Hisense QD50 Hi-QLED 58QD50R 57.5"

Great Roku TV experience wrapped around a mediocre panel. Buy it for the smart platform, not the picture.

The 4K QLED panel is fine, but 'fine' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Picture quality sits at the 37th percentile in our database, which means it's below average compared to other TVs we've tested. The Direct LED backlight doesn't do HDR any favors, and while it supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG, the brightness just isn't there to make those formats shine. What did surprise us is the smart platform. Roku TV is snappy, intuitive, and the social proof score of 89th percentile tells you people actually like living with this thing. The 16W 2.0 channel audio is about what you'd expect, serviceable but not room-filling. Gaming features like VRR and ALLM are nice to see at this price, but the 60Hz panel and HDMI 2.0 ports cap you at 4K60, which is fine for casual play but not for next-gen consoles at full tilt.

The TCL QM6K Series 55QM6K is the obvious rival here, and it's a better TV in almost every way that matters for picture quality. TCL's Mini-LED backlight absolutely embarrasses the Hisense's Direct LED setup, and the QM6K gets brighter, more colorful, and more precise with HDR. The Roku Plus Series 55R6C7 is another interesting alternative, it gives you the same Roku platform but with a better panel and more consistent picture quality. If you're willing to spend a bit more, the LG C5 OLED is in a completely different league, but that's like comparing a Honda to a Porsche. For the money, the Hisense holds its own against the Roku Plus Series but loses ground to the TCL QM6K on pure picture performance.

At $230 to $333 depending on the vendor, this TV is priced like a budget set and mostly delivers like one. The sweet spot is the lower end of that range. If you can grab it around $250, it's a solid deal for a 58-inch 4K QLED with Roku built in. But if you're paying closer to $333, you're getting into territory where a TCL QM6K or Roku Plus Series starts to look a lot more tempting. Amazon currently has the best price on this one, so check there first.

The Hisense QD50 Hi-QLED 58QD50R is a budget QLED that punches above its weight in smart features but leaves you wanting more in the picture department. The headline here is Roku TV, which is genuinely the best streaming platform on the market, and Hisense pairs it with a 57.5-inch 4K panel that gets the job done for everyday viewing. But don't expect this to compete with the OLEDs and Mini-LEDs sitting on the shelf next to it. This is a value play, and for the right buyer, it's a solid one.

If you care about HDR brightness, deep blacks, or high-refresh gaming, this isn't your TV. Go get the TCL QM6K or save up for an LG C5 OLED. If you're buying this for a bright living room with lots of windows, the Direct LED backlight will struggle. This is a bedroom or secondary room TV, not a home theater centerpiece.

The Hisense QD50 Hi-QLED 58QD50R is a perfectly fine budget TV that gets the smart platform right and the picture quality wrong. If you want a big screen with Roku TV and don't care about HDR brightness or gaming at high refresh rates, this is a solid buy at the right price. But if picture quality is your priority, save up a little more and get the TCL QM6K. You'll be glad you did.