Hisense 116" Review

The 116-inch Hisense UX is a $30,000 giant with a killer 165Hz panel for gaming, but its overall picture quality is just average. You're paying a massive premium for size and a few standout specs, while core performance areas like audio lag behind. For most people, a top-tier 83-inch OLED is a smarter buy.

Hisense is swinging for the fences with the UX Series, a 116-inch behemoth that's less of a TV and more of a home cinema installation. The headline specs are wild: an 8,000-nit peak brightness target and a native 165Hz refresh rate. It's built around a new RGB MiniLED panel, which uses individual red, green, and blue LEDs instead of the more common filtered white ones, promising a serious jump in color purity.

At a cool $30,000, this isn't a casual purchase. It's a statement piece aimed squarely at home theater enthusiasts and hardcore gamers who want the biggest, brightest screen possible. The specs sheet reads like a wishlist, but our data shows its real-world performance is a mixed bag, with some areas punching well above average and others falling surprisingly short.

Let's start with the good news: this thing is a gaming monster. With a 165Hz native panel, VRR support, and a gaming score in the 88th percentile, it's one of the best displays we've seen for high-frame-rate PC or console gaming. The Hi-View AI Engine X processor also promises a big boost in processing speed for upscaling and motion handling.

Now, the reality check. For a TV that's all about its revolutionary panel, the overall picture quality and display scores are just middle of the pack, landing in the 43rd and 37th percentiles respectively. That 8,000-nit brightness is a peak figure, and sustained performance might not live up to the hype. The HDR score is strong at the 75th percentile, but the audio, at the 28th percentile, is a real weak spot. You're getting a massive screen with great gaming specs, but the core viewing experience isn't leading the market like the marketing suggests.

The value equation here is simple and brutal. At $30,000, you are paying an astronomical sum primarily for the 116-inch canvas and the gaming refresh rate. You can get similarly impressive HDR performance and far better overall picture quality from high-end 77-inch or 83-inch OLEDs from LG and Sony for a fraction of the price. Hisense is charging a pioneer's tax for its RGB MiniLED tech and the engineering required to build a screen this large. For that money, the middling scores in core areas like picture quality and audio are hard to justify.

Stacked against the competition, the UX's trade-offs are clear. The 77-inch LG OLED C5 will destroy it in contrast and perfect blacks, and the Sony BRAVIA 8 will likely offer better motion processing and upscaling, both for under $4,000. The Samsung S95F QD-OLED offers stunning brightness and color at a similar high-end price point but in a much more conventional size. Even TCL's high-end QD-MiniLED models offer compelling brightness and contrast at a fraction of the cost per inch. The Hisense wins on raw size and gaming refresh rate, but loses on almost every other metric of performance per dollar. The SYLVOX outdoor TV isn't even in the same category.

Skip this if you care about balanced performance. Its audio is a real letdown, and its overall picture quality is merely solid, not best-in-class. If your budget is under $10,000, or if you value perfect blacks and cinematic contrast over raw size, a high-end OLED is a much better fit. Also, if your room isn't massive, a 116-inch screen is completely impractical. This is a niche product for a very specific, deep-pocketed enthusiast.

The Hisense UX Series is a fascinating tech demo that's hard to recommend as a purchase. Its gaming performance is genuinely excellent, and the HDR brightness potential is strong. But for thirty thousand dollars, we expect a TV to excel across the board, not just in one or two niche areas. The average scores in picture quality and the poor audio performance are deal-breakers at this price. If you have a dedicated theater room, an unlimited budget, and your primary use is PC gaming on a colossal scale, it's worth a look. For everyone else, a combination of a premium 83-inch OLED and a high-end soundbar will provide a vastly superior and more balanced experience for less than half the cost.