There seems to be no end to the growth of TV displays, with the current highlights being the new 110- and 115-inch TVs being showcased by Hisense and TCL at CES. 115 inches means a screen diagonal of 2.92 metres. Is that hard to imagine? For added convenience, consider four 55-inch TVs, which together form one large screen. It’s not just the size of the new TVs, but the brightness of these screens also sets a new standard. However, both manufacturers use different technologies to get there.

Hisense is showing off some new TV models for the US market at CES, and European TVs will likely be announced in March. We know that there is one TV that will definitely come to the European market: the new 110UX.

Hisense 110 UX

The UX series contains Hisense’s top models and the 110UX is the largest TV in the range at 110 inches. Hisense is showing the TV at CES in two different versions, with and without a piece of furniture that includes a wide-range speaker system. The version without this furniture has speakers in the edges of the TV, which makes this version’s frame look a little different. It is not yet clear which version will come to Europe. In terms of image, both options should be identical.

Hisense 110UX with audio furniture

The 110UX’s specifications don’t lie. The TV uses a billboard, which is an IPS technology. As far as I can judge on the show floor, the screen has impressively good viewing angles, a feature of the advertising screen technology used. However, just like IPS, ADS doesn’t have the best black levels, so the panel’s native contrast is probably not as good as VA displays. Hisense has come up with a solution to this problem: the 110UX is equipped with no less than 40,000 local dimming zones, to enable extremely precise dimming. We don’t know how these areas are divided, but assuming a square layout, they will include a grid of approximately 267 x 150 LEDs. The size of each group will therefore be approximately 0.91 x 0.91 cm, which indicates how precise this screen dimming is.

On the show floor, under bright light, it was difficult to appreciate how much the TV was struggling with bloom, but only under extreme conditions, with all-white elements on a black background, was I able to see it to a very limited extent. It makes perfect sense that some blooming would be visible, because the TV was of course set to a “dynamic” HDR mode where all color and brightness registers were fully opened. In the case of the 110UX, this means the claimed peak brightness is at least 10,000 nits. Hisense hasn’t explained exactly under what conditions the TV achieves this, but it will undoubtedly involve displaying a relatively small white area on a black background, at the screen’s native color temperature. We don’t currently know what this means for full-screen brightness and maximum light output in movie mode with a warmer color temperature. However, the demo images in the gallery clearly showed that this TV is indeed very bright, even when large parts of the screen are brightly lit.

Hisense 110UX, in the version without audio furniture

If you’re wondering what exactly 10,000 lumens are for: in SDR mode, they’re actually nothing, because they’ll be too bright for almost any scenario. But for HDR material, which works with fixed brightness values ​​and where Dolby Vision content can have peaks of up to 10,000 nits, this would theoretically be the first TV that can display such extremes without tone mapping. We don’t know yet what the power consumption of the TV is, but we understand that the TV is equipped with active cooling, which indicates that this display definitely won’t get high marks in terms of energy rating.

It is not yet known exactly when the 110UX will be on the market, but according to Hisense Netherlands, it will be in the second half of the year. The price has not been finalized yet, but we know that the TV will likely cost more than 20 thousand euros.

TCL X955 Max

TCL shows that it could be a little larger, because the X955 Max has a diagonal of at least 115 inches. Unlike the Hisense TV, this TV is already on sale, at least in China. TCL says it will now also market the TV in America and Europe. In America, the TV will have the type number QM891G, and in Europe it will be X955 Max.

The X955 Max is the largest TV in the X955 series, which also includes 85-inch and 98-inch models. I recently traveled to TCL in Poland where I conducted a hands-on testing session with a 98-inch Impression. The new 115-inch model goes even further. TCL claims the same brightness, i.e. 5,000 nits, but quadruples the number of dimming zones to 20,000, which comes out to about 189 x 106 zones, with a size of 1.35 x 1.35cm each. These values ​​may be a bit weak compared to the 40,000 zones and 10,000 nits of the Hisense 110UX, but that’s a bit more accurate.

For example, based on our own measurements of the 98-inch version, we know that the TCL TV actually achieves its claimed brightness in Accurate Picture Mode using the D65 white point, rather than the panel’s native white point. Another potential feature of TCL is the partial elimination of blackout zones.

The TCL TV also looked impressive on the display stand. Just like the Hisense 110UX, this TV is also very bright and the screen showed very good black levels. At least, when viewed straight from the front; The weak point of VA technology remains that it has weaker viewing angles. When viewed from the side, some flowers were visible in some of the photos. However, a fair comparison could not be made with the Hisense TV, as they both showed different content and the TVs were clearly not next to each other. TCL displayed on the TV video images with very bright objects on a dark black background. This is normal beta material for OLED TVs and a worst-case scenario for LCD displays, but the X955 Max passed these tests very well at first glance.

The cost of the X955 Max in Europe has not been finalized yet, but we understand that the price will likely be between 15,000 and 20,000 euros. This makes this 115-inch model significantly more expensive than the 98-inch model, which has a list price of €8,000.

who wants this?

The question, of course, is: Who will buy these TVs? For most of us, it seems crazy to have such a large screen in our home, but at the same time, TV manufacturers see that the market for very large screen sizes is growing rapidly. The big picture makes a big impact, and with prices continuing to fall, demand for increasingly larger TVs is expected to increase. Of course, these giants from Hisense and TCL are not expected to become instant bestsellers, given their high prices, but these TVs indicate the direction in which the market will move in the coming years.