Hisense UR9 RGB Mini LED: An Affordable TV in Its Class | WIRED

Overview

RGB Mini-LED TVs have officially arrived, and Hisense's UR9 was the first to hit the market, followed by Sony's Bravia 7 Mark II and TCL’s RM9L. I wouldn’t blame you if you weren’t jazzed to learn what the new display technology means, particularly if you were just getting used to terms like OLED, QLED, and art TV. Thankfully, understanding why the Hisense UR9 RGB Mini LED is a step up in picture quality compared to its competitors is more about the experience it provides than knowing the technical terms.

Even so, the general function of mini RGB tech is not so difficult to understand: Traditional LED and QLED televisions achieve their bright and colorful images by shining white or blue LEDs through an LCD panel. The newer mini RGB works by emitting red, green, and blue lights, resulting in better color accuracy, excellent contrast and brightness, and finer control over color zones. LG and Samsung use new tech called micro RGB, claiming it to be more advanced than mini RGB thanks to smaller LEDs, although both achieve roughly the same result.

Details

The UR9 is the flagship in Hisense’s lineup, but it isn’t priced that way at just

Not the case with this gaming monster, with its unusual-but-welcome 180-Hz refresh rate (330-Hz variable) when you link a high-end computer to the Display Port connection on the side. Overall, I was impressed by the picture quality at this price point, even if the UR9 can’t quite compete with the latest (but pricey) Samsung and LG models that use micro RGB tech.

The all-black, notably thin (only 1.8 inches!) UR9 comes with a stand that’s much easier to assemble than the Sony Bravia 7 Mark II RGB TV. Once in position on my stand, setting up the Google TV operating system was simple, save for dealing with a known bug with the Google Home app’s QR code that required manually entering my Gmail address and password. The UR9 uses Wi-Fi 6E, which is faster than Wi-Fi 6.

I found the UR9 remote to be unnecessarily complex with too many buttons. The mute button is located at the bottom right, which is nowhere near the volume buttons. It features more shortcut buttons than most TV remotes, including one marked Kids (for the Kidoodle app). There’s a customizable shortcut button as well, which I mapped to You Tube TV. There’s even a Google TV profile button that lets you switch accounts, even though most people will switch accounts using individual streaming apps. However, I did like the colorful, easy-to-spot shortcuts for Netflix and Amazon Prime because they are colorful. The remote is also nicely backlit and conveniently adjusts for ambient lighting in the room.

The back of the TV features three HDMI 2.1 ports—an upgrade from many televisions that only have two. In addition to the aforementioned Display Port connector on the side, the UR9 also features an Ethernet port, optical audio out, coaxial, and two USB ports (for connecting a hard drive or charging an HD antenna). Oddly, there isn’t a 3.5-mm headphone jack on this TV.

The UR9 meets 100 percent of the BT.2020 color gamut standard range. Picture-quality enhancements and settings are hit or miss here. I liked how a Motion Clearness setting made a soccer ball easier to see during a World Cup match. There’s also Dynamic Color Enhancer that lets you select the color space and adjust sliders; this worked well to help make several shows and movies appear more vivid. I don’t think the Blue Light setting, which is supposed to reduce eye strain, made a huge difference. Several other settings for smoother gradients or contrast only had a marginal effect.

Before getting into mini RGB display test results, here’s what I’d expect from one, compared to that of an OLED: OLEDs tend to have deeper blacks, while a mini RGB should provide more accurate and vivid colors, a higher brightness rating (usually 5,000 nits compared to around 1,000 nits for OLED), and excellent contrast. OLED televisions are coming down in price, hovering around $2,700 for a 65-inch. The UR9 is priced higher than some Hisense models, but it’s very reasonable for a mini RGB.

To test the UR9, I watched the movie The Last Duel. The mini RGB tech provided exceptional color, contrast, deep blacks, and brightness, rivaling what I’d expect from an OLED. After watching The Last Duel, I jumped into my typical Spears & Munsil Benchmark tests, hoping to verify some of the mini RGB advantages. Unlike with the midrange Bravia 7 Mark II, the skin-tone test on the UR9 showed a nice variation and excellent contrast. The demo reel results were likewise mostly positive: Mist over a snowy mountain scene was easy to distinguish, and the green grass behind a fence was mostly accurate, if slightly brownish. The Leica Cine Play 1 projector rendered that same grass as a brighter green. A nighttime scene with dark trees in the foreground had amazing contrast with deep blacks. A red cactus didn’t look quite as red as I would have hoped, but the yellow flower was extremely vivid.

I had a blast watching some of my favorite movies that sometimes look washed out and gray on TVs with poor contrast; on the UR9, those films—Awake, Tron: Ares, and The Creator—looked vivid and clear. You can also use Theater Day or Theater Night mode to adjust the contrast, but I felt Filmmaker mode was more accurate.

I would say OLED televisions still have the upper hand on mini RGBs in terms of deep blacks that can make some nighttime scenes look more immersive. The color brilliance is also sharper and brighter on a home cinema projector like the Leica Cine Play 1.

Still, there’s a case to be made for mini RGB: The reds pop brighter. While watching Project Hail Mary in 4K on the Fandango at Home app, I was blown away by the stunning rings around a planet. The much more expensive LG Micro RGB Evo rendered that scene at about the same level of vividness.

For TV viewing, I watched several World Cup matches. The red, white, and green jerseys popped nicely, and the crowd, green grass, and white soccer ball all had an exceptional clarity. A news broadcast on CBS didn’t look fake or overly saturated, while the same clip on a Bravia 7 Mark II looked a bit flat.

The UR9 is not considered an art television and doesn’t have wood bezels or a matte finish, but I was still impressed by an artwork mode (called a Screensaver). A ship on a blue ocean looked stunningly realistic and textured.

Of the mini RGB models I’ve tested, the Hisense UR9 is the best choice for PC gaming if you use a high-end computer. That’s because you can connect using Display Port on the side of the television, which requires a special USB-C 40-Gbps cable.

I tested the UR9 with an Alienware 16X Aurora gaming laptop that uses an Nvidia Ge Force RTX card. At the 330-Hz variable refresh rate (VRR), Crimson Desert played outstandingly, enlivening the game with more than rich colors. Every controller nudge felt immediate to me, especially when I tried Forza Horizon 6 and 007 First Light at the high VRR.

Not everyone has a high-end gaming laptop at their disposal, so I also tested an Xbox Series X. My go-to game for testing realistic graphics is Senua's Saga: Hellblade II. Unsurprisingly, the game looked colorful and vivid during an atmospheric ocean scene that looks washed out on most budget televisions. Even the grays and blacks looked rich and inky. Underwater segments in the game Subnautica 2 had a compelling look, making the gameplay even more enjoyable.

The Hisense UR9 RGB Mini LED stands out in a crowded market of much pricier mini and micro RGB models. The picture quality settings were less impactful on the UR9 than on the LG Micro RGB Evo, which is higher-end and has far more customizations. However, the UR9 is a better gaming television with a 180-Hz refresh rate and a dedicated gaming port on the side.

Key Takeaways

• RGB Mini-LED TVs have officially arrived, and Hisense's UR9 was the first to hit the market, followed by Sony's Bravia 7 Mark II and TCL’s RM9L
• Even so, the general function of mini RGB tech is not so difficult to understand: Traditional LED and QLED televisions achieve their bright and colorful images by shining white or blue LEDs through an LCD panel
• The UR9 is the flagship in Hisense’s lineup, but it isn’t priced that way at just $2,000 for the 65-inch model I tested
• Not the case with this gaming monster, with its unusual-but-welcome 180-Hz refresh rate (330-Hz variable) when you link a high-end computer to the Display Port connection on the side
• The all-black, notably thin (only 1