The TCL delivers much better picture quality overall, with better uniformity, higher contrast, and better reflection handling, so it looks better in both bright and dark rooms. We tested the 65-inch Hisense U7H, and the results are also valid for the 55-inch, 75-inch, and 85-inch models. PCMag is obsessed with culture and tech, offering smart, spirited coverage of the products and innovations that shape our connected lives and the digital trends that keep us talking. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

It also makes the Samsung model better for watching sports, while the Hisense has the edge as a home entertainment TV, especially as it supports DTS audio formats. It has excellent contrast, an effective local dimming feature, and good peak brightness in HDR, so bright highlights stand out well. The C3 has a much better picture quality due to its perfect contrast and the ability to display much deeper blacks, so it’s the better choice for a dark room. As you can see, that is exactly what the U7H does with its local dimming algorithm with 1% only measuring around 180 nits, before a jump up to 360 nits at 2%, 400 nits at 5% and then the industry standard window hits 526 nits and this is repeated at 25%, before falling away again to 346 nits at a full 100% window.It's a trait that was fairly common of cheaper LCD sets a few years ago, but that we haven't seen for quite a while. Thanks to the ‘Hi-View’ quad-core processing engine, the screen is able to handle all high dynamic range standards - with Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive particularly welcome - and it's IMAX Enhanced and Filmmaker Mode-certified too. You can give voice commands to the remote directly by pressing the dedicated button, and it also supports hands-free voice control thanks to the TV's built-in far-field mic. Contrasts, for example, are very impressive thanks to the screen’s ability to generate quite deep and very varied black tones - along with the control of backlighting it demonstrates and the clean, detailed white tones it creates, there’s quite a distance between black and white.

The TV supports a variable refresh rate (VRR), and it's compatible with most sources that support VRR. IMAX enhanced certified TV's have to complete rigorous quality standards set out by IMAX, meaning you get clearer, brighter pictures with reduced noise and grain as well as immersive sound thanks to DTS:X. If you don't care about accuracy, the U7H is a much brighter and more colorful TV with more features for gamers with its two HDMI 2. Mini-LED technology combines thousands of individual LED lights smaller than a grain of rice, grouping them into miniature dimming zones. Unfortunately, like the Hisense U8/U8H, it's difficult to calibrate quickly, as small changes to some areas made others worse.The Hisense delivers a slightly better HDR experience, as it has a full array local dimming feature that helps bring out bright highlights in HDR, while on the Sony, the entire scene will always be displayed at the same brightness level.

With over a billion true-to-life colours, you can get closer to reality whatever you choose to watch. The Hisense also delivers a better gaming experience thanks to its faster 120Hz refresh rate, and it can take better advantage of the new-gen consoles thanks to its HDMI 2.On the other hand, the Sony TV has better picture and motion processing, so upscaled content looks a bit better, and there are fewer artifacts in gradients. You’ll also find Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technology, giving pictures and sounds of exceptional quality. The U7H is also better for watching content in HDR, as it has better color volume and gets much brighter in HDR, so highlights pop much more than on the TCL. It also has a sub-par viewing angle, so it's not a good choice for sitting up close, as the sides of the screen appear non-uniform. The Hisense performs much better in a dark room due to its more effective local dimming feature, better contrast and black uniformity, and highlights pop a bit more in HDR thanks to its slightly better HDR peak brightness.

Given the pricing and features list can this Hisense deliver the budget goods as the official World Cup TV?Google Assistant, Input, Menu, Power, and User buttons sit above the pad, along with a combination pinhole microphone and LED indicator.