Hisense 116UX: Redefining home entertainment

Digital Trends

21 hours ago

There's a moment every few years when a new TV drops that feels like the industry collectively hitting reset. The Hisense 116UX delivers one of those moments.
This 116-inch titan is a calculated move to push the boundaries of display technology. It takes the best aspects of Mini-LED, borrows the brilliance of OLED, and layers in proprietary Hisense innovation to create something that genuinely feels like a category of its own.
And yeah, it's massive. But there's so much more.
What makes the 116UX so different?
The headline here isn't just size, though at 116 inches, it's hard to ignore. The real conversation is about Hisense's use of RGB Mini-LED backlighting. While most TVs still rely on blue or white LEDs filtered through quantum dots, Hisense has tripled down on precision by using tens of thousands of individually addressable red, green, and blue mini-LEDs behind the panel.
Imagine if we put a pixelated lighting grid behind your display. Each RGB LED cluster is independently controlled, which provides precise local dimming. According to Hisense, this means the 116UX virtually eliminates blooming and halo effects, even during high-contrast scenes. No more glowing subtitles. No more starfields that look like blurry snow. Just pristine contrast that delivers on par with — and in some cases exceeds — the best OLEDs out there.
The 116UX reaches up to 10,000 nits of peak brightness. That's just borderline absurd! For reference, most high-end OLEDs cap out closer to 1,500 nits. Combine that brightness with the deep blacks enabled by precision dimming, and you've got a TV that makes a mockery of merely stating it 'supports HDR.' It weaponizes it.
Additionally, the 116UX is certified for Dolby Vision, Dolby Vision IQ, and IMAX Enhanced. This trifecta of format support guarantees reference-quality presentation across streaming platforms, UHD Blu-ray discs, and high-end digital content. It's not an exaggeration to say this TV was built for cinephiles, filmmakers, and anyone who wants to experience entertainment the way it was intended to be viewed.
The brain behind the brawn
Pushing all those pixels and LEDs around takes some serious horsepower, which is where the Hi-View Engine X comes in. Hisense's AI-powered processor is designed to optimize every frame in real time, using a suite of enhancements with very on-the-nose names: AI Peak Brightness, AI RGB Local Dimming, and AI Banding Smoother.
That last one's particularly interesting. Banding — those visible gradients where color should be smooth — is notoriously tricky to eliminate, even on premium panels. If Hisense has genuinely solved this, the 116UX could be a killer display not just for film lovers, but for all artists and content creators, too.
The processor dynamically adjusts the screen's performance to environmental factors like room lighting and ambient noise. Watching a nature show at noon? The screen punches through glare with ease. Settling into a noir film at midnight? The intensity is dialed back for rich shadows and smooth transitions. The goal isn't just picture quality. It's presence.
Technology you can trust
Any time a new category-defining product enters the scene, there's bound to be curiosity.
Unlike traditional LED backlights that use a single color source filtered through layers, the 116UX produces light that is red, green, or blue at the source. That means more vivid saturation, a reduction in energy waste, and significantly lower blue light emission. In fact, blue light is reduced by up to 32% compared to conventional Mini-LED TVs. Your eyes will thank you for a more comfortable viewing experience.
This level of color purity also enables the 116UX to reach an astounding 97% of the BT.2020 color space, a benchmark that even most commercial cinema projectors can't touch. You'll see everything from richly graded feature films to animated content and video games appear with exceptional accuracy.
The sound of something big
The 116UX packs a built-in 6.2.2 CineStage X surround system, with support for Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X. That's a mouthful, but what it means is immersive sound baked right into the hardware. No need for a soundbar unless you're trying to rattle the neighbors.
Whether you're locked into an action sequence, concert footage, or subtle drama, audio is delivered with clarity and directionality that tracks what's happening on screen. It adds a physical element to the viewing experience, making the 116UX a complete audiovisual centerpiece.
Even better, the whole system runs on Google TV, which means easy integration with streaming apps, smart home devices, and Google Assistant. This is a future-ready screen that plays nice with your ecosystem.
Not just a TV, a vision
This display is clearly not built for casual living rooms. It's a statement piece. But more than that, it's a tech demo made real, a signal that Hisense isn't content to follow the pack. While other brands inch forward in iterative updates, this TV jumps into unknown territory.
The 116UX proves premium performance and innovation can exist beyond OLED by redefining what Mini-LED can be, establishing an entirely new performance tier for flagship TVs. It's a television for enthusiasts, visionaries, and anyone ready to invest in the absolute best of what's possible today.
Because once you've seen what Mini-LEDs can really do — and we mean really do — there's no going back.
Hisense didn't just build a bigger TV. They built a better one. And with the 116UX, the future of television is brilliant.