally small and imperceptible. A great advantage is also the 120 Hz refresh rate , thanks to which we will connect the latest generation consoles to Hisense A85H and we will be able to benefit from other functions, such as VRR, ALLM, or playing Dolby Vision on the Xbox Series X console. 

How bright is Hisense A85H?

The maximum brightness is unfortunately an element that exposes the problems of OLED matrices. At full screen, we will reach about 120 nits, which is a poor result. At 10% of the screen, which in my opinion very well reproduces the actual scenes from the movies, it is about 390 nits in SDR and 750 nits in the case of HDR.

These are very average results and I would rather not recommend watching SDR materials during the day in a bright living room. For this purpose, it is better to opt for an LCD TV like the Samsung QN90B . However, if you are night owls, the Hisense A85H will be perfect then. Thanks to perfect blacks and infinite contrast, it will make a much better impression then than during the day. However, if this is still not enough for you, you can look at the Philips OLED707 , which will additionally illuminate the wall behind the TV with the help of Ambilight lighting. 

Sound quality

To be honest, I expected a tragedy after such a thin TV. Hisense A85H, however, pleasantly surprised me, because the 2.1.2 system with a power of 60 W definitely manages to watch movies and even occasionally listen to music. The TV allows you to easily understand all dialogues, and at the same time has reasonable sound dynamics and creates the impression of surround sound extremely well. Of course, if we decide on a soundbar, even such as Sonos Ray with Sonos Sub Mini or Samsung HW-Q990B , we will still get better results. 

Hisense A85H review – summary

Hisense A85H is one of the most interesting TVs in my opinion recently. It presents a very high image quality, a great, although incomplete in applications, operating system that is smooth and fast. It is equipped with an OLED matrix with a refresh rate of 120 Hz and 4K resolution, as well as a 60 W audio system. A nice addition is also a rotating, although not very stable, base. However, the TV can always be hung on the wall, which will eliminate this problem. If we want to go higher with quality, it is definitely worth looking at the more expensive Samsung S95B , which thanks to the QD-OLED technology goes to a higher level. 

About Post Author

Sankesh Verma

Sankkesh Verma is a technical guy who brings a unique combination of strategic, creative, and technical expertise to identify elements that constitute success, propose solutions, and help build them. He is the founder of “Webbpearl” which is a highly-acclaimed web development agency that offers web design and development, mobile app development, and digital marketing. More importantly, he is the admin of Techtiper.

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