Hisense 100L5F LASER TV Review – Performance: Color Reproduction, Brightness, Contrast and Black Level
The 100L5F’s color reproduction is good but not highly accurate. The Hisense 100L5F has a total of seven preset picture modes. The STANDARD mode which is the default picture preset was warmer with slightly boosted contrast.
The picture modes that are the most accurate out of the box are THEATER DAY and THEATER NIGHT which were the closest to the D65 rec709 standard. While these modes deliver more accurate colors, they were also the least bright. Prior to calibration, to achieve the best SDR picture I choose THEATER NIGHT with Color Temperature set to LOW.
The VIVID mode and SPORTS modes are the brightest and are designed to fight through high ambient light. In addition, Hisense also includes a GAME and an ENERGY SAVING mode.
The above screen shots give a rough idea of the color accuracy for each picture mode. However, when viewed in person, the skin tone will look better than shown in these photos.
As I mentioned earlier, the THEATER DAY and THEATER NIGHT modes produced the most accurate skin tones out-of-the-box. Like many single laser DLP projectors, the skin tones out of the box was a little greenish, so the overall skin tones improved noticeably after calibration.
Also included is a variety of screenshots showing skin tones under different scene lighting.
Above are images of a variety of videos and photos in 4K and HD resolution. Like all our photos, they remain unadjusted for color, so they do not look as good as what the projector produced. All the HD and 4K images were taken with the 100L5F set to either THEATER DAY or THEATER NIGHT mode.
The Hisense 100L5F Laser TV has a rated brightness of 2,700 ANSI lumens. Just how close did the 100L5F come to hitting its target of 2,700 ANSI lumens? I set the projector to VIVID Mode, which is the brightest picture mode, and set the Light level at 20 which is its maximum. I then took 3-4 readings about 15-20% out from the center of the screen.
Hisense 100L5F Brightness (Vivid Mode, Maximum Light Level): 2,626 lumens
| Color Mode | Lumens |
| Vivid | 2626 |
| Standard | 2480 |
| Energy Saving | 2115 |
| Theater Day | 1714 |
| Game | 2516 |
| Sports | 2553 |
| Theater Night | 1422 |
The 100L5F measured 2,626 lumens, which is very close to Hisense’s brightness claim. This is more than enough brightness for viewing both SDR and HDR content on a UST 100” screen in a room with some ambient light. I also measured the brightness of several preset picture modes.
The 100L5F blacks were closer to dark gray than deep black. This was obvious when watching darker scenes at night in my room. There are home projectors in the 100L5F price point that can provide better black level and shadow detail, but they are not nearly as bright nor are they ultra-short throw units. While we have reviewed several home theater projectors many have much better black levels and higher contrast, but these are only beneficial in a darkened theater or room with lots of light control.
Hisense Laser TVs are designed to be a good home entertainment projector. They’re not intended to compete against a serious home theater projector in a dark room. This UST laser projector when paired with an ALR type screen is geared toward traditional rooms, living rooms, family rooms, or bedrooms – not a serious home theater/cave.
Most Hisense 100L5F Laser TV owners will likely utilize the projector in spaces that have higher ambient light which would prevent them from fully appreciating ultra-deep black levels anyway. In those environments, the extra brightness, longer-life, and lower maintenance provided by a DLP based Laser projector would likely be more beneficial.
My Screen Innovations Pro Solo2 UST screen which has a gain of 0.6 did improve the black level when viewing content in ambient light and in a darker room but it was at the expense of some screen brightness.
