You can't expect as much from a budget TV as you can from a more expensive model, but the gap in quality, features, and design isn't as wide as it once was.
TCL's 6-Series stands out for its remarkably strong contrast and color, but is a bit on the pricier end of the budget category, with a 55-inch model for $650 and a 65-inch model for $1,000.
If you're looking to spend less, the Hisense R7 series is a strong alternative.
Its contrast isn't as good as TCL's, but it offers excellent color reproduction and plenty of connected features for much less money—the 50-inch 50R7E we tested is available for just $399.
If price is your highest and strictest priority, this is a good 4K TV series even with the budget-minded compromises it makes.
Editors' Note: This review is based on tests performed on the Hisense 50R7E, the 50-inch model in the series.
Apart from the screen-size difference, the 65-inch $799 65R7E is identical in features, and we expect similar performance.
Design
As is to be expected for a budget TV, the R7 looks a bit chunky.
The screen is framed by flat black plastic bezels that measure about half an inch wide on the sides and top, tapering out a bit further with glossy black edges.
The bottom bezel is slightly wider and lacks the taper, but features a small bump in the middle bearing the Hisense logo and an infrared sensor (with the power button located just under it) on the lower left corner.
The TV stands on two V-shaped glossy black plastic legs.
Besides the power cable, which connects to the right side of the back of the TV, all ports on the R7 face left, about a foot in from the left side of the screen.
The connections include three HDMI ports, a USB port, an Ethernet port, an optical audio output, a set of composite video inputs, and an antenna/cable connector.
Three HDMI ports feels pretty light on any TV, but the TCL 6-Series also has only three, and the R7's RCA inputs make hooking up any of your legacy game systems, VCRs, or other hardware very easy, since you don't need to deal with a 3.5mm dongle.
The included Roku TV remote is a standard rounded black rectangle, with the signature large, purple, plus-shaped direction pad just above the middle.
The direction pad is flanked by menu buttons, with playback controls below them.
A set of four dedicated service buttons below the playback controls offer instant access to Hulu, Netflix, PlayStation Vue, and Sling TV.
A volume rocker and mute button sit on the right edge of the remote.
This isn't an Enhanced Roku TV remote like the TCL 6-Series has, so it's infrared only and requires line of sight with the TV to work.
It also doesn't have a built-in microphone for using Roku's voice search features; if you want to use voice search on this TV, you need to install the Roku app on your smartphone, which also enables full remote control, picture adjustment, and even media streaming from your mobile device.
Roku TV
The R7 uses the Roku TV platform for its interface and connected features, which means it can access a huge library of apps and streaming services on the Roku Channel Store.
Most big names in video streaming are present, including Amazon, Google Play Movies & TV, HBO Go, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, and YouTube.
Music choices are a bit more slim, with Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, Pandora, and Vevo, but notably lacking Google Music and Spotify.
Roku also offers plenty of more specific apps, covering individual channels, genres, subjects, and regions.
The Roku app lets you control the TV through your smartphone and tablet, and enables several helpful features you can't get with the remote alone.
You can use voice search through your mobile device to look for specific movies and shows, but it isn't a full-fledged voice assistant like you'll find with Google Assistant on Android TV screen like the Sony X900F series, or Amazon Alexa on the Element Fire TV Edition.
You can also listen to TV audio through your smartphone's headphone jack, letting you pay attention to what's on without disturbing anyone around you.
Finally, you can stream movies and music from your phone to the TV with Play on Roku.
Performance
The R7 series supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10.
It does not support Dolby Vision.
We test TVs using a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and SpectraCal's CalMAN software on a Razer Blade Pro laptop.
Out of the box, with the brightest HDR settings, the R7 reaches a modest 309.66cd/m2 peak brightness and 0.09cd/m2 black level, for an effective contrast ratio of 3,441:1.
This is a standard contrast level for a budget-priced TV.
The TCL 6-Series offers vastly superior contrast with a peak brightness of 497.15cd/m2 and a black level of 0.01cd/m2, but while we also consider it in the budget range, it's notably more expensive than the R7 series ($150 more for the 55-inch model and $200 more for the 65-inch model), and lacks the smaller 43- and 50-inch sizes.
The above chart shows Rec.709 broadcast standard colors as boxes and measured color levels as dots.
With the color temperature set to Warm, the R7 can reach a bit past broadcast standards while retaining solid accuracy.
The TCL 6-Series still outperforms it in color range, with a wider variety of greens and reds.
For better color performance or contrast than either TV, you'd have to spend significantly more on a high-end LCD or, better yet, an OLED TV like the LG C7P or the Sony A1E series.
While it can't compete with the contrast or color range offered by more expensive TVs, the R7 offers very good picture quality for the price, thanks to its accurate color reproduction.
The lush colors in the BBC's Planet Earth II don't look quite as vivid as they are on the TCL 6-Series, but the greens, blues, and browns of nature are saturated and balanced.
The TV's modest brightness and black levels reproduce clear details in both highlights and shadows, without any part of the frame clipping or looking muddy.
The relatively poor contrast is much more apparent with The Great Gatsby and its party scenes filled with bright whites and dark blacks.
Everything on the frame looks crisp and detailed, with fine textures and contours like on dark suits and hair appearing clearly.
However, those blacks, blues, and browns don't get dark enough to really bring out the intended contrast of the scene, appearing a bit washed out.
Skin tones look natural, though, and splashes of color like bright orange feathers manage to pop.
Deadpool looks quite nice on the R7 thanks to its accurate color reproduction.
The red of Deadpool's costume looks natural and fairly vivid, even if it doesn't stand out as strongly as it does on more expensive TVs.
In the burning lab fight, the oranges and yellows of the flames are reasonably bright considering the panel's limitations, and details in shadows are visible against the flames, even if they're slightly toned down.
Again, it's good performance considering the price.
Input Lag and Power Consumption
Input lag is the amount of time between when a TV receives a signal and the screen updates.
The R7 shows a decent input lag of 30.8ms in most picture modes, but enabling the Game Mode (which produces a slightly worse picture to offer better response) cuts that down to an excellent 15.2ms.
This puts the R7 well below the approximate 20ms threshold we use to consider a TV to be very good for high-action, timing-intensive games.
For other options, our list of the best TVs for gaming brings together more low-lag models.
Under normal viewing conditions, the 50-inch 50R7E consumes 109 watts with the backlight on the brightest setting.
While there is no picture-based power saving setting, the darkest backlight setting cuts power consumption to 65 watts, dimming the screen but keeping it very watchable.
Conclusions
The Hisense R7 series isn't very impressive in design or performance, but at $400 for the 50-inch 50R7E, it doesn't have to be.
It's a simple, full-featured TV available at a remarkably low price, and it manages to offer both plenty of streaming media thanks to Roku TV and a generally solid picture thanks to accurate color reproduction.
Its contrast is weak, but you simply won't find much better performance anywhere near this price.
For budget TVs we still prefer the TCL 6-Series for its superior picture, but it's also notably more expensive than the R7 series, even if it's still on the lower end of the price spectrum.
Hisense also offers screen sizes smaller than 55 inches, so if space is an issue the R7 might be a more friendly choice for both your wallet and your home.
If you have more flexibility in budget and TV placement, though, we still stand by the TCL 6-Series as our Editors' Choice.
