Hisense 50R7E 50-inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV HDR (2019)

4.0 out of 5 stars

By DukeOfStratosfear - Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2019

Amazing quality and features for the price

Full disclosure: I bought this model from another retail outlet but felt it could use a review since there aren’t any. I had an LG 42-Inch 1080p LCD TV for the last 9 years and while it has served me somewhat faithfully, its age was starting to show. It had outdated wireless capabilities; if you tried to stream movies, there was some stuttering. This was solved by plugging in an ethernet cable from the router. The web apps didn’t work particularly well. Overall, it was just a bit slow. Over the last couple years, I’ve been concerned that my hearing is starting to go because I’ve been having trouble understanding what’s being said on various TV shows. I recently was at my in-laws and as the resident technical “expert” I was tasked with finding them a replacement TV. I’ve been looking for a new TV for myself, so I was somewhat familiar with the latest Samsung/TCL/LG/Vizio offerings having browsed ratings at the RTINGS site. I went to Walmart and looked at the wall of TV offerings and I kept going back to the Hisense unit, which I hadn’t heard of. The picture looked great and the price was very low. I saw a review from Tech Radar that seemed very positive, so I bought it figuring we could just return it if it was a dud. I got the 43-inch R6E Hisense Roku TV and was blown away by the quality. I was so impressed, once I got home, I bought the 50-inch R7E unit which has 10 watt speakers compared to the 7 watt speakers on the smaller model. I'm not sure if there are any major differences between the R6E and the R7E units. Here’s a few thoughts: 1. The Hisense TVs have all the inputs I wanted: HDMI, A/V, headphone, USB, coaxial/antenna, ethernet. I was happy to have the headphone jack because I have a Bluetooth transmitter that I use with Bluetooth headphones to watch TV without waking anyone up, which works great with this TV. I want to say the slight lag I had with the LG TV isn’t apparent with this unit and the transmitter. 2. The screen quality blew me away. I watched a few of the “Our Planet” shows on Netflix and was slack jawed by the detail and richness of the colors. A definite upgrade from the LG screen. You will get some reflection from the screen if it’s near a window. There’s a definite drop-off in quality if you’re looking at the screen from an angle. 3. The sound is crystal clear and can get loud without much distortion/muffling/buzzing. I can stream music through this unit using the Spotify app with very clean results. 4. I figured, for the price, there had to be some shortcomings somewhere, so I was pleasantly surprised once again to have quite advanced control over the picture (backlight, brightness, contrast, sharpness, dynamic contrast, color and tint) and the sound settings (DTS TruSurround, dialog clarity, TruVolume). Your customized tweaks get saved. 5. You get one controller, the standard Roku one, to run the TV. It’s fine because it’s familiar but it can be a bit plodding to get to the different channels. I also use an antenna to get local stations and it works great with a nice grid layout that shows you what the current show is and what’s coming up. 6. The different “web” apps work pretty well. I’ve linked my Google Photos account to the TV so I can look at videos and photos. The quality there isn’t as good as I would expect, but that’s something the developer would need to address. You can browse YouTube videos either through your own account or through a guest one, which is great with good quality. I’ve also streamed video from my Windows 10 laptop to the TV using the “Project to second screen” function in Windows 10 and it works flawlessly. 7. I have a number of movies I stream from a storage unit (using Twonky media server) that I connect to the TV with an ethernet cable and use the Roku media player. The only videos I’ve had trouble streaming are those with a DTS audio stream that, once converted, work fine. The Hisense TV supports the following audio formats -- AAC, eAAC+, FLAC, MIDI, MP3, WMA, WAV -- but I’m not sure what the bitrate limits might be. This Roku media player didn’t work with my LG TV, so I’m glad it works with the Hisense TV because it has resume function so you can pick up with a movie where you left off. While it’s not an OLED screen, so you don’t get those deep blacks and better viewing angles, but for the price you get pretty darn good quality with a rich set of features that should suffice for people who have a TV that’s showing its age and want to upgrade.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By Tstewart - Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019

Good tv for $269

Your browser does not support HTML5 video. For $269 it's a good tv. My only issue is that there are two light dots in the middle of the screen. The one on the right you can barely see but you can see the one on the left. Watch my video for my full review. All in all it's a good tv. I hope this review helps.

3.0 out of 5 stars

By Orphan - Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2019

Nice TV, but I'm really bummed...

As soon as I plug in in and turn it on I notice part of the frame is slightly off from the screen you can literally see the backlighting coming through. Somehow the picture quality is unaffected. I guess that's a compliment to the build quality. The picture is nice, and it handles 4k well. I really just wish it didn't have this crack in it though. I would just send it back, but that is a whole other bundle of stress that I REALLY don't feel like dealing with. I guess I'll just live with it 😒

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Julie Stratton - Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2019

I love this new 4K Roku TV!

While I initially thought 43" was a bit wider than I wanted, I bought this one because it offered 4K with HDR and ARC, which I thought would be a nice upgrade for not that much more money. I can happily say, I love this TV! The picture is crystal clear when playing higher resolution films, the colors and tint are entirely customizable, the ARC feature is a nice touch so that you can control your TV volume from the stereo by plugging in a ARC HDMI cable into the ARC port on the TV and the other end into the stereo. I used to have a "smart" HDTV, but Roku is soooo much better! It is like having cable without having to pay for it, but also having the option to buy a service with a range or channels (via one of the apps) or buying individual cable channels to watch, so it accommodates your interests in both ways. There are a few preset color/tint profiles like "Sports", "Movies," etc for you to start with, and customize, so you can just switch profile when switching venue, like when you play a dvd vs watching sports. One thing to keep in mind is that if you are playing old movies (for example) on this, then you will not really see the quality resolution as much, because it doesn't improve what isn't there. Another note, you really need high speed internet, like Cable or Fiber Optic to be able to stream in 4K. The HDR feature adds deeper/truer colors/tints to the screen image and really makes movies look more real, and not so dark or blue as often comes across on televisions. All I can say, is I would by anther Roku again, perhaps even this brand. This has been a great viewing experience! Thank you so much for making it affordable! The TV has a USB port which can be used to either boost reception for an anttena for more remote areas or to plug in a jump drive to use in various ways. One way the USB port can be used is to enable an ability to pause or replay local tv. To activate this, you just press oause while watching tv and a menu pops up called 'Live TV Pause' and it walks you through how to set it up. Alternatively, if you saw something on the local TV that was in progress and you wanted to watch it from the beginning, you just press star button on the remote and the Roku will list all of the channel apps you have that have it available and whether or not they are free. Just select the channel you want, and it immediately begins to play from the beginning. Another aspect I found intesresting is that when I was binge watching a tv series and letting one episode autoplay after another, the TV actually paused and printed on the screen "Are you still there?" I guess to make sure I hadn't fallen asleep or walked away. With a Roku, you have access to hundreds of apps to download, some free, some not. Some of these apps include: Prime Video (you have to be a Amazon Prime member), Vudu or Movies Anywhere (free access to ultraviolet movies you own on the cloud), Hoopla (free with a library account), Netflix (small monthly fee), popcornflix (free), Tubi (free), Crackle (free)" Redbox (movie rentals), Google Play Movies and TV (rent or buy movies), PBS (free), The CW (free), CW Seed (free), the Roku Channel (free), local news channels (typically free). Weather channels (typically free), sports channels typically not free), Philo (free), Fawesome (free), Filmrise (free), CCN (Classic Conedy Network) (free), AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos) (free), premium cable like STARZ or HBO (for a low monthly fee), Hulu (for a monthly fee), Sling (Rent and on demand TV from popular channels), YouTube TV (live TV with DVR storage for a monthly fee), learning apps (like TED, the Great Courses, Lynda.com, and apps to learn languages, investing, or science), history apps (like All Roads Lead to Rome, Wow I Never Knew That!), You Tube (free), Amazon Music (free music streaming app requires Amazon account, can stream Prime Music free or buy songs or play songs you own), Spotify (free music streaming), Crunchyroll (monthly fee for Anime), yoga, exercise, nutition and health apps, classic film apps (black and white), etc. Basically, there are a good variety of apps to cover things you might be interested in. The TV was delivered fairly quickly and was undamaged. The package was surprisingly light, for it's wide bulk, and as with all new flat screen TVs, you have to be delicate with it when removing it from the box, placing it face down, and attaching its feet to avoid damaging the tube part of the screen. With large TVs like this one, it is recommended that you have two people to remove the TV from the box for setup.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Caitlyn - Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2019

LOVED; but had to replace!

I absolutely love this TV. Full disclosure; I initially found it at Walmart. I'm a gamer and my TV from the late 90s/Early 2000s was fantastic for my classic consoles, and was fine for tv watching. However, I recently got a Switch and needed an upgrade. Before choosing this TV I had assumed I would go with a Samsung, as I had always loved their products. When I went to go see TVs in person, I was actually far more impressed with the picture quality of this Hisense model! I saved for a while and when it came time, Amazon had the best price(I paid $286). Upon delivery it weighed about what a large bucket of cat litter weighs. Out of box set up was fairly easy(be cautious, the legs aren't the best). When I went to plug it in I was immediately disappointed as it had a crack in it. Discussed it with family members who urged me to send it back and have it replaced. Ultimately give 4.8 stars. Great quality, great price, sad delivery.