Hisense today announced its first ULED Roku TVs, featuring 4K resolution, Dolby Vision for HDR and Dolby Atmos for audio. The 55-inch R8F will run $499 when it's available in December, and the 65-inch model will cost $699. The sets will be available on Amazon and at Walmart.
The R8 line features a "large number of local dimming zones" — it appears to have 60 in the 65-inch model, according to the product page — and should do up to 700 nits of brightness, which is standard for HDR content.
And it's running the Roku operating system built in, so you won't have to use any other sort of streaming box to watch all the things — unless Roku just doesn't do it for you.
The R8 line will go up squarely against the likes of the TCL 6-Series , which is similar in price but has switched to a QLED panel in its latest iteration.
Hisense Unveils R8 Series Televisions, First ULED® 4K Hisense Roku TV Models
ATLANTA - (Nov. 25, 2019) - Hisense, the fastest growing TV brand among the top six brands in the U.S. in both units and dollars for the past 12 months combined ending September 2019*, introduces the latest addition to their portfolio of premium ULED® televisions: the R8F 4K Hisense Roku TV™. Combining stellar picture quality from Hisense with the Roku OS, the R8F provides incredible color, a detailed picture and fluid motion during action, sports and gaming sequences. As Hisense's first 4K ULED Roku TV model, the R8F is a testament to the company's five decades of innovation, expertise and product excellence.
"At Hisense, we understand that what matters most to viewers is the experience they have while watching TV," said David Gold, Hisense USA Vice President, Consumer Electronics. "By partnering with Roku, we've combined our superior performance and quality with a world of content. The result is the R8F, which delivers an immersive viewing experience that's perfect for relaxing with the family, enjoying a game, or experiencing your favorite movie or TV series."
The Roku OS provides access to 500,000+ movies and TV episodes via thousands of free or paid channels including live TV, news, sports, hit movies, popular shows and more. Search across top channels to find entertainment for free or in order of price. There are hundreds of free channels, including The Roku Channel, the home for free and premium entertainment on the Roku platform. Featured Free offers one-click-access to free entertainment, including high-quality movies, shows and in-season network content from channels across the Roku platform. These new Hisense Roku TV models work with Google Assistant and are compatible with Amazon Alexa-enabled devices.
"This Hisense R8 television establishes an exciting new standard as a flagship model for Hisense, with incredible brightness and support for wide dynamic range features that can deliver a beautiful picture," said David Sharp, VP of product management for Roku TV. "With the large library of 4K movies and TV shows available on the Roku platform, combined with support for features like HDR10, consumers should really enjoy this ULED 4K Roku TV."
The R8F elevates the viewing experience with several premium features:
- ULED: Proprietary to Hisense, ULED technology takes an already great image and improves it in real-time, resulting in a brighter picture, higher contrast, smoother motion and better visual processing.
- High-View Engine: The R8F automatically adjusts picture and sound settings based on the content without the need for complex menu adjustments. Sports fans see smoother motion, movie lovers see greater contrast and gamers immerse themselves in more vivid imagery and ultra-low lag times – all with seamlessly tuned audio.
- Wide Color Gamut: The R8F increases the total array of colors and hues on display to over 1 billion, meaning HDR content has brighter highlights, wider color-range and a deeper level of contrast for a more realistic image.
- Full Array Local Dimming: With a large number of local dimming zones, the R8F offers better control of which areas of the screen are brighter and which remain darker, resulting in superior black detail and enhanced picture sharpness.
- Dolby Atmos™: Dolby Atmos creates powerful, moving audio that fills your room and flows around you.
- Dolby Vision™ High Dynamic Range: Dolby Vision HDR transforms your TV experience with dramatic imaging that brings entertainment to life.
Roku Platform Features:
- Simple Home Screen: With Roku TV, it's easy for consumers to watch what they love. The home screen lets people quickly switch between icons for cable, antenna, and gaming, as well as streaming channels. Consumers can stream free TV, live news, sports, and 500,000+ movies and TV episodes across thousands of channels.
- Roku Zones: Search for a genre or topical subject for a curated selection of relevant content from channels across the Roku platform. Roku Zones are organized into browsable, categorized rows that may include new releases, titles that are free to watch, rentals and more.
- 4K Spotlight Channel: A content-first, hand-curated selection of brilliant 4K entertainment from channels across the Roku platform, including categories such as Most Popular, Action, Drama, TV shows, 4K channels and more.
- Roku Voice: Roku TV customers can use their voice remote or Roku mobile app to quickly set a sleep timer on their TV by saying things like "Go to sleep at 11 p.m." They can also find movie results by searching for the top quotes from thousands of popular movies across the Roku platform.
- Easy-to-use remote: Designed to fit comfortably in the hand, the simple Roku remote has everything people need to stream and control their TV, including one-touch access to popular channels like Netflix.
- Free Roku mobile app: Control Roku TV, enjoy private listening with headphones, use Roku Voice, and more on iOS® and Android™.
The Hisense R8F 4K Ultra HD Roku TV will be available mid-December on Amazon.com and Walmart.com for $499.99 MSRP (55") and $699.99 MSRP (65").
To learn more about Hisense, the new R8F 4K Ultra HD Roku TV, and all of Hisense's premium offerings, visit Hisense-usa.com and follow @HisenseUSA on Facebook and YouTube and @Hisense_USA on Instagram and Twitter.
ABOUT HISENSE USA CORPORATION AND HISENSE COMPANY, LTD.
Hisense USA Corporation is a subsidiary of Hisense Company, Ltd., established in 1969 and headquartered in Qingdao, China. Hisense USA Corporation offers an innovative range of technology products that disrupt the consumer electronics industry, challenge the competition and provide significant value to consumers.
Roku is a registered trademark and Roku TV is a trademark of Roku, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Dolby, Dolby Audio, and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories.
*Source: The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. Retail Tracking Service, LCD TV, Based on Adjusted Sales of the top 6 brands, October 2018 – September 2019.
