The Hisense U6G is an entry-level TV in Hisense's 2021 ULED lineup. It's a budget-friendly model that delivers better picture quality than most other low-cost TVs, and it rivals more expensive options, but it's limited on extra features. It has a VA panel that performs well both in dark and bright rooms as it displays deep blacks for a great dark room viewing experience, and even in bright rooms, it gets bright enough to fight glare. It comes with Android TV as its built-in smart interface, which has a ton of apps available to download but takes a bit of time to learn. It supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, so it can stream your favorite content no matter which format it's in. Unfortunately, it's limited to a 60Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.0 bandwidth, so you can't use it for high-frame-rate gaming, and it doesn't support any variable refresh rate (VRR) technology to reduce screen tearing.
The Hisense U6G is a great TV for most uses. It's a great TV for watching sports or TV shows in a bright room because it gets bright enough to fight glare, but it's not good for wide seating arrangements as it has narrow viewing angles, meaning the image looks washed out from the sides. It's a great choice for watching movies in a dark room because it displays deep blacks, but small highlights don't pop in HDR. It's also an impressive gaming TV, with low input lag and a great response time for smooth motion handling. However, it doesn't support HDMI 2.1 bandwidth or variable refresh rate technology, which is disappointing if you have an Xbox Series X or PS5.
The Hisense U6G is good for watching TV shows. It has decent reflection handling and great peak brightness, meaning glare won't be an issue in most rooms. Older cable TV shows are upscaled well, and the built-in Google Play Store has a huge selection of streaming apps, so you're sure to find your favorite streaming service. Unfortunately, it has narrow viewing angles, meaning it's not the best choice for a wide seating arrangement because the image looks inaccurate when viewing from the sides.
The Hisense U6G is a good TV for watching sports. It has decent reflection handling and great peak brightness, so glare isn't an issue if you have a few lights around. It also has a fast response time, which results in clear motion with little blur. On the other hand, the image degrades when viewed at an angle, so it's not the best choice for watching the game with friends in a wide seating arrangement because you'll see an inaccurate image from the sides.
The Hisense U6G is a great gaming TV. It has low input lag for a responsive feel. It also has a great response time with smooth motion handling, but there's still smearing with fast-moving objects on dark backgrounds. It's also great for dark room gaming as it displays deep blacks, and the local dimming feature improves the contrast. Unfortunately, it doesn't support any advanced gaming features, like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth or variable refresh rate technology, so you won't get a tear-free gaming experience or play 4k @ 120 fps games.
The Hisense U6G is a great TV for watching HDR movies. It has excellent contrast and outstanding black uniformity, which helps it display deep blacks with minimal blooming, and it has a decent local dimming feature to improve the contrast. It displays a wide color gamut, so you'll get the wide range of colors needed in most movies. Unfortunately, it can't get very bright, so small highlights in some scenes don't stand out much.
The Hisense U6G is a great TV for HDR gaming. It delivers a responsive gaming experience, thanks to the low input lag and fast response time. HDR content looks great, with excellent contrast and outstanding black uniformity for deep blacks, and it displays a wide range of colors. However, it can't get very bright in HDR, so small highlights don't stand out as well as they should. Also, it's not the best choice for next-gen console gamers, as it doesn't have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and it's limited to a 60Hz panel, so you can't use it for high-frame-rate gaming.
The Hisense U6G is a very good TV for use as a PC monitor. It has a great response time and outstanding low input lag, both of which are important for a responsive feel. It has decent reflection handling and high peak brightness, so visibility isn't a problem in a well-lit room. Unfortunately, the BGR pixel structure isn't ideal for text clarity as some Windows programs don't support it, so text looks blurry. It also has narrow viewing angles, so the sides of the screen appear non-uniform if you're sitting too close.
We tested the 65 inch Hisense U6G (65U6G), and the results are also valid for the 50 inch (50U6G), the 55 inch (55U6G), and the 75 inch (75U6G) models too. In Canada, it's known as the Hisense U68G, and it performs the same. Unfortunately, Hisense releases different product lines in various regions, so the results aren't valid for any models outside the United States and Canada. There's a different North American model called the Hisense U6GR, but it's completely different because it has VRR support and uses Roku TV.
Size | US Model | Local Dimming Zones | Panel Type | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
50" | 50U6G | 32 | VA | Subpixel dithering affects text clarity |
55" | 55U6G | 32 | VA | |
65" | 65U6G | 60 | VA | |
75" | 75U6G | 60 | VA or ADS* |
There are reports that the 50 inch model has issues with subpixel dithering, negatively impacting the text clarity in PC Mode, but the other sizes don't have this problem. Also, there have been reports that some 75 inch units have an ADS panel (IPS-family). We've received confirmation of both VA and ADS panels, so we're not sure why some units are ADS and some are VA. If you get a 75 inch model with an ADS panel, it'll have a worse contrast with better viewing angles.
If you come across a different type of panel or your Hisense U6G doesn't correspond to the review, let us know, and we'll update the review. Note that some tests like the gray uniformity may vary between individual units.
The unit we reviewed was manufactured in January 2021, and you can see the label here.
The Hisense U6G is an impressive budget TV. While it lacks some of the more advanced gaming features found on the higher-end Hisense ULED models like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth or VRR support, it's a great choice for watching movies or TV shows or if you just aren't interested in the next-gen consoles. Overall, it offers better value than most budget TVs.
See our recommendations for the best 4k TVs, the best 65 inch TVs, and the best 4k gaming TVs.
The Hisense U6/U6H is a newer version of the Hisense U6G, and it's mainly the same TV with a few differences. The U6H performs worse in a few areas like its peak brightness, black uniformity, response time, and gradient handling, which is disappointing. However, the U6H has a few more features like VRR support and eARC support, as well as an updated version of Google TV. If you care about picture quality, go for the U6G, but if you need those features, the U6H is the better option.
The Hisense U6G and the Hisense U6GR are very similar TVs because they sit alongside each other in the 2021 Hisense ULED lineup. Picture quality is similar because they each have a VA panel with a high contrast ratio. Local dimming is decent on both, but it's slightly better on the U6GR because there's less blooming. The U6GR has a few more features, like VRR and eARC support, which the U6G doesn't have, but the U6G has better performance in a few areas, like its response time and out-of-the-box accuracy, and it doesn't have any issues upscaling 480p content. The U6G also uses Android TV, while the U6GR has Roku TV, and the U6G supports Bluetooth, which the U6GR doesn't.
The Hisense U6G and the Hisense U7G are very similar overall, with a few minor differences between them. The U6G has better black uniformity, but the U7G has better contrast, it's a bit brighter in SDR and a lot brighter in HDR. The U7G is also slightly better for gaming, with a higher native refresh rate, FreeSync support, and two HDMI 2.1 ports.
The Hisense U7H is better than the Hisense U6G. The U7H gets brighter in HDR and SDR, so highlights pop more with HDR content and the TV overcomes glare better with SDR content in a bright room. The U7H is also the better option for gaming, as it supports HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, VRR, and 120Hz gaming.
The Hisense U6G is better than the Samsung TU7000. The Hisense has a better contrast ratio and a local dimming feature, so it’s better for a dark room. The Hisense is also better for a well-lit room since it gets a lot brighter in SDR and has better reflection handling, so it’s much better at overcoming glare. The Hisense gets brighter in HDR, has a wider color gamut, and better color volume, so colors in HDR content are more vibrant and lifelike, and highlights pop more than they do on the Samsung. The Hisense is also the better option for gaming due to its faster response time.
The Hisense U8G is better than the Hisense U6G. The U8G can remove judder from any source, it has an optional motion interpolation feature, it's brighter, and it has a better local dimming feature. The U8G is also more future-proof, especially for gaming, as it has 2 HDMI 2.1 ports, it can display 4k @ 120Hz signals from the next-gen consoles, and it supports variable refresh rate technology (VRR).
The Hisense U6G is better than the Hisense A6G overall, but as they use different panel technologies, the A6G might be a better choice for some people. The U6G uses a VA panel, resulting in much better contrast and better black uniformity, making it the better choice for a dark room. The A6G uses an IPS panel, so it might be a better choice if you have a wide seating arrangement, as the image remains accurate at an angle.
The Hisense U6G is significantly better than the Hisense A6H in almost every way. The U6G delivers much better picture quality, with deeper blacks and brighter highlights in HDR. The U6G looks much better in a bright room, thanks to its higher peak brightness and better reflection handling. HDR looks better thanks to its decent full-array local dimming feature and higher HDR brightness, so bright highlights stand out and look closer to the content creator's intent.
The Hisense U6G is much better than the TCL 5 Series/S535 2020 QLED. The Hisense is a lot brighter, has slightly better reflection handling, better black uniformity, and better gray uniformity. On the other hand, the TCL has better contrast, although this isn't a very noticeable difference, and it can remove judder from 60Hz sources, like a cable box.
The Hisense U6G and the TCL 6 Series/R646 2021 QLED are both great TVs. They have similar characteristics, but there are a few differences between them. The TCL has Mini LED backlighting that allows it to get much brighter, especially in HDR, making highlights pop more. They each have decent local dimming features, but the one on the Hisense does a better job at displaying deeper blacks than on the TCL. The Hisense also doesn't have issues upscaling 480p content, which the TCL has issues. The main advantage the TCL has over the Hisense is a 120Hz panel with HDMI 2.1 inputs and VRR support, none of which the Hisense has.
The Hisense U6G is better than the Samsung AU8000. The Hisense is better for use in a dark room as it has a much higher contrast ratio and a local dimming feature, so blacks are much deeper. The Hisense is also better for watching HDR content as it has a wider color gamut, better color volume, and has a higher HDR peak brightness, so colors are more vibrant and lifelike, and bright highlights pop more than on the AU8000. On top of that, the Hisense is better for gaming because of its faster response time and the ability to play games in 1440p.
The Hisense U6G is much better overall than the Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2022. It delivers better picture quality thanks to its local dimming feature and improved brightness, so highlights pop and colors look more vivid. The Hisense also doesn't have trouble upscaling lower-resolution content like on the Vizio, which is ideal if you watch DVDs or cable TV.
The Hisense U6G is significantly better than the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series. The Hisense has a full array local dimming feature, slightly better reflection handling, and it's significantly brighter. The Hisense also has better black uniformity, much better accuracy, and it can be fully calibrated, whereas the Omni Series only supports a basic white balance calibration.
The Hisense U6G is much better than the Insignia F50 QLED. The Hisense has a full array local dimming feature, which helps to improve contrast and black uniformity, and it's a lot brighter, especially in HDR. The Hisense also has an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion, and it can remove judder from 24p sources, like a Blu-ray player.
The Hisense U6G is better than the Hisense H8G. The U6G has much better black uniformity and better reflection handling, so it's a bit more versatile. The U6G also has a slightly faster response time, and the unit we tested has better gray uniformity.
The Hisense U6G is significantly better than the Vizio V5 Series 2021. The Hisense has more features like full-array local dimming, a wide color gamut for HDR content, and the built-in Android TV has a Google Play Store. The Hisense gets significantly brighter, so it's a better choice for watching HDR content or using it in well-lit rooms. Lastly, the Hisense even has a quicker response time for smoother motion.
The Hisense U6G is much better than the Amazon Fire TV 4-Series. The Hisense has a full array local dimming feature, better black uniformity, and it's much brighter. The Hisense also has much better accuracy, even after calibration. Finally, the Hisense has a faster response time, and the unit we bought has better gray uniformity.
The Hisense U6G is significantly better than the LG UQ9000. The Hisense delivers much better picture quality, especially for watching movies in a dark room, as it has significantly better contrast and a full-array local dimming feature. The Hisense also has higher peak brightness, so bright highlights in HDR stand out. Even though both models lack any advanced gaming features, the Hisense has a much faster response time, meaning there's less blur behind fast-moving objects.
The Hisense U6G is a bit better than the TCL 6 Series/R635 2020 QLED. The Hisense has much better black uniformity, slightly better reflection handling, and a better local dimming feature. On the other hand, the TCL has better contrast, although this isn't a very noticeable difference, and the TCL can remove judder from more sources, including 60Hz sources like a cable box.
The Hisense U6G is better overall than the Vizio M7 Series Quantum 2021. The Hisense is a much better choice to use in well-lit rooms because it gets much brighter. The Hisense also has a better local dimming feature, but the Vizio displays deeper blacks because it has higher native contrast. Motion looks smoother on the Hisense thanks to the quicker response time, but the Vizio has more gaming features like VRR support.
The Hisense U6G is much better overall than the Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2021. The Hisense delivers better picture quality because it has a local dimming feature, which the Vizio doesn't have, and it gets significantly brighter in HDR and SDR. The Hisense doesn't show any upscaling artifacts with low-resolution content like the Vizio. The Android TV app store has a massive selection of apps available, and you can't download any extra apps on the Vizio. On the other hand, the Vizio has FreeSync VRR support, which the Hisense doesn't.
The Hisense U6G is much better than the Vizio M7 Series Quantum 2020. The Hisense has much better black uniformity, a better local dimming feature, and better gray uniformity. The Hisense is a lot brighter, making it a better choice for a bright room. The Hisense upscales lower resolution content, like DVDs, better than the Vizio.
The Hisense U6G is better for most uses than the TCL 5 Series/S546 2021 QLED. They both have VA panels with a high contrast ratio, but the local dimming feature is better on the Hisense because there's less blooming. The Hisense also has slightly better reflection handling, making it a better choice for bright rooms, and it doesn't have trouble upscaling 480p content if you want to watch DVDs. The main advantage the TCL has over the Hisense is VRR support to reduce screen tearing in games, which the Hisense doesn't have. They have similar operating systems as the Hisense uses Android TV, and the TCL has Google TV, which is simply an upgraded version, but there are only a few minor differences between each.
The Hisense U6G is much better than the TCL 4 Series/S446 2021, mainly because it has more features, and the units we tested have different panel types. The Hisense has a VA panel with a local dimming feature that allows it to display deep blacks, while the 65-inch TCL we tested has an IPS panel without local dimming, so blacks look gray in the dark. However, that means it has wide viewing angles instead. The Hisense also gets much brighter, allowing it to fight glare, and it has better motion handling thanks to its quick response time.
The Hisense H9G is better than the Hisense U6G. The H9G is much brighter, especially in HDR, has a better local dimming feature, and can remove judder from any source. The H9G also has a higher refresh rate, making it a slightly better choice for gamers. On the other hand, the interface of the U6G is faster and a bit smoother.
The Hisense U6G is significantly better than the TCL 4 Series/S455 2022. HDR looks much better on the Hisense, as it gets significantly brighter, and its full array local dimming feature helps it deliver bright highlights that stand out. The Hisense also has a much wider color gamut, so HDR content looks more vivid and lifelike. The Hisense is also brighter in SDR, so it can handle more glare in a bright room.
The Hisense U6G looks like a bit of a mix of the Hisense H8G and the Hisense H6570G. The modern design has thin bezels on three sides and slim feet that require a wide table, but they aren't the most solid.
The Hisense U6G has a very similar stand to the Hisense H6570G. They're not the most solid, though, as the TV wobbles a bit. There are about three inches between the table and the bottom of the TV, so you can put most soundbars without blocking the screen.
Footprint of the 65 inch stand: 43.2" x 12.2".
The back of the TV is very similar to the Hisense H8G. It's a mix of metal and plastic, but the metal portion feels cheap. There's a track near the bottom of the TV for cable management. As most of the common inputs are side-facing, they're easy to reach with the TV wall-mounted, but some of the other inputs are harder to get to because they're back-facing.
Overall, the Hisense U6G Series has decent build quality. It's mostly plastic with some metal on the back panel, but the metal portion feels thin and flexes a bit. The feet aren't the most solid, and the TV wobbles a bit, but it's not a concern if you just place the TV on a table and leave it there.
The Hisense U6G has okay peak brightness in HDR. Small specular highlights don't stand out as well as they should, but most highlights are bright enough to deliver an okay HDR experience. Unfortunately, like the Hisense U8G, most scenes are displayed brighter than they should be. It isn't very noticeable in person unless you're comparing it with a more accurate display, but the U6G looks slightly washed out in some scenes. The EOTF has a slow roll-off at the peak brightness, so you don't lose details in really bright scenes.
If you prefer a brighter image over an accurate one, setting the Color Temperature to 'Medium' results in a slightly brighter image, as shown in this EOTF. It makes the screen appear a bit brighter, but it doesn't change the peak luminosity.
There's no difference in the peak brightness of the Hisense U6G TV in Game Mode as outside of it.
The Hisense U6G Series has great peak brightness in SDR. There's some variation in peak brightness with different scenes, which is caused by its Automatic Brightness Limiter, so large areas are dimmer. Also, small areas are more dim due to the local dimming feature. Still, it gets bright enough with real content to fight glare in well-lit rooms.
These measurements are from after calibration in the 'Theater Night' Picture Mode with the Backlight set to 'Max' and Local Dimming to 'High'. These settings result in the brightest and most accurate image.
The Hisense U6G has a great color gamut, almost as good as the Hisense U8G. It can display nearly all of the DCI P3 color space, which is used by most current HDR content, meaning it displays the necessary colors for most current HDR movies. Coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space isn't as good, so it's not future-proof as more and more movies will come out with this color space. It can't display all the colors needed, so you won't get to see some vivid colors that the creator intended to show.
The Hisense U6 has very good color volume. Thanks to the high contrast ratio, it displays dark, saturated colors well. It can't fill the full DCI P3 color gamut, and pure blues aren't as bright as pure white, but this is normal for LCDs.
Out of the box, the TV has decent accuracy. Gamma doesn't quite follow the 2.2 target for a bright room, as most scenes are brighter than they should be. The white balance isn't accurate, and the color temperature is a bit warm, giving everything a reddish tint. Most colors are okay, but if you easily notice inaccurate colors, this will bother you.
The Hisense U6G Series has remarkable accuracy after calibration. The white balance and gamma are nearly perfect, and the color temperature is extremely close to our target of 6500K, so the image doesn't have a warm tint. Most colors are displayed accurately, with the exception of pure blue, which didn't get more accurate.
You can see our recommended settings here.
The Hisense U6G has good gray uniformity. There's some noticeable dirty screen effect throughout, distracting while watching sports or using it as a PC monitor, but it's not too bothersome. Near-dark scenes look a bit better, but there's still some backlight bleed.
The black uniformity is outstanding. With the local dimming feature disabled, there's clouding throughout, the screen looks a bit blue, and enabling local dimming results in better uniformity as the screen is more black. There's some blooming around the center cross, but the blooming isn't always visible across different content, and it's not too distracting.
Unfortunately, the image degrades when viewed at an angle, which is normal for a VA panel. Moving even slightly off-center causes colors to washout and gamma to shift. This means it's not a good choice for a wide seating area. If you have a wide seating arrangement, an IPS-type panel like the LG NANO90 2021 is a better choice.
Update 12/3/2021: We rechecked the reflection handling on this TV. Unfortunately, this TV has worse reflection handling than originally measured. The new results are more consistent with other similar TVs, including the Hisense U6GR.
The Hisense U6G Series has decent reflection handling. The semi-gloss finish reduces the intensity of direct reflections without causing them to smear across the display. Bright, direct reflections can still be distracting, though, so it's not perfect. Still, combined with its great peak brightness, you won't have issues using it in most well-lit rooms.
Like most TVs on the market, the Hisense U6G uses a BGR (Blue-Green-Red) subpixel layout instead of the traditional Red-Green-Blue layout. For video content, this doesn't cause any issues, but if you're planning on using this TV as a PC monitor, it impacts text clarity, and some text will look blurry. You can read more about this here.
The Hisense U6G has a great response time. Motion looks smooth for the most part, but like most VA-type displays, transitions out of dark scenes are slower, resulting in black smear behind fast-moving objects. It's noticeable in dark content. There aren't any issues of red ghosting that the Hisense U8G has.
The Hisense U6G has an optional backlight strobing feature, known as black frame insertion, to help reduce the appearance of persistence blur. Unfortunately, there's noticeable crosstalk, causing a duplicate image to appear, and the screen is noticeably darker. Note that the BFI scoring is based only on the supported frequency, not the actual effectiveness of the feature.
The Hisense U6G doesn't have a motion interpolation feature. There is a bit of confusion around this, as the user manual mentions motion interpolation, with a note that not all models have it. Hisense has confirmed that this model doesn't have this feature, though.
The response time of the Hisense U6G Series is slow enough that there's not that much stutter when watching movies. You can still notice it in some scenes, like slow panning shots.
The Hisense U6G can remove judder from native 24p sources, like apps and Blu-ray players, which helps with the appearance of motion in movies. You don't need any extra settings either. Unfortunately, it can't remove judder from 60Hz sources, like cable boxes.
The Hisense U6G has a simple 60Hz refresh rate, and it doesn't support variable refresh rate technology (VRR). Other budget-friendly TVs do support it, like the Vizio M6 Series Quantum 2021. There's also a similar variant of this TV called the Hisense U6GR, which has VRR support.
The Hisense U6G has outstanding low input lag, meaning you can respond quickly to the action on screen. Even outside of Game Mode, the input lag is much lower than most TVs on the market and is usable for slower games.
Most common resolutions are supported, but 1440p requires a forced resolution, so you'll need to create a custom resolution from your PC. It also displays chroma 4:4:4 properly with all of its supported resolutions, meaning it displays clear text when using it as a PC monitor.
There are multiple reports of subpixel dithering with the 50 inch model that makes text look blurry, especially in PC Mode. If you have this size, avoid using it as a PC monitor, but it doesn't affect the picture quality with regular content, and other sizes don't have this issue.
Unlike the Hisense U7G and Hisense U8G, this TV doesn't have HDMI 2.1 bandwidth.
Sadly, the Hisense U6G doesn't have eARC support, so you can't use it to pass high-quality lossless audio to a receiver. If you want to watch content with Dolby Atmos or DTS:X audio, you need to connect your source directly to the receiver. If you want something that has audio passthrough, then check out this TV's successor, the Hisense U6/U6H.
The Hisense U6G has a mediocre frequency response. Like most TVs, there's almost no bass response, and it can't produce any thump or rumble. Above the low-frequency extension, the sound profile is closer to flat, except for high treble sounds, so most dialogue is clear. It can get very loud, but there's some compression and pumping at high volumes.
The Hisense U6G has okay distortion handling. It's more significant at its max volume than at moderate listening levels. Even at its max volume, it's not noticeable unless you have a well-trained ear.
Update 12/15/2021: We incorrectly stated that this TV runs Android 10. It's still on Android 9.
Unlike the higher-end 2021 Hisense TVs, the Hisense U6G runs Android TV 9 instead of 10, which doesn't feel as smooth as Android 10, but it's still a great smart interface. There weren't any bugs or issues while using it.
Unfortunately, like most TVs on the market, there are ads throughout the home page and the app store.
The remote is a bit different from the one included with the Hisense U8G. It features a full numpad and six quick access buttons that you can't reassign and has a built-in mic for voice control through Google Assistant or Alexa. You can use voice commands to search for content, change inputs, or ask simple questions.