Prime Day (or should that be Prime Week?) may just be a memory now, but that doesn’t mean the savings have dried up.

Several discounts have stayed live long after the Prime curtain came down, while others have popped up out of the woodwork. And (this shouldn’t be right, surely?) some top Prime Day deals have somehow got even cheaper.

So if you’re looking to upgrade your home cinema for the final weeks of the World Cup or seeking a Bluetooth speaker for the next heatwave, we’ve got you covered.

These are all products we have reviewed and rated ourselves, and all have been awarded a full five stars. So you can buy with confidence.

It’s been a banner week this week, with several Award-winners and new 2026 releases up for grabs. Take a look yourself:

If you’re after powered speakers on a budget, then the Elac Debut ConneX DCB41 are our recommendation. They are full of features, with Bluetooth connectivity, a switchable stereo input/moving-magnet phono stage and HDMI, optical and USB inputs; but most importantly they also serve up a balanced, insightful sound.

Two of our favourite OLED TVs of 2026 are on sale this week! Up first is our mid-range pick, the LG C6, which is even cheaper than it was during Prime Day. This deal price includes the £40 cost of an AO Five-Star membership, which is needed to unlock the discount.

The JBL Charge 6 is our Product of the Year Bluetooth speaker, and we were astonished when it dropped to £100 over Prime Day. We were even more astonished, however, when it dropped even further this week, with the black finish now £96 at Amazon.

If you’re after a new flagship OLED, then the Samsung S99H is the one to beat this year. It has dazzlingly bright highlights, awesome contrast and excellent three-dimensional depth, making it perfect for the World Cup, GTA 6, or pretty much anything you plan to use it for. Unlock the deal price with the code TRADE250 and a £250 cashback offer from Samsung – full Ts&Cs can be found here.

The Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S excels where several Dolby Atmos soundbars fail, with the included subwoofer adding plenty of tight, agile bass. We reviewed this package only in April, and now it’s available with its first discount.

The Hisense AX5125H was one of the earliest deals we covered on Prime Day, and also one of the best. The fact you can get a Dolby Atmos soundbar system at this price is quite incredible. What’s more incredible is that it also sounds pretty good.

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We have entered the final day of Amazon’s Prime Day sales event – sales are set to cease at midnight.

While we have been carefully choosing which deals to recommend to you and which are best avoided, it’s time to determine which deals are Prime Day winners, and who has provided the biggest disappointments during the sales event.

We have seen loads of excellent AV deals, and some of them can genuinely save you hundreds, and in some cases a thousand, pounds. These are the deals that we think are genuinely worth investing in this Prime Day; they knock prices down to new lows and ensure you’re getting the maximum bang for your buck.

Some products, however, haven’t been discounted at all. One company even decided to raise the prices of its products this Prime Day. These are, unsurprisingly, the losers.

So let’s find out who our Prime Day champions are…

Winner: LG C5 OLED TV

If there’s one TV that has enjoyed some seriously impressive discounts, it’s LG’s Award-winning step-down OLED from last year. We have recently reviewed the five-star C6, and it’s a great TV, but we believe the heavily discounted C5 is the better buy this Prime Day.

We’ve seen the 42-inch model drop to as low as £611, though it seems to have bounced slightly back up to £623 at Amazon; all in all, still a considerable saving over the £1099 price we reviewed it at.

Stepping up to the 48-inch model will also grant you some serious savings, as it can be found for just £725 at Amazon, down from its original price of £1399.

However, the 55-inch model is looking like the sweet spot to us. This set has dropped to a staggering £969 at Amazon – we reviewed it at £1900, so you're essentially saving a grand here.

This versatile OLED TV will impress gamers and cinephiles alike, thanks to its four HDMI 2.1 sockets, VRR support, and LG’s Game Dashboard feature, as well as its detailed, contrast-rich, and balanced picture performance.

Winner: Dolby Atmos soundbars

If there was ever a time to invest in a Dolby Atmos soundbar, Prime Day is it. We are seeing major discounts attached to some of our favourite Award-winning models, meaning now is the ideal time to ditch your TV’s underwhelming built-in speakers.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 has dropped from £449 to £337 at Peter Tyson, marking a £112 discount on the best entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar. The Hisense AX5125H, which adds wireless surround speakers and a subwoofer to the mix, can now be snapped up for a truly impressive £199 at Richer Sounds.

For us, though, it’s the Samsung HW-Q990F at B&Q for £695 that really steals the show here. We have never seen it drop this low before.

That means our reigning Product of the Year winner is currently £1004 cheaper than the price when we reviewed it. And that makes this easily the best soundbar deal of Prime Day, and perhaps one of the best deals we have seen during the entire sales event.

Winner: 4K Blu-ray

Physical media is back!

Well, at least it is this Prime Day; we are seeing a few great deals on 4K Blu-ray. Could they be enough to tempt you away from streaming?

HMV’s 3 for £50 multibuy deal is a tempting choice for those looking to stock up on or start their collection, while Amazon seems to be the best place to buy single discs and box sets.

We are seeing savings on big franchise 4K box sets, including The Lord of the Rings, Mission: Impossible and John Wick, as well as deals on F1: The Movie, Interstellar, Sinners and plenty more.

If you’re sick of streaming, these deals will help you enjoy your favourite films with a greatly improved picture and sound experience, and of course you get to keep them for life.

Loser: Apple

How do you take the concept of Prime Day, and do the complete opposite? Simple: you raise the prices of your five-star hi-fi and home-cinema products.

Apple pulled a blinder in the middle of Prime Day by increasing the price of the Apple TV 4K in both its 64GB and 128GB + Ethernet configurations. We also saw the prices of the HomePod 2, HomePod Mini, and iPad Air rise sharply.

The 64GB version of Apple’s Award-winning streamer now costs £199 (up from £149 / $130 / AU$219); the 128GB model now costs £249 (originally £169 / $179 / $249).

Just to clarify, this is the same 2022 model that Apple is currently refusing to upgrade. In our original review (published back in 2022), we said that “the best video streamer just got better (and cheaper)”, but it looks like we’ll have to amend that line.

Thankfully, a few retailers haven’t caught on to Apple’s price hike yet, so you can still pick the Apple TV 4K up for its original launch price if you’re quick. Buying direct from Apple should be avoided at all costs while these retailers are offering the original prices.

Loser: 4K Blu-ray players

While the 4K Blu-ray format itself seems to be thriving this Prime Day, disc players haven’t enjoyed the same discounts.

Panasonic and Sony, practically the last bastions of the 4K Blu-ray player market, have opted to leave the prices of their respective disc spinners unchanged this Prime Day.

The Award-winning DP-UB820EB is currently sitting at £349, which is higher than the original £290 we reviewed it at thanks to a price increase a couple of years ago (we see where Apple got the inspiration from). Sony’s UBP-UX700K (which is essentially the same as the UBP-UX700), meanwhile, is a whopping £9 off at Amazon, down from its usual £249 price.

Our recommendation for anyone looking to pick up an affordable disc player this Prime Day is to consider the Panasonic DP-UB150EB, which is a fairly affordable 4K Blu-ray player at £159.

That is still £30 more than the price we originally reviewed it at, but price increases seem inevitable these days.

MORE:

Amazon Prime Day 2026: the 86 best deals on headphones, TVs, speakers, home cinema and more

Find the best OLED TV deals here

Check out our picks for the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

You're probably well aware of this, but England are playing Panama in the World Cup tomorrow, and it's now a much bigger game than it should have been, thanks to that tame no-score-draw with Ghana.

The good news is that this should also be a fun game, with at least a couple of goals for Tuchel's chaps.

If you're still using your TVs built-in speakers, though, you're still missing out on a fair bit of the fun that football can offer. The good news is that there's still time to rectify that.

I've scoured the Amazon Prime Day (and adjacent) sales to find a high-quality soundbar that you can have delivered tomorrow. Somewhat surprisingly, I can't find a model I recommend at Amazon with fast enough delivery.

But, thankfully, Currys has come up trumps with a full Dolby Atmos soundbar system that I tested and we gave a What Hi-Fi? Award to – and it can be delivered tomorrow.

Said system is the Hisense AX5125H, which comprises soundbar, a wireless subwoofer and two wireless surrounds for a record-equalling low price of just £199 at Currys.

Delivery tomorrow will cost you an extra £6.99, which seems very reasonable for the convenience, or you might find you can pick up from a local store for free.

At £199, the AX5125H isn't just a cheap way to improve your TV's sound – it's one of the very best-value Dolby Atmos packages we've tested.

Unlike most soundbars at this price, you get a complete 5.1.2-channel system in the box, with wireless surround speakers and a wireless subwoofer helping to create a much bigger, more immersive sound than your TV could ever hope to produce on its own.

During testing, we were particularly impressed by the Hisense's ability to project effects around the room. That makes it a brilliant choice for sport, where crowd noise, commentary and the atmosphere of the stadium all feel far more involving than they do through a TV's built-in speakers. If (when!) England find the back of the net against Panama, you'll feel much more like you're there to celebrate it.

It's not just for football, either. We found the AX5125H delivered an energetic, spacious and surprisingly cinematic performance with movies, while dialogue remains clear and easy to follow. Music playback is respectable, too, making this a genuinely versatile all-rounder rather than a one-trick pony.

No soundbar is perfect at this price, and there are more refined and dynamic systems available if you're prepared to spend considerably more. But at £199, the Hisense simply delivers too much performance to ignore.

That's why we gave it five stars, a What Hi-Fi? Award and, now that it's back down to its record-equalling lowest price, it's one of the easiest Prime Day alternatives I can recommend.

MORE:

Here are all of the best budget soundbars you can buy right now

Also in the market for a new telly? Here are all of the best TVs

There’s a conundrum that many movie fans face. You might be perfectly happy with your TV’s picture performance, but the audio is often another matter entirely. Punchy action scenes might be missing a sense of energy, and it may be difficult to make out dialogue during busy parts of a film.

Luckily, there is a way to fix this common problem. If you don’t have the budget or space for a multi-speaker package to upgrade your sound, then adding a soundbar to the mix is a great way to go.

• View all the Prime Day deals on Amazon

And, for those on the hunt for an even more room-filling experience, there is the option of getting a soundbar with Dolby Atmos support, which can provide a much-desired extra boost of surround sound.

With Amazon Prime Day deals swarming your search like ants to a melting Calippo, it can be hard to find a model that is genuinely right for you. That’s where we come in. We have tested hundreds of soundbars over the years, and have hand-selected four products that provide immersive sound and are at a discounted price right now.

Sonos Beam Gen 2

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 holds the crown as the top entry-level Dolby Atmos bar in our best soundbars guide.

The Beam Gen 2 measures just 7 x 65 x 10cm (hwd) and weighs 2.8kg, making it easy to place in front of your TV without obscuring the picture. Under the hood, you will find four front-facing elliptical mid-woofers and a centre tweeter.

Most importantly, it offers a detailed, rich, and enveloping audio experience, which is particularly impressive considering its compact footprint.

Despite the bar’s lack of up-firing drivers, the soundfield is immersive and we get a good sense of height as well as scale. In fact, we note in our review: “Whether it’s a chirping bird, a car or a voice, there’s remarkable consistency across the complete soundfield, and seamless handover between drivers, which we have to say doesn’t always happen when a Dolby Atmos soundbar has upward drivers to contend with.”

It launched at £449, but this Prime Day deal has seen its price drop to £337 at Amazon. That’s a saving of £112, and is well worth considering if you are looking to add an Atmos soundbar to your system.

Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9

If you are looking for a step-up soundbar to add to your system, then the Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 9 is hard to beat. This Sony sounds exceptionally crisp and precise, and the Atmos-ness of its delivery is hugely impressive for a standalone bar.

We find there is a slightly clinical tone in its overall delivery, but its superb detail and punch mean it still achieves five-star success.

In terms of connectivity, gaming fans will be pleased to hear that the Bar 9 has a dedicated HDMI 2.1 input and support for 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM.

You can find it for £999 at Richer Sounds, chopping £400 off its launch price. At this price, it is also worth considering the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra. It’s a brilliant-sounding system, offering a rich overall sound with expressive vocals.

It features only a single HDMI eARC port, however, which is not as comprehensive as the Theatre Bar 9’s offerings. The Sonos model is currently available at its launch price of £999 at Smart Home Sounds, but we have our fingers crossed for a reduction before the end of Prime Day.

Hisense AX5125H

All-in-one soundbars work excellently for some people, but you might be craving that extra sense of immersion that can come with a soundbar package. And our top budget soundbar system recommendation is currently available for an absolute steal.

You can pick up the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H for just £199 at Currys, making it easily one of the best-sounding affordable soundbar systems we have heard.

The 5.1.2 system, which supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, offers a relatively compact design that is easy to accommodate in most homes. It is made up of two small wireless surround speakers, a wireless subwoofer and the main soundbar. Even though the surround speakers are surprisingly compact (each one measures just 14 x 9 x 11cm), they produce an impressively enveloping soundfield that massively improves upon our experience with the TV’s sound.

We noted in our review when watching Civil War: “Bullets whizz from the front to the back of the room and even behind the listening position, helicopters hover at ceiling height, and distant explosions rumble menacingly.”

Vocals are clear and sound relatively emotive too, although the subwoofer can get a little overzealous and cause them to become muffled in the busiest sections. Still, the Hisense system is a top performer in its class and is even more tempting at this discount.

Samsung HW-Q990F

Finally, we have the Samsung HW-Q990F, an Award-winning 11.1.4 soundbar package. Like the Hisense system, it is made up of a soundbar, a subwoofer, and two surround speakers.

It is a chunkier system in terms of its build, though. The surrounds, for instance, measure 25 x 25 x 25cm and the soundbar comes in at a more hefty 7 x 123 x 14cm (hwd).

With support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, we were impressed by the soundbar’s ability to create that all-important dome of sound as well as ensuring the sound moves organically between the channels.

When it comes to its bass performance, we say in our review: “There is a much greater sense of tonal variation from this subwoofer [compared with the older Q990D model], which unearths a new layer to the bass. The Q990F’s bass feels more organic, balanced, and seamlessly integrated into the system as a result.”

That all makes it a focused, tonally varied overall sound that immerses us in whatever we listen to. You can find the system for £750 at Amazon, saving you around a whopping £949 off its original price.

We recently reviewed the Q990F’s successor – the Samsung HW-Q990H. This new system managed to build upon our favourite aspects of the older model, resulting in an even more detailed and nuanced performance. That meant the Q990H took the crown when we put them head to head – but the Q990F is without doubt still a brilliant performer in the category.

Plus, the Q990H's price has dropped only a small amount for Prime Day (the cheapest we have seen so far is £1299 at Amazon). That makes the older model all the more tempting.

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These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Check out the best budget soundbars

And here are the best TVs right now

As a deals writer, I spend my days hunting down the best savings on What Hi-Fi? recommended products, whether that's the latest home cinema release, hi-fi separate or other AV tech.

For Prime Day, though, I didn't have to hunt very hard – we've been flooded with savings, and luckily, most of them have been rather good.

So to celebrate, I've put together a little visual collection of some of the best Prime Day deals so far from the worlds of hi-fi and home cinema.

As always, these are all deals on products that we have tested and rated ourselves, and our expert reviewers have given them at least four stars – or, in some cases, five stars and maybe even a What Hi-Fi? Award.

I'll go into detail down below, but for now, feast your eyes on these great Prime Day savings.

The LG C5 won multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards at our most recent ceremony, thanks to its excellent picture quality and incredible gaming specs. There are LG C5 deals on virtually every size, but we've highlighted the 42-inch model as it gives you an Award-winning LG OLED TV for only £623.

The Dali Oberon 5 are a bit long in the tooth now, but they're still remarkably accomplished floorstanders for anyone getting into hi-fi or working on a budget. This is the first decent discount we've seen on the speakers – our Editor-in-Chief has been waiting half a decade.

The Award-winning Hisense AX5125H gave us quite the shock when we tested it – despite its low price tag, the soundbar system produced a room-filling, sofa-shaking, exuberant sound with amazing scale and a convincing Dolby Atmos effect. Get it quick, as it was also on offer during Black Friday last year and promptly sold out.

The JBL Charge 6 is our current Product of the Year in the wireless speaker category, thanks to its expansive, detailed and clear sound from a portable design. It hasn't been this low in price since Black Friday and is the top Bluetooth speaker deal we'd recommend this Prime Day.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 may have been replaced by their successor, the XM6, but they had a long reign as one of our favourite wireless over-ear headphones and are still an excellent choice to this day – especially at this new lowest price.

If you're looking for more budget headphones, then it doesn't get much cheaper than the Earfun Air. They're only £23, and are five-star earbuds that still offer great value.

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Amazon Prime Day 2026 Live Q&A: personalised hi-fi and home cinema buying advice, direct from our experts

Prime Day 2026 Live: all the top TV, soundbar and projector deals handpicked by our home cinema experts

Prime Day 2026 Live: the best headphone, speaker and vinyl deals picked by our hi-fi experts

TVs are getting bigger, and bigger… and bigger.

Hisense and TCL have been selling 116-inch and 115-inch TVs for quite some time now – and both of those look fairly modest compa red with Samsung’s behemoth 130-inch RGB Micro LED TV, which was unveiled at CES 2026.

The sensibly sized living rooms of many British homes are simply not built for a TV of that size – and many will find a proper surround sound package to be a squeeze as well. So does that mean you simply can’t fit a home cinema system into your house?

Of course it doesn’t!

We have tested plenty of smaller TVs and soundbars with modest footprints; and what they lack in size, they make up for in performance.

In fact, I have built a complete system, which includes a 42-inch OLED TV from LG, a superb scaled-down Hisense soundbar package (which even supports Dolby Atmos), and a five-star Amazon streamer that is no bigger than your average chocolate bar.

All of these products are Award-winners and, thanks to Amazon Prime Day, they are now all hugely discounted. At launch, this set-up would have cost you £1418; thanks to some pretty astonishing Prime Day discounts, it can now be yours for just £862.

This trio of petite home-cinema gadgets strikes the three core pillars of any good home cinema setup: picture, sound, and content.

And if you are happy to use LG’s webOS software platform and don’t mind a slight decrease in picture and sound performance, you could ditch the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max entirely, saving you a further £40.

The 42-inch LG C5, a compact OLED TV, is the definition of small yet mighty. Sporting a panel that delivers inky blacks and perfect contrast with ease, the C5 is a superb choice for movies – it’s and our pick for the best gaming TV, too.

We applauded its sharp, warm and rich picture, which we felt was hugely cinematic despite the comparatively small screen size from the 55- and 65-inch sets we usually test.

Furthermore, its gaming features are second to none. With a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz – ideal for PC gamers and more than enough for console gamers – and four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets. The smaller display also makes this a solid choice for dedicated gaming rooms, and it can even be used as an oversized desktop monitor.

The only area that the C5 stumbles in is sound. OLED TVs, in our experience, often disappoint when it comes to their built-in sound systems, and it’s no surprise that a TV this small doesn’t break the mould.

That’s where the Hisense AX5125H comes in. Tongue twister of a name aside, this soundbar system delivers proper surround sound at a price as modest as its footprint. The package includes a soundbar, subwoofer and two surround speakers, all of which pair wirelessly and with very little fuss out of the box.

We were surprised by its weight, scale, and spaciousness, which (much like the C5) far exceed its size. Dolby Atmos is supported with two dedicated upward-firing drivers on the main soundbar unit, and there’s even an HDMI 2.0 passthrough socket. (Maybe Sonos could learn a thing or two.)

The LG and Hisense make a great cinematic space-saving duo – and, in truth, you could leave it there. But by adding the heavily discounted, Award-winning Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, you get a pretty big streaming upgrade.

Amazon’s top-tier Fire TV Stick delivers 4K streams with oodles of detail and natural colours, and with an extremely comprehensive selection of apps, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to content.

If you’re looking longingly at our best TV deals and best soundbar deals pages, but think that you can’t get involved with the Prime Day sales due to a lack of space, then hopefully this petite (and massively discounted) home cinema setup has changed your mind.

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Check out the best Amazon Prime Day AV deals live

As well as the best Amazon Prime Day hi-fi deals

And find the best OLED TV deals here

I love watching sport outside.

I think it's at least partly thanks to fond memories of watching football matches in pub gardens, cold beer in hand, sun on my back, perhaps a bowl of chips within arm's reach. Glorious.

These days, my pub garden visits are a little less frequent, so ahead of the World Cup I decided to try to bring the experience home. My plan was simple: set up a projector in the garden, fire up the BBQ and spend the summer watching football under the open sky.

What could possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Before we begin, I should point out that while I've spent almost 20 years reviewing TVs, projectors and home cinema kit, I have exactly zero experience of building an outdoor cinema. I also approached this project with a level of wanton optimism that, in hindsight, was entirely unsupported by evidence.

Still, if nothing else, my mistakes might help you avoid making the same ones.

Mistake 1: assuming an indoor projector would work outside before dark

The first challenge was deciding what to use as a display.

The windows for three rooms of our house face the garden, which limits the available wall space. After some negotiations with my equally football-obsessed wife, it was agreed that a projector screen could temporarily be hung across the dining room windows.

A projector seemed the obvious answer. After all, I wanted the biggest image possible, and no TV I can afford stretches to 150 inches.

While a portable projector might seem the natural choice, most battery-powered models aren't especially bright and often won't last through an entire football match. Since I was going to need mains power anyway, I borrowed the Hisense M2 Pro from our review stockroom.

It's a five-star projector, it's relatively compact, and it supports both BBC iPlayer and ITVX – a surprisingly rare combination in projector land and an essential one for World Cup duty in the UK.

So far, so sensible.

Then came Friday evening. Canada versus Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kick-off at 8pm.

At around 6pm, I wheeled the projector into position using some spare sections of hi-fi rack, ran an extension cable across the garden and powered everything up.

And... nothing.

Well, not quite nothing. The projector was clearly producing light, but there was no discernible image on the screen.

I moved the projector closer.

Nothing.

Closer still.

Nothing.

Eventually, with the projector just inches from the screen, a tiny image emerged from the gloom.

At this point, I began to suspect that projecting onto a giant screen outdoors before sunset might not have been my finest idea.

To be clear, this wasn't blazing Mediterranean sunshine. It was an overcast British evening on the opposite side of the house to the sun. Yet even that proved too much for a projector rated at 1300 ANSI lumens.

The lesson? A projector that looks bright indoors can look surprisingly dim outside.

Mistake 2: buying the cheapest 150-inch screen I could find

Perhaps I should have mentioned the screen.

Wanting something easy to put up, take down and store, I ordered a portable 150-inch projector screen from Amazon for the princely sum of £36.

It had excellent reviews.

It also turned out to be little more than a stretchy white sheet with a black border.

In hindsight, perhaps "buy the cheapest giant screen available and hope for the best" wasn't the sort of rigorous testing methodology that has sustained my career for almost two decades.

The biggest problem, I think, was that the screen had no backing. I hadn't considered this when ordering, but once it was hanging in front of our dining room windows, I could immediately see the issue: light was passing straight through it.

Thankfully, the screen was at least easy to install. With the help of some included ropes, a couple of conveniently positioned hanging basket brackets and my long-suffering wife, it was up in a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, being easy to hang is only one of the qualities you want in a projector screen.

Mistake 3: forgetting that darkness and warmth rarely arrive together in Britain

I left the projector running while I finished cremating dinner on the BBQ and hoped conditions would improve.

By the 8pm kick-off, the picture was technically watchable, but only just, so we ended up watching the first half indoors.

By half-time, though, it was a different story.

As darkness fell, the image suddenly looked pretty decent.

The projector had enough light output after all, but only when the sun stopped competing with it.

At this point, I was even able to move the M2 Pro further back, create a much larger image and enjoy a picture that was genuinely impressive considering the circumstances.

The projector automatically re-focused itself each time I moved it, too, which was very handy.

At last, I had the something approaching the outdoor football experience I'd been aiming for.

There was just one problem.

It was absolutely freezing – hence the blanket-covered child in the photo above.

After about 10 minutes, common sense prevailed and we headed back inside.

What I'd do differently

The good news is that most of the problems were self-inflicted.

For starters, I picked the wrong projector.

The Hisense M2 Pro is an excellent lifestyle projector that's plenty bright enough for indoor use. It was never designed for outdoor use, which is an entirely different challenge, and I should never have expected it to work in daylight, regardless of the overcast skies.

Clearly, something much brighter is required. Perhaps the 3500 ANSI lumen-rated BenQ TK705i or Nebula X1 Pro might fare better.

I also need a better screen. At the very least, one with a black backing to prevent light passing through it. An ambient light rejecting (ALR) screen would be better still, though those tend to cost considerably more and are often designed for permanent or semi-permanent installation, which isn't where I am with this project.

Finally, I hadn't considered comfort enough. The irony of outdoor football viewing in the UK is that the picture often improves just as the temperature drops to unpleasantly nippy levels.

So yes, this first attempt was largely a failure, and, at 10pm last night, I was ready to abandon the whole idea.

This morning, though, I found myself browsing projector screens again, and I'm already planning phase two, which will probably involve a better screen, a fire pit and the considerably brighter Nebula X1 Pro – which, handily, we currently have in for review.

If that doesn't work, I may have to accept that the answer isn't a projector at all, but an outdoor TV.

Unfortunately, outdoor TVs are eye-wateringly expensive, particularly at the sort of size I'm aiming for.

Which means there's every chance I'll end up exactly where I started: watching the World Cup indoors and wondering why I thought I knew better than the British weather.

MORE:

Here are the best outdoor projectors you can currently buy

And these are the best projectors in general

We've built an awesome playlist that features a local artist from every World Cup 2026 host city

The World Cup is now officially in full swing, and you've likely had a taster of what your home cinema set-up can do when it comes to football.

But do you wish it could do a bit better? Well, we have you covered. This week has seen plenty more TV deals, from brand new RGB mini LEDs to budget 2026 OLEDs at head-turning prices.

Not that hi-fi has been left out – we've only just reviewed the stunning five-star Wharfedale Diamond 12.3i, but they've already got a tasty discount.

So what are you waiting for? We'll go into more detail on each product below, but for now, happy shopping!

The Hisense UR9 is one of the first mainstream RGB Mini LED TVs to hit the market, and the technology delivers an impressively controlled and consistent backlight performance. Enter the code RSTV100 at checkout to save £100, and you can also claim a 40-inch QLED TV absolutely free. Ts and Cs here.

The newly reviewed Wharfedale Diamond 12.3i replaces the Award-winning 12.3 model, offering a more exciting and dramatic listen as well as greater bass authority and punch. Excellent for beginners or those on a budget, especially with £30 off.

We haven't tested the LG B6, but we were impressed when we saw it in action and we're fans of previous B-series models. For £879 you'll get a brand new 2026 OLED, with superb gaming specs and plenty of features. Use the code LG20PERCENT to get this price.

The TCL C7K is mightily impressive, offering explosive brightness, contrast and colour as well as rich gaming support. What might be most impressive, however, is that it offers this picture quality and features for under £720. The code TCL10PERCENT gets you this deal price.

We've only just reviewed the Soundcore Nebula P1, and we were particularly impressed by the clean yet punchy sound. The code WS24D2431UK will get you a £51 saving, but bear in mind you'll have to cast from your phone or use a streaming stick to get BBC iPlayer.

If you're looking for the ideal blend of quality, portability, and affordability, then the recently discounted Tribit StormBox Micro 2 is a great choice. You'll get an abundance of features and a booming sound level for only £46.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

Interested in the bigger picture? Here are the best projectors we have tested

There’s a war going on for your living room. The premium TV technology of choice of the last few years – OLED – is under attack from a new, stunningly bright and vibrant foe – RGB Mini LED.

Every major brand has either launched its first RGB Mini LED TVs or is about to. Hisense launched its first RGB Mini LED models last year, in fact, but those were gigantic, 100+ inch sets, so a long way from a serious proposition for most people.

Hisense is also the first brand to submit to us a proper, mainstream RGB Mini LED TV to review, though – the UR9.

RGB Mini LED TVs are pitched at different levels by different brands, but Hisense is absolutely pitching the UR9 as a rival to flagship OLEDs. The price confirms as much.

So, what better way to benchmark it than against our current favourite flagship OLED, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

That, then, is what we’ve done. Over several days, we’ve tested the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 8 II side by side, feeding all of our favourite discs and streams into both simultaneously, and judging them on picture quality, sound quality, features, usability, design and price.

This might not be a full RGB Mini LED vs OLED battle – the Hisense UR9 doesn’t represent all RGB Mini LED TVs, after all – but it is the opening skirmish in the broader TV tech war. And it's an eye-opening one at that.

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: price

The Hisense UR9’s pricing is interesting to say the least. In the UK, the 65-inch model we tested is priced at £2999, which places it in the same price category as brand-new flagship OLEDs.

In Australia, meanwhile, the UR9’s price of AU$3999 makes it slightly more affordable by local standards.

In the US, though, the pre-launch price of $3500 had dropped vastly to just $2000 by the time the TV actually hit stores.

Things are much more straightforward with the Sony Bravia 8 II, the 65-inch version of which launched at £2999 / $4000 / AU$5295, but can now be bought for £2299 / $2798 / AU$4995.

The inconsistent international pricing of the Hisense UR9 makes it a little tricky to judge this round, but seeing as we’re a primarily UK publication, and that we reviewed a UK sample, we’re going to prioritise the UK pricing and call this it in favour of the Bravia 8 II.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: design

The Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are both smart-looking TVs, but they take rather different approaches to design.

Sony has essentially carried over the styling of the A95L, resulting in a TV that looks purposeful, premium and monolithic. While it lacks the ultra-thin glamour of some rival OLEDs, the Bravia 8 II still feels like a flagship product, with its clean lines and understated aesthetic giving it a suitably high-end appearance.

The feet can be installed in either a low-profile position that leaves the bottom edge of the screen sitting just millimetres above your furniture, or a raised position that creates space for a soundbar. The downside is that those feet can only be positioned at the furthest extremes of the chassis, meaning you'll need furniture that's at least as wide as the TV itself.

The Hisense UR9 is a more practical proposition. At 4.5cm thick, it's chunkier than the Sony and doesn't have quite the same premium flair, but it is solidly built and neatly finished, with slim bezels and a restrained dark metallic finish.

Hisense has also made a couple of sensible usability-focused decisions. The centrally mounted pedestal stand occupies a footprint of only around 42cm, making the TV much easier to place on narrower furniture, and it too offers two height positions so that a soundbar can be accommodated beneath the screen.

The UR9's integrated Devialet sound system is more visually obvious than Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup, with perforations running down the sides of the chassis and across the top edge to house the side- and up-firing speakers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does contribute to the TV's more functional, engineering-led appearance.

Ultimately, neither of these TVs is likely to be bought primarily for its styling, but the Bravia 8 II's cleaner, more premium design gives it the edge. The UR9 is practical and perfectly attractive in its own right, but it lacks the sense of sophistication that Sony's flagship delivers.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: features

The biggest difference between these two TVs is, of course, their panel technologies.

The Sony Bravia 8 II uses Samsung Display's latest QD-OLED panel, paired with Sony's XR processor and a custom heatsink. Because OLED technology is self-emissive, every pixel can be controlled independently, with no need for local dimming zones.

Sony doesn't publish specific brightness figures for its TVs, but the Bravia 8 II is estimated to hit around 1900 nits in small highlights, making it one of the brightest OLED TVs currently available.

The Hisense UR9, meanwhile, uses an RGB Mini LED backlight with 980 local dimming zones. Rather than relying on a conventional white backlight shining through colour filters, it uses separate red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. Hisense claims a peak brightness of up to 3500 nits for the 65-inch model we tested.

On paper, then, these TVs take radically different approaches to creating their images. We're not going to award points for one technology over the other here, though, because what ultimately matters is how those technologies perform in practice. We'll get to that in the picture quality section.

There are other differences in the feature sets of the two TVs worth highlighting, though.

Hardcore gamers are generally better served by the Hisense. All three of its HDMI sockets are full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, with support for 4K/170Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. It also features a DisplayPort connection, which remains extremely rare on TVs and could prove useful for committed PC gamers.

The Sony supports 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, too, but still offers only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, one of which doubles as the eARC connection. That limitation remains one of our biggest frustrations with Sony's flagship TVs.

That said, we'd probably take the Sony's two HDMI 2.1 sockets and two additional standard HDMI inputs over the Hisense's three HDMI sockets and DisplayPort arrangement. The latter will be useful to a niche audience, but many buyers are more likely to benefit from having an extra ‘standard’ HDMI connection available.

HDR support favours the Hisense, though. The UR9 supports every major HDR format currently in use, including HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The Bravia 8 II supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but, as is customary for Sony TVs, HDR10+ is absent.

The Bravia 8 II fights back with Google TV, which remains one of the stronger smart TV platforms available and features excellent app support. The UR9's VIDAA operating system is fast and responsive, but there are some notable omissions.

Most significantly, while the Apple TV app is present, it lacks access to the Apple TV Store and users' purchased libraries. That's a genuine disappointment, as Apple's movie store remains the best pay-as-you-go film streaming service available, particularly for 4K HDR movies.

Sony also offers IMAX Enhanced certification, its Studio Calibrated Modes for services such as Netflix and Prime Video, and Sony Pictures Core integration.

Ultimately, neither TV completely dominates on features, but the Hisense's broader HDR support, extra HDMI 2.1 socket and more advanced gaming specification give it the edge overall.

WINNER: Hisense UR9

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: picture quality

This is, of course, the section that really matters.

The Hisense UR9 makes an immediately strong impression. Once switched into either Filmmaker Mode or IMAX Cinema, it produces a rich, vibrant and remarkably composed image that rarely behaves like a traditional backlit TV.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the UR9 is how well controlled its RGB Mini LED backlight is. Throughout our testing, blooming is kept impressively in check, black levels are consistently strong and the TV almost entirely avoids the brightness pumping, flickering and shifting backlight behaviour that often gives Mini LED technology away.

Extra-bright HDR content is a particular strength. Movies such as Pan look spectacular on the UR9, with dazzling highlights and bold colours that comfortably outgun the Bravia 8 II for outright brightness. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off fantasy scenery is delivered with real punch and intensity.

The UR9 is also a very accomplished motion performer, and it combines its brightness with rich colours, excellent shadow detail and a pleasingly cinematic warmth that stops the image from ever becoming gaudy or overblown.

In isolation, it's one of the best backlit TVs we have ever tested.

Direct comparison with the Bravia 8 II reveals why OLED remains the reference technology, though – at least for now.

Despite its impressive brightness and excellent local dimming, the Hisense simply can't match the Sony's pixel-level contrast control. Counterintuitively, some of the brightest highlights against the darkest backgrounds actually appear more impactful on the Bravia 8 II than on the much brighter Hisense, because the OLED can render them without any concern about blooming.

More significantly, the Sony produces a more solid and perceptually three-dimensional image. Objects and characters stand out from their surroundings with greater depth and dynamism, while subtle gradations within shadows, clouds and highlights appear more convincing and refined.

We've observed this extra solidity from OLED many times before, but the side-by-side comparison between these two TVs demonstrates it particularly clearly. Next to the Bravia 8 II, the UR9 simply looks a little flatter and less immersive.

The Sony also has the advantage when it comes to viewing angles. While the Hisense holds up better than many LCD-based rivals, the sweet spot in which it performs at its very best is still relatively narrow. Thanks to its OLED panel, the Bravia 8 II performs consistently from almost any angle.

And while blooming is rare on the UR9, it isn't entirely absent. Difficult scenes such as the bomb-test sequence in Oppenheimer or the opening starfield of Alien: Romulus reveal imperfections that even this highly accomplished RGB Mini LED set cannot completely escape.

The Bravia 8 II, meanwhile, is simply sensational. Its combination of dazzling brightness by OLED standards, vibrant colours, exceptional shadow detail and razor-sharp definition creates an image of astonishing depth and realism.

What impresses most isn't any single strength, but how naturally all of its strengths come together. The Bravia 8 II consistently delivers a picture that feels balanced, authentic and effortlessly cinematic, whether you're watching a pristine 4K Dolby Vision disc or a much more humble SDR stream.

The Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED can get surprisingly close to flagship OLED performance, and many viewers will adore its combination of brightness, richness and stability. But when viewed side by side, the Bravia 8 II remains the more complete and convincing picture performer.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: sound quality

Both the Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are unusually sonically accomplished by modern TV standards.

That's important, because while we always recommend pairing a premium TV with a dedicated sound system, for many buyers that’s either impractical or unpalatable.

The Hisense UR9 certainly doesn't disappoint. Its Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel sound system delivers a presentation that is impressively spacious and full-bodied, with particularly convincing width and height effects.

Dolby Atmos soundtracks benefit from a strong sense of scale, while bass is deeper and more substantial than most flatscreen TVs can manage. The overall character is smooth, rich and easy to listen to over extended viewing sessions.

The UR9's audio system isn't flawless, though. Dynamics can feel a little restrained during big action sequences, and dialogue doesn't always have the clarity and expressiveness we'd ideally like.

We also found ourselves preferring the Standard sound mode over the more expansive Theatre setting. While Theatre mode undoubtedly sounds bigger, it can introduce a slightly diffuse and faintly echoey quality to voices that makes dialogue seem less natural than it should.

The Sony Bravia 8 II takes a very different approach. Rather than relying on conventional speaker placement, its Acoustic Surface Audio+ system uses actuators to vibrate the screen itself, effectively turning the display into a speaker.

The result is one of the most cohesive and convincing audio performances we've heard from a TV.

Dialogue and effects are tied directly to the action on screen in a way that traditional TV speaker systems struggle to replicate, creating a stronger sense that sound is genuinely coming from the people and objects you're watching.

Like the Hisense, the Sony also sounds surprisingly spacious, with effects extending well beyond the edges of the screen. Detail levels are excellent, too, and the Bravia 8 II combines subtle dynamic nuance with enough punch to make action scenes engaging and exciting.

Bass depth isn't as generous as it is from the Hisense, but it's impressively controlled, and the overall tonal balance is exceptionally well judged.

Ultimately, these are two of the best-sounding TVs you can currently buy. The Hisense delivers scale, warmth and impressive Atmos effects, but the Sony's superior detail, greater dynamic expression and uniquely direct delivery give it the edge.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: verdict

The Hisense UR9 is a hugely important TV.

Not only is it the first mainstream RGB Mini LED TV we've fully reviewed, it's also the first serious attempt to take on flagship OLEDs with a fundamentally different display technology.

And the good news for RGB Mini LED fans is that, in some ways at least, it succeeds.

The UR9 is bright, vibrant and impressively refined. More importantly, it avoids many of the traditional pitfalls of backlit TVs, with excellent black levels, impressively restrained blooming and a consistency that often feels surprisingly OLED-like.

In several respects, it's one of the best backlit TVs we've ever tested.

But while the UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is a genuinely exciting technology with enormous potential, it also demonstrates just how high the bar currently is at the top end of the OLED market.

Ultimately, picture quality remains the most important factor in any TV buying decision, and it's here that the Sony Bravia 8 II retains a clear advantage. The Hisense has the stronger gaming specification, broader HDR support and spectacular brightness, but the Sony's superior contrast control, greater three-dimensionality and more natural, cinematic image make it the more accomplished performer overall.

This isn't a verdict on RGB Mini LED versus OLED as technologies, and it certainly isn't the last battle in what is shaping up to be one of the most interesting periods in TV tech for years.

Instead, it’s the verdict on the very best OLED TV currently available versus the first mainstream RGB Mini LED model. And while the Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is ready to compete with the very best, the Sony Bravia 8 II remains the TV to beat.

OVERALL WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

The World Cup has long been the ideal excuse to upgrade your TV.

And it could also be a great opportunity to try some brand new technology. The Hisense UR9 is the first TV we have tested that uses the much-hyped RGB Mini LED panel tech, which uses red, green and blue Mini LEDs in the backlight for greater brightness and more precise colour reproduction.

And guess what? The 65-inch model is seeing its first discount – it’s now £2899 at Richer Sounds.

Enter the code RSTV100 at checkout and you’ll save £100 off the listed price.

And that's not all. Buy the UR9, and you also get a free 40-inch QLED TV!

Hisense has not named what model this would be, but you will be able to claim your free TV from the 21st August. Terms and conditions can be found here.

Any doubts about RGB Mini LED were pretty quickly dispelled once we had the Hisense UR9 in for testing.

The result was one of the best backlight TVs we have tested, with none of the flickering or shifting that we sometimes see in Mini LED sets.

“Black depth is consistently strong, shadow detail is excellent and subtle blooming is tightly controlled,” our Hisense UR9 review reads. “There’s also impressive richness and stability to colours, especially reds, which look wonderfully pure and saturated without drifting into pink or magenta tones.”

Gamers have three HDMI 2.1 ports to use, with support for a whopping 4K/170Hz (including the console-friendly 4K/120Hz), VRR and ALLM. There is also a DisplayPort connection for PC gamers, a rarity in modern TVs.

All four HDR formats are supported – namely HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG. This includes the Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive variants, which cleverly respond to ambient room lighting conditions.

Hisense’s VIDAA platform is on board too, which is fast, responsive and includes all the major apps, though do note that the Apple TV app lacks access to the Apple TV store.

Sound is provided by a Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel speaker system with dedicated up-firing drivers, plus support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. There is a lot to enjoy here, with a surprisingly expansive and full-bodied presentation with ample bass depth and a smooth, rich sonic character.

With Hisense leading the RGB Mini LED charge and also sponsoring the World Cup, now would certainly be a good time to invest in one of its pioneering TVs. With the Hisense UR9, you can now get your hands on some innovative new technology with £100 off at Richer Sounds.

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Also consider the Sony Bravia 8 II, LG G6 and Sony Bravia 9

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

The World Cup kicks off in less than a week, and we bet that plenty of people are making some last-minute upgrades to their set-ups, including splurging on a new TV.

TV shipments are up six per cent year on year, according to global technology market research firm Omdia, and while we hope that everyone buying a new set is consulting our carefully curated list of the best TVs, the likelihood is that there is a fair amount of impulse purchasing happening.

We don’t judge here, and we understand that many people will walk into a shop and pick the biggest and cheapest 4K TV that you can get, but we urge you to take stock before swiping your card and calling it a day.

The World Cup is running for just over a month, but your TV will last a whole lot longer; maybe not for life, but multiple TV manufacturers tell us that the average person replaces their TV every seven years.

With that in mind, I have devised a simple three-question system that anyone primed to make an impulse purchase this weekend should ask themselves.

Question 1: is this TV good value?

A cheap 4K TV is one thing; a good value 4K TV is something else completely.

Yes, we are seeing the likes of Hisense and TCL line shelves with super-affordable 4K sets, and some of them are truly great TVs – take the Award-winning, sub-£400 TCL C6KS, for example. But some of these super cheap sets can cut corners.

Panel technology becomes more basic at this level. That’s fine for those who want to catch the game, but for cinephiles who appreciate films as much as they do footy, you might want to consider looking up towards the mid-range Mini LED models at least.

Picture processing also tends to be more pared back at this level, too. Motion and upscaling are two processing factors to be mindful of – the former to accommodate fast-moving players springing across the pitch, while the latter can deal with sharpening up standard-resolution feeds from terrestrial broadcast channels.

Gaming specification also takes a hit here, with very few TVs at this level offering HDMI 2.1 support. While they are not entirely barebones, you can expect to miss out on high-framerate console gaming at 4K, and some budget 4K sets sport fewer HDMI sockets overall.

While opting for an affordable 4K set is by no means a bad decision, you also have to remember that you will be using this TV for plenty of years to come, so future-proofing is always advisable.

If you’re looking for TVs that tread the line of cheap and good value, you should check out our list of the best cheap TVs for some inspiration.

Question 2: will it stand the test of time?

Nearly every TV we see these days features a smart platform. Google TV is used by TCL and Philips, Tizen OS is featured on Samsung, webOS is on LG TVs, and Hisense uses its Vidaa platform on its sets.

Not all operating systems are made equal, and updates and app support can vary greatly between brands. While we are seeing decent coverage of the major streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, we have seen some worrying gaps.

BBC iPlayer, for example, is missing on Philips’s current suite of TVs, which is quite an issue when we take into account that a considerable number of World Cup matches will be streamed free on BBC iPlayer.

Longevity is also, once again, something to be mindful of. Notably, Samsung and LG have both committed to supporting their respective TVs with seven years of software support.

If you want a TV that lasts, and you rely on built-in streaming apps, then we recommend going for a TV from one of these brands, or instead investing in an external streaming device.

Question 3: am I leaving room in my budget for a soundbar?

Our advice to anyone buying a new TV is to budget for a soundbar to pair with it.

TV sound, unless you’re looking at the upper-echelon of OLED TVs that feature speaker systems tuned by notable hi-fi brands, is almost always a let down.

And if you’re preparing to listen to commentators for hours on end, the last thing you want is a built-in sound system that is thin, tinny, and fatiguing on the ears.

A good soundbar doesn’t have to cost the Earth. Take the Sony HT-SF150, which delivers a solid cinematic sound experience for less than £100; or the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H, which includes Dolby Atmos support, surround speakers and a subwoofer for under £200.

While a good sound system will undoubtedly give you a more authentic experience during the matches (think of audiences chanting and cheering), you will also find a range of benefits, including a better audio experience when it comes to music and movies.

MORE:

Here are the ultimate World Cup tech deals

Check out our picks for the best budget soundbars

As well as the best OLED TVs

The FIFA World Cup is fast approaching on the 11 June, and that means the football fans among you are likely looking for the best way to experience one of the biggest sports events of the year.

If you are hunting for a way to watch the first kick on the big screen, then you may have considered a portable or coffee table projector. Both categories have the advantage of being compact enough to carry from room to room easily, all while boasting a larger screen size than the average TV. The only difference is that a portable projector features a built-in battery, whereas a coffee table model does not.

But which projector is the best choice for you? We have hand-picked three projector models that cater to slightly different needs, so there is something for everyone.

Whether it's portability or picture quality at the forefront of your mind, we have got you covered.

Best cheap

It’s fair to say that when we first had the Wanbo Vali 1 in our test room, we were not expecting greatness from the affordable model. That’s because it launched at a jaw-droppingly low price (£270 / $279 / AU$499) and is available even cheaper right now in the UK at Amazon for £229.

Despite its low cost, the Wanbo model exceeded our expectations. It’s not the perfect projector, but it delivers a natural and enjoyable picture.

We say in our review that, when watching Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes: “During the opening minutes, as our ape protagonists swing through the green undergrowth and out into the open trees, the projector portrays a surprisingly balanced image that neither jumps out as overly vibrant nor dull.”

The built-in speakers are not quite as impressive, but they still deliver clear dialogue. For the World Cup commentary and crowd atmosphere, we recommend using a separate speaker for the best experience.

You can tilt the body up to 200 degrees, so the image can be projected onto a screen, ceiling or the wall (we strongly recommend investing in a screen to get the best picture quality from the hardware). It offers a maximum screen size of 180 inches as well.

There is no built-in battery on board, so you will need to have access to the mains. In terms of streaming, it comes with Android TV built-in (more on that later). The projector itself is easy to carry around, weighing about 2.8kg. It also sports a white, rounded body and large single lens which makes for a practical-looking design.

If you are looking for a projector to deliver a big-screen experience on a budget, the Wanbo Vali 1 is a great option.

Best portable

For those looking to take their viewing experience on the go, the Xgimi MoGo 4 offers a portable design that is also worth your time.

It comes with a built-in battery and claims to offer up to 2.5 hours of battery life. That figure is only applicable for Eco mode, which reduces the picture’s brightness, so it is not ideal for outdoor viewing.

That means it offers a fair bit of wire-free usability without being connected to the mains. You can project an image up to 120 inches without warping the picture, and auto-keystone and auto-focus features make for easy set-up.

In terms of design, the Xgimi projector is incredibly compact. It measures 21 x 10 x 10cm (hwd), which is about the same as a large water bottle. That makes it easy to pop into a bag if you are on the move. Google TV comes built-in, and getting the projector up and running takes a matter of minutes.

There is a small remote that hangs off the body of the projector so that you don’t have to keep track of multiple components. This remote keeps things extremely minimal with just controls for volume, a D-pad to navigate the menu and a back button. You can also use the more comprehensive separate remote which offers more navigation features.

While it is more expensive than the Wanbo model, the MoGo 4 is still a budget-friendly projector, coming in at £509 / $499.

But how does it actually perform? When we had it in our test room, the Xgimi MoGo 4 offered a sharp and punchy picture. While its vibrancy can be a little heavy-handed at times and motion can appear smeary, the overall image is easy to watch and keeps a fairly natural balance.

Best entry-level 4K

If your budget can stretch a bit wider, then there’s an Award-winning 4K projector model that is ideal for your sports needs. Enter the Hisense M2 Pro, which scored a five-star review when we had it in our test room.

It is currently available for £899 / $1299, which is a fair bit more expensive than the above models. But that is justified by its 4K resolution (via pixel shifting) and more premium-feeling design.

The M2 Pro sports a silver box-shaped body with a spherical glass lens at its front and speakers at its sides. A hinged stand is bolted to its bottom, which makes it easy to adjust the angle of the image. There's also a common thread adapter in the base, which opens up the possibility of mounting the projector to the ceiling.

As with the Xgimi model, you will find Google TV built in to give you access to a selection of streaming services. You can push the screen up to 200 inches, and auto-keystone and auto-focus are available.

In terms of its picture performance, we call it "one of the best performers we’ve seen in its class" in our review. That is thanks to its sharp image, warm skin tones and well-handled dark detail.

Its 2.0 in-built speaker system offers enough clarity and separation to keep voices and background noise separate enough for comfortable viewing, but loses composure with more intense, busy audio.

Despite this, the Hisense is a brilliant 4K projector that takes both movies and sports matches to the next level.

The streaming conundrum

While all of the projectors on this list (and the majority of those in the portable or coffee table market) come with a smart platform built-in, there are some extra considerations that must be made when it comes to watching the World Cup.

In the UK, all of the matches will be split between BBC iPlayer and ITVX. If you are looking for 4K coverage, the BBC says it will be selected matches in UHD but we don't know exactly how many that will entail.

If you are based in the US, you can watch platforms such as Fox Sports and YouTube TV.

Each streaming platform has slightly different offerings when it comes to native app support. Google TV, for instance, tends not to include BBC iPlayer, but ITVX is usually available. This differs with individual models, but it has been our experience with the models on this list.

Luckily, there are ways to get around this, such as casting from your phone or laptop. This will let you watch the content on the big screen, but it comes with its own issues, such as high latency. That means you could hear the screams or groans of your neighbours before you see the ball hit the back of the net.

Another option is to use a streaming stick with support for the missing apps. Our best budget recommendation currently goes to the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation), which offers a wide range of streaming support, including ITVX and BBC iPlayer. You can currently snag the streamer for £70 at Argos in the UK.

There is the even cheaper Amazon Fire Stick HD which retails at £40 at Amazon, but we have yet to review this. If its performance is anything like its more premium sibling, however, then it has the potential to be a worthy choice.

MORE:

These are the best projectors on the market

Check out the best streaming devices

Here is our review of the Hisense M2 Pro

As always, the Memorial Day sales have started early, and deals are already bursting onto the scene at several retailers.

If you're planning a BBQ for the big day, we've found some excellent deals on some of the best Bluetooth speakers, capable of lighting up any garden party.

We've also included some great wireless headphones to keep you entertained if you're travelling, exercising or just out and about.

If you're preparing to stay in for a summer of sport, especially with the US hosting the FIFA World Cup, then there's no shortage of deals on big, bright, five-star TVs and expansive soundbars.

Check out the deals below!

If you're after a new TV for the soccer, then the LG C5 is one of our top recommendations. This OLED TV won a What Hi-Fi? Award for its punchy, crisp image and excellent contrast, and is now available with some heavy discounts.

The Fire TV Stick is a sales staple, and this latest 4K Max model is Amazon's best yet. Fuss-free, effective and with support for all HDR formats, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd generation) is an easy recommendation.

The Tribit Stormbox Micro 2 Bluetooth speaker may be tiny, but the sound makes a big impact. Perfect for a Memorial Day BBQ, the Micro 2 is highly portable and IP67-rated waterproof and dustproof.

The Sonos Beam (Gen 2) remains the best Dolby Atmos soundbar at its price, and produces an impressively spacious movie sound that works just as well with music. An affordable, all-in-one device perfect for summer sports and beyond.

The 1000x series has been Sony's flagship wireless series for a decade, and the Sony WH-1000XM6 are our top overall recommendation for the best headphones thanks to their exceptional insight, great sense of dynamism, and superb ANC.

If you're after a large budget TV, then the TCL QM7K (also known as the TCL C7K) is our top choice. With 1008 dimming zones and expansive Quantum Dot colour, the TCL QM7K offers explosive brightness and contrast and is superb value even at full price.

If you're after noise-cancellation in your wireless earbuds, then the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are for you. They deliver the brand's typically excellent noise-cancelling, plus a punchy, full-bodied sound, and secure, comfortable fit which makes them excellent all-rounders.

If you want impressive sound and awesome portability from your next Bluetooth speaker, then the JBL Flip 7 is more than up to the task. Its IP68-rated build should survive any environment you use it in, and it's still nicely portable thanks to its burrito-like shape and carabiner clip. The Flip 7 also offers superb clarity and sonic precision, and punchy bass for its size.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless earbuds you can buy

And the best OLED TVs for all budgets

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“OLED killer” is a phrase we’ve heard many times before. That's why, when we first saw RGB Mini LED at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we took most of the boasts to that effect with a minor pinch of salt.

After all, for serious movie fans with deep pockets, OLED has been the TV panel tech of choice for nearly a decade despite the sea of “killers” squaring up to it. If you’ve checked our yearly list of What Hi-Fi? Awards winners in the TV category, there’s no denying OLED's dominance in the upper echelons of the market.

But, with our first set with the tech, the Hisense UR9, reviewed and rigorously tested against key rivals, including the Product of the Year-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, we can confirm our scepticism wasn’t entirely merited – and there is a lot to like about the hardware.

RGB Mini LED is an evolution of the base Mini LED tech we’ve seen for a while now. The key change is that the new panel creates colours using independent diodes made up of individual red, green and blue LEDs that feed directly into an optical lens behind the LCD panel.

Traditionally, Mini LEDs have done this by passing blue light through a QDEF (Quantum Dot Enhancement Film) sitting between the backlight and LED panel.

Companies, including Hisense, claim the new approach will let TVs offer improved colour accuracy, wider gamut coverage, higher brightness (resulting in improved contrast) and more.

And we definitely noticed improvements in all these areas, using the UR9, especially when playing bright HDR content.

“Extra-bright HDR material suits the UR9 especially well, too. Pan looks spectacular here, with dazzling highlights and bold, vibrant colours that comfortably outgun the Sony Bravia 8 II for outright brightness in many scenes. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off the fantasy scenery of Neverland is delivered with real punch and intensity," wrote TV and AV editor Tom Parsons in our UR9 review.

“Crucially, though, the UR9 generally achieves this brightness without sacrificing balance. Skin tones remain natural, and there’s a pleasing cinematic warmth to the image – and it doesn’t drift into gaudiness.”

But, we're still not ready to call time on OLED's dominance, and the reason is a simple argument we've made before. Despite all its perks, the UR9 still can’t match a top tier OLED’s pixel-level light control.

It’s this ability to control every individual pixel, creating perfect blacks, and a holistically more three-dimensional experience, that still gives OLED its edge, and as Tom said prior to me writing this article, “I don’t see any way that a backlit TV will ever match OLED in those regards.”

And because of that, the team and I all have one question: Is RGB Mini LED’s place really at the top end of the market?

From what we’ve seen so far, it may be that its sweet spot is actually just below OLED, in the upper mid-range.

This was the case with Mini LED sets, such as last year’s Award-winning TCL C7K. Though the TV couldn't match a good OLED on pure picture quality, it proved a performance-per-pound/dollar champion and the best set you could get under £1000 thanks to its competitive pricing.

And we’re not alone with this thought. There are already several companies viewing RGB Mini LED the same way.

Philips Senior Director of Product Strategy, Danny Tack, openly told us OLED is better from a pure performance perspective when we asked where the firm’s new RGB Mini LED sets will sit in its 2026 range, at a press event earlier this year.

TCL, though it has high hopes for the tech, seems to have a similar feeling, already pitching its even more premium, but still backlit, SQD-Mini LED as being superior to RGB Mini LED.

Yes, we’ve only reviewed one RGB Mini LED TV so far. And yes, we’ll be happy to be proven wrong if a better set with it appears. We always advocate the best real-world performer in our advice and are hardware agnostic, after all.

But for now, it looks like OLED’s time in the sun is far from setting, at least in the premium end of the TV market.

MORE:

These are the best Mini LED TVs we’ve tested

Our picks of the best OLED TVs money can buy

We rank the best TVs

It's official: we're entering summer festival season – even if the UK weather hasn't quite realised it yet.

And while there's no Glastonbury this year, there are still plenty of options to enjoy, whether you're heading to the iconic Isle of Wight Festival, Reading and Leeds or one of the other many music celebrations across the country.

Or maybe you're looking to enjoy the festival vibes from the comfort of your own home? We've got some outdoor projectors perfect for creating your own mini festival in your garden, as well as some of our favourite sound systems and Bluetooth speakers to enjoy the tunes in the best quality possible.

Either way, these are all products that we've tried and tested ourselves, and all come with the seal of approval from our expert reviews team. If you're not lucky enough to go to a festival this year, these What Hi-Fi? favourites will at least make it feel like you're actually there.

If you're looking for an outdoor projector, the Anker Nebula Mars 3 Air is our top overall pick. Its built-in battery, speakers and wi-fi mean you just fire up the Google TV operating system and start watching – no other equipment needed. The picture is a step above most other projectors at that size, too.

If you are heading to a festival, then the JBL Go 4 may well be the speaker of choice. It's small, waterproof and can be bought for only £30, making it ideal festival fodder that can be easily carried around and has a good chance of surviving UK weather. But most importantly, it sounds very impressive for its price, and can also work as an inexpensive upgrade to outdoor projector speakers.

If you're looking for a budget soundbar to hear the festival performances in all their glory, may we present the Creative Stage Pro. The soundbar and subwoofer combo delivers a surprisingly cinematic audio and shines when it comes to music as well, and is compact enough to take outside if you're able to plug it in.

If you want an outdoor projector on a budget, then the Xgimi Vibe One is the, well, one we recommend. You'll have to account for the battery only lasting a maximum of 1.2 hours, but this is a great value portable projector with a detailed, punchy image for the money.

If you want a step up in sound from the Go 4 but still want portability, then the JBL Flip 7 is admirably up to the task. Its IP68-rated build should fend off almost anything a festival throws at it, and it's still nicely portable thanks to its burrito-like shape and carabiner clip. The Flip 7 also offers superb clarity and sonic precision, and punchy bass for its size.

If you're after a soundbar system on a budget, the Hisense AX5125H knocked our socks off during testing. Despite its low price, the Dolby Atmos system is a cohesive and impressive performer, with a dedicated Music preset also.

To truly feel like you're at a festival, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than the Sony Bravia 8 II. Our current TV Product of the Year, the QD-OLED is stunning right out of the box and one of the best-sounding TVs you can buy.

If you're serious about sound, then the Bose SoundLink Max offers a lively, punchy delivery with an expressive midrange. Its IP67 rating and 20 hours of battery life mean it should survive a festival weekend, too.

The best soundbar for most people, if your budget can stretch, is the Sonos Arc Ultra for its clean, precise and three-dimensional sound. It's almost as well-suited to music as it is to movies, too, making it a terrific all-rounder.

MORE:

IP ratings explained: how waterproof are your headphones?

See our best budget Bluetooth speakers list

Looking for a bargain? Here are the best budget soundbars

Here it is, folks: our first full review of an RGB Mini LED TV.

We have previously run extensive hands-on tests of a couple of RGB Mini LED TVs – most notably the huge Hisense 116UX – but, due to their astonishing sizes and prices, we’ve had to do the testing outside our own facilities. In our world, that’s not a full review, so those TVs haven’t received star ratings.

The 65-inch Hisense UR9 we have before us today is designed to address the size and price issues that have until now prevented more people from hopping on the RGB Mini LED bandwagon.

This set, then, is leading the mainstream RGB Mini LED charge. And, while it’s a fair way short of perfect, particularly next to a flagship OLED TV, the UR9 is an impressive TV in its own right and a tantalising glimpse at the technology’s long-term potential.

Price

Price is always a hugely important factor whenever we test a product, but it’s particularly crucial to how the Hisense UR9 will be viewed.

In the UK, the launch price of £2999 places the 65-inch UR9 in the same category as flagship OLED TVs such as the new LG G6 and last year’s Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II.

In Australia, though, the AU$3999 price puts the Hisense UR9 up against step-down OLEDs such as the LG C6.

Most interestingly (and confusingly), while the announced launch price in the US was a super high-end $3500, when the TV actually arrived in shops, the tag was a vastly cheaper $2000, placing the UR9 in an entirely different category, below even step-down OLED models.

Essentially, then, this Hisense is a rather different proposition in each of those three regions. Seeing as we are UK-based and it’s a UK sample we’re reviewing, though, it’s the UK price that we are primarily working with here. And that means the UR9 is going to have to face off against the mighty Bravia 8 II QD-OLED.

Design

The Hisense UR9 is not one of those modern flagship TVs that disappears into your living room.

At 4.5cm thick, it’s decidedly chunky by current premium TV standards, particularly next to the impossibly slim OLED models with which it competes on price.

The rear panel is completely flat, though, which makes the UR9 fairly tidy for wall-mounting, and the overall build feels solid and substantial.

The TV’s general styling is perfectly pleasant, too, though it stops short of being genuinely luxurious. Bezels are slim enough, the dark metallic finish is smart, and the overall aesthetic is clean and restrained, but the UR9 lacks the slick elegance and premium flair of rivals such as the Sony Bravia 8 II and Samsung S99H/S95H.

Hisense has made some nice, practical decisions, though.

The centrally mounted pedestal stand has a relatively narrow footprint of around 42cm, making the UR9 easier to place on narrower furniture than many similarly sized rivals. It also offers two height positions, allowing you either to keep the screen sitting low and tidy or raise it slightly to create extra clearance for a soundbar.

Rows of tiny perforations run down both sides of the set, while larger openings line the top edge. These house the UR9’s side- and up-firing speakers, which form part of its integrated Devialet sound system.

Overall, then, the UR9 is more functional than fashionable – a practical, purposeful TV rather than a particularly glamorous one.

Features and specs

The headline feature here is, of course, the UR9’s RGB Mini LED backlight.

Unlike a conventional Mini LED TV, which uses a white backlight shining through a colour filter layer, the UR9 instead uses separate red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. In theory, this approach allows for both greater brightness and more precise colour reproduction.

Hisense claims peak brightness of up to 3500 nits for the 65-inch model we’re testing here, alongside 980 local dimming zones and a native 170Hz panel, all driven by the company’s Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor.

Gamers are generally very well served – with one unusual caveat. Unlike most premium TVs, which have four HDMI sockets, the UR9 has just three. These are accompanied by a PC-gaming-friendly DisplayPort connection – something that remains extremely rare on TVs.

Is a DisplayPort connection more valuable than a fourth HDMI socket? We have our doubts, but to a small number of very committed PC gamers, it may be very useful.

All three of the HDMI sockets are 2.1-specified, though, with support for 4K/170Hz (and the console-friendly 4K/120Hz), VRR and ALLM. Some brands, including Sony, still offer just two HDMI 2.1 sockets on their TVs.

The UR9’s input lag is decent rather than exceptional. We measured 32.5ms at 60Hz in the standard Game mode, though enabling the Refresh Rate setting reduces that figure to a more respectable, though far from groundbreaking, 24.6ms.

The UR9 supports every significant HDR format currently in use – HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision – plus the intelligent Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive variants that respond to ambient room lighting conditions.

It is also IMAX Enhanced certified, and the UK version of the TV features an anti-reflective, anti-glare screen coating that proves fairly effective at combating bright-room reflections.

Audio specifications are unusually ambitious by TV standards, too. The UR9 features a Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel speaker system with dedicated up-firing drivers, plus support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks.

In the UK and Australia, the UR9 runs Hisense’s own VIDAA smart platform, while the US version instead uses Google TV.

VIDAA still isn’t the prettiest smart system around, but it’s fast, responsive and logically laid out. App support is broadly very good, too, with all of the major streaming services and UK catch-up apps present and correctly supporting the relevant picture and sound formats.

There are, however, a few frustrating omissions. Most notably, the Apple TV app lacks access to the Apple TV store and users’ purchased libraries, so it can’t be used for movie purchases and rentals. That’s a real disappointment, as Apple’s pay-as-you-go store is the best around.

While far less important for a TV, it’s worth noting that music streaming support is sparse, too, with Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and Qobuz all absent. There are no cloud gaming apps, either.

The inclusion of Freely is welcome, though, as it allows live TV channels to be streamed over the internet without an aerial connection.

Picture quality

The Hisense UR9 makes a superb first impression. In fact, perhaps the most impressive thing about it is just how rarely it behaves like a traditional backlit TV.

Before getting into that, though, some setup advice is required, because the TV’s default HDR settings do it few favours.

When first fed HDR10 content, the UR9 automatically switches into its HDR Energy Saving mode which, despite its name, is surprisingly aggressive. Colours skew cool and bluish, motion processing is overly intrusive, and the overall image looks unnatural and overcooked.

HDR Standard and HDR Dynamic are similarly best avoided, both pushing sharpness, brightness and processing much too hard.

Thankfully, Filmmaker Mode proves far more successful. It delivers the most accurate and balanced picture of the available presets, and it quickly becomes our preferred overall option.

Interestingly, though, IMAX Cinema is also unusually compelling. While its underlying settings appear almost identical to those of Filmmaker Mode, it consistently produces a noticeably brighter and punchier image without obviously compromising balance or naturalism.

As a result, we would stick with Filmmaker Mode for dark-room and purist viewing, but happily switch to IMAX Cinema during the daytime or whenever we fancy a little extra visual intensity.

Once properly configured, the UR9 is an extremely accomplished performer.

Play 1917 on 4K Blu-ray, and the opening logos immediately demonstrate just how well controlled the TV’s backlight system is. Blooming around the bright white text is minimal, black depth is strong, and colours look rich, warm and nicely cinematic.

More importantly, the local-dimming system generally goes about its business without drawing attention to itself. Throughout our testing, the UR9 almost never exhibits the flickering, brightness pumping or visibly shifting backlight behaviour that can make many Mini LED TVs distracting.

That consistency quickly emerges as the UR9’s defining strength. While many bright Mini LED TVs constantly remind you that they are dynamically manipulating a backlight behind the scenes, the Hisense instead achieves a broadly very composed, stable and natural delivery that often feels surprisingly OLED-like.

Blade Runner 2049 showcases this particularly well. Black depth is consistently strong, shadow detail is excellent and subtle blooming is tightly controlled. There’s also impressive richness and stability to colours, especially reds, which look wonderfully pure and saturated without drifting into pink or magenta tones.

Extra-bright HDR material suits the UR9 especially well, too. Pan looks spectacular here, with dazzling highlights and bold, vibrant colours that comfortably outgun the Sony Bravia 8 II for outright brightness in many scenes. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off the fantasy scenery of Neverland is delivered with real punch and intensity.

Crucially, though, the UR9 generally achieves this brightness without sacrificing balance. Skin tones remain natural, and there’s a pleasing cinematic warmth to the image – and it doesn’t drift into gaudiness.

Motion handling is strong, too. The default Film setting is decent enough, but switching Motion Enhancement to Clear results in noticeably smoother pans without introducing the distracting soap-opera effect or processing artefacts that such systems often create.

The notoriously difficult Matera cemetery and chase sequence from No Time To Die is handled particularly well, with impressively little judder to the panning shots and clean rendering of drifting smoke and rapid camera movement.

Dropping down to standard-def and SDR, our Kiss Kiss Bang Bang DVD is reproduced with pleasing warmth, strong detail and impressively clean upscaling. Colours are arguably pushed a touch too hard at times, but the overall presentation remains highly enjoyable and consistently cinematic.

For all of the UR9’s strengths, though, direct comparisons with a top-tier OLED TV still reveal the limitations of even this undeniably refined RGB Mini LED model. Despite its impressive local-dimming system, the Hisense simply cannot match the pixel-level contrast control of the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Extremely bright highlights against deep black backgrounds are sometimes handled slightly conservatively, presumably to avoid blooming. Perhaps counterintuitively, those bright white logos against pitch-black backgrounds appear more intense and impactful on the Sony OLED than on the much brighter, on paper, Hisense.

More significantly, the OLED TV produces a more solid and perceptually three-dimensional image across the board. Objects and characters stand out from their surroundings with greater depth and dynamism, while subtle gradations within clouds, shadows and highlights appear more convincing and refined, creating a more rounded look.

This isn’t a new phenomenon: we have documented that extra solidity you get from OLED plenty of times previously, most notably when we used the Sony Bravia 8 OLED as a comparison in our Bravia 9 Mini LED review. But it bears repeating for those who are choosing between an OLED and a backlit TV.

Viewing angles are another clear OLED advantage. While the UR9’s picture performance doesn’t entirely fall off a cliff when you move off-axis, the sweet spot in which it performs at its very best is surprisingly narrow.

And while the UR9 usually keeps blooming impressively well controlled, especially for a backlit TV, particularly torturous scenes can still expose its limitations.

The bomb-test sequence in Oppenheimer is a great example. From the UR9, there’s a slight general greying to the image, plus some visible glow around isolated spotlights in the darkness. The opening starfield of Alien: Romulus, meanwhile, reveals that the UR9 cannot simultaneously maintain truly inky blacks and perfectly intense star highlights in the way an OLED can.

To be clear, the Hisense performs well in these scenes by LCD standards, and many owners may never notice such shortcomings during normal viewing. But they do prevent the UR9 from truly matching the effortless contrast precision and dimensionality of the best OLED TVs.

Sound quality

Developed in partnership with Devialet, the UR9’s 4.1.2-channel speaker system delivers a surprisingly expansive and full-bodied presentation by TV standards, with particularly impressive width and height effects.

The Theatre sound mode is the most immediately striking of the available presets, producing a presentation that extends well beyond the physical boundaries of the TV and creating a convincing sense of spaciousness with Dolby Atmos soundtracks.

There’s decent bass depth, too, and the UR9 maintains good composure at high volumes, avoiding the harshness and distortion that can afflict many flatscreen TVs when pushed hard.

The overall presentation is smooth and rich in character, which makes the UR9 an easy and enjoyable listen over long viewing sessions.

It isn’t perfect, though. Dynamics are a little stunted, and action scenes lack some of the punch and excitement they deserve, while dialogue could be projected with greater clarity and emotional expression.

The Theatre mode also slightly overplays its hand at times. While its extra spaciousness is undeniably appealing, it introduces a faintly diffuse and echoey quality to voices, along with a slight sense of delay that makes speech sound less natural than it should.

As a result, we find ourselves preferring the Standard sound mode for most content. It still sounds pleasantly spacious and open, but delivers dialogue with greater focus and cohesion while maintaining good weight and scale.

Ultimately, while even a modest dedicated soundbar will comfortably outperform it, the UR9’s audio system is better than that of most TVs, even at this lofty level.

Verdict

In several ways, the Hisense UR9 is one of the best backlit TVs we have ever tested.

Most of the time, you’re not even made aware that it is a backlit TV, so good are its black levels, its control of blooming and its consistent, flicker-free contrast.

While it is possible to trip up the backlight, it’s quite hard to do so, and many buyers may never see an unsightly bloom in their period of UR9 ownership.

But while this first mainstream RGB Mini LED TV is broadly mercifully free of the flaws that generally afflict backlit TVs, it still can’t match the overall picture quality of the best OLED models.

The pixel-level contrast control of OLED brings benefits in several areas. There are the notably brighter highlights on very dark backgrounds that even accomplished backlit sets, such as the UR9, are too cautious to go all guns blazing with for fear of blooming. There are the almost flawless viewing angles, too, which the UR9 is a long way from matching.

The biggest thing, though, is the generally more solid, more perceptually three-dimensional image that OLED provides. Next to the Bravia 8 II, the Hisense UR9 simply looks flatter, less dynamic and less impactful.

Ultimately, as enjoyable and technically impressive as the UR9 is, we can’t think of a good reason you would buy it over a flagship-grade OLED, and that’s the level at which Hisense is pitching it – at least in the UK.

Of course, if you are someone who has a flagship-level budget for their next TV and a general aversion to OLED, the Hisense UR9 should be right around the top of your list.

If you’re a UK buyer, it’s probably a good idea to wait and see if we get a massive US-style discount before placing an order, though.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 4
• Features 4

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Also consider the Sony Bravia 8 II, LG G6 and Sony Bravia 9

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Surround sound systems come in practically every shape and size these days, but there's one modern alternative that we've seen sweep the world of home cinema.

We are, of course, talking about wireless soundbar systems. Bose has just unveiled its Ultra Lifestyle soundbar, subwoofer and wireless speakers, and it joins the likes of Sonos, LG, Sony, Yamaha and Samsung in offering an ecosystem of home audio products that can work together to essentially create a proper surround sound experience.

While they vary in quality – we've recently raved about Samsung's superb HW-Q990H, while LG's Sound Suite system didn't quite hit the mark – there's no doubting they are super popular, convenient, and effective ways to achieve surround sound without filling your living room with bulky floorstanding speakers.

We're even seeing companies get creative with their soundbar systems. Majority recently impressed us with its pint-sized Bowfell Halo Atmos system, and Hisense scored a coveted What Hi-Fi? Award with its superbly affordable AX5125H package.

While they won't suit everyone, and a true surround sound speaker package will always win in terms of delivering proper cinematic sound, there are plenty of great options around, and it's reminding us of a previous home cinema audio trend.

A full surround sound system in a box isn't a new phenomenon; in fact, they were all the rage in the early 2010s. Samsung, Panasonic, LG and many more used to sell a whole home cinema in a box, combining a DVD or Blu-ray player alongside a compact wired 5.1 speaker set, unlocking surround sound for the masses without the need for an AV receiver.

Our review of the Panasonic SC-BTT590 from back in 2012 highlights how capable these systems once were. We complimented this system, saying "the handover between speakers is smooth, making for a convincing surround sound".

Stretching even further back to 2010 with the Award-winning Sony BDV-E370, which featured an "easy, idiot-proof set-up" and speakers that "deliver surprising scale and power".

These nifty, streamlined systems were made to combine cinematic sound with plug-and-play convenience, which sounds like a very similar objective to the soundbar systems we're seeing today.

The biggest difference between the home cinema in a box systems of old and the current soundbar packages is the inclusion of a Blu-ray player that once acted as a hub to drive these speakers.

That's to be expected in a world dominated by streaming and massively improved wireless audio protocols, but being the physical media advocates that we are, it's a shame nonetheless.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Sonos, Bose, LG and Sony all take a modular approach, allowing you to connect surround speakers and subwoofers as you see fit, and most of these companies offer components at different price points.

More customisation and different speaker configurations mean you can essentially build a surround sound package that better suits your needs and budgets, which is always a plus.

Sony, in particular, has welcomed this approach with open arms, as it now offers five different optional subwoofers and three different types of wireless sound speakers.

So, are soundbar systems secretly just a revival of one of the 2010s ' best home cinema trends? We think they're more of a spiritual successor with the same mission statement in mind: save people from their TV speakers by bringing simple, effective cinematic sound to the masses.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

As well as the best surround sound systems

And find the best soundbar deals here

A bank holiday weekend is upon us here in the UK, which leaves plenty of time to check out the latest deals.

It also lines up nicely with payday, so now could be the time for you to pull the trigger on the high-ticket item you’ve been eyeing up.

So whether you’re after a Bluetooth speaker to spend your long weekend in the sun or looking forward to staying in with a new soundbar system, we’ve got something for everyone.

As ever, all products have been reviewed and rated by our expert testers, so you can be sure these are good purchases even at full price.

Not sure where to start? Let us help…

If you want a beefy, rugged outdoor speaker, look no further than the JBL Xtreme 4. The Award-winning Bluetooth speaker has a great discount right now at Richer Sounds, as you can save £150 by signing up to its VIP club (which is completely free).

The Dali Oberon 5 5.1 Speaker Package has earned a What Hi-Fi? Award an incredible six times and is back to its Black Friday price with £200 off. Surround sound with direction and heft doesn't get much better than this.

If your budget doesn’t quite stretch that far, then a soundbar system is a good compromise. And budget systems don’t get much better than the Hisense AX5125H, which offers amazing weight, scale and a convincing Dolby Atmos for a price less than some solo soundbars.

If you want luxury and audiophile credentials in your wireless headphones, you won’t do much better than the Focal Bathys. A classy design and a 24-bit/192kHz USB-DAC mode are two highlights out of a feature set that includes two different levels of ANC, a transparency mode, aptX Adaptive support and 30 hours of battery life included too.

For a mid-range wireless speaker that’s great value, look no further than the Audio Pro Addon C10 MkII. It has been succeeded by the newer, pricier Audio Pro C20 W, but it still has great clarity with clean and tight bass.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless earbuds you can buy

And the best OLED TVs for all budgets

Interested in vinyl? Here are the best turntables we have tested

The Hisense PL2 delivers a 150-inch screen experience without the need to sacrifice your entire living room to a TV that size. Sounds good, right?

Thanks to a limited-time Amazon deal, you could be the proud owner of the PL2 for a discounted price of $1800. The $200 price cut doesn't make the projector 'cheap', but it's certainly more tempting, especially if you were in the market for one anyway.

We gave the PL2 five stars after having it in our testing room and crowned it one of the winners in our What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025. Snap it up while it's reduced.

But what makes this model worth your consideration? First off, it offers a balanced picture performance, especially when it comes to portraying natural-looking colours and solid dark detail levels.

We say in our review while watching Dune: Part Two: "The additional brightness gives explosions and the desert sand noticeably more impact and vibrancy compared with [its predecessor] the PL1, which was best in class at this price less than a year ago."

The Hisense PL2's Dolby Atmos sound performance isn't quite as impressive as its picture, but the eARC socket makes it a prime candidate to be paired with a separate sound system.

The ultra-short-throw model offers an up to 150-inch image via a laser light system that's capable of reaching 2700 lumens. This makes it an ideal TV replacement, as using the PL2 shouldn't be troubled by the intrusion of ambient light.

Furthermore, it includes the Google TV operating system, meaning support for a wide range of international and domestic streaming apps, including the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+ is built in.

You'll also find HDR support in the form of HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

If you're aiming for a cinematic experience at a scale that exceeds any of the currently available best TVs, then the Hisense PL2 is worth considering, especially at this low price.

MORE:

Here's our review of the Hisense PL2

And these are the best projectors right now

Ultra-short throw projector vs big-screen TV: which should you buy?

The five-star Hisense AX5125H proved, when we reviewed it, that the best soundbars don't have to cost the earth. And now it’s even cheaper, thanks to this new Richer Sounds deal which slashes the price down to just £209.

The soundbar was a hands-down What Hi-Fi? Award winner in 2025, praised for being the best soundbar under £500. Full disclosure, its price did drop briefly to £189 during last year’s Black Friday sales, but this latest discount is still a fantastic deal.

So, if you’ve been looking for a complete Dolby Atmos (and DTS:X) system in a box that will cost you less than most solo soundbars, your search is now over.

The Hisense AX5125H has prompted us to ask questions such as is this the home cinema bargain of the year? So it’s clear that we are massive fans of this Dolby Atmos soundbar system.

An Award winner and one of the best soundbars on the market right now, the Hisense AX5125H is an immersive, cinematic system at a budget price.

But what do you get for your money? Rather a lot actually. This Hisense package includes not only a 5.1.2-channel soundbar, but also a wireless subwoofer and two wireless surround speakers along with it.

There is support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and set up and operation are easy. There are several audio presets to choose from and two surround modes, Pure Surround and Surround Pro, to round off your listening experience.

While many owners will simply connect their TV to the Hisense AX5125H via HDMI eARC/ARC and be done with it, those with external sources (particularly those with lots of them) will be pleased to see that the soundbar also has a dedicated HDMI input. It is limited to 60Hz though, so might not be suitable for the most hardcore of gamers.

Given the price and the fact the surrounds that come as part of the package are dinky, our expert testers didn't have high hopes for the AX5125H's sonic ability. But they were immediately struck by how cohesive and enveloping the presentation is.

This led them to say in our review: “The subwoofer is really rather impressive, given the system cost. It’s capable of going very loud and very deep, and while it of course lacks the sophistication of a good, standalone sub, it’s not the woolly, monotonal blunt instrument that one would expect at this level.”

So, if you’re in the market for a full soundbar system but can’t stretch your budget to the much pricier Samsung HW-Q990F, this is a great option to upgrade your TV’s sound and will only cost you £209 at Richer Sounds.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense AX5125H review

Our pick of the best soundbars you can buy for every budget

Dolby Atmos: what is it? How can you get it?

It's been an interesting week for deals, seeing a mix of savings on old favourites, flashy new products and more than a few What Hi-Fi? Award winners.

Our expert team of product reviewers have curated the best into the round-up below, which will have something for everyone, whether you're more into hi-fi or home cinema.

Here, then, is the full list – and we break down some of the highlights below.

Spoiled for choice? Allow us to guide you…

The Roberts Revival Petite 2 is, quite simply, the best budget DAB+/FM radio on the market at the moment. The Award winner may be dinky, but it produces a lively, engaging and punchy sound, and is at the lowest price it has ever been

The Bowers & Wilkins 606 and 607 S3 speaker package may not be cheap, but it gives you a full 5.1 setup – and a great one at that: this package is a two-time What Hi-Fi? Award winner that makes an incredibly strong case for ditching floorstanding speakers. We have never seen the package this cheap before!

The Sony WH-1000XM6 were long awaited, and they didn't disappoint when they arrived. Our Product of the Year headphones and go-to recommendation, the Sony over-ears boast stunning sound quality, excellent comfort, great portability, and brilliant noise-cancelling skills. Now at their best price since Black Friday.

An 83-inch OLED with 55% off? I'm sure I don't need to do much more to convince you of how good this deal is. But if you had any doubts, rest assured that the LG C5 is one of our favourite TVs with a rich, engaging picture and an uncompromising feature set.

If noise cancelling is your thing, look no further than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen). Bose developed the noise-cancelling technology and is still the market leader, but these five-star earbuds also offer punchy, full-bodied sound and a secure, comfortable design.

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Our pick of the best wireless earbuds you can buy

And the best OLED TVs for all budgets

Interested in vinyl? Here are the best turntables we have tested

TCL has announced its latest answer to the art TV craze, and it's packing an upgrade that could see it produce a better quality picture than most of its rivals.

The A4000 Pro NXTVISION blends style and substance, with a frame-like chassis that challenges Samsung's super popular The Frame and Hisense's Canvas TV.

It's designed to blend seamlessly into your living room environment, and when paired with the Art Gallery mode (which features curated artwork and AI-generated content) and included walnut woodgrain frame, it doubles as a versatile piece of wall art when not in use.

Sounds familiar so far, right? Well, TCL hopes to set its offering apart by bringing the picture quality up to standard, as some of the frame TVs on the market sacrifice panel tech for the sake of design.

Not TCL, though, as it has included its precise QD-Mini LED backlight on this TV, and paired it with a matte HVA panel, which should improve viewing angles. That's quite a step up over Hisense's edge-lit QLED Canvas TV.

TCL claims to have included up to 488 dimming zones (presumably this refers to the largest 75-inch screen size), and the A4000 Pro also supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+.

Furthermore, this TV can support gaming signals up to 4K/144Hz over HDMI 2.1, with VRR and ALLM supported, making this a solid choice for gamers and home decor aficionados alike.

TCL has also included the Google TV smart platform and an Onkyo-tuned 2.0 channel sound system, which supports Dolby Atmos and DTS Audio. It says that "dialogue is clear and immersive without requiring an external audio set-up" on the A4000 Pro NXTVISION, which will appeal to minimalists who don't want trailing cables.

This TV comes in four sizes, starting at 43 inches, and it undercuts both of the rivals we've mentioned above. The 55-inch model starts at £899, which seems like a bargain compared to the equivalent Hisense, which we reviewed at £1099.

Samsung's 2026 Frame Pro (which is also billed as a Mini LED art TV), comes in at a staggering £1699 for the 55-inch model, which makes the TCL also look like a steal by comparison.

The TCL A4000 Pro NXTVISION is set to launch later this year, and you can see pricing for all sizes below:

• 75A400 PRO-UK – £1,399
• 65A400 PRO-UK – £1,099
• 55A400 PRO-UK – £899
• 43A400 PRO-UK – £599
  

MORE:

Read our full Hisense Canvas review

Check out our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

And read our full TCL C7K review

This week, after over a year of waiting, we finally have a key bit of home cinema hardware in our viewing rooms, ready for testing.

Specifically, we’ve got the Hisense UR9, and are going to start our gruelling comparative testing process in mere hours.

Why’s that a big deal?

Hisense has a strong track record for delivering excellent-value hardware, and is responsible for some of the best UST and affordable projectors available right now. But its recent flagship TVs have generally been overshadowed by OLEDs and TCL-made rivals in the past year.

But, if you still don't get why we’re making such a big deal about the UR9, it's pretty simple This is the first TV we’ve got in for testing featuring RGB Mini LED panel technology.

This is a next-generation panel technology we first saw at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last year. It’s set to be used by numerous companies, including Hisense (obviously), Sony, Samsung, Philips, TCL and more.

Though, annoyingly, they all have their own name for and a slightly different spin on the panel tech, the fundamental idea is a simple one: improve picture quality by creating colours using independent diodes made up of individual red, green and blue LEDs that feed directly into an optical lens behind the LCD panel.

This is a very different approach to Mini LED, which creates colours by passing blue LED light through a QDEF (Quantum Dot Enhancement Film) sitting between the backlight and LED panel.

The theory is that the changed approach will let RGB Mini LED offer better colour accuracy, wider gamut coverage, improved brightness (resulting in improved contrast) and more.

In fact, the companies betting on the tech are so confident that the words “OLED-killer” have been muttered numerous times at the various demos we’ve had. This includes our look at Sony’s latest prototype last month.

And with the UR9 costing the same as a flagship OLED, it’s clear Hisense really thinks it can go toe-to-toe with our current top dog for picture quality in the TV market. But, will it actually deliver in the real world? After all, we heard the same inflated boasts about base Mini LED when it first came out many moons ago.

We’re going to find out, as we’re set to run it head-to-head with our current Product of the Year winner in the What Hi-Fi? Awards TV category, the Sony Bravia 8 II – a set our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, openly described as “the best OLED he’s ever tested” when we reviewed it.

We’ll be doing all our standard checks to see if the new, ultimately still backlit, Hisense can actually deliver a five-star OLED-beating performance, using our ever-expanding suite of test discs to check everything from peak brightness and black level to colour accuracy.

But, as ever, we want to get you, our awesome cinephile readers, involved. Do you have any questions about the UR9 or RGB Mini LED in general? Let us know in the comments section of this page, and we’ll endeavour to answer them while we have the set in our viewing rooms.

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These are the best Mini LED TVs we’ve reviewed

Our picks of the best OLED TVs

We rank the best TVs money can buy

Here at What Hi-Fi?, we test an awful lot of TV audio hardware. And while there are a few exceptions and built-in speakers are gradually getting better, we usually land at the same conclusion: invest in a soundbar or speaker system to give your movies the sound they deserve.

However, after spending hundreds, if not thousands, on a new TV, shelling out again just to complete your setup can be a bitter pill to swallow. Luckily, we've found a cheap, practical solution: the Hisense HS214 for £69 at Amazon.

For less than the price of a family takeaway, we found the Hisense soundbar blesses TVs with more forthright dialogue and an extended tonal reach than most TV speakers would hope to achieve. It's rather compact too, meaning it can nestle snugly under your TV no matter how much space you have.

As an AV fan, there's not much worse than splashing out on a fancy new TV only for the snazzy picture quality to be matched with a tinny, fizzy audio that even flagships aren't immune to.

This is where the Hisense HS214 comes in. Despite the low price, we were pleasantly surprised to find a 3-inch down-firing woofer on the underside, adding a welcome touch of bass as well as improved dialogue clarity and a broadened soundstage.

Even when testing with the Award-winning Panasonic 48OLED806, we found a viewing of The Beatles: Get Back to be far more engaging with the Hisense HS214.

"The HS214 anchors the vocal, meaning you can sit back and enjoy the unfolding drama without focusing on the subtitles," our Hisense HS214 review reads. "The enhanced depth that the bass unit brings to the table isn’t superfluous either; there’s a solid sound to the lows and kick that gives the sound a touch more musicality than you would otherwise experience."

The HS214 is also a surprisingly competent music player, an area where even expensive soundbars struggle. A listen to Follow Me Around by Radiohead brings a solid presence, without the tinniness we often experience with small speakers.

At 9.2 x 5.8 x 65 cm we found its small footprint suited well to smaller rooms and screens, and the decent build quality means it will sit happily beneath both a new high-spec TV or an older model. There are rigging points at the rear and fixings included for wall mounting, making the HS214 a capable all-rounder for any setup.

The Hisense HS214 is the cheapest soundbar we recommend, and an easy go-to for a quick, convenient and low-cost improvement to your TV speakers. If you're willing to shell out a bit more for a wider cinematic scale, check out some of the alternatives we've tested below.

MORE:

Read our Hisense HS214 2.1 review

Check out the best budget soundbars: cheap 'bars, tested by our experts

And the best TVs under £1000: affordable OLED, Mini LED and LCD models hand-picked by our experts

With what has felt like a never-ending influx of panel technologies over the past couple of years – think Micro Lens Array OLED, RGB Mini LED and Primary RGB Tandem OLED – we've lost sight of the true future of TV panel tech.

Micro LED, which employs millions of microscopic self-immersive LEDs for an OLED-like experience without the drawbacks, has been quietly simmering in the background for years.

While Samsung has been selling its series of The Wall TVs with Micro LED panels for quite some time, the price tags attached have meant that they have been reserved for the super wealthy. We certainly don't see them in physical retail stores very often.

This is where Hisense steps in. The company kindly invited me to a morning spent in Harrods to oggle at its 136-inch MX Micro LED TV, which is set up and running alongside its UXQ RGB Mini LED TVs to tempt customers with deep pockets to invest in the next generation of TV technology.

Now, I appreciate that Harrods isn't a retailer that appeals to the masses – it's certainly not where I do much of my shopping. But this is a luxury TV technology after all, and the price tag reflects it.

At a staggering £119,999, this TV certainly seems to signify Hisense’s intent to move away from the affordable 4K models it has launched in the past, and make its mark on the premium home cinema sector.

Sporting a claimed peak brightness of 10,000 nits (our camera clearly couldn't handle the dazzling brightness) and a sound system tuned by French hi-fi company Devialet, this is an undeniably impressive TV specification-wise. The company even shared some insight into what you can expect if you do buy one of these huge (and expensive) sets.

Getting a 136-inch TV through a standard door is borderline impossible, but the modular nature of Micro LED means you needn't worry about that. According to Hisense, if you purchase one of these TVs, an engineer with the frame and Micro LED panels will arrive at your home and hand assemble the TV in roughly four hours.

For this price, that's the kind of service you'd expect – right?

Hisense does, however, have some competition. Samsung is also showcasing its Micro LED offering at Harrods, so it seems we are inching ever closer to seeing the true successor to OLED hit the mainstream.

I’ve even seen some more living room-friendly Micro LED TVs at the likes of CES and IFA, which scale the screen sizes down to between 65 and 85 inches. They remain concepts for now, but we could see more conventional models such as these in the future.

We'll need those prices to drop first, though – we highly doubt the average consumer will spend six figures on a TV anytime soon.

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MicroLED TV: everything you need to know

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

As well as the best Mini LED TVs

We're almost a third of the way through 2026, and if there's one takeaway from the world of TVs, it's that maybe too much is happening.

I'm deeply immersed in the release schedules and latest technologies tied to the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Hisense and TCL, and yet even I'm finding 2026 to be one of the most confusing years for TVs to date.

Part of that is a good thing, as we're getting lots of exciting innovations this year, which are sure to define generations of TVs to come, but they're ultimately meaningless if the messaging is unclear.

I've been catching up with the brands mentioned above since January, getting behind-the-scenes access to some of the more exciting TVs to launch this year. But, despite my extensive access to TV experts from said brands, I still have plenty of unanswered questions...

RGB Mini LED: mid-range marvel or premium panel tech?

The biggest TV news of 2026 is that practically every TV manufacturer is launching new backlit TVs with this state-of-the-art panel technology.

RGB Mini LED looks to be the successor to Quantum Dot Mini LED, as it strips away the QLED layer and swaps a white backlight for individual red, green and blue LEDs in the pursuit of greater colour accuracy and backlight control.

On paper, this sounds great, and we've even seen a few impressive sets, including the Hisense UR8 and TCL RM9L, in action. We've also just been treated to a demo of Sony's True RGB system.

The issue is that these companies can't decide where to position RGB Mini LED. And this lack of clarity on its place in the pecking order is already causing confusion.

Samsung and Hisense seem to be championing it as flagship technology, meaning it's reserved for premium models that sit alongside (or, in some cases, above) OLED TVs. Samsung's R95H appears to sit alongside the brand's S95H QD-OLED this year, which can only signify that the Korean AV giant sees it as a top-of-the-line technology.

Philips and LG, on the other hand, maintain that it sits below their respective OLEDs. Philips has been more open about this, as it claims "OLED is still the reference", and the company's mid-range MLED981 sits below even the entry-level OLED761.

So, which one is it? Is this new panel tech best suited to flagships? Or is it not capable of challenging even some of the most affordable OLEDs on the market?

Is OLED in trouble?

We were blindsided by two prominent OLED TV manufacturers, Sony and Panasonic, essentially selling off their TV businesses to Chinese firms, TCL and Skyworth. The latter is only handling Panasonic's European TV division.

Both Japanese giants are known for producing high-quality, and often fairly pricey, OLED TVs, but that may be about to change. While we can't speak entirely for Sony, we do know TCL's firm anti-OLED stance (specifically for TVs, the company uses OLED for mobile and automotive displays), so we don't have high hopes.

What we can presume is that Sony likely won't launch a premium OLED TV this year, as it now employs an unconventional release schedule, where each model is only refreshed every two or three years – or in the case of the A90K, possibly longer. The Bravia 8 II launched last year, so we expect this to stick around until 2027.

Speaking of not launching a new premium OLED, Panasonic confirmed that the Z95B will continue as its flagship offering in 2026. As it stands, the entry-level Z86C will be the only new OLED from the legendary Japanese AV company this year.

Pair that with the LG G6 being the first in the series to not score five stars (you can read our full LG G6 65-inch review here), things are already looking interesting for this year's What Hi-Fi? Awards judging process.

All we'll say is that it's a good job that the LG C6 is a simply superb OLED TV, as it might be among a modest cohort of new models this year.

Is Dolby Vision 2 really coming this year?

The final slightly baffling hot topic in the TV world is Dolby Vision 2. Now, I've seen it in action a couple of times, and I have to say that it looks superb, but there are so many unanswered questions.

Hisense and TCL were announced as launch partners at IFA 2026, and yet neither referenced it at their respective launch events in Europe last month. Furthermore, when questioned about it, Hisense confirmed that it should be coming to its 2026 TVs, but possibly not at launch. Instead, it'll likely be added via a software update down the line.

Philips, on the other hand, made no qualms about Dolby Vision 2 Max being supported on its 2026 OLEDs, including the OLED911. This feels more promising, especially when LG and Sony have remained especially tight-lipped about the new HDR format for quite some time.

There is, of course, the issue of Dolby Vision 2 content. To our knowledge, the only services that will support Dolby Vision 2 are Canal+ and NBC's Peacock service, neither of which really has the mainstream draw of Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video.

It is, of course, early days, so we could see more services pick the format up, but the creation of Dolby Vision 2 content is still a mystery right now.

Looking to a buy a TV now? Here's my advice...

If you're in the market for a TV now, my honest advice would be to hold out until we gain a little more clarity.

The best TV that we've tested this year (so far) is the LG C6, and while it is brilliant, it's also expensive right now. We expect this price to drop steadily throughout the year, as the C5 and C4 did, so your patience should be rewarded.

We're also yet to review any of the new RGB Mini-LED models, so if you can wait until we make a judgment on these upcoming TVs, we'd recommend doing so. It's entirely possible that RGB Mini LED could surpass OLED in terms of picture performance, but we won't know until we try them ourselves.

And if you're confused by the state of the TV world in 2026, then don't worry – we live and breathe TVs here, and even we're feeling a bit overwhelmed.

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Read our full LG C6 65-inch review

The LG C series is a bit of a mess right now, and it's all the better for it

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

April is usually when practically every TV manufacturer has officially unveiled its lineup of TVs for the year, and I've had the pleasure of seeing almost every new model in the flesh.

From new Primary RGB Tandem OLED flagships, to game-changing RGB Mini LED sets, and even affordable mid-range models (both Mini LED and OLED), the 2026 TV market is officially in full swing after a busy string of launches.

I started my year at CES, where Samsung and LG stole the spotlight with flagship OLED TVs, and from there I've attended hands-on events with Panasonic, Philips, Hisense and TCL to see each company's respective new TV ranges.

While we're still yet to hear from Sony about what it has up its sleeve (especially in the wake of its partnership with TCL), it's looking like a majority of the big players in the TV world have locked in their lineups.

I've selected the five that have caught my eye most at these events, and even included a bonus option which boasts some major improvements over its disappointing predecessor.

1. Philips OLED911

Kicking things off with Philips, the OLED911 is a sequel to one of my favourite TVs of 2025. The OLED910 offered up a picture experience that truly rivalled the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, and there was no competition when it came to sound performance.

Its sequel, the OLED911, was unveiled at Philips' Unboxed Event in Berlin last month, and it stole the spotlight at the showcase.

It sports a second-generation Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel with an even higher claimed brightness figure than its predecessor and improved anti-reflective qualities to combat glare from ambient light.

Furthermore, it features a major upgrade for gamers: four HDMI 2.1 sockets (all of which support up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM), and it is also the first OLED TV in the world to support Dolby Vision 2 Max.

Rounding things off with the improved 81W Bowers & Wilkins sound system, which includes a slimmer rear-mounted subwoofer with four passive radiators, and dedicated left, right and centre channels, all of which feature dual 45mm midrange glass-fibre drivers alongside a 19mm titanium-dome tweeter.

This TV is feature-packed, and it comes in a slick new design as well, which makes it one of my top TVs to watch out for in 2026.

Read our Philips OLED911 hands on review

2. TCL C7L

While the pricey OLEDs are unquestionably the more eye-catching sets I've seen at these events, I've also been on the lookout for some of the more affordable options, which are guaranteed to shake up the mid-range TV market in 2026.

Case in point, the TCL C7L, which is a follow-up to the Award-winning C7K. Spotted at the company's Nxt Home launch in Paris last month, the C7L stood out thanks to its new Super Quantum Dot Mini LED (SQD-Mini LED) display, which promises more dimming zones, higher brightness figures, and better colour accuracy.

It's got big shoes to fill, but the TCL C7L promises to make some big picture upgrades over its five-star predecessor, which was enough to get me excited during my brief hands-on time with the new Mini LED set.

Read our TCL C7L hands on review

3. Samsung S99H/S95H

If we were giving out an Award for the luxurious TV of 2026, then Samsung's new S99H (S95H in the US) would have already won.

This new flagship OLED TV sports a brighter QD-OLED panel (Samsung claims there's a 700 nit upgrade in the TV's movie picture mode), and there have also been reported improvements to colour reproduction and banding visibility in lower-quality content.

Samsung has also made some changes to the One Connect system. The TV sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets housed within the main chassis. However, there is also an optional wireless One Connect box, which expands this to a whopping eight HDMI 2.1 sockets.

These upgrades sit inside a new, premium chassis that incorporates a Frame-style metal bezel, on which the QD-OLED panel sits to create a floating effect. I've seen this TV wall-mounted, and paired with the matte display finish, it really does look like a work of art.

I was treated to an early sighting of this TV at Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, and was there to see its official unveiling at CES 2026. Despite being severely jet-lagged in both instances, this TV was an absolute showstopper at both events.

Read our Samsung S95H hands on review

4. Hisense UR8

2026 is a big year for backlit TVs, as the next generation of Mini LED panel technology is here.

RGB Mini LED was introduced on a handful of 2025 TVs, namely a 115-inch Samsung model and a 116-inch Hisense. It should come as no surprise that these gargantuan TVs with their first-generation panel technology are wildly expensive.

Thankfully, that's all about to change in 2026. Hisense isn't the only company to welcome the new panel technology into its line up this year; however, it wants to be known as the RGB Mini LED brand, and the UR8 is just one of its new models.

With promises of high brightness figures and rich, pure colours, Hisense is really going all-in on the new panel technology, which hopes to succeed Quantum Dot Mini LED.

Interestingly, I've opted for the cheapest RGB Mini LED in the range, which I came face-to-face with in Munich, Germany, last month.

This is mostly because I, and many others, presumed that a new panel technology would equal huge introductory price tags, and yet Hisense claims that this step-down model – which comes in 55-, 65- and 75-inches – will hit the market at a "competitive" price.

Read our Hisense UR8 hands on review

5. Panasonic Z86C/Z85C

Speaking of step-down TVs, Panasonic has only announced one new OLED TV this year, and it's unfortunately not a successor to the excellent Z95B from 2025. Instead, Panasonic (which is now producing its European TVs in collaboration with Chinese AV brand Skyworth) unveiled the Z86C (Z85C in Europe) at its event (also in Munich) earlier this year.

This entry-level OLED TV sports LG Display's new OLED SE panel technology, which removes the polariser to cut back on costs. This will, of course, reduce the TV's ability to combat glare and reflections, but for dark-room viewing, the Z85C should be just fine.

With its 120Hz refresh rate, supported by two HDMI 2.1 sockets, the Z86C is also a solid choice for gamers. In my brief experience with the TV, I found that even at this entry-level point with a stripped-back panel, the contrast and black depths that OLED brings to the table were unquestionably great, even if this TV didn't quite rival its Award-winning Z90B counterpart.

Read our Panasonic Z86C hands on review

Bonus: Sony Bravia 3 II

I'm sneaking in this TV as a bonus option, and I'm even breaking my own rules here as it's not a TV I've seen in the flesh. It's no secret that the Sony Bravia 3, which I reviewed last year, was a bit disappointing, especially by Sony's usually excellent TV standards.

It ultimately came down to the hardware limitation; the Bravia 3 featured a 60Hz direct-lit LED panel with no QLED layer, which made it feel quite expensive, especially considering it outpriced the Award-winning TCL C7K (which featured a 120Hz QD-Mini LED display).

I have to give credit where credit is due though; Sony has come back with a MKII refresh which directly addresses my gaming-focused concerns, and it even brings something new to the table for Sony TVs.

While we don't get Mini LED or even QLED here, it does now feature a 120Hz panel and four, yes four, HDMI 2.1 sockets to support gaming features.

Better yet, the Bravia 3 II now comes with Sony's XR processor, which has worked wonders in its more expensive TVs, especially when it comes to enhancing the sharpness and solidity of the image.

While I feel as though Sony could (and probably should) have crammed in another upgrade or two, these are certainly steps in the right direction. Unfortunately, this TV isn't currently slated to come to the UK yet, meaning we'll have to wait to see if this TV is an improvement over its predecessor.

Find out more about the Sony Bravia 3 II here

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Read our full LG C6 65-inch review

Check out our picks for the best OLED TV

As well as the best Mini LED TV

Samsung’s old dominance of the budget TV market has been severely challenged in recent years, most notably by the likes of Hisense and, especially, TCL.

Can the 65-inch U8000F do enough within its measly price to make the Korean brand the king of TV value once more?

Price

In the UK and US, at least, being able to bag a 65-inch Samsung U8000F for £469 / $430 really does look like a potentially huge bargain.

It’s perhaps not quite such an eye-catching deal in Australia, but when all is said and done, even AU$1299 hardly looks excessive for a 65-inch TV with the usually dependable Samsung name attached.

There are, as we’ll come to later, plenty of reasons why this TV is so affordable. These reasons don’t, though, include anything that might automatically disqualify it from being a potentially good performer for its money.

Not surprisingly, in today’s TV world, the strongest competition for the U8000F comes from TCL – in particular from the C7K and C6KS models, the 65-inch versions of which cost in the UK £829 and £479 respectively. The latter model actually adds local dimming and Mini LED lighting to the equation, despite costing more or less the same as the Samsung U8000F.

Design

The 65-inch U8000F is predictably built predominantly from fairly lightweight plastic. This makes it easy to move around, though, and actually, its bodywork still feels decently rigid and robust. That’s helped, perhaps, by the use of some attractively integrated ribbing in parts of the rear panel.

It’s fairly chunky around the back by today’s TV standards, making it a slightly awkward-looking wall hanging option – but you don’t notice its depth so much when it’s mounted on its pair of included feet.

These feet handily just slot and lock into holes on the screen’s underside, without the need for any screws. They’re positioned quite wide apart, however, meaning you’ll need a fairly wide TV stand to accommodate the TV.

The U8000F’s bezel tastefully sits more or less flush with the screen it holds, and is narrow enough when viewed head-on to prevent you from spotting the bodywork’s fundamentally plasticky nature.

The TV ships with two remote controls. One is an old-school looking chunky affair with a full button count, while the other is a much sleeker number with a nice polished finish and much reduced button count. It doesn’t carry a solar panel like the ‘smart’ remotes you get with Samsung’s premium TVs, but it’s comfortable to hold and easy to use.

Features

The panel at the 65-inch U8000F’s heart is understandably fairly basic by Samsung LCD standards. It’s lit by big ol’ regular-sized LEDs rather than Mini LEDs, and its backlighting doesn’t benefit from any sort of true local dimming system. It’s only a native 60Hz panel, too, which may limit its appeal to gamers with 120Hz (or more) consoles or PCs.

Most surprisingly of all, it doesn’t get a colour system built around Quantum Dots. Instead, as with all of Samsung’s U series TVs of the past few years, it gets something called PurColour, backed up by a Crystal 4K processor that’s a good few notches down in power and sophistication from Samsung’s Neo QLED processors.

If this PurColour system can still map colours accurately and subtly, though, it could still be enough to help the U8000F stand out from the budget TV crowd.

The TV supports high dynamic range video, including in the premium HDR10+ format. There’s no Dolby Vision, though; it seems like hell will need to freeze entirely over before Samsung joins most other TV brands in bringing Dolby Vision to its TVs.

The U8000F’s smart features and interface are provided by Samsung’s home-grown Tizen OS. This would normally be fine; Tizen now carries basically every streaming and catch-up TV service almost anyone could want, bar Freeview Play and Freely. You can operate the TV and find content by talking to it, too, via Samsung’s Bixby system or an external Alexa device. It maintains a dedicated Game Hub screen from which you can access streamed gaming apps or any game consoles or PCs you have connected.

Unfortunately, though, the 65-inch U8000F struggles with the demands of the latest Tizen system, typically running very sluggishly when it comes to opening menus, and booting up apps and streaming services.

While the U8000F’s lack of 120Hz support for gaming is unfortunate (if hardly surprising for such a cheap TV), it does have a few other gaming tricks up its sleeve. These include ALLM switching, VRR support and the HGiG system, whereby the TV essentially passes HDR output control to your Xbox or PlayStation console.

The set also takes just 9.7ms to render graphics when running in its Game mode – one of the lowest such figures we’ve measured.

Picture settings, meanwhile, include a Filmmaker Mode, raising hopes of an easily accessible route to accurate picture quality for AV enthusiasts, as well as Samsung’s suite of Picture Clarity tools for making pictures look cleaner and sharper. The Picture Clarity options here, though, do not include a blur reduction system as you get with more premium Samsung TVs; there are only noise reduction and judder reduction components to play with.

The U8000F’s sound is delivered by a fairly basic 2 x 10W sound system, bolstered by Samsung’s Q Symphony and OTS Lite features. Q Symphony lets the TV’s speakers join forces with those in Samsung soundbars, while OTS Lite uses nifty audio processing to try to make specific sounds appear to be coming from the correct part of the screen.

Connections on the U8000F, finally, comprise a trio of HDMI ports, a single USB-A port, an Ethernet port, the RF jack, a CI slot and, of course, wi-fi and Bluetooth wireless options.

Picture

The U8000F is very much a tale of two picture settings, looking very respectable for its money in its Standard mode, but struggling to meet the demands of AV enthusiasts with its Filmmaker Mode.

Starting with the good news, the Standard mode’s pictures immediately look surprisingly bright by budget TV standards. There’s a very clear step up in brightness between SDR and HDR content, as well as a mild expansion in the HDR image’s colour range. Enough in both cases to make HDR look convincing and surprisingly natural – helped by the presence of a surprisingly effective dynamic tone mapping system (a feature that’s by no means a given at the sort of price level the U8000F is operating at).

The TV’s brightness in Standard mode sits alongside some quite respectable black tones for such an affordable TV. This makes dark scenes comfortable to watch, and creates a degree of contrast that again helps to sell the idea that this is a more HDR-friendly TV than most of its similarly priced rivals.

We should stress that we’re not talking about depths of black in dark scenes of the sort you’d get with an OLED or premium LCD TV – there’s always a hint of grey to remind you that you’re watching a fairly affordable LCD screen – but the impact of this is mild by cheap TV standards.

Dark scenes contain plenty of shadow detail on the U8000F, too, avoiding that flat, hollow look so commonly encountered with budget TVs. Especially budget TVs that are as focused on producing a convincing black tone as this Samsung model seems to be.

The U8000F’s pictures are also sharp enough to look definitively 4K – and thanks to some crisp upscaling, this feels pleasingly true with HD sources as well as native 4K.

The sharpness does dip, though, due to some resolution loss over moving objects that none of the available Picture Clarity settings can completely fix (though choosing a Custom setting with Judder Reduction set to level four or five can at least reduce the impact of the screen’s quite strong native judder with 24fps sources).

There are a couple more Standard mode niggles to report as well. First, very bright picture areas can clip a little, meaning they lose subtle shading information and end up looking so stark that they draw too much attention to themselves (though this reduces with Dynamic Tone Mapping active). Second, colours in relatively dark scenes can ‘clump’ a little, so that very detailed areas such as grass or leaves become a bit rough and ill-defined.

You can also sometimes notice a slightly distracting lag between the backlight system dimming and brightening during scenes that feature abrupt cuts between dark and light shots, and finally, there’s a narrow stripe of light leakage running down the left and right sides of the picture – though this is only generally visible in the black bars above and below 21:9 and similar-ratio films. It’s typically too faint to appear where there’s any sort of picture information other than pure blackness on the screen.

While it’s good to find a very affordable TV that is ambitious enough to carry a Filmmaker Mode, unfortunately, that mode isn’t much fun to watch on the U8000F.

Clipping, for instance, becomes quite extreme without any Dynamic Tone Mapping in play, while motion looks both juddery and soft.

Colours feel flatter in Filmmaker Mode, too, and the image generally lacks impact. Perhaps the biggest issue with Filmmaker Mode, though, is that for some reason, perhaps due to its reduced brightness and contrast, dark scenes suddenly reveal multiple areas of backlight clouding at various points across the screen. You can reduce the impact of this if you watch in a little ambient light, but it’s a shame this feels necessary.

Dark scenes look generally a little greyer in Filmmaker Mode, too, and this greyness can also sometimes take on a slightly green or blue tint.

Not everything about the Filmmaker Mode is a bust. Colours look slightly more even-handed and nuanced, which contributes in particular to a touch less colour clumping in densely textured areas. Shadow detail is still strong, too, despite the extra clouding. Ultimately, though, the Filmmaker Mode’s slightly more nuanced feel in some areas isn’t enough to make it the sort of instant cinematic hit that movie fans might have hoped for.

There’s one more issue to mention, too, that actually affects all of the U8000F’s picture settings: viewing angles. View the TV from really any sort of angle, and the VA panel design causes contrast to take a substantial hit, with parts of the picture that should be black taking on a vivid blue-grey tone. Basically, if your room layout requires lots of people to routinely watch this TV from the side, it’s probably not the TV for you.

Sound

The first thing to say here is that we recommend pretty much always turning the U8000F’s Amplify sound mode on. Without it, the sound tends to feel small and trapped inside the TV.

Even with Amplify mode on, the U8000F’s sound doesn’t exactly shake your foundations. There isn’t much bass depth or presence, and volume levels, even set to maximum, are hardly going to burst your eardrums.

While we might have wished for the U8000F’s sound to give us a bit more, though, what it does give us is actually quite clean and engaging – at least to the extent that the TV seems to understand its speakers’ limitations.

So, bass, while not heavy, seldom distorts or crackles. Treble, while not particularly extended, doesn’t tend to sound harsh or forced. Voices are quite well-rounded and contextualised, and surprisingly, given there are only two speakers in play, the OTS Lite system places voices and spot effects decently accurately in the right place on the screen.

This all makes the sound quite clean and therefore immersive by budget TV standards, making it surprisingly easy to live with.

Verdict

The 65-inch Samsung U8000F is overall a solid TV for its money. It’s up against some stiff and only slightly more expensive competition, and it’s certainly not without its limitations, but provided you aren’t a die-hard cinephile desperately on the hunt for a good Filmmaker Mode, the U8000F’s Standard picture setting actually serves up a cleaner, more balanced, more punchy and above all more consistent performance than most rivals in its class.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 4

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Read our review of the TCL C7K

Also consider the TCL C6KS

Read our Mitchell & Brown QLED1811 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

If you’re shopping for one of the best soundbars without spending flagship money, the Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 and the Hisense AX5125H should both be on your radar.

Each is a full Dolby Atmos package complete with a subwoofer and rear speakers, and on paper, they look very similar.

Both support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, both offer a multi-speaker setup with dedicated surrounds, and both aim to bring cinematic scale to relatively modest living rooms.

Dig a little deeper, though, and the two systems take quite different approaches to design, features and sound delivery.

We’ve thoroughly reviewed both soundbars and, below, we’ve compared how they fare against each other to help make your decision that little bit easier.

Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 vs Hisense AX5125H: price

The Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 launched at £549 / $800 / AU$1199, though it’s commonly available for around £499 in the UK.

While that already places it in the relatively affordable Dolby Atmos category, the Hisense AX5125H undercuts it dramatically, coming in at around £249 / $350. That makes it one of the most affordable complete Atmos soundbar packages we’ve tested.

That price difference is worth keeping in mind throughout this comparison. The Sony still represents strong value considering the amount of power and hardware involved, but the Hisense is almost shockingly inexpensive for a system that includes a soundbar, subwoofer and rear speakers.

If you’re simply looking for the cheapest route to full surround sound, the Hisense clearly has the edge. But price isn’t everything – especially when performance and usability come into play. Which brings us on to…

** Winner: Hisense AX5125H **

Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 vs Hisense AX5125H: design and build

The Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 takes a somewhat unusual approach to its layout. Instead of the soundbar acting as the hub, the subwoofer effectively serves as the brains of the system, housing the inputs and powering the overall setup.

The soundbar connects directly to the subwoofer via cable, while the sub wirelessly transmits surround information to a receiver box at the back of the room, which powers the two rear speakers.

This means you avoid running cables from the front of the room to the back, although the surrounds themselves are still wired to the receiver box.

Everything is finished in understated matte black, and feels reassuringly solid – the subwoofer in particular is enormous and extremely weighty.

The soundbar itself isn’t especially slim, but it should still sit comfortably in front of most TVs without blocking the screen.

The Hisense AX5125H, in contrast, feels simpler and more conventional – and it's entirely wireless (other than the power cables, of course).

The soundbar is compact enough to sit neatly on most media stands without obscuring the screen, while the overall system is designed to be easy to place around a typical living room.

While the styling is fairly functional, nothing feels cheap. The soundbar itself is solidly built, and while the rear speakers are very small – something that initially raised concerns during testing – their compact size makes them easy to position.

One particularly handy usability feature is the Hisense soundbar’s dot-matrix display, which shows information such as input selection, surround mode and volume level. It isn’t fancy, but it’s clear and effective, and it can be dimmed or turned off if needed.

Overall, the Sony system feels more substantial and premium, but the Hisense wins points for simplicity and everyday practicality.

** Winner: Hisense AX5125H **

Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 vs Hisense AX5125H: features and connectivity

The Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 is technically a 5.1 system. Instead of physical height speakers, it relies on Sony’s Vertical Surround Engine and S-Force Pro processing to virtually reproduce the height channels required for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks.

Sony’s rectangular X-Balanced drivers also provide a larger surface area than traditional circular drivers, helping them move more air and reproduce a broader range of frequencies. The system is rated at a substantial 1000W of total power, with 200W coming from the large subwoofer.

Connectivity is fairly straightforward, too. You get HDMI eARC/ARC, optical and a 3.5mm input, along with Bluetooth for music streaming. However, there are no HDMI passthrough inputs, meaning the system can’t be used as a hub for external sources such as game consoles or media players.

The Hisense AX5125H takes a slightly different approach. It’s a 5.1.2 system, meaning it includes two up-firing drivers in the soundbar to deliver genuine height effects for Dolby Atmos soundtracks.

Hisense rates the system at 500W of total power, split across three front channels, two surrounds, the subwoofer and the two height drivers in the bar.

Connectivity is actually a little more flexible than Sony’s offering. Alongside HDMI eARC, the soundbar also includes a dedicated HDMI input with passthrough support (albeit up to just 60Hz), as well as optical and Bluetooth connectivity.

** Winner: Hisense AX5125H **

Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 vs Hisense AX5125H: sound quality

Both systems impressed our reviewers, but they deliver their performance in slightly different ways.

The Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 produces a huge, room-filling presentation that feels far bigger than its price suggests. Despite lacking dedicated height speakers, its Atmos processing proves remarkably effective.

During testing with Blade Runner 2049, the system places voices and effects precisely within the soundfield. The unseen interviewer’s voice appears behind and slightly above the listener, while K’s dialogue remains firmly anchored to the screen.

The system also delivers impressive detail. In Master and Commander, splintering wood from cannon fire is reproduced clearly, while Civil War demonstrates convincing distance cues, with mortar shells landing far away and gunfire sounding oppressively close.

The large subwoofer is a real highlight, producing deep, powerful bass notes capable of shaking the sofa, while still maintaining good punch and tonal flexibility. Dialogue also remains clear even during dense action scenes, making the system a good choice for viewers who often struggle to hear speech in movies.

The Hisense AX5125H, meanwhile, delivers a performance that far exceeds expectations for its extremely low price. Despite the tiny rear speakers, the system still manages to serve up a cohesive and enveloping surround presentation.

Testing with the Washington DC battle sequence from Civil War reveals convincing surround movement, with gunfire travelling from the front of the room to the rear and helicopters hovering convincingly overhead.

Switching to Dune 2, the system’s up-firing drivers create effective height effects, with the swarm of Ornithopters appearing well above the listening position and extending deep into the room.

The subwoofer is also impressive for the money, delivering strong impact and plenty of depth. However, it can occasionally emphasise certain bass notes a little too strongly – something heard during The Batman, where one recurring bass note stands out more than the others.

When it comes to music, both systems are more limited. The Sony delivers a big, weighty presentation but lacks some dynamic energy, while the Hisense can occasionally sound slightly uneven due to its enthusiastic subwoofer.

Even so, both offer far bigger and more cinematic sound than most soundbars at their respective prices.

** Winner: Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 **

Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 vs Hisense AX5125H: verdict

Both of these systems deliver exceptional performance for the money, hence their five-star ratings apiece.

The Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 is the more powerful and cinematic performer overall. Its enormous subwoofer, strong detail retrieval and highly effective Atmos processing allow it to produce a genuinely room-filling home cinema experience.

The Hisense AX5125H, however, is almost impossible to ignore at its price. For roughly half the cost of the Sony, it delivers a complete Dolby Atmos surround package that produces surprisingly immersive sound and impressive bass performance.

If you want the most refined and powerful performance, the Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 is the stronger choice.

But if value is your top priority – and you simply want the cheapest route to convincing Dolby Atmos surround sound – the Hisense AX5125H is one of the most compelling budget home cinema systems we’ve tested to date.

Ultimately, which one is 'best' depends on your budget. If you can stretch to the Sony, it's worth doing so, but if your budget is more limited than that, the Hisense is incredibly good for its price.

** Overall winner: draw **

Hisense wants to be the RGB Mini LED brand. It came out swinging with the 116-inch UXQ last year to kick off its new range with a bang, and now it's bringing a duo of more reasonably sized models with the next generation panel tech to the market.

The UR9 sits at the top of its conventional TV lineup, and it aims to offer movie fans a brighter panel and a better sound system, so you'd think that would be what caught my eye during a trip to Munich, Germany, with the brand. But, at the event I found myself gravitating towards the step-down model instead.

Upon announcing the new panel technology, I began gearing myself up to report on sky-high prices that echo the early days of OLED and QLED, and yet, Hisense is determined to bring this new panel tech to the masses, and I think the UR8 will be the TV to do just that.

The TV sits below the two flagship RGB Mini LEDs mentioned above, and yet it offers a lot of the same features and on-paper performance benefits. My brief run-in with the TV left a strong first impression, and while we'll need to test it in our dedicated AV testing facility to settle on a final verdict, I do have a few early thoughts to share.

Price

Pricing hasn't been revealed for the UR8 quite yet, but we're under the impression that it will be fairly competitive. Hisense promises that pricing information should come soon, and the TV itself is currently slated to launch in the first half of this year.

It'll be available in five sizes when it launches, including a few more "average" living room-friendly ones, such as 55- and 65-inches. XL TV fans are, of course, still catered for, with Hisense also offering this TV in 75-, 85- and 100-inch sizes.

In terms of competition, it looks as though the UR8 will be going up against Philips' new mid-range RGB Mini LED, the MLED981, and Samsung is slated to launch a step-down RGB Mini LED model later this year, too.

Build

The UR8 isn't the flashiest TV I've ever seen, but the build is solid, stylish and slender at just 58mm in width. That's fairly slick by backlit TV standards.

Furthermore, it features a centralised pedestal stand, meaning you won't have to worry about obtaining a wide media unit to accommodate this TV. We saw the UR8 in its 75-inch screen size, and it featured this style of stand; however the very largest screen sizes may differ.

Hisense has also bundled in its button-heavy solar-powered remote. While it may look a little old school next to the slick minimalist remotes included with most TVs these days, we actually appreciate that every function has a dedicated button rather than having to remember a bunch of short cuts and long presses to access simple things like the input menu.

Features

It should come as no surprise that the headlining feature of the UR8 is the new RGB Mini LED panel technology. Hisense says that it delivers purer and more vibrant colours, and the Chinese AV giant has even achieved certification from colour-validating powerhouse Pantone.

Brightness is also a key benefit of the RGB Mini LED panel technology, and Hisense claims that the UR8 can reach a peak brightness of 3500 nits. That's below the 4000 nit figure quoted by Hisense for the UR9 step-up model, but it's still an impressive figure.

This new panel is being driven by the company's HiView AI Engine RGB processor, which has been specifically designed with the RGB Mini LED panel technology in mind.

Furthermore, this has to be one of the best-equipped TVs for gamers that we've ever come across. The UR8 sports a 180Hz panel, which tops the 165Hz limit we've seen on recent sets from LG, Samsung and Philips. On top of that is the inclusion of four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which support VRR and ALLM, with one socket doubling as HDMI eARC.

Hisense hopes that you won't need to use that HDMI eARC socket, though, as the built-in 2.1.2 channel speaker system, which supports Dolby Atmos, has been tuned by Devialet to reportedly deliver punchy, immersive cinematic sound.

Vidaa remains on board for all of your streaming needs, and while this isn't our favourite operating system on the market, we find that it covers a majority of the available streaming apps, based on our experience from using it on other Hisense TVs and projectors.

Last, and by no means least, the UR8 will be among the first Hisense TVs to gain Dolby Vision 2 support. Despite being announced as a launch partner back at IFA 2025, Hisense doesn't seem entirely sure when Dolby Vision 2 is coming to its TVs; however, it insinuated that it will be added via an over-the-air update after the TV's launch. It will also support HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG.

Picture

Unfortunately, Hisense didn't demo any real-world content on the UR8, but we did see a looping demo in the TV's dynamic picture setting.

While that's not ideal for assessing what the TV is like when watching movies and TV shows, it did give us a good idea of what the RGB Mini LED panel technology is capable of.

Furthermore, the content shown seemed fairly low-resolution to my eyes, which introduced some unfair banding and haloing around bright and colourful content on black backgrounds.

I will therefore reiterate that these hands-on impressions won't reflect the verdict from our future full review of the UR8.

That all being said, Hisense seems to have delivered on its promise of delivering rich, pure and vibrant colours based on this early look, as every shade pops on this display.

Reds, blues, greens, yellows, pinks and purples all appear rich and vivid, and while this will likely be reining in for an authentic cinematic experience, it's an eye-catching demonstration of the capabilities of RGB Mini LED.

These look especially effective against dark backgrounds, as the UR8 seems to deliver some seriously convincing black levels for a backlit TV. This is thanks to the RGB Mini LED system's more advanced backlight control, which should address the my, and the wider What Hi-Fi? team's, biggest issue with "traditional" Mini LED sets.

I couldn't test other crucial picture performance aspects, especially including motion, during this session, so you'll have to wait until our full review to discover if the UR8 can nail the majour pillars of picture performance.

Sound

I'll keep this short and sweet. Despite highlighting the UR8's Devialet-tuned 2.1.2 channel sound system, Hisense didn't actually demo it during the event.

However, based on the team I's experiences with last year's U8Q, we have fairly high expectations. We found that the U8Q delivered a powerful, spacious and cinematic sound, and while the bass could have been a bit more controlled, we ultimately deemed it to be a rather impressive built-in sound system.

Early verdict

It's too early to decide on a verdict for the UR8, but this TV is certainly worth watching out for based on what I've seen so far, combined with the on-paper specs.

It touts the latest panel technology. superb gaming specs, a high-spec sound system and plenty of software smarts, so as long as Hisense can nail the price, it could be on to a winner.

As a team, we're eagerly awaiting both of Hisense's RGB Mini LED models to land in our home cinema testing room, so check back soon for a full review.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense U8Q review

RGB Mini LED: everything you need to know

Check out our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

Hisense has just officially confirmed its new TV range for 2026, and, in a surprise to no one, RGB Mini LED models are leading the line.

The Chinese brand was the first to launch an RGB Mini LED TV, in the gargantuan form of last year's 100- and 116-inch UX model. That continues in this year’s lineup, but it is joined by two much more mainstream models.

Those are the UR9S, which will be available in 65-, 75- and 85-inch sizes, and the step-down UR8S, which will come in 55-, 65-, 75-, 85- and 100-inch versions.

Both models of course feature RGB Mini LED backlights, and they are powered by Hisense's new Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor. They also boast an ‘Anti Reflection and Glare Free’ coating.

Hisense says that both of these TVs have a native refresh rate of 180Hz and will support 4K/180Hz gaming – though good luck building a PC powerful enough to take advantage of that.

The key difference flagged by Hisense is in peak brightness, with the U9S hitting a claimed 4000 nits and the UR8S limited to a (still very bright) 3500 nits.

We suspect there will be a difference in the number of dimming zones on each set, too, but this hasn’t yet been confirmed by Hisense.

As with the 116UX, the UR9S has three HDMI 2.1 sockets and a PC-friendly Display Port USB-C socket, whereas the UR8S has four HDMI 2.1 sockets.

Hisense’s partnership with Devialet continues with both TVs, but while the UR9S boasts a 4.1.2-channel sound system, the UR8S has a 2.1.2-channel solution.

One innovative new feature of both TVs is something Hisense is calling ‘KiDoodle’.

This is a second remote that comes in the box and can only be used to access family-friendly content, which seems like a very clever solution to parental controls.

The content that can be accessed via this remote will apparently be curated by real people, too, hopefully meaning that unsuitable stuff won’t sneak through.

Standard Mini LED models

Naturally, there are non-RGB Mini LED TVs below the UR9S and UR8S.

The first of those is the U8Q, which carries over from the 2025 range and received four-star review in our Hisense U8Q review.

Below that are the new U7S Pro and U7S, both available in sizes ranging from 50 to 100 inches.

The U7S Pro has a claimed peak-brightness of 3000 nits, a refresh rate of 165Hz, and the Anti Reflection and Glare Free coating, while the U7S is 1400 nits, 144Hz, and not ‘Glare Free’.

Devialet has also put its name to the U7S Pro’s 2.1.2-channel audio system, whereas the U7S’s 2.1-channel system appears to be Hisense’s own design.

The final model in Hisense’s 2026 range is the new E8S, which still boasts a Mini LED backlight and a 144Hz refresh rate, but is limited to a peak brightness of 600 nits on all versions except the 50-inch model, which, for some reason, can hit a claimed peak brightness of 1000 nits.

And that’s your lot! And it is a lot, isn't it?

What we don’t yet know is when these new models will be available or how much they will cost.

The latter will be particularly interesting to find out, as Hisense has tended towards relatively premium pricing in recent years, whereas arch-rival TCL has maintained its ultra-aggressive approach.

How will the two brands’ ranges line up in 2026? We shouldn’t have long to wait to find out.

More:

Check out our Hisense U8Q review and Hisense UX hands-on

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

If you are looking to upgrade your TV's audio with a soundbar, it might seem like you have to spend a fair bit of cash to get anything close to a cinematic-sounding experience.

And, while it is certainly the case that spending over £500 / $500 on the likes of the Sonos Arc Ultra and the Samsung HW-Q990F will still yield the best results, we have seen an increasing number of budget soundbars outperform their price tags and offer a whole lot for the money recently.

In the last year alone, we have had a handful of models below £400 / $400 achieve four and even five-star ratings.

That's not to say that there were no budget models that impressed us before. Take, for instance, the Sony HT-SF150, which achieved a solid four-star rating when we had it in our test room back in 2021.

But it was a rare exception. It's the volume of decent budget options we've reviewed recently that's new. The influx is great news for home cinema fans on a budget, as they have more and more options instead of being limited to a few models.

But what makes these budget models stand out from the rest of the market?

Let's start with the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H, which achieved a dazzling five stars. It consists of a main soundbar, two dinky surround speakers and a subwoofer. We reviewed the Dolby Atmos soundbar system at £249 / $350, meaning it costs far less than most solo bars.

When we first got it into our test room, we admit that we didn't have the highest of hopes. But it surprised with its amazing weight, scale and spaciousness for the money. We say in our review: "While the lack of up-firing drivers in the surround speakers means this isn’t quite a full dome of sound, the height effects appear quite deep into the room and the overall delivery is brilliantly enveloping."

That all makes it ideal if you are looking for a soundbar that delivers convincing, exciting Dolby Atmos effects without the hefty price tag.

Then there's the Creative Stage Pro, which is a better choice for those working with a smaller space. Costing £130 / $150, the Creative model is even cheaper than the Hisense Award-winner, but there is no Dolby Atmos on the cards.

The package is made up of a slender subwoofer and a compact soundbar, with its small dimensions making it look more at home when connected to a desktop beneath a large gaming monitor.

But don't let its diminutive size put you off, as the Creative Stage Pro delivers impressively clear and emotive dialogue and surprising low end heft. Its sound is rather localised and could do with a more defined bass, but it's a brilliant performance considering the cost.

Finally, the most recent budget soundbar to enter our test room has proved to be yet another success.

We are yet to release our review of the Majority Bowfell Halo Atmos system but, spoiler alert, it very much impressed. The Majority bar will set you back just £169 (around $227), complete with two surrounds, a main soundbar and subwoofer.

While it is far from perfect with its messily wired surrounds and cheap-feeling build, the impactful bass from the subwoofer and overall cinematic experience it delivers, considering the cost, means its flaws can be overlooked for the most part.

All these soundbars, with their jaw-droppingly cheap price tags, mean that immersive sound and flexible designs are not limited to the most expensive models on the market. After all, a good quality home cinema system should be as accessible as possible.

MORE:

Here's our review of the Hisense AX5125H

Check out the best budget soundbars

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

The Hisense PL2 is an Award-winning ultra short throw projector, and right now it can be yours for £1139 at Sevenoaks. That's a massive £860 saving on the price we reviewed it at when we gave it five stars less than a year ago.

Despite previously dropping to £959 during Black Friday sales, this was a very rare discount, and there are no expectations that it'll drop that low again for a while.

Sound is a little lacking, but it more than makes up for it with a balanced picture and solid dark detail. And if sound is an issue, one of the best soundbars will complete your package.

The Hisense PL2 is the direct successor to the Hisense PL1, and it entered the market with a flourish, bagging five stars and taking the Award-winning crown from its predecessor. Make no mistake, this is one of the best projectors we've tested this year.

As an ultra short throw projector, it delivers large pictures even when sat right up close to a screen or wall, meaning you can save some serious space by adding this to your home cinema instead of a massive TV.

And it's thanks to a serious spec upgrade that the PL2 really shines. Visually similar in build to the PL1, it breaks the mould by projecting a much larger 80-150-inch picture as opposed to the PL1's 120 inches.

Plus, Hisense raised maximum brightness to 2700 ANSI lumens (from PL1's 2100 lumens), allowing it to operate in more challenging, brightly lit conditions.

It's also packed out with two HDMI 2.1 inputs (one with eARC), as well as a basic HDMI 2.0 input plus ethernet, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 sockets. For gamers, it's worth noting that 4K/120Hz is not supported, but it can handle 1080p/120Hz, meaning you can sacrifice a little resolution for responsiveness.

Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG are all supported. And another welcome addition is HDR10+, which is a variant of HDR10 that optimises the projector brightness and colour settings at a frame-by-frame level.

Running on Hisense's VIDAAA U7 software, it's got solid app support too, with Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV all readily available.

Visually, there's a little tweaking to do, with our expert testers opting for Filmmaker mode with motion and noise reduction settings at the lowest, dynamic tone mapping on and the Warm 2 colour profile for the best results. But overall, it's another marked improvement on the PL1.

And when it comes to sound, the PL2's built-in 15W sound system is fairly impressive but far from perfect. This led our experts to say, "This makes it a good performer by UST built-in speaker standards, but nowhere near good enough for proper movie watching. If you want the best results, budget for a separate speaker system if you don’t already have one."

At its launch price of £1999, we already considered this projector to offer huge value for money. However, at just £1139 at Sevenoaks, this becomes one of the best-value home cinema deals so far this year.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense PL2 review

Check out the best projectors: budget, 4K and ultra-short-throw

And the best outdoor projectors: top models reviewed and rated

Hisense has announced its U6 and U7 Mini LED TVs in time for the World Cup.

The firm says these models hit the "performance-to-value sweet spot". A more premium offering, the RGB MiniLED Series, will follow later in the year.

Both the U6 and U7 are aimed at those looking for big screens without big price tags.

With sizes up to 116 inches, the U7 is built for "sports viewing and large-scale hosting", and promises "exceptional motion performance, high-impact brightness and immersive sound".

The U7 boasts Hisense's Hi-QLED MiniLED Pro tech with Full Array Local Dimming and the Hi-View AI Engine Pro. These promise vibrant, lifelike pictures with stunning contrast and clarity across all types of content. The 165Hz native refresh rate should minimise blur, and it has 50W multi-channel audio built in, with both Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X.

The U6 range comprises the standard U6SF and U6SF Pro. Both have Hi-QLED MiniLED with Full Array Local Dimming and Quantum Dot colour tech, AI-driven picture optimisation, integrated subwoofers with Dolby Atmos audio. Both span screen sizes from 55 inches to 100 inches.

The U7 comes running either Google TV (U7SG) or Fire TV (U7SF), while the U6 range only runs Fire TV.

The U7 range should be available soon in the US, with prices starting at $1299 (around £980 / AU$1800). The U6 range will arrive soon after with prices still TBC.

MORE:

Should you buy a Hisense TV? Find out here

Which is the better budget TV brand: Hisense or TCL?

The best TVs money can buy

This week saw Amazon running its Spring Deal Days sale.

This has resulted in some rather good deals – new lowest prices, savings on Award-winning products and the rare return of an AirPods deal.

It's not just the prices that are good, as we've tested every single one of these products ourselves – and only recommend the best.

So with the sale set to end after the weekend, now is the time to browse the best deals that we've spotted.

What’s the first product that comes to mind when you think of a spring sale?

A projector probably isn't at the top of that list – but Amazon's Spring Deal Days has seen projector deals aplenty.

We’ve rounded up some deals on the very best, in a list that includes some of our reigning Award winners as well as a few new lowest prices. And many of them are portable, meaning they can be set up outside if you really want to lean into the spring theme.

These are all projectors that our expert review team have tried and tested themselves, so every product below has earned a recommendation – there are links to their reviews so you can see our in-depth thoughts.

Here, then, are those deals in all their home cinema glory:

• See the whole Amazon Spring Deal Days sale

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Check out the best portable projectors you can currently buy

And take a look at the best projectors: budget, 4K and ultra-short-throw

And the best outdoor projectors: top models reviewed and rated

Spring has officially sprung – and so has Amazon's seasonal sale. With thousands of offers out there, it’s hard to know where to start. Fortunately, if you’re in the market for a five-star projector, I have found one of the best deals.

At just £349 at Amazon, the Hisense M2 Pro can be yours for the lowest price we’ve seen. Only last month, we were shouting about the projector dropping to £399; chop another £50 off that and you’ve got a massive saving.

So grab a big screen experience with this high-performing projector, without the eye-popping, cost before it's too late!

The Hisense M2 Pro holds a spot among the best projectors on the market right now, and proves that you don't have to break the bank for a cinematic experience at home.

And we said that when it was priced at £1299. How about £849? What you get for that price is a flexible, easy to use home cinema in a box that punches above its weight.

It's a small, unassuming box, with a spherical glass lens at its front and speakers on its sides. It is bolted onto a square swivel stand that should slide nicely in to your home cinema setup.

Most importantly, it performs well. After switching from the default settings to the more natural-looking Filmmaker mode, our expert testers said it delivers “consistent performance that never pushes beyond the M2 Pro’s capabilities, which makes for a nicely immersive and more mature home cinema experience than we had expected.”

Brightness levels are impressive too, with a claimed peak of 1300 lumens, which is 300 lumens higher than its direct rival, the Epson EF-72. We put that claim to the test by playing Pan (a go-to stress test disc due to the film’s atypically high 4000 nits mastering).

To this, our reviewers said: “The Hisense does an excellent job, with highlights in a blob of water in the sky retaining a pleasing range of colours, and every ripple looking sharp and three-dimensional.”

It's packed with features as well. Chief among those is Hisense's Trichoma Laser technology, which the brand claims can improve picture quality using three individual lasers to create the red, green and blue parts of the image.

HDR support is also on board, with the M2 Pro working with all four of the currently available formats: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. You will also find support for all the usual suspects on the streaming market, including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+.

The M2 Pro has a 2.0, 10W in-built speaker system. Unlike its fancier C2 cousin, this is a purely Hisense system – there is no partnership with JBL or any other audio specialist.

Ultimately, the M2 Pro is one of the best coffee-table projectors on the market. It offers solid picture quality, excellent app support and a wonderfully easy set-up process, and ticks all the right boxes for its target market.

And it's yours for just £849 at Amazon for a limited time – that’s the lowest price we have seen. But, you’ll have to be quick!

MORE:

Read our full Hisense M2 Pro review

Check out the best portable projectors you can currently buy

And take a look at the best projectors: budget, 4K and ultra-short-throw

An entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar is, in theory, a great proposition. It means you can bring an immersive yet precise experience to movies at home, while not taking up your whole living room with AV kit. That’s not to mention their more affordable price tag compared to a multi-room speaker system is quite the boon.

There is a huge variety in the types of models you can choose, from small single bars to complete soundbar systems. And it is an example of each that we have before us today.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 is an all-in-one model and our top current recommendation for buyers on a budget. It’s snagged a What Hi-Fi? Award every year since it was released back in 2021, and has batted away competition from countless other models in that time.

It’s getting a little long in the tooth, however, and more soundbars have started to trouble the reigning champ. Enter the Hisense AX5125H – a complete Dolby Atmos (and DTS:X) system in a box that's cheaper than the Sonos and offers more kit for your money. It scored a What Hi-Fi? Award last year, quickly making its mark as a great option for those on a budget.

That will rightly lead you to ask: which model should I buy? Well, don’t worry too much, because we’ve compared both models side by side to help you decide which one is worthy of your home set-up.

Hisense AX5125H vs Sonos Beam Gen 2

As we mentioned, the Hisense AX5125H is the cheaper option of the two. It comes in at £249 / $350 (around AU$500), which is quite the bargain considering you get a main soundbar, a subwoofer and two small wireless surround speakers.

This makes it the most affordable soundbar package we have ever had in our test room.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2, despite being just a single soundbar, launched at £449 / $449 / AU$649. We have occasionally seen it drop down to around £349 / $399 / AU$700 during sales events, but it has stuck pretty close to its launch price since it came out.

That still means the Hisense model is the clear winner here, costing £200 / $100 (around AU$200) less than the Beam.

**Winner: Hisense AX5125H**

Hisense AX5125H vs Sonos Beam Gen 2: build

When it comes to design, the Beam is certainly the simpler of the two, with its all-in-one bar measuring 7 x 65 x 10cm (hwd).

It has quite a stylish yet compact design, sporting rounded ends with a perforated polycarbonate grille facing the listener. There are two colour finishes available – white and black.

On top of the Beam’s body are touch-sensitive buttons, LEDs, and far-field mics for voice control of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Hisense’s main soundbar is a fair bit longer, measuring 6 x 92 x 9cm (hwd), and is only available in black.

While the Hisense is longer than the Sonos, both main soundbars are compact enough to sit on most furniture and in front of most TVs without blocking their display, but not so small as to look insubstantial.

Hisense’s wireless subwoofer comes in at 29 x 21 x 30cm, and the surrounds measure 14 x 9 x 11cm each. Each bit of kit with the package model has a little more of a dull overall look than the Sonos, but nothing feels or looks cheap.

Unlike the Beam, there’s an LED display on the front of the Hisense soundbar, which is a pleasant surprise at this price and delivers information such as the input, sound preset and surround mode selected, as well as volume level.

The Sonos Beam Gen 2 does not come with a remote control, but it can be operated via the Sonos app and the TV remote.

With the AX5125H, there is no dedicated app to control the product. Instead, we get a remote that feels fairly basic and plasticky, as you would probably expect, but it does the job well enough. From here, you can turn on Bluetooth, change the output, adjust the volume, bass and treble levels, and dim the soundbar’s display.

Both soundbars are practical and easy to set up, but which one you prefer will be down to whether you are short on space or want more kit for your money. Hisense just takes it, however, for its handy LED display.

**Winner: Hisense AX5125H*

Hisense AX5125H vs Sonos Beam Gen 2: features

Under the hood of the Sonos, you will find one central tweeter and four elliptical mid-woofers, each powered by Class D amplifiers.

The 5.0 bar contrasts with Hisense’s 5.1.2-channel configuration. That consists of three front-firing channels and a driver in each surround for the ‘five’, one big driver in the sub for the ‘one’, and two up-firing drivers in the soundbar for the ‘two’.

At the back of the Sonos bar, you will find sockets for power, ethernet, and a single HDMI eARC as well as a connect/reset push button.

You will find more connectivity with the Hisense AX5125H, which offers a dedicated HDMI input. Passthrough is limited to 60Hz, so there’s no support for 4K/120Hz gaming signals, but any passthrough functionality at this level is a bonus, especially since the Beam does not have it.

Both soundbars support Dolby Atmos, but the Hisense AX5125H also supports DTS:X. That’s a big tick for movie fans looking for more options when it comes to surround sound technology.

The Sonos bar can be controlled by the Sonos app, which acts as a hub for the product. From here, you can access EQ controls and more advanced sound settings.

The app also offers room calibration to fine-tune the sound to your space, but it's worth noting that the Beam's calibration requires an iOS device – Android devices aren't compatible.

The Beam does not offer any separate sound modes, whereas the Hisense gives you a variety of presets to choose from: Movie, Music, Game, News and Sport. While it defaults to the AI setting, we settle on Movies for movies and TV shows, and Music for Music, after much testing.

For its offering as a complete system rather than a solo bar, as well as its DTS:X support, the Hisense model takes the crown for this category.

**Winner: Hisense AX5125H**

Hisense AX5125H vs Sonos Beam Gen 2: sound

Now for the juicy part: how do the two models compare when it comes to audio quality? Here, both the Hisense AX5125H and the Sonos Beam Gen 2 are quite different.

Hisense’s model produces an enveloping yet cohesive overall sound that delivers a more immersive soundstage than the Beam Gen 2, thanks to its separate satellite surrounds.

When watching Civil War in our test room, we note: “Bullets whizz from the front to the back of the room and even behind the listening position, helicopters hover at ceiling height, and distant explosions rumble menacingly.”

The bass delivered by the subwoofer is impressive considering the soundbar’s cost, with explosions and deep gunfire having a good impact and solidity.

There are frequencies at which the sub gets a little too excited, and it delivers a big thump that sticks out. This is made clear when watching The Batman, as our hero approaches the thugs in the subway tunnel, and one recurring bass note in the soundtrack is reproduced much louder than the others.

With the Sonos, although it is not as room-filling, counters with a more detailed and balanced overall sound that makes for a more authentic listening experience.

It is a particularly solid performer with voices, too, and we say in our review: “Whether it’s a chirping bird, a car or a voice, there’s remarkable consistency across the complete soundfield, and seamless handover between drivers, which we have to say doesn’t always happen when a Dolby Atmos soundbar has upward drivers to contend with.”

This is stronger than the Hisense’s performance in this area. We find with the AX5125H that while voices sound natural and pretty emotive, the busiest, bassiest sections cause them to become a touch muffled.

Unlike a lot of models at this level, both perform well with music, although the Hisense doesn’t quite match Sonos’ abilities.

The Sonos Beam’s strong vocal performance continues to shine with music, and keeps a good cohesion between the different frequencies.

When playing Tool’s Invincible with the Hisense, it manages to deliver some of the subtle warble in Maynard James Keenan’s vocals. But even at its lowest volume level, the subwoofer can’t resist interjecting slightly rudely at times and adding bass notes that stick out awkwardly.

It’s hard to pick out a clear winner here, as it really depends on what you are looking for. If you want a soundbar that offers clarity, detail and sophistication, then the Beam Gen 2 is a great pick. But if you are on the hunt for a genuinely room-filling, three-dimensional Atmos effect with a bassy sound to boot, then the Hisense model is the better choice.

**Winner: draw**

Hisense AX5125H vs Sonos Beam Gen 2

Both the Hisense AX5125H and the Sonos Beam Gen 2 are top five-star soundbars that will suit your home cinema setup if you are on the hunt for Dolby Atmos without a hefty price tag.

Sonos’ model delivers a more controlled overall performance with an excellent sense of precision and finesse that the Hisense system can't match.

But the AX5125H offers a more immersive soundstage with excellent Atmos presentation thanks to the extra surrounds and subwoofer. Plus, its more affordable price tag is a great choice for those on a budget.

We’re all tied up, folks.

**Overall winner: draw**

MORE:

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars right now

Check out our review of the Hisense AX5125H

And here are the best budget soundbars

Looking to invest in a decent soundbar for your TV, but you're working with a tight budget? While it might sound like an impossible task, it's not. In fact there's some excellent budget-friendly options for film lovers.

And right now, one of the best budget soundbars, the Hisense HS214, is down to just £69 at Amazon.

That's the lowest-ever price we've ever seen at almost half off its original launch price. But, you'll have to be quick, we don't know how long this excellent deal will stick around.

The Hisense HS214 is a reasonably simple way to boost your TV's sound, adding more forthright dialogue and an extended tonal reach.

And in our full review, our expert testers said: "As a straightforward entry-level TV speaker the Hisense HS214 is an excellent solution for those short of space."

It's certainly compact, with a small footprint of 9.2 x 5.8 x 65 cm, while still boasting a build that feels of decent quality. Well-suited to smaller rooms and screens (up to 55 inches), the HS214 will sit happily beneath your TV.

If you're more into wall mounting, there are rigging points at the rear with fixings included in the box, though it's worth noting that this will affect the soundbar's bass performance.

And how does it sound? In testing, we said it: "anchors the vocal, meaning you can sit back and enjoy the unfolding drama without focusing on the subtitles."

Adding: "The enhanced depth that the bass unit brings to the table isn't superfluous either; there's a solid sound to the lows and kick that gives the sound a touch more musicality than you would otherwise experience."

The Hisense HS214 works well for casual music listening, too, a point our expert testers were pleasantly surprised by, noting that other expensive soundbars tend to struggle in this area.

All the TV connection options you’d expect are present, with HDMI ARC, optical and coaxial sockets capable of handling Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus and PCM audio. Meanwhile, for playback from an external device, there’s a USB port (supporting MP3/WAV/WMA/FLAC file types), 3.5mm mini-jack aux and Bluetooth 4.2 for wireless streaming.

And all for a very reasonable price that just got even better at almost half off, taking it down to just £69 at Amazon. Not too shabby for a decent boost to your TV's sound.

MORE:

Read our Hisense HS214 2.1 review

Check out the best budget soundbars: cheap 'bars, tested by our experts

And the best TVs under £1000: affordable OLED, Mini LED and LCD models hand-picked by our experts

Cambridge-based brand Majority has launched an affordable soundbar system line-up with its Halo and Axis range. The company is dubbing the new entries its “most ambitious and comprehensive soundbar line-up to date”, which is “engineered to redefine what immersive home sounds like at this price level.” Bold claims, indeed.

At the top of the range sits the Bowfell Halo Atmos, Majority’s flagship surround sound system, which consists of a main soundbar, two wireless satellite speakers, and a subwoofer.

The 5.1-channel system delivers 300W of power output. As the name suggests, there is Dolby Atmos support which delivers “three-dimensional soundscape that brings height, space and precision to every scene,” according to Majority.

Connectivity options include HDMI ARC and optical inputs, alongside Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless streaming.

All that technology, though, comes in at the low cost of £170 (around $232 / AU$330), positioning it firmly in the budget soundbar category.

At that price, the flagship model is up against the Hisense AX5125H which launched at £249 / $350. The Hisense soundbar system snagged a What Hi-Fi? Award last year, and achieved a five-star rating for the amazing weight, scale, and spaciousness of its sound for the money. That’s tough competition for the Majority newcomer.

Majority is also offering a cheaper model with the Bowfell Halo Dolby. There is no Dolby Atmos and the soundbar relies on a wired connection to the satellite speakers rather than Bluetooth. The 5.1 system still features Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless playback, and is available for £120 ($165 / AU$230).

Majority is also launching the Axis series, which is even cheaper than the above models.

The Bowfell Axis Atmos is a 2.1-channel system consisting of a soundbar and wireless subwoofer, producing a 200W output. It comes in at £130 ($178 / AU$250), pitting it squarely against the Creative Stage Pro model, which just received a solid four-star rating from us and earned a spot as the best compact model in our best budget soundbars guide.

At the cheapest end of the spectrum with this launch comes the Bowfell Axis Dolby, a 2.1 system without Atmos or Bluetooth support. This soundbar will set you back £90 ($123 / AU$174).

While those price tags will undoubtedly prove tempting for those on a budget, we have yet to get these models into our test rooms to hear how they compare with class leaders – so it's probably worth waiting a while until you take the plunge.

MORE:

These are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars we recommend

Check out our review of the Creative Stage Pro

And here are the best budget soundbars right now

For those looking for a way to get a big screen experience without the often eye-popping cost of a super-sized TV or having to accommodate the extra space, projectors can be a great option.

After all, many models on the market boast easily movable designs as well as costing much less than a large TV. And few projectors fit the bill better than the Hisense M2 Pro, a five-star coffee table model that snagged a What Hi-Fi? Award last year.

If that wasn't already intriguing, the 4K projector is at a great discount right now. You can pick it up for £899 at Marks Electrical, chopping £400 off its original price.

It's not quite the lowest price we have seen on the five-star model, but it is still an excellent saving on such a high-performing projector.

But why did we rate the Hisense M2 Pro so highly? First off, it offers a sharp, consistent picture that is hard to beat at this price.

After switching from the default settings to the more natural-looking Filmmaker mode, we say in our review that it delivers a "consistent performance that never pushes beyond the M2 Pro’s capabilities, which makes for a nicely immersive and more mature home cinema experience than we had expected."

Brightness levels are impressive too, with a claimed peak of 1300 lumens. This is 300 lumens higher than its direct rival, the Epson EF-72, which peaks at 1000 lumens.

We put the projector's brightness performance to the test with Pan (a go-to stress test disc due to the film’s atypically high 4000 nits mastering), and the Hisense does an excellent job, with highlights in a blob of water in the sky retaining a pleasing range of colours and every ripple looking sharp.

The Hisense model comes with two 10W speakers built-in, which produce a surprising amount of sound volume for such a small package. Voices are clear, and there is a decent dynamic range from the twin speakers. When the sound is pushed, however, there is a certain level of distortion that leads us to recommend a separate sound system if your budget can stretch.

Feature-wise, it's packed with impressive specs such as the use of Hisense's Trichoma Laser technology, which the brand claims can improve picture quality using three individual lasers to create the red, green and blue parts of the image.

HDR support is also onboard, with the M2 Pro working with all four of the currently available formats: HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. You'll also find support for all the usual suspects on the streaming market, including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV+.

With a weight of just 3.9kg, the Hisense M2 Pro is easy to move around your home. Plus, it features a hinged stand that makes it simple to adjust the angle of the image.

All-in-all, the M2 Pro is one of the best coffee table projectors on the market, offering solid picture quality, excellent app support and a wonderfully easy set-up process. And at £400 off at Marks Electrical for this dinky 4K model, it's one we seriously recommend.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense M2 Pro review

Check out the best portable projectors you can currently buy

And take a look at the best projectors: budget, 4K and ultra-short-throw

2026 will be the year of the RGB Mini LED TV. Thanks to wanton obfuscation from TV manufacturers, though, that won’t necessarily be very clear.

RGB Mini LED is the next evolution of Mini LED, which, you’re probably aware, takes traditional LED backlighting and replaces the chunky, old-fashioned LEDs with vastly smaller ones.

Because the LEDs are so much smaller, loads more of them can be crammed into a backlighting system, resulting in better light control and, therefore, better contrast.

On standard Mini LED TVs, the LEDs are generally blue, and their light is passed through filters to create different colours. The difference with RGB Mini LEDs is, as you’ve probably guessed, that the LEDs themselves are red, green and blue.

When done correctly, the main advantages of RGB Mini LED technology are purer colours and extra brightness (which in turn creates even greater contrast).

Is RGB Mini LED an OLED-beater? It’s too early to tell, as most brands are launching their first sets that use the technology this year. I’m inclined to think it’s going to work better in the mid-range bracket, with OLED’s perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast control keeping it on top; but that’s beside the point for now.

The actual point is that RGB Mini LED technology is exciting stuff. So why are several brands avoiding using the real term for it and instead trying to make you think you’re getting something even more advanced?

I’ve sort of answered my own question there, haven’t I?

What’s in a name?

Look, I’ve got no real issue with TV brands using fancy names for what is ultimately quite boring terminology. But what I don’t like is when brands try to pretend a TV is something it’s not.

So, for example, Samsung’s original launch of ‘QLED’ TVs way back in 2017 really got my goat.

Why? Because the ‘QLED’ name had already been applied to a future panel technology involving self-emissive Quantum Dots – in other words, a true rival to self-emissive OLED technology. Here, though, Samsung was applying the name to backlit TVs with a Quantum Dot layer, almost certainly in order to place it on the same pedestal as OLED in potential buyers’ minds.

Samsung’s use of the term ‘Neo QLED’ to describe its Mini LED TVs, though, was fine in my book. Once the use (misuse, in my mind) of QLED was established, adding a word such as ‘Neo’ to denote the next technological evolution was just funky branding.

But why am I bringing this all up now? Because two brands are launching their RGB Mini LED TVs using the word ‘Micro’ rather than ‘Mini’.

RGB Mini LED and Micro LED are not the same thing

You see, Micro LED TVs already exist. They are currently ridiculously expensive, but they are available to buy right now. Samsung, LG and Hisense all currently produce genuine Micro LED TVs.

What makes a Micro LED TV ‘genuine’? It’s when the pixels are self-emissive, as they are with OLED and the aforementioned ‘true’ QLED.

Genuine Micro LED is generally seen as the eventual successor to OLED. All of that lovely pixel-by-pixel contrast control combined with greater brightness, purer colours and no risk of burn-in or degradation over time. I have seen it in action several times over the years, and I’m very much a believer.

But Samsung and LG – yes, two of the very same manufacturers that produce true Micro LED TVs – now also have other, less ‘true’ (at least in my opinion) Micro TVs on their books.

LG’s first RGB Mini LED TV is the MRGB95, which the brand is referring to as a ‘Micro RGB Evo TV’. Samsung, meanwhile, has its R95H ‘Micro RGB TV’.

To be absolutely clear, these are not TVs with self-emissive, Micro LED-derived pixels. These are backlit TVs that use very small RGB LEDs. You know, like RGB Mini LED TVs.

The argument appears to be, at least in LG’s case, that because the LEDs these TVs use are smaller than those in Mini LED models, the ‘Micro’ element is fair game.

I’d argue that there are lots of words for ‘very small’, and choosing ‘micro’ sure looks like an effort to blur the lines between these backlit RGB LED TVs and real Micro LED TVs.

It’s certainly the case that this has already caused a fair amount of confusion among us tech journos, so what possible chance does the average punter have? I posit that it's very little.

Interestingly, Hisense is very specifically sticking with the ‘RGB Mini LED’ name for its TVs in this arena, because it feels using the word ‘micro’ would be disingenuous.

On the other hand, it is adding the word ‘Evo’, which must be infuriating to LG – but that’s all good fun, if you ask me.

MORE:

Don't want to wait? Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

British manufacturer Manhattan TV has announced the Aero 4K TV, and it's swapping aerial-based Freeview for a more modern live TV solution.

As the name suggests, it will allow users to watch content from their favourite services in 4K, and the company has confirmed that it also supports HDR10, HLG and HDR10+. Dolby Vision is, unfortunately, not supported, but Dolby Atmos passthrough thankfully is.

The Aero 4K's main draw is that it supports Freely, which lets you stream over 60 live TV channels from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 over wi-fi.

While Freely is already supported on TVs from a handful of manufacturers, including Panasonic and Hisense, Manhattan cites research from YouGov, which claims that "over 70% of Samsung and LG users want Freely on their next TV" (from a sample size of 2,149 participants)

The Aero 4K hopes to step in, allowing users to access the internet broadcasting service without having to fully replace their TV.

Furthermore, the TiVo operating system allows users to access a wide range of international streaming apps, including Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime Video.

On top of that, TiVo is offering its own internet streaming channels via TiVo+, which features over 400 streaming channels and a selection of on-demand shows and movies, all of which are free to watch.

All of this can be navigated using TiVo's voice control system (as well as the included remote), and Manhattan claims that the Aero 4K is "simple to set up and easy to use".

It's rare to see a streamer offer users a free content library this extensive, and this is where Manhattan likely hopes to edge out competitors such as the Amazon Fire TV Cube (3rd Generation) and the aforementioned Apple TV 4K.

The Aero 4K undercuts both of those options when it comes to pricing, too. It's set to launch at a wide number of UK retailers in February for £69.99.

MORE:

I’ve tried Freely: here are five things I like and three things that could be improved

Read our full Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen) review

Here are our picks for the best TV streaming devices

There was only one thing I could possibly write about for this week’s edition of Adventures In AV.

The proposal of a Sony and TCL joint venture that will take control of the former’s home entertainment business (which produces its TVs, soundbars and more) has shaken the industry.

I’ll be honest, it’s shaken me. I didn’t see the news coming, and as someone who grew up in a Sony household and is a big fan of the brand’s OLEDs in particular (I currently live with an A95L), I’m deeply concerned about what it means for the future.

To be clear, I’m not blinkered towards Sony. There have been plenty of Sony products, including TVs, that have disappointed me, and I’ve been involved in plenty of less-than-positive Sony reviews over my 18 years of testing.

Besides, we review as a team (it’s the What Hi-Fi? ‘how we test’ mantra), so any personal subconscious biases are counteracted as part of our testing process.

But, at its best, Sony can be unbeatable when it comes to TVs, and I think we need Sony to continue to be Sony – but will that be allowed as part of this joint venture?

The Sony difference

Sony takes its time. These days, most of its TVs have a two-year lifecycle, while every other brand replaces its entire range every year.

That extra time allows for more careful and considered tuning and development, and it results in greater quality jumps between generations.

And where its rivals battle it out to produce TVs with the largest, most impressive-sounding numbers, Sony generally (there are exceptions, such as the Bravia 9) rises above such showboating and focuses on squeezing the most out of its hardware in the name of delivering cinematic authenticity.

I’m not saying that’s always the right course, but it’s important that we have a brand that takes this approach when all of the others (with the exception of Panasonic) are obsessed with fighting a numbers war.

TCL is, of course, one of those brands that is obsessed with numbers. Each year, it tries to outdo the likes of Hisense and Samsung by packing its new TVs with the most dimming zones and the highest brightness – and it often comes out on top.

My concern is that this approach could be applied to Sony – TCL is going to have the controlling, 51 per cent stake of this proposed joint venture, after all – and we could end up with yet another brand focused on tech specs at the expense of patient, careful development.

There is, though, a way this could all work out…

The optimistic vision

If it feels as though I’m doing TCL down, that’s not my intention. I’ve been incredibly impressed by the Chinese brand’s TVs over the last couple of years, with 2025’s range proving incredibly consistent and awesome value for money.

TCL is great at what it does, which is produce TVs with specs and picture quality well beyond their price points.

And this is precisely the area in which Sony is weakest. It rarely launches budget-oriented TVs these days (it's been selling the same 32-inch model since way back in 2021, for heaven’s sake), and when it does, they’re rarely, if ever, the best in class – the recently reviewed Bravia 3 is a case in point.

So, what I’m proposing is that the TCL and Sony brands continue to target the areas of the market they’re already most invested in.

In fact, I’d like to see them both double down – TCL could stop edging closer to the super-premium end of things and solidify its position as champion of the mid-range and budget sectors, and Sony could stop producing budget-oriented models that are more or less destined to fail, at least in performance terms, and concentrate entirely on premium and flagship models.

So, what’s the point of the joint venture?

But if TCL and Sony ‘stay in their lanes’ as I’m proposing, what’s the flipping point of the joint venture? I’ve got thoughts on that, too.

Without stepping on Sony’s toes, TCL could bring its Japanese partner’s processing and tuning nous into its TVs, potentially resulting in an irresistible blend of mid-range-demolishing specs and super-authentic calibration.

Sony, meanwhile, could benefit from TCL’s greater scale and resources, allowing it to produce more models without entirely compromising its conservative approach. Being shorn of the responsibility to produce more affordable models could help here, too.

I’m not saying we necessarily need Sony to replace every model every year, but it would be nice if it had the capacity to extend its OLED range into more affordable and smaller models. For the love of all that is holy, it could at least finally put 2022’s A90K out of its misery and replace it with a model to take on LG’s latest C series.

Let’s not forget that TCL is currently building a huge new factory that will produce OLED panels using a new, more efficient, inkjet manufacturing process. It’s intended for the likes of laptops and phones in the first instance, but surely TV panels are on the agenda, too.

Imagine if Sony could get first dibs on new, more affordable OLED technology as part of this joint venture. It could usher in a new dawn of Sony OLED TVs that no longer rely on the panel-manufacturing arms of LG and Samsung.

But will any of this happen? As should be abundantly clear by now, I just don’t know – and neither, it seems, do my contacts at Sony or TCL. Besides, let’s face it, any further official statement at this point is only going to put a positive spin on things, whether that's justified or not.

The proof will, as ever, be in the pudding, and we’ll be waiting a long time for that, as even if the joint venture is ratified, it’s not expected to commence operations until April next year.

In the meantime, I reserve the right to be very nervous about the future of Sony TVs – but also aware that there is a way it could all work out for the best.

MORE:

Here's our full news story on the Sony and TCL joint venture

And here are the opinions of several of our team members and readers on the matter

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

Sometimes an Adventure in AV can involve a short trip into our TV's settings menu to discover something new. Other times it involves physically trekking halfway around the world.

In my case, it's the latter, as I kicked off my year in Las Vegas, Nevada, scouting out the latest innovations in the world of home cinema at CES 2026.

As expected, the show was nothing short of overwhelming, with countless new releases and announcements that will shape the AV landscape for the year to come.

While the RGB Mini LED TVs and new OLED sets stole the show, two specific demonstrations stood out, as they will remain relevant well beyond the end of 2026.

The first showed Dolby Vision 2, and although it didn't launch at CES specifically, I now have a much clearer picture of what it is actually capable of.

It was initially revealed at IFA 2025; but it was shrouded in mystery and confusion, and every TV manufacturer I quizzed on the subject seemed almost as confused as I was.

The second demo was for HDR10+ Advanced, which I had a sneak peek at during a trip to Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, back in October of 2025.

The Samsung team offered somewhat of a more complete answer, though they showed me simulated footage rather than actual working HDR10+ Advanced, so I had to take their word for the claimed performance upgrade.

The good news is that both Dolby and Samsung had major presences at CES 2026, and each showed their new respective dynamic HDR formats working in action. So I now have a much clearer picture of what the future of HDR will look like.

I'll start with Dolby, which showed me three examples of Dolby Vision 2 running on a beta-software build on a high-end, mid-range, and entry-level TV.

They all appeared to be bright and punchy Mini LED TVs, and while Dolby wouldn't specify the brand, the primary launch partner for Dolby Vision 2 is Hisense; I'll let you connect the dots there.

Dolby's demonstration truly wowed me. It showed an intense boost to brightness that transforms dark content to dig out detail that I presumed was simply lost to shadows indefinitely. It had regular Dolby Vision TVs set up alongside the Dolby Vision 2 versions in some instances, and the differences were practically night and day.

Digging up more detail in the dark areas did not come at the cost of lifted black levels, however, as it still looked natural to my eyes, and (most importantly) Dolby assured me that the system can recognise what is intentionally meant to be shadow details and not over-brighten those sections.

Dolby stressed how closely it works with directors and editors to ensure that their work is presented in a true-to-life manner.

There is a more advanced set of metadata underpinning Dolby Vision 2, which comes straight from the creatives themselves. And it results in enhanced brightness (and more) without the loss of detail and authenticity.

The need for this brightness-boosting version of Dolby Vision is rooted in the launch of super-bright Mini LED and RGB Mini LED TVs, which can far surpass the capabilities of the current version of Dolby Vision; this makes the super-bright TVs that we've seen crop up over the past couple of years even more compelling, as there is now a feature that can properly take advantage of their specifications.

Not to be outdone, Samsung showed a live demo running its new HDR10+ Advanced format on beta software, running on the new R95H RGB Mini LED TV.

Once again, the results were impressive, especially as Samsung had a “normal” HDR10+ TV running alongside the demo of the new format. Colours seemed more vibrant while remaining natural and balanced, and there was unquestionably more depth and contrast to the image.

There also seemed to be more in the way of detail levels, although (much like Dolby Vision 2), this was most noticeable in dark sequences.

Samsung also assured us that creator-derived metadata would underpin the changes coming to HDR10+ Advanced, which means that authenticity was also at the top of its priority list.

Furthermore, both companies dug deeper into Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+'s ability to handle motion. Traditionally, HDR formats haven't really played much of a part in motion processing; however, both Dolby and Samsung make a good point on this.

The (frankly tragic) reality is that most people out there will never open their TVs' settings menu. Some because they don't know how the settings work, others because they fear permanently messing up their TV by adjusting the wrong settings.

I sympathise. A TV settings menu can be daunting to the less technically inclined; and Dolby and Samsung's answer is simply to handle the motion processing themselves.

It's a bold move, and we'll need to test it more to confirm our feelings, but both formats showed promising signs during the demonstrations I attended.

Dolby in particular stood out with its Authentic Motion system, which can dynamically shift motion processing based on the content.

Therefore, minimal motion-processing can be applied during slower scenes, such as conversations, whereas fast-paced action scenes or panning shots can be aided by a pinch more.

It never looked unnatural or oversmoothed to my eyes, and it could solve the conundrum of judder being visible when using a TV's most accurate and authentic picture mode (in which motion processing is often switched off).

I will certainly need to do a lot more testing with both of these HDR formats to come to a conclusive opinion, but the good news is that both looked to be working as intended during CES.

This left me with a sense of hope for the future of HDR; it could be a bright and smooth year for the picture technology.

Samsung has already confirmed that HDR10+ Advanced will be coming to its mid-range and premium models sometime this year, and Amazon Prime Video will be the first service to offer select titles with the standard included soon.

Hisense, TCL and Philips TVs will launch with Dolby Vision 2 this year, and Dolby Vision 2 Max should also be supported on the higher-tier models within each of these manufacturers' lineups.

MORE:

Read our Hisense 116UXS hands on review

As well as our Samsung S95H hands on review

And our LG C6 hands on review

Hisense couldn’t really have been much clearer at this year’s CES about its intentions/ambitions for 2026.

Basically, it wants to complete its transformation from perceived AV technology follower into recognised AV tech leader – and it has identified RGB Mini LED TVs as its best opportunity to achieve this.

Hisense sees itself as the originator of RGB Mini LED technology, having been the first brand to a) unveil a consumer-facing RGB Mini LED TV back at CES 2025, and b) follow through on that announcement by being the first brand actually to bring an RGB Mini LED TV, the 116UX, to market in the latter half of last year.

Now, while other major brands are only just getting their debut RGB Mini LED TV house in order, Hisense has already unveiled a significant new advancement of its favourite TV technology.

The so-called RGB Mini LED Evo (no doubt LG loves that…) screen that’s set to appear in Hisense’s 2026 flagship 116-inch UXS TV will feature an additional new cyan LED in each backlight zone alongside the original red, green and blue ones that gave RGB Mini LED its name.

Are four colours really better than three, though, or is the 116UXS just another slice of CES hype?

Price

With the 116UXS not likely to be going on sale until well into the second half of 2026, Hisense isn’t yet prepared to attach a price to its ground-breaking new RGB Mini LED Evo model.

It’s not unreasonable to think, though, that it will track in the same price ballpark as the preceding 116UX. That monster set launched at £24,999 before dropping at some online retailers to £19,999.

In other words, as is so often the case, the showcase of a potentially major screen advance isn’t going to come cheap.

It’s worth adding that Hisense is launching what seem set to be a couple of fairly mass market-priced regular RGB Mini LED TV ranges (without the new Evo tech) for 2026, only a few months after the 116UX dropped. Perhaps we can hope for the same thing to happen with RGB Mini LED Evo screens down the line in 2027.

Design

Comparisons with the 116UX continue with the 116UXS’s design. In fact, without having a 116UX sat alongside the 116UXS for minute comparisons, we’d say the two sets look pretty much identical.

So their bodywork features the same perforated left and right side tubes, which house parts of a substantial audio system; very similar chunky blade-style metallic feet (though you can also wall mount the TVs if you have a wall strong enough, of course); and the same chunky grilled top edge, which houses more of the TV’s speaker setup.

Accommodating this audio system means the 116UXS doesn’t deliver the trimness from front to back (it’s 4cm deep) that some people like to see with premium TVs.

The metallic finish of the audio tubes and top panel looks suitably premium, though, and actually, having your pictures and sound delivered by one slightly chunky picture and sound all-rounder is still tidier than having a slimmer screen partnered with some sort of external sound solution.

Features

Clearly, the biggest feature of the 116UXS is its introduction of Hisense’s RGB Mini LED Evo technology. The last time we can recall a brand adding a fourth ‘sub-pixel’ (in that case, yellow) to its TVs was Sharp with its short-lived Quattron technology way back in 2010.

Adding a cyan LED alongside the usual red, green and blue pixels for the 116UXS, though, feels as though it’s going to be anything but a short-lived ‘experiment’. In fact, Hisense openly discussed with us the potential for further colour sub-pixels to be added in the future. For now, though, it has chosen to focus on cyan.

Cyan, says Hisense, sits in the area of the colour spectrum where human vision is most sensitive to subtle colour changes. So adding cyan LEDs to the 116UXS backlight mix should enable it to render subtler gradients, tones and transitions that even an untrained eye should clearly be able to see – enhancing the image’s sense of depth and naturalism.

Hisense’s Sonny Ming (General Manager of Product Marketing and Scenario Product Operation) was also keen to stress, when we sat down for a chat with him, that Hisense hasn’t just added cyan LEDs to the 116UXS and left it at that – it has also recalibrated the weight of the red, green and blue LEDs so that the addition of cyan properly enhances the overall colour experience, rather than upsetting the colour balance in any way.

The new colour configuration should, according to Hisense’s claims (which we haven’t been able to verify with our own testing at this stage) deliver 99.3 per cent red colour purity, 92 per cent green purity, 100 per cent blue purity, 6 per cent more accuracy when rendering the BT.2020 colour spectrum than QD-OLED TVs can achieve, and 23 per cent more BT.2020 accuracy than QD Mini LED TVs can achieve.

It should also, says Hisense, produce fewer eye-damaging blue light emissions than either QD-OLED or QD Mini LED produce, and be able to cover an unprecedented 110 per cent of the BT.2020 colour spectrum.

Hisense claims that its new technology is 30 per cent more energy efficient than QD-OLED displays, and Hisense’s latest Hi-View AI Engine RGB processing system has been further enhanced to take account of the new panel structure as it goes about optimising how it displays images.

Hisense claims the new Hi-View engine has 40 per cent more computing performance, 70 per cent more content scene recognition power, and 100 per cent more scene adaptation power to feed into the screen’s AI picture, AI Sound and AI Scenario picture enhancement tools.

The AI Picture system now includes a dedicated AI RGB Colour Dimming element that Hisense says “elevates traditional local dimming from simple brightness control to full spectrum, synchronised colour and brightness control”.

This is essentially Hisense referring to the ability of each red, green, blue and now cyan LED to have its brightness independently controlled for each lighting ‘zone’. Using this dimming metric, Hisense is able to claim more than 40,000 “colour dimming zones” for the 116UXS.

The AI Picture system is also claimed to include improved 4K upscaling of sub-4K sources; a new AI-driven HDR upscaler for turning non HDR content into HDR; improved RGB tone mapping to solve the potential issue of colour shift when moving from conventional processing to RGB Mini LED rendering; AI RGB Colour Peaking that apparently intelligently optimises the screen’s power usage to enhance brightness, delivering more consistency and stability when rendering chromatic highlights; and a new AI system for removing potential banding noise from HDR colour blends.

Hisense’s AI Scenario detection feature, meanwhile, now claims to have specific optimised Sports, Game and Film modes that the TV can automatically switch to based on more accurate detection of the sort of content you’re watching.

The 116UXS is claimed to be capable of hitting brightness levels of well over 8000 nits too, and its new screen technology is joined by a return of the Devialet Opéra De Paris 6.2.2-channel integrated sound system found on 2025’s 116UX.

The latest version of this Devialet-designed speaker system includes a back-to-back subwoofer configuration to minimise unwanted cabinet vibrations and distortions, a new Room Fitting Tuning feature that optimises the sound-stage presentation to your room setup, and an AI Clear Voice option that can isolate and amplify dialogue independently of the rest of the mix.

There will be a fairly major update to the 116UXS’s smart system, finally, as Hisense has announced that its usual Vidaa system will be rebranded as Home OS, reflecting the expanding use of Hisense’s proprietary smart system across other products in the home.

Picture quality

Right off the bat, it’s important to note that fully delving into the extra colour range and nuance that Hisense claims is made possible by RGB Mini LED Evo technology will require even more extensive testing than usual once we’re able to get a 116UXS into a more controllable location. It’s also worth remembering that the 116UXS is still many months away from its consumer launch.

With those words of caution covered, though, Hisense did have a remarkable number of 116UXS screens on its CES stand, including some in relatively dark corners to go with the attention grabbers positioned at the front. So, overall, we were able to get a pretty varied look at what the new screen seems able to do.

Despite the 116UXS’s advances being mostly built on colour, as with last year’s 116UX, it was actually the new screen’s brightness that first drew our eye. Hisense’s various demo reel content contained all sorts of ultra-bright HDR imagery that looked consistently so extremely bright that we completely forgot we were looking at these screens in locations as big and heavily illuminated as Las Vegas’s colossal CES halls.

The level of brightness the 116UXS can produce might have some AV fans worried that they’ll need to don sunglasses if they install it in a darkened cinema room. Actually, though, even in the darkest areas of Hisense’s stand, we personally never found the intensity too much.

In fact, the screen’s use of light actually felt more natural and intelligent than it did on the original UX RGB Mini LED screens, with an enhanced sense of light subtlety across the TV’s extreme HDR spectrum – including reduced clipping (lost shading) in the image’s most extreme highlights – despite the TVs using clearly aggressive picture settings to combat the CES show floor environment.

Not surprisingly, Hisense included a section of demo content containing a block of pure cyan, and this really sold the point about the usefulness to colour volume and general image brightness consistency of having as many dedicated colour LEDs as possible.

We didn’t feel strongly aware of any obvious dimming in the image’s intensity when it was showing pure red, green, blue or cyan colours versus colours created from a mix of the core elements, in fact, which counters a potential issue with RGB Mini LED technology.

Adding to the sense of radiance and colour volume the 116UXS can deliver is what appeared to be a seriously promising black-level performance. Many shots in the demo reel featured ultra-bright, richly saturated elements against full black backdrops, and these backdrops appeared to be pretty much free from any sign of general low-contrast greyness or local dimming haloing or blooming problems. Especially when viewing the screen fairly square-on.

Even the darkest parts of Hisense’s demo areas weren’t dark enough to allow us to absolutely confirm that the 116UXS tackles the occasionally slightly messy backlight fluctuations and blocking spotted when we tested the 116UX, but our general impression was at least promising. The blackness didn’t seem to become greyer and the bold colours didn’t seem to heavily desaturate when we watched the 116UXS from even quite severe angles, either.

The 116UXS’s sharpness is excellent for such a huge screen too, combining with what appeared to be pretty much infinitely subtle and banding-free colour shading to deliver a wonderful sense of depth and three-dimensionality.

A combination of the single-minded enthusiasm of Hisense’s demo material and the hands-on conditions available to us at CES 2026 did mean we couldn’t get much of a feel for how well the RGB Mini LED Evo system handles relatively complex content with lots of subtle colours and variations – the sort of content, in other words, that might really challenge the intelligence of the RGB Mini LED Evo LED configuration and dimming engine.

We’ll also need much more controlled lighting conditions to feel more confident about the screen’s handling of backlight blooming when using less extreme, more accuracy-focused picture settings.

All the areas that we could cast early judgment on, however, were certainly very promising.

Sound quality

There was really no opportunity to give the 116UXS’s sound system a proper workout at CES 2026.

Given how similar the 116UXS’s speaker setup and Devialet tuning are to that of the 116UX, though, it should deliver many of the same positive audio attributes that its predecessor did.

That should include plenty of volume; a really impressive ability to have the sound feel as though it’s coming from all the way across the screen rather than emerging only from its edges; clear, well-placed dialogue; nicely rounded peak trebles; and good detailing.

We didn’t see anything in the 116UXS’s audio arrangement to make us think it might deliver more forward audio impact than we got from the slightly swallowed-sounding 116UX, but there is potential in some of Hisense’s claims for the new screen to deliver heavier and less distorted bass.

Early verdict

There seems little doubt from what we have seen so far that the 116UXS will improve on its predecessor, offering both even more spectacle and, more importantly, more colour consistency and balance.

Improved local-dimming control also looks likely from our experience of the 116UXS to date – though hopefully Hisense’s focus on quite extreme demo content was just down to a desire to show off how far its technology can be pushed rather than an attempt to hide any potential ongoing weaknesses with its exciting and potentially hugely influential new TV tech.

MORE:

Check out our super-thorough hands-on review of the preceding Hisense 116UX

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Epson has announced the latest addition to its Lifestudio projector range – and it's a departure from the stylish EF-72 that we reviewed last year.

The Lifestudio Grand EH-LS970 is the brand's new flagship ultra-short-throw (UST) projector that instead hopes to steal the spotlight from Hisense. It certainly has the credentials to do so on paper. It replaces the EH‑LS800, a projector we reviewed at four stars back in 2024.

The EH-LS970 boasts a “Real 4K UHD” resolution, according to Epson, featuring 8.3 million pixels and a maximum screen size of up to 150 inches.

It uses a 3LCD laser light source, which Epson boldly claims features “no rainbow effect”; we'll have to verify that ourselves when this new beamer lands in our home-cinema testing room.

Furthermore, that light source can reportedly deliver a staggering 4000 lumens of brightness, which is 1000 lumens more than the Hisense PX3-Pro's claimed maximum. You needn't worry about changing that light source, either: it reportedly boasts a 20,000-hour life span.

While that is an impressive picture specification on paper, Epson is also collaborating with a big name in the audio space to help it sound as good as it looks. The EH-LS970 features a Bose-engineered sound system with support for Dolby Audio.

Epson is leveraging an AI-backed picture-processing engine, and Google TV is on board, providing a wide range of streaming apps, including Netflix and Disney Plus.

Epson is even touting a handful of quality-of-life features, including “whisper-quiet operation” with a claimed fan noise of just 29 dB, or 18 dB in the projector's quiet mode. Gamers are also well catered for, with ALLM support and a reported input lag of under 20ms.

This all comes packed into a stylish chassis that aligns with the other lifestyle-leaning Lifestudio projectors in Epson's range.

It features a claimed throw ratio of 0.16–0.4:1, meaning you can achieve the full 150-inch picture by placing the EH-LS970 merely centimetres away from the wall (Epson has, unfortunately, not specified just how many centimetres so, again, we shall have to wait for a test sample to come in to confirm precise numbers).

Pricing for Epson's new UST projector is yet to be revealed; it is, though, expected to hit shop shelves in April of this year.

MORE:

Read our full Epson EF-72 review

As well as our Hisense PX3-Pro review

And check out our list of the best projectors

CES 2026 proved to be yet another busy and exciting showcase of the top home cinema and hi-fi products that are set to launch later this year.

We caught up with a wide range of manufacturers, including Samsung, LG, Hisense, TCL, Xgimi and Cambridge Audio, checking out their latest innovations, which are set to shape 2026 for cinephiles and audiophiles alike.

As ever, the show proved to be a major hit for OLED TVs, with Samsung and LG debuting a handful of truly impressive-looking sets, despite RGB Mini LED also having a prominent presence at the show.

New Dolby Atmos soundbars were also unveiled by the companies mentioned above, including a convertible Samsung soundbar that boasts a serious boost to bass. LG, on the other hand, launched its flagship, Dolby Atmos Flex Connect-enabled soundbar, which is also compatible with its new wireless speakers and subwoofer.

A duo of unique-looking projectors from Xgimi and Hisense also made an appearance at the show, both with unique and eye-catching designs.

And for the hi-fi fans, an exciting new turntable from Audio Technica was unveiled, as was a new range of active speakers from Cambridge Audio.

That's a lot to unpack, but you can find out exactly why we chose these freshly announced products below.

TVs

LG W6 Wallpaper OLED TV

Remember LG's Wallpaper OLED TV? That super-slender TV that you could affix to your wall with magnets remains a legend in the home cinema world, and it's got a spiritual successor in the form of the W6.

LG's latest flagship TV sports the Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel tech from the G-series TVs, and crams it into a sleek and stylish chassis that measures just 9mm thick.

It leverages LG's Zero Connect box, which was popularised on the M-series wireless OLEDs, which is what the W6 is replacing. Gamers may be put off by the wireless interface, but LG promises smooth 4K gaming up to 165Hz on the W6.

LG also claims that this TV can deliver a superb picture performance despite the slender frame. It's leveraging its new Hyper Radiant Colour technology (which can also be found in the G6 and some versions of the C6) and low reflectivity display tech, which should make viewing the TV in traditional environments easier.

If you're looking for style and substance, then you definitely need to pay attention to the W6.

Samsung S95H

Samsung has also given its flagship OLED TV a stylish redesign. Meet the S95H, an all-new OLED TV that takes design, brightness and functionality to a new level.

Its new design echos the firm's Frame TV, and the more effective Glare Free display coating makes this set look even more like a piece of art than ever before.

While looks are important, we care most about picture performance, and Samsung is claiming that this TV is a big step up over its five-star predecessor. It reports that the QD-OLED panel can reach a new peak brightness of 2700 nits in a 10% display window, and there is an overall improvements to highlights, colour and sharpness.

Gamers should get excited too, as Samsung is offering this TV with an optional new Wireless One Connect solution, which adds four HDMI 2.1 sockets onto the four already available on the TV itself. That results in eight high-bandwidth sockets primed for various consoles, disc players, streamers and audio equipment.

LG C6

We’ve been waiting generations (TV generations, not human ones) for a big panel upgrade to LG’s C-series OLEDs, and we finally have one – albeit in limited fashion.

That upgrade is from standard W-OLED to super bright Primary RGB Tandem OLED, but only for the 77- and 83-inch models, which will be given the C6H name to differentiate them from the non-Tandem C6 sizes.

Every C6 is getting a new processor this year, though, and it’s the same flagship chip that is going into the G6 and W6.

In other words, we’re expecting the C6 to be a decent upgrade on the C5 at all sizes, but it should be a huge step up in the 77- and 83-inch models, which looked great when we saw them at the show.

TCL X11L

While the big TV story of 2026 is going to be the tsunami of new RGB Mini LED models, TCL is swimming against the tide with a new concept – the Super Quantum Dot TV.

The Chinese brand, which is quickly turning itself into one of the industry’s biggest players in terms of quality as well as quantity, does have RGB Mini LED models on its slate for this year, but sitting above them all is this X11L SQD model.

According to TCL, its Super QD model can go brighter and more vibrant than RGB Mini LED models, while also having better local dimming and colour accuracy, and being slimmer.

That sounds like a very tasty recipe indeed, and the X11L looked stunning when we saw it in the flesh on the show floor. Astonishingly punchy, colourful and contrasty, this could be the flagship TV surprise of 2026.

Projectors

Xgimi Titan Noir Max

Xgimi is a brand with a growing reputation for always improving with each new generation of its projectors. Which is why we were happy to see it launch its new Titan Noir Max at CES.

Sitting below the firm’s Titan and Horizon 20 Max from 2025, we’re still waiting on final pricing, but there’s no denying it’s an interesting beast with some solid specifications.

Highlights include new “precision-tuned optics” and the firm’s “most advanced dynamic IRIS system to date”. According to Xgimi, these factors will fix one of our biggest gripes with its past offerings: their lacklustre handling of dark scenes.

If that rings true when we get a Titan Noir Max into our review rooms, then we may have a new power player in the coffee table projector market on our hands.

Hisense XR10

Hisense has a strong track record in the home cinema in a box space. So much so that its entry-level, dinky Hisense M2 Pro won a What Hi-Fi? Award last year.

Which is why we paid attention when it launched its new XR10 and boastfully described it as “a first-of-its-kind laser projector built for cinephiles.”

While it’s too early to tell if there’s any truth to that claim, it certainly does have some impressive hardware. Key specifications include a completely new custom chipset, the brand’s latest LPU 30 Digital Laser Engine, atypical liquid cooling system and a staggering 6000 ANSI lumens peak brightness.

Add to this the ability to project an image up to 300-inches big, and it has certainly piqued our interest, earning the XR10 a place on this list.

Soundbars

LG Sound Suite (H7 Dolby Atmos soundbar)

Rather than announce a whole new soundbar range for 2026, LG has instead launched a family of home cinema speakers that can be mixed and matched to create a setup that’s tailored just to you and your room.

This Sound Suite consists of the H7 soundbar, the M7 and M5 wireless speakers, and the W7 subwoofer. So, you can just buy the solo soundbar, or you can partner that with a pair of either speakers and/or the subwoofer. In that regard, it’s rather like a Sonos system, with the Sonos Arc Ultra as the starting point.

The difference is that Sound Suite is built on the Dolby Atmos FlexConnect platform, so the components should be super-flexible over positioning. FlexConnect is built into LG’s new TVs, too, so you can do without the soundbar if you prefer, and have your television act as the hub for just the wireless speakers and/or sub.

Conceptually, this is really neat, and it sounded good during our limited demo session, too. Here’s hoping it still sounds good when we get it into our test room for a full, comparative review.

Samsung HW-QS90H

Samsung unveiled its first convertible soundbar last year in the form of the HW-Q700F, and now it's back with an updated take on the format.

It ditches the external subwoofer in favour of more bass drivers directly inside the 'bar, and the bass upgrade was certainty noticeable during our demo at Samsung's First Look conference.

It features a total of 13 drivers inside, and a gyroscope to recognise when the soundbar is placed in either of its configurations; those being wall-mounted or table-top. It will then redistribute the sound to the appropriate drivers to ensure that front-firing sound and Dolby Atmos height effects are positioned correctly.

We noted its punchy and bold sound in our HW-QS90H hands on review, and it's bass performance frankly speaks for itself. The real question is this: does the HW-QS90H have what it takes to dethrone the Award-winning Sonos Arc Ultra?

Hi-Fi

Cambridge Audio L/R X

This is the flagship in Cambridge’s new range of L/R speaker systems (the others being the S and the M), and it’s set its sights high. It’s gunning for KEF’s LS50 Wireless II, a system that has won a What Hi-Fi? Award a staggering six years in a row.

But the X certainly looks impressive. In terms of features, it goes toe-to-toe with the KEF, with a spec that’s nigh-on identical. It’s also set to launch at exactly the same RRP (though the KEF has seen some significant discounts in its lifetime).

It’s not out until the summer, but our intrepid senior staff writer Harry McKerrell has already gone hands-on with it at Cambridge’s London HQ. He found it to be a “clear, clean and rhythmically sound performer, one which is capable of bringing out ample helpings of textural detail while going loud and proud in the process.” Although the usual disclaimer about this being just a first impression applies.

Looks like KEF has a fight on its hands.

Audio Technica LP7X

We’re always interested when Audio-Technica unveils a new turntable, and the AT-LP7X sits just below the very enjoyable AT-LP8X record player we reviewed last year.

The LP7X is, surprisingly, a belt-drive model – which bucks the trend of most Audio-Technica turntables that use a direct drive motor – a feature that has piqued our interest.

It comes with a J-shaped aluminium tonearm and pre-fitted moving magnet cartridge that offers ample adjustment and upgrade options down the line. The minimalist design also has a built-in phono stage and aims to offer flexibility for vinyl fans.

We’re promised a “clean, considered deck” that isn’t showy but focuses on the fundamentals for £679 / $999, and we can’t wait to hear it in action.

MORE:

Read our Samsung S95H hands on review

As well as our Cambridge Audio L/R X hands on review

And our Samsung HW-QS90H hands on review

Hisense has turned up to CES 2026 with two big swings at colour performance – and both involve adding an extra colour channel to the usual red, green, and blue recipe.

The company says its next flagship LCD TV will use so-called RGB Mini LED Evo tech (which introduces cyan into its RGB Mini LED backlight system), while its latest true Micro LED set will add yellow at the sub-pixel level, forming RGBY.

In other words, Hisense is betting that the path to punchier, purer colour is… more colours.

After launching an RGB-backlit LCD TV in 2025, Hisense says its second-generation approach will be marketed as RGB Mini LED Evo, debuting in a 116-inch UXS model called the 116UXS.

Instead of relying only on red, green, and blue LEDs in the backlight, the new system adds cyan as a fourth LED colour. Hisense claims this pushes colour coverage to 110 per cent of BT.2020, the wide colour gamut associated with HDR.

The company also says the 116UXS includes “tens of thousands of colour dimming zones,” as reported by FlatpanelsHD.

Alongside the new backlight setup, Hisense lists an upgraded Hi-View AI Engine RGB video processor, plus Dolby Vision 2, among the additional features.

The 116UXS is positioned as the successor to the 2025 116UX, which the company priced at $25,000.

Our hands-on time with the 116UX showed impressive, eye-opening vibrancy, but also revealed that the first-generation tech wasn’t always perfectly controlled, with occasional colour inconsistencies and backlight artefacts creeping in.

Framed against that experience, RGB Mini LED Evo feels like a natural next step – an attempt to refine, stabilise, and better harness the raw potential Hisense has already proven at the very top end of its TV range.

Hisense is also expanding its true Micro LED efforts for 2026. Last year, it launched a 136-inch MicroLED TV priced at $100,000, and for this year, it’s introducing a new technology it calls RGBY Micro LED.

In this instance, Hisense is talking about true Micro LED, where each sub-pixel is an LED, and there’s no LCD panel at all. In other words, it's true, self-emissive panel technology along the lines of OLED, and therefore not the same thing as the recently announced Micro RGB LCD TVs from other brands, such as LG, which use an RGB LED backlight behind an LCD layer.

So why add a fourth sub-pixel? Hisense argues that Micro LED can run into a colour ceiling, and that introducing yellow alongside red, green, and blue – creating RGBY – helps overcome that limit.

The new RGBY MicroLED tech is set to arrive in a 163-inch MicroLED model called the 163MX, due in 2026. Pricing hasn’t been confirmed, but given last year’s $100,000 Micro LED, it’s safe to say this is aimed squarely at the ultra-high-end crowd.

Naturally, we're reserving judgement on all of the above until we get a chance for a proper eyes-on with the new sets, but it all sounds very promising on paper. Watch this space.

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Dolby Vision 2, the somewhat controversial new HDR format, was announced last year with Hisense listed as the only TV partner at the time.

Now, though, it's been confirmed at CES 2026 that two further TV brands will be supporting the format this year.

The first of those is TCL. This should come as little surprise after the brand whacked a 'Dolby Vision 2.0' logo on its stand at IFA in September – much to the confusion of everyone, including TCL's own staff.

We now understand that the brand's new SQD Mini LED range, including the new flagship X11L model, will get Dolby Vision 2 support via a post-launch software update.

Dolby also claims it will be added to TCL's mainstream C-series, presumably including the successor to last year's What Hi-Fi? Award-winning C7K – we've approached TCL for comment on that.

And while Philips hasn't even announced its 2026 TV range yet (that's not expected for a few weeks), Dolby has already revealed that several new models, including the (again, as-yet-unannounced by Philips) OLED811, OLED911 and flagship OLED951 will support Dolby Vision 2.

So that's Hisense, TCL and Philips all confirmed (at least by Dolby) to be supporting Dolby Vision 2 this year.

But what about the rest?

Sony and Panasonic

It's no surprise that we have no Dolby Vision 2 news from Sony or Panasonic.

Sony no longer announces its new TVs at CES, choosing instead to reveal new models around March or April each year. We're expecting a similar timeframe this year, so if Sony is going to support Dolby Vision 2, that's when we'll find out.

Panasonic, on the other hand, does usually announce its new flagship TV during CES. This year, though, it hasn't done that. It could be a while until we get any 2026 TV news from Panasonic (its overall range is usually announced around May), including whether Dolby Vision 2 is on the cards.

Samsung

It's also entirely unsurprising that Samsung hasn't been mentioned in relation to Dolby Vision 2, because Samsung has never supported Dolby Vision at all.

In fact, Samsung created HDR10+ as a rival to Dolby Vision, and it's launching HDR10+ Advanced this year as a rival to Dolby Vision 2.

LG

Now this is the surprising one: LG has long been regarded as one of Dolby Vision's keenest advocates, having supported it from the start on as many models as it possibly could, yet we've been told that the brand has "no plans to support Dolby Vision 2 in 2026".

That's a direct quote from David Park, LG’s Director of Product Strategy and Marketing in the US, who is very much a man who's usually in the know, yet he seemed surprisingly in the dark about Dolby Vision 2 in general, including whether it might be possible for it to be added to its 2026 TVs at a later date.

Will a lack of Dolby Vision 2 be enough of a factor to put prospective buyers off LG's new W6, G6 or C6 OLEDs, which otherwise all look very appealing? It's hard to say, but the fact that several other brands will be offering it this year, while LG won't be, will certainly provide pause for thought.

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