I want to start talking about color with my out-of-the-box observations. This projector's fantastic color capabilities are a noticeable improvement over the already incredible L9G. The detailed measurements we took below bear this out. We focus primarily on out-of-the-box performance. I must mention that the L9H color performance can be improved even better with minimal calibration. The Hisense L9H color performance is incredibly impressive, the best my editor and I've seen on a projector this year.
Hisense TriChroma laser projectors, including the L9H, display an amazing range of colors and shades.
If I could steal an analogy from our technical editor, Philip Jones, it would be like Hisense purchasing the biggest box of crayons possible and putting them in the hands of incredibly skilled artists. The artists, in this case, are the Hisense color science team.
The Hisense L9H's award-winning TriChroma laser technology displays its wide range of REC.2020 colors. The colors look fantastic out of the box, so you don't need to fiddle with settings for hours.
The L9H has preset modes for all kinds of content, eight for SDR and seven for HDR. Even in busy scenes, colors stay true, and skin tones look real, which helps you get caught up in the movie.
The colors look great, whether you pick the punchy HDR VIVID or the softer CINEMA NIGHT mode. The projector has been set up well, so you don't have to mess with things if you don't want to.
Special modes for bright rooms, like VIVID, GAME, and SPORTS, make things pop. However, they might look a bit blue. Try THEATER DAY or THEATER NIGHT for the best colors in a dark room. They'll make the picture dimmer, but the colors will be spot-on.
The Hisense L9H offers improved out-of-the-box color performance and color accuracy over the L9G, which was already pretty impressive. Overall, the color reproduction on the L9H is very good, as with most Tri-laser projectors where bright colors are over-saturated. In addition, I could calibrate this projector's color performance to even tighter tolerances than the previous model, which is reflected in the attached measurements. Way to go, Hisense!
Overall, the L9H's color modes are good enough for most people. While you can fine-tune things if you're picky, the out-of-the-box picture is awesome enough to build a home theater you'll love.
We used Portrait Displays Calman color calibration software to measure the color accuracy of the Hisense L9H before and after adjustment.
Since your room and screen material significantly impact the overall picture, we don't recommend using someone else's calibration adjustments. If your room is brighter/darker or your walls are a different color, your settings would probably be different.
Also, the color characteristics of different individual projectors can vary. Therefore, copying someone else's results can be detrimental to the picture quality rather than improving it. The charts below show my measurements before and after calibration.
Out-of-the-box color performance, the primary thing we focus on here at Projector Reviews, was excellent.
The most accurate picture modes were THEATER NIGHT and FILMMAKER. The THEATER DAY mode is a good option when viewing content under ambient lighting. Skin tones are good overall, but due to the reduced brightness, these modes work best in environments.
With the lights out and shades closed, the STANDARD preset picture mode was the best choice for everyday usage. It works well even with some lights on and my windows open.
The VIVID, GAME, and SPORTS modes are the brightest and are designed to fight through high ambient light. These more brilliant modes are bluer in tone, but not so much that it becomes a problem.
If you want to make quick BRIGHTNESS, CONTRAST, and SHARPNESS adjustments to improve the picture quality of your projector in your room, there are several free test patterns available on t the Murideo website and their YouTube channel. Murideo also has written instructions in the resource section of its website. Also, check out our YouTube video on utilizing several test patterns called Optimize The Image of a Projector or TV Using Free Murideo Test Patterns.
When evaluating color reproduction, a Delta E measurement of 3 or less is considered ‘Excellent’ and imperceptible by the human eye. Even before any adjustment, the average Grayscale Delta E was around 3, and the average Color Training Delta E was less than two, which is excellent. While the L9H also did a good job tracking colors, some brighter colors remained oversaturated even after adjustment.
Film buffs might want to tweak the settings to make things just how they like them, but for most users, the colors as they are will be high enough quality for most home entertainment applications. Compared to other Laser TVs at the same price point, the L9H SDR color reproduction is so accurate that for most people, there isn’t a need to color calibrate it more than Hisense did at the factory.
Hisense has done a lot to improve the performance of the L9H over its previous model, providing impressive performance tweaks to mostly identical hardware. Undoubtedly, the overall performance boost offered by the L9H is impressive. However, I was disappointed when I read that the company had not improved the projector's brightness. I had hoped for the same 10% bump in brightness, if not even a little higher, the company provided in the recently released PX2-PRO. However, hopes and expectations do not reflect reality, and if you would like to have more brightness, consider the following: higher light output is different from higher accuracy. Once one of these super high bright RGB laser light sources is calibrated, actual ANSI lumen performance will typically decrease.
Also, Hisense is one of the best video projector manufacturers and one of the largest component suppliers in the projection industry, they also build a lot of projectors for other companies. When light source technology significantly improves, Hisense will likely be one of, if not the first, company to adopt it.
The L9H's 3,000 ANSI lumens peak brightness allows Hisense engineers to incrementally achieve a better black floor along with good highlight and dark area detail, especially when viewed in a light-controlled space.
To determine the L9H's brightness capabilities, I set the projector to SDR VIVID mode, the projector's brightest picture mode. Since we are primarily concerned about the customer's out-of-the-box experience, I did not adjust the projector contrast or light level beyond the projector's built-in preset modes. I then took three to four readings about 15-20% out from the center of the lens.
I expected to get roughly the same measurements as the L9G, but my space differs from Phil Jone's, who reviewed the L9G. The L9H measured 3,125 ANSI lumens in my space, 125 ANSI lumens brighter than Hisense's brightness claim. This variance is well within the accepted margins for error and can easily be attributed to the environmental difference in my space versus Phil's. And this still exceeds the manufacturer's rated brightness.
I also measured the brightness of several preset picture modes.
