Hisense R8F Roku TV review

Our Verdict

Boasting a quality film, a user-friendly Roku smart interface, and impressive gaming capabilities, the Hisense R8F Roku TV is a tempting Goggle box for its price.

For

Affordable
Proficient film quality and SDR color accurateness
Low input lag
User-friendly Roku integration

Against

Excessive light bloom
Unexceptional audio
Weak off-angle viewing

Tom'due south Guide Verdict

Boasting a quality picture, a user-friendly Roku smart interface, and impressive gaming capabilities, the Hisense R8F Roku TV is a tempting Television for its price.

Pros

+
Affordable
+
Skilful picture show quality and SDR colour accurateness
+
Low input lag
+
Convenient Roku integration

Cons

-
Excessive light bloom
-
Unexceptional sound
-
Weak off-angle viewing

Hisense R8F Roku Idiot box Specs

Model number: 65R8F
Price: $699.99
Screen size: 64.5 inches
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
HDR: Dolby Vision and HDR10
Refresh charge per unit: lx Hz
Ports: 4 HDMI 2.0b
Audio: xv watts x 2, due west/ Dolby Atmos
Smart TV software: Roku
Size: 56.9 ten 32.8 x 3 inches [west/o stand]
Weight: 43 pounds [w/o stand up]

You don't need to sacrifice all the features and picture quality of the best TVs if your bank business relationship isn't exactly bulging. If you're in the marketplace for a 4K set that delivers some solid wins but doesn't break the $700 price barrier, yous may not demand to look further than the Hisense R8F serial.

Armed with a bevy of intuitive smart features buoyed by the ubiquitous Roku technology and turning out a fine movie for the toll, the R8F series is a more-than-respectable entry in the midrange Television set realm. It'south not perfect—there's some hyperactive light flower and sound is just so-so—merely considering how picayune it costs, at that place'due south non much to complain about.

Hisense R8F Roku Television set review: Price and availability

For our review, we assessed the 65-inch version of the Hisense R8F Roku Television receiver, the 65R8F. The prepare is as well bachelor in a 55-inch model (the 55R8F), which shares many of the aforementioned cadre features simply has merely 56 dimming zones (compared with the 65R8F's lx). For that reason, we expect the performance of both versions to be comparable, and our recommendations for the 65R8F may also utilise to the smaller set.

55 inches: Hisense 4K 55R8F - $449.99

65 inches: Hisense 4K 65R8F - $649.99

Hisense R8F Roku TV review: Design

With an understated, unassuming design, the R8F should have no trouble fitting into any décor. Bezels on the tiptop and sides are thin (about 0.2 inch) and black; the one on the bottom is half an inch thicker and colored gunmetal gray, matching the 2 feet that connect to it on the lesser of either side.

Weighing in at 43 pounds, the R8F isn't unduly heavy (though, as always, you're better off getting someone to assist you booty it into position).

The back console is as well all black, and largely featureless, with a ridge near the top being the but meaning adornment beyond the holes for affixing the Idiot box to a 400 10 200 millimeter VESA mountain. Continue in mind, though, that as the Telly measures iii inches at its thickest point, the Goggle box will jut out a bit from the wall if you go that route.

Hisense R8F Roku TV review: Ports

On the correct side of the R8F is the jack for connecting the power cord. All the other fundamental ports are the left: Audio Out, USB, three HDMI, Headphone, and coaxial all angled toward the outer border, along with a Reset button; and, facing straight out, composite audio and video, Line Out, a fourth HDMI port, and Ethernet. If you'd adopt to connect your TV to the Internet via Wi-Fi, the R8F supports standards up to 802.11ac.

Hisense R8F Roku Television review: Performance

For a sub-$700 Tv set, the R8F delivers above-boilerplate film quality that's particularly noticeable in its handling of color. The fairytale-pastel palette of Disney's Onward, for example, actually pops, with the abundant purples of the atomic number 82 elven characters' skins contrasting nicely with the deeper greens and more than muted earth tones of their rugged adventure environment. Spider-Human: Into the Spider-Verse, boasting a very different kind of animation, looks better nonetheless, with its comics-inspired hues and sharp character outlines partnering perfectly with the percussive excitement of that pic'south near-nonstop motion.

We used an XRite i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometer, a SpectraCal VideoForge Pro blueprint generator, and CalMAN Ultimate calibration software to have more precise measurements and get a more than objective await at what the R8F tin do. Its Normal mode covers upwards of 99.nine% of the Rec. 709 color space, compared with 99.42% for Movie way. That's meliorate than what you'll run across with the highly capable Vizio 1000-Series Quantum (M658-G1) and the TCL 6-Series Roku Goggle box R625 review in the equivalent modes (up to 95.45% and 95.31%, respectively), though both TVs hold their own in their versions of Normal manner, with the Vizio roofing a full 99.92% and the TCL 99.96%.

Y'all'll see accurate colors on the R8F, too, particularly in Movie mode. The prepare's rating for Delta E, which relates the difference between the input colour and the displayed color (with lower values better), is 2.iv. This is well below the Vizio K-Series Quantum (3.vi), though a smidgen above the TCL (two.two); in any issue, it's a good upshot for a TV at this cost.

The colors stray a bit more when HDR is engaged. In HDR Normal style, colors were less than ideally saturated in both Rec. 709 and Rec. 2020, and color accuracy dipped beyond the lath, though not excessively so. It too covered a narrower slice of Rec. 2020, though that's on par with what we'd wait from a less-expensive Idiot box. The fix'southward colors do expect best when the pic is viewed from direct on, however, as they wash out quickly equally you approach the screen's edges (and accept on a distinct gray tint when viewed from much past the set's corners).

The R8F is compatible with two cardinal HDR formats, HDR10 and Dolby Vision, but bated from switching betwixt 3 supported picture modes, you have no control over information technology—HDR activates automatically when you play content that supports it. You can switch between 3 HDR modes, but you're probably best off sticking with Dark or Normal; I find the exaggerated colors of HDR Bright rather unappealing, especially when they transform the understated Onward into gaudy neon and make many of the lead actors in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker look similar anthropomorphic apricots traipsing through a Technicolor daymare.

Fast action, such as the race through the Pasaana desert almost the start of The Rise of Skywalker, and the fever-dream automobile chase that kicks off Netflix's 6 Underground, looks consistently crisp, with a minimum of smearing. The R8F also upscales Hard disk content well, with the frantic globe-hopping column of Mission: Impossible—Fallout clean and satisfying.

The picture on the R8F looks good under a multifariousness of lighting conditions, and it helps that the screen tin get decently bright. In our lab tests, we saw summit effulgence ratings in the range of mid to upper 400 nits (depending on the mode) in normal mode and hovering around the set's rated 700 nits for HDR. Aiding this are the Tv'due south 60 local dimming zones; only the outskirts of the two upper corners appeared unaccountably dark during our evaluation flow.

The significant exception equally far as paradigm quality is excessive light bloom. This is readily visible in scenes from Avengers: Endgame and The Rise of Skywalker, where the searing calorie-free of the background sunday tends to overwhelm darker details in the forepart of the frame. Luckily, it'due south only distracting in these somewhat uncommon circumstances, and otherwise doesn't backbite from the picture.

Non all TVs are platonic for gaming; we typically recommend that a set'south input lag time (every bit measured in its Game mode, if whatsoever, with a Leo Bodnar Lag Tester) be twenty milliseconds or less if you want to use it for that. The R8F comes in at 17.7 milliseconds, making it a surprisingly impressive choice in this area, equally well.

Hisense R8F Roku Television receiver review: Audio

Because how much even higher-terminate TVs can struggle to turn out killer audio, information technology'south no surprise that audio is often a notable sticking point for lower-end TVs. The R8F is no exception.

It certainly isn't bad; its trebles and mids are emphatic enough, just its bass presence is lacking. In bass-forrad tracks like The Knife's "Silent Shout," you get more than the proposition of a grounding thump than an essential office of the composition. This is most detectable at lower volume levels, and though it improves more equally you edge upward toward fifty%, it withal never dazzles.

Some distortion does creep into the upper limits of the set'due south book capacity, but the sound is acceptably articulate for music, voices, and sound furnishings akin.

For a better audio experience than the Hisense R8F tin provide on its own, nosotros recommend pairing the gear up with i of our all-time soundbars. All of these produce richer, fuller sound, and some tin accept reward of the R8F's Dolby Atmos support.

Hisense R8F Roku TV review: Smart TV features

Roku's smart Idiot box interface is a popular one among TV manufacturers, and ane that you tin can primary in no time. The starkly designed domicile screen presents a no-nonsense list of menu options on the left that let y'all scout live news and browse Fandango's movie and Idiot box stores. Through a tabular array of large icons on the right y'all have quick access to your various connected devices and integrated apps (or channels) for watching content from the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Disney+.

You can add together more than channels or apps from an in-depth catalog offering genres as diverse as music, games, one-act, news, and sports, simply Roku TV, even so broad, currently just goes and then far. The recently launched HBO Max and Peacock TV streaming services are both noticeably absent from Roku'southward stock of available channels, and there's no articulate word on when they may get in.

With this many choices, you may not feel like navigating through all menus manually. No problem—yous can apply your vocalization. Just hold downwardly the microphone button on the remote and say what you want to do. That's an unexpected, just not unwelcome, characteristic on a TV as cheap every bit this one in this cost range. Most budget-friendly Roku TVs don't include the remote control microphone for voice search, and competing sets from Vizio, such as the Vizio M-Series Quantum (M658-G1), as well lack vocalization interaction unless you pair the set with a carve up smart speaker.

Hisense R8F Roku Television set review: Remote control

The no-frills remote is of the standard Roku style: small in size, rectangular with curved corners, and black with a few splashes of color. Defended buttons most the lesser open the Netflix, ESPN, Hulu, and Roku Aqueduct apps with a unmarried press; other simple navigation controls, likewise as a microphone button for voice controls (see above), are located in a higher place it, and the book controls are on the correct side.

Hisense R8F Roku TV review: Verdict

For a bones Tv set, the Hisense R8F checks all the key boxes: affordable, good movie quality, and easy to use. Y'all won't get everything from it that you will with a more expensive ready — more than detailed perfection in terms of prototype quality, and audio that won't take you scrambling for a soundbar — but y'all also won't feel that anything substantial is missing. In fact, information technology's 1 of the best Roku TVs we've reviewed.

If yous can afford to shell out a fleck more than cash, the Vizio M-Series Breakthrough (M658-G1) remains one of our highest recommendations. Information technology gives y'all superior picture quality powered by quantum dot technology, half once more as many dimming zones (a total of 90), improved sound, and more than sophisticated smart functionality via SmartCast iii.0. But because it's slightly cheaper and possesses some tantalizing characteristics, the Hisense R8F remains a definite winner in our book.

Matthew Murray is the head of testing for Future, coordinating and conducting product testing at Tom'due south Guide and other Future publications. He has previously covered engineering and performance arts for multiple publications, edited numerous books, and worked as a theatre critic for more than than 16 years.