With the bonus season approaching, and my CRT TV in the bedroom acting up from time to time, I decided to start looking for a suitable replacement.
I chanced upon this brand when I asked the DÉVANT service rep at Anson's The Link branch which is their cheapest 40" smart LED TV. I also asked if their smart TV can access shared folders/servers in the same LAN. After pointing out some models he suggested going over to their Hisense area. As already stated in this thread, the rep said Hisense makes the DÉVANT units.
Their "K391" line runs android, the interface is eerily familiar--seems you're staring at your android phone and there is also the familiar Google Play Store icon. The remote has a pointer interface as well that functions like a mouse onscreen.
I knew beforehand that DÉVANT LEDs have built-in ISDB-T receivers, so I asked to see it work. I would like to state for the record though that I still do not have local digital broadcast reception capability at home so I do not have anything to compare Hisense's digital reception to. The rep connected an indoor antenna, the type that comes with the "black box" set-top receivers one sees in the appliance store displays. We only got reception from the ABS-CBN digital broadcast. The regular free-air ABS-CBN channel 2, and the "Sports+Action", although we can see the other ABS channels like Knowledge(?) etc in the channel list but due to the encryption could not view them. Curious that the 2 digital channels from ABS (regular ch2 and Sports+Action) are identified as 480i by the "channel description" which the TV shows for a few seconds after each channel switch. As for the GMA7 and TV5 digital broadcast, there was no signal reception at all--I guessed maybe digital signal broadcast in the area is not very strong since the only people who would view TV in the area are the hotel transients in the nearby Shangri-La and Fairmont establishments and they would have access to cable in their hotel rooms anyway so free digital TV broadcast would practically be useless.
The K391 is also 3D capable, and it has a very interesting ability to display in 3D even plain old hidef movies. The service rep let me try out their active 3D glasses (powered by a button cell battery) and the 3D effect works well--but as expected the "native" 3D video looks better than the "converted" one.
What I noticed at first glance is how the Samsung 40" smart LED (J5500) looks so much better than the Hisense. Of course I pointed it out to the rep. He said one reason might be the Samsung is playing a tailored customized clip designed to enhance its screen, while the Hisense plays a run-of-the-mill video. I can't say I fully agree with this, until I play the same movie/clip on both and then compare, but for now I think it's safe to say PQ is so much better on the Samsung unit. But I must also point out the Samsung was on the far wall about 25m away facing the glass wall while the Hisense had its back to the same glass wall and it was around lunchtime when I went there, so the daylight was probably affecting the picture quality of the Hisense a little bit.
The rep said he could lower the price to around 4K cheaper than the Samsung.
My primary TV at home is a 5yr-old LG 37 LCD which has been serving us quite well in spite of some backlight bleeding, seeing whole day actions on weekends and holidays. If I get a new and bigger TV, the LG would replace my CRT in the bedroom, so I'm a little worried if the Hisense being an offbrand would be able to stand up to the heavy use the LG is being subjected to 24/365. The safe bet is on the Samsung, of course--and it has all the same features as the Hisense except for the 3D capability and the digital broadcast tuner.
I just wanted to know more about the Hisense before buying so I figured I'd look it up in the PinoyDVD community. Didn't actually expect the brand has been having such a disastrous marketing campaign here.
