This second run of Hisense Roku TVs for the UK really comes into its own once we leave the confines of Earth and head to the Sovereign planet for the Guardians’ battle with the Abilisk and a firework display of colour and fun. Black tones are decently deep and avoid crushing well – if there’s detail in the darkest scenes, the Hisense will at the very least allude to it. It’s also well worth downloading the Roku Channel, which brings free access to over 10,000 films, TV episodes and documentaries from over 40 content partners. Since last year’s model was launched, UHD support for Google Play has arrived as has the BT Sport app, which is good news for football fans.

So it seems obvious that it will look its best when served some native 4K content to display – and that holds true here. You can’t expect fireworks in the design department when you’re paying this sort of money for a television. Owners of legacy consoles shouldn’t have any qualms, though – the Hisense keeps up all its good picture-quality work and throws in a response time of less than 40ms too. 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. It features HLG and HDR10 high dynamic range compatibility – but not the HDR10+ or Dolby Vision dynamic metadata variants.

The cookie allows internal Bazaarvoice web analytics to be correlated to the same user for interactions across the Bazaarvoice network. Obviously spending more will get you better picture and (especially) sound performance – but then if you want a 50-inch 4K HDR TV from any other brand, you’ll be spending plenty more anyway. Black tones are deep but properly detailed, and white tones are clean and equally information-rich – the A7200GTUK is far from the brightest TV around, but it’s adept enough with both white and black tones that contrasts pop regardless. So you’ll feel like you’ve had some input into the way images look, without having spent the best part of a day doing so. Unlike pricier direct-lit LED sets, though, there appears not to have been enough left in the budget for any local dimming zones, and that’s probably the most telling absence on the spec sheet.

The smart TV interface here is clean and unequivocal, easy and logical to navigate, and extensive without being exhausting. And it manages to keep white tones clean and detailed at the same time, so despite a fairly humdrum peak brightness, the A7200G’s contrasts are convincing.Freeview Play takes care of all your broadcast and catch-up TV needs, and overall this is a smart TV offering that’s smarter than many. We’re confident, though, that the Hisense policy of extremely competitive pricing will be carried over intact to those territories. Really, the best you can hope for is a bit of discretion – and, happily, that’s just what Hisense has delivered.

Roku is gaining the sort of credibility in Europe to match its profile in America, and the Roku interface gives access to Freeview Play, Disney+, BT Sport, Netflix and a whole stack of other on-demand and catch-up streaming services. The B7120UK offered an enjoyable performance, although it had a few weak spots in my estimation – namely HDR brightness and SD upscaling. If you have purchased a universal remote, it should come with an instruction guide as to how to pair the remote with the TV. For example, Quill’s overcoat ends up a little too oxblood in the throne room scene in front of Princess Ayesha. This message will show when the TV is not receiving a signal, either through the aerial or an external device connected.HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and refers to contrast (or difference) between the brightest and darkest parts of an image. Each is held in place by a couple of screws, each is nothing much to look at or touch – but each does what it needs to do without fuss and without drawing attention to themselves. The dramatic overtones are still there, with plenty of contrast to handle that, but the lack of close control to individual areas of the backlighting means that it’s missing the subtlety of a more expensive TV set. The kaleidoscope of gases spewed by the multi-dimensional, tentacled monster look terrific, and the characters flying around it are bold and well-defined in all their HDR glory.

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest.No matter if you feed the A7200G the good stuff from a 4K Blu-ray player or via Netflix, it is capable of delivering very watchable images indeed. Simon Lucas is a senior editorial professional with deep experience of print/digital publishing and the consumer electronics landscape.