Control is available via the remote control handset or the Roku mobile app. The remote control doesn’t feel all that expensive (hardly a surprise) but it’s not the ergonomic disaster it might have been. It’s quite sensibly laid out, and direct buttons for Netflix and Freeview Play are very welcome. They’re certainly more useful than the direct buttons for Rakuten TV or Spotify, anyhow. A Game mode is included and needs to be manually switched on. With it on, latency falls to an impressive 11.8ms – great for fast-twitch or racing games that require smooth inputs. Picture quality Obviously the A7200G isn’t a miracle-worker. The way off-air broadcasts look is, as with every other source, entirely dependent on the quality of the incoming material. Some live sport, for example, looks pretty decent – the big, uniform area of colour that’s the playing field can get a bit noisy and restless, and the unpredictable motion can catch the Hisense out, but overall it’s pretty composed.

Hisense Roku 43 Inch R43A7200GTUK Smart 4K LED Freeview TV Hisense Roku 43 Inch R43A7200GTUK Smart 4K LED Freeview TV

As far as set-up goes, the Hisense menus are a) very brief and b) don’t have all that much impact on the picture or sound you take receipt of. It’s possible to make fairly fundamental changes to colour temperature this way, but in all honesty the rest of the settings only fiddle around the edges of the A7200G performance. Still, this compares favourably with Philips, which wants you to invest the best part of your day in setting up your TV. An all-in weight of seven kilos means the R50A7200GTUK is easy enough to wall-mount. But a depth of 85mm (to accompany height of 564mm and width of 969mm) means it will protrude an unfashionable distance from the wall it’s mounted on. If anything makes the A7200G look like a budget-conscious option, it’s the unglamorous depth of its cabinet. If you have provided us with a mobile telephone number, DPD couriers will send a text message on the day of delivery advising of an approximate time slot for the delivery.

More than a Smart TV, stream 150,000+ movies and TV episodes across a range of apps such as Netflix, Now TV, BT Sport, Apple TV, Spotify, The Roku Channel and Freeview Play. Enjoy every detail in stunning 4K HDR offering 4x more pixels than Full HD, as well as a rich and immersive audio experience with DTS Studio Sound for enhanced bass and clearer vocals. A simple home screen, easy-to-use remote, fast & easy search, and automatic software updates, the Hisense Roku TV is simple to use and easy to love. The panel technology in Hisense’s 2021 Roku TVs appears unchanged since last year. This TV still has a VA-type LCD panel that uses direct LED lighting without local dimming, as is the case for many cheap LCD TVs on the market. Being a VA (vertical alignment) panel, it does not have the wide viewing angles of an IPS equivalent. Hisense states that this panel has 176-degree viewing angles, but I’d recommend watching it straight-on. Sit off to an angle and you’ll notice a significant drop-off in picture brightness and colour vibrancy.

HISENSE 43A7GQTUK LED Series 43-inch 4K UHD Dolby Vision HDR

Apple AirPlay 2 and HomeKit support arrived on the Roku OS in 2020 – the former enabling streaming from iOS devices, while the latter offers control over smart devices within the Apple ecosystem. These additions help widen the breadth of the Roku TV platform, looking outwards rather than in. Inclusion, like in other walks of life, can only be a good thing in this respect. Apart from a chunkier strip along the bottom of the frame, the bezel surrounding the A7200G’s screen is very slim indeed; viewed straight on, the Hisense is almost entirely screen. The surround is tidy, smooth and properly finished, and even across the bottom of the screen it’s not what you’d call intrusive, while the ‘Hisense’ and ‘ Roku TV’ branding carried on the bezel is nicely understated. Roku says the bezel has been slimmed and rounded; it’s neater in appearance than the original, from what I can remember. It allows for a little more real estate for the on-screen images, and presents a less obtrusive design than before.

922/9909

At 9.8kg, it’s slightly heavier and measures at 1116 x 648 x 82mm (without the stand) – so again, very similar. Feet are stationed out wide, and assembly means slotting them in and tightening the screws. Getting to the TV’s start menu takes minutes once the TV has been registered.

HISENSE 43A7GQTUK LED Series 43-inch 4K UHD Dolby Vision HDR HISENSE 43A7GQTUK LED Series 43-inch 4K UHD Dolby Vision HDR

Just like the first UK Roku TV, the Hisense Roku TV (2021) is sold exclusively through Argos. For this review, I was sent the 50in model, which is probably the ideal size to buy for most living rooms. The other sizes available are a 43in screen, a 55in set and a hulking 65in unit. Not much, if anything, has changed in terms of the panel technology: the 4K/UHD (3,840 x 2,160) panels are VA-type LCD LED direct-lit and have a 60Hz refresh rate.Step down in quality just a little with a 4K stream via Netflix and the fundamental story is the same. Most of the good stuff – detail levels, absence of noise, facility with edge definition and the subtleties of texture – is carried over intact. Even the drop-off in motion control is mild. Once you have colour balance, contrast and brightness at a level you’re happy with, it’s time to let the Hisense do its thing. And for the majority of the time, ‘its thing’ is generally quite poised and never less than watchable. The sound quality of the R50B7120UK was a surprise, but the sound from the 50A7200GTUK’s 2 x 8W speakers is a step down – despite being the same configuration. You can’t expect fireworks in the design department when you’re paying this sort of money for a television. Really, the best you can hope for is a bit of discretion – and, happily, that’s just what Hisense has delivered.