Hisense 100″ Laser TV Review – A 4K UHD, Smart Projector with Screen – Picture Quality 3

Hisense 100" Laser TV Review – Picture Quality 3: Black Levels, Dark Shadow Detail, Overall Picture Quality

As has been the case with almost every 4K UHD DLP projector (aka laser TV in this case), black level performance is pretty basic by today’s standards.  TI’s DLP chips have not seen a really significant improvement in native contrast for almost a decade. Back then they had the best.  Now one of the LCoS brands – JVC has the deepest blacks thanks to a lot more native contrast in their LCoS panels vs. DLP chips.

While the LCoS and 3LCD manufacturers have almost all added fast dynamic irises to help with the perceived black level performance. By comparison very few DLPs have such dynamic irises.  Now, understand, native contrast is better. In some ways an iris is a cheat, but on extremely dark scenes, a well devised dynamic iris gives a projector a real advantage on those scenes.  (I mention elsewhere, but so far, the only two companies doing an impressive job of using a laser engine as dynamic iris are Acer (VL7860) and Sony (VW995ES – the $39,999 projector I mentioned above.)

Still projectors like Epson’s UB series (starts around $2500), or the entry level JVC LCoS ($3999) and they both have much deeper blacks.   Sony’s two native 4K projectors stack up his way, Their $4999 model has  comparable, or slightly better blacks and their new $9999 VS695ES has much better blacks (that Sony's $10K price, of  course, does not include any audio (let alone impressive sound that the Hisense produces), nor an expensive light rejecting screen.  Nor are those Sony projectors smart.

Bottom line on Black Level Performance. Blacks could be blacker, which would be better.  Yet, I primarily see this projector operating in most homes in rooms with at least a little ambient light so that, even with an ALR type screen, you lose the advantage that you get from having truly great black level performance in a room that is fully darkened.  And, ideally that room has dark walls, floors and ceilings (aka home theater or “man” cave).

Not quite as good as some projectors, the Hisense does crush a bit of the darkest shadow detail, but not a problem.  I have been running the projector with the dynamic contrast on Low, because I found that this setting provides excellent pop to the image, that most folks love, and only at the expense of a loss of a small amount of detail in the darkest areas, which, please remember – is very difficult to spot, unless you are focused on looking for that detail.  In other words, most won’t ever notice a problem.

I should mention, like many of the 4K UHD projectors there is a little bit of white clipping, but I believe Eric indicated less than most others. You just might lose a tiny amount of detail in the whitest areas of a large bright cloud in a sunny scene.

I would definitely classify the overall picture quality of the Hisense Laser TV as good Home Entertainment quality.  True, not great, the colors could have been better, as could the black levels, but the projector performed extremely well in my downstairs testing room with its now light gray walls and a large picture window that I often ran with the blinds about 40% open.  The Hisense Laser TV did even better in that room with four overhead lights on, showing off the skills that a UST projector can produce when paired with the ideal type of screen in rooms with more than minimal ambient light.