Hot on the heels last week of its announcement of a new range of premium king-sized “Laser TVs”, Hisense has today unveiled two more giant screens — both featuring genuinely ground-breaking technologies.
The most eye-catching of the two in terms of showcasing a new technology that we can expect to spread down to less gigantic and so more affordable/mainstream screens is the 116-inch 116UX, which as well as simply being huge also marks the consumer debut of Hisense’s new RGB Local Dimming Display Technology.
The key point about RGB Local Dimming is that unlike traditional LED display lighting systems that rely on white or blue backlights filtered through Quantum Dot filters to create color, it uses independent red, green and blue LEDs. By generating colors at source in this way, Hisense claims that the 116UX will be able to deliver richer reds, deeper greens and more vibrant blues, covering a remarkable 97% of the BT 2020 color space.
The BT2020 color space is, if you’re not aware, a much more expansive colour space than the DCI-P3 wide color system typically used for current HDR mastering, and assuming the the industry-leading 97% of BT2020 coverage claim proves true, it would make the 116UX pretty much future-proof when it comes to currently known HDR standards.
Described by Hisense as a “bridge between today’s MiniLED Advancements and the next frontier of Micro LED”, RGB Local Dimming Display Technology is achieved by squeezing tens of thousands of RGB Local Dimming optical lenses into the 116-inch screen, each containing individual red, blue and green LEDs. These lenses function as independently controlled clusters, allowing multi-level dimming at both the RGB chip level and the cluster level. This removes the various inefficiencies, color drifts and so on associated with traditional color filter systems. Resulting, reckons Hisense, in more lifelike images full of improved color gradients and contrast.
No more filters
Hisense also points out that generating colors directly at source gets round the usual loss of brightness associated with having to pass traditional backlights through external color filters, while being able to adjust brightness and colour independently through new color dimming technology greatly reduces the issue of backlight haloing around bright objects when they appear against dark backgrounds.
The RGB Local Dimming Display technology is apparently very energy efficient, too, due to only the LEDs that are actually required for any given image needing to be powered. Even your eyes should benefit from Hisense’s new LED approach, as it’s claimed to deliver a 38% reduction in harmful blue light emissions.
The brains behind the beauty
Driving the 116UX’s new type of LCD panel is Hisense’s latest flagship Hi-View AI Engine X chipset, which has been designed to optimize every image frame to the TV’s unique capabilities. Peak brightness, local dimming controls, color striping reduction and much more besides will all be taken care of by the Hi-View Engine X’s extensive AI-trained systems.
The 116UX’s new light engine is rated as being able to deliver a mighty peak brightness of up to 10,000 nits, with HDR format support extending to the Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ and IMAX Enhanced systems. The panel is an ultra-low glare design, too, thanks to premium low-reflection technology, and supports wider viewing angles than regular LCD models.
The 116UX is only 40mm deep despite supporting a 116-inch screen, and on the content side of things it carries more than 800 free live TV channels, a Google TV smart system delivering movies and shows available across more than 10,000 apps, and connectivity options that include HDMI eARC, Wi-Fi 6E and compatibility with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit.
There’s a serious built-in audio system to keep the ground-breaking pictures company, too, which features a 6.2.2 multi-channel CineStage X arrangement that can be fine tuned for your room using an AI Sound Optimization feature, and is compatible with Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X soundtracks.
The real MicroLED Mccoy
While the RGB Local Dimming Display Technology is pitched as a (hopefully more affordable) bridge between regular LED technology and futuristic MicroLED technology, Hisense has also chosen to use the CES 2025 to showcase its ongoing commitment to the full MicroLED deal. Somehow finding space on its CES booth alongside the 116UX is the 136-inch MicroLED 136MX. While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen MicroLED under a Hisense banner, it is the brand’s first truly consumer-ready MicroLED display. In other words, while Hisense (perhaps sensibly!) hasn’t revealed potential pricing for the 136MX yet, consumers with the necessary cash will actually be able to buy one.
The key point behind MicroLED technology, of course, is that it makes it possible to deliver true pixel-level light and color control without any of the brightness and lifespan-limiting organic elements associated with self-emissive OLED screen technology. The 136MX also deploys a high-density array of more than 24.88 million microscopic LEDs (having to work with such tiny materials is what’s making MicroLED technology so difficult to make mainstream) to deliver levels of brightness, resolution and accuracy that no other screen technology can achieve.
The display’s contrast ratio rates as nearly infinite, as it manages to put inky black colours right alongside dazzling brightness, even within the same shot, and as noted earlier, it’s able to deliver its intensity without any of the degradation or burn-in issues with static content that can impact OLED screens.
Like the 116UX the 136MX is claimed to be capable of delivering 10,000 nits of brightness and 95% of the BT2020 color space, while black nanocrystals in the screen reduce reflectivity so that you can get the full benefit of the screen’s extreme talents even in high levels of ambient light.
Same brains, different beauty
The 136MX also joins the 116UX in having its ground-breaking new panel driven by Hisense’s latest Hi-View AI Engine X chipset, which again works to optimise every frame of incoming picture to the screen’s unique capabilities. And just so there’s no lingering doubt that this really is a domesticated panel, the 136MX supports Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG HDR feeds, carries a Filmmaker Mode, supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X audio via its built-in audio system, and carries Hisense’s own VIDAA OS smart system, complete with all the main global streaming services.
There’s plenty of regular TV connectivity, too, including gaming-friendly HDMIs capable of taking 120Hz VRR gaming feeds and supporting FreeSync Premium Pro and Auto Low Latency Mode switching. And yes, gaming on a 136-inch MicroLED screen is an experience I very much hope I’ll get the chance to enjoy before 2025 is out…
Both of Hisense’s new flagship king-sized TVs will be on show at Hisense’s CES 2025 booth this week, though the brand hasn’t said yet when deep-pocketed AV fans might actually be able to buy them.
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