I don't mind waiting for the prices to come down, I just want to make sure that I get a really good upgrade for my money. Based on the reviews, I'm worried that the hisense won't have the most accurate hdr image out of the box and I don't wanna pay for professional calibration. I'll still be watching 1080p content and sports, so I worry about motion and processing.
HDR picture accuracy is common problem with TVs, Samsung models are actually less accurate at tracking brightness than the Hisense is. Many TVs don't even make it possible to properly calibrate HDR mode at all.
HDR would be the least of my worries if buying this TV. I would worry more if I was using the built in tuner, or that the judder in movies didn't get resolved. The motion issues should all be sorted in the latest update.
But if you want a better all round TV then you should keep an eye out for refurbs?
Good HDR tvs are already affordable...
Coming to this place will only lead you to believe that nothing under 1k is worth buying when it comes to HDR - and lets be fair here, you haven't actually exp HDR, so how do you know their opinion lines up with yours? You may well find that a mid range Samsung is more then good enough for you, while some TV nerd writes it off because someone on youtube said the colours were out a little...
Spend a few hours browsing local shops and product test with your own eyes. You may well be surprised.
I think you're way off the mark here. If someone thinks HDR looks good on a cheaper TV its only because people don't know better. Someone may well buy a cheaper TV and use HDR and think its impressive, but that isn't because they are viewing it as its intended to be, its because they notice the colours are better without noticing problems in other areas of the image...or its because the content they are watching is already such a big improvement compared to their old TV.
Very few people in this situation are going to choose to watch the SDR version instead, and discover quite what they are missing. When using built in apps in many cases you don't even have the option of choosing.
Most people would agree that HDR requires a baseline of specifications, and that is something that is generally accepted by both users and professionals in the industry. I've experienced first hand the difference between how a cheaper TV displays HDR compared to a more expensive one, and the difference is night and day.
Definitely don't want to visit any shops to view TVs and make your own conclusion. That is one of the number one rules when shopping for a TV. Never judge on what you see in the shop.
I wrote more on HDR here:
All about HDR (High Dynamic Range)
Frankly its complete nonsense that manufacturers are even making cheaper TVs and advertising HDR is a feature on them. It's nothing more than false advertising. It would be different if they were able to compress HDR down with minimal side effects, but they can't, and it creates too many issues with the picture.