One Minute Review
Massive 4K TVs that are affordable have a growing fan base in India. Every buyer at an electronics showroom or an online store is primarily looking for buying the TV that is not only feature-rich, has a bigger display, comes with internet connectivity, can run the application out of the box and yet doesn’t burn a hole in the pocket.
Toshiba, which made a comeback under Hisense in India, has introduced a few TVs that tick most boxes and is looking to target the upward-ticking affordable smart TV segment. The one that we have reviewed here is the Toshiba’s 55-inch 55U5050 TV that runs on a custom VIDAA OS and it comes with all the fancy-sounding features like 4K, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Bezel-less design, Built-in Alexa connectivity and 30W audio output etc.
But, should you buy the VIDAA OS powered Toshiba’s smart TVs in India right now?
The answer to this is not as straightforward as our review for the Hisense’s 55-inch smart 4K TV was. While the overall performance was satisfactory as a TV as the boot-up time is quick, the viewing angles are good and the UI is fast, however, it’s the operating system that is of concern here.
There are hardly any OTT applications that you can download on this TV. Since it’s a custom OS that does not have partnerships in India, you’ll hardly find any useful apps in the app store. Applications of popular OTT platforms and application like SonyLiv, Disney+ Hotstar, MX Player etc are missing. In fact, in comparison to the Android TV operating system, that is easy to use and offers a massive selection of applications to choose from, VIDAA OS is on the opposite end of the spectrum. At least as of now.
Though the situation may change in the future, as the company tells us. But we cannot suggest this to people looking to buy an “internet first” smart TV based on the future promises.
That said, you can still use the TV for all its other “smart” features and that is what our review is focused on.
Toshiba 55-inch TV Price and availability
The Hisense TV was announced in the month of September at an aggressive price point. It can be bought from major e-commerce stores and offline retail partners for Rs. 39,999 and unlike other Hisense TV’s, its price has remained unchanged.
Design
Like most budget 4K LED TVs, the design on Toshiba’s TV is not something you can write home about. You get a large display that has minimum bezels on the three sides while the chin is slightly thicker and houses Toshiba branding on the extreme left with an led indicator at the centre.
The bezel-less frame makes the TV look slightly bigger and offers an immersive experience. The connectivity ports are housed vertically on the rear panel and are easily accessible even if your TV is mounted on the wall using the mount supplied in the retail box. You also get the regular chicken leg stands in case you want to place the TV on a tabletop.
And when you talk about the connectivity port, you get a full array of ports including three HDMI making it ideal for connecting a console, a streaming box and a set-top box all at once. There are a couple of USB ports for connecting external drives in case required.
Overall, if it was not the subtle branding, there are no differences between the Toshiba and the Hisense TV we reviewed sometime back. As mentioned above, the primary difference is in the operating system that powers this TV – we will talk about this later.
In terms of build quality, the outer casing of the TV is made of hard plastic offering it the rigidity and strength that a massive frame would need. While the key benefit you get is that there is absolutely no flex but it also means that the TV is heavy. Taking it out of the box and installing it even on a table in your drawing room will surely require a helping hand and while mounting it on the wall you may need extra support. In terms of build quality, the Toshiba TV is easily among the best-built TVs in its price segment.
The bundled remote is also built decently and does have hotkeys for Netflix, Prime Video and YouTube. A hotkey for voice navigation is also there that lets you operate the TV using Amazon’s Alexa, however, the process to do so is not straightforward since it requires you to link your email account and even after multiple attempts when it did not happen, I let it go.
Display
The bare minimum bezels on the side offer an immersive viewing experience. You’d hardly notice the side bezels during your day-to-day usage. Since the TV supports Dolby Vision, unlike most other TVs in this price range, your content consumption experience will surely be several notches higher. That said, you may need to supply most content from your side since the TV has a limited app ecosystem.
Since it supports various HDR formats including HLG and HDR10, it makes even the standard TV viewing experience via your regular set-top box better than most other TVs. Through the simulated Ultra Dimming Tech, the panel can offer deeper blacks compared to the competition.
You can also customize the image quality by adjusting the colour saturation using the built-in colour tuner. That said, in most cases, you’d not even require to tinker with these settings since the brightness and colour reproduction is mostly up to the mark. Colours are vivid and the display is bright enough to offer eye-pleasing image quality. Another thing worth mentioning is that my room that has an abundant supply of natural light, the visibility on this TV was not impacted.
Audio and connectivity
The TV comes with 30W speakers and the output is loud. During my testing period, I hardly turned the volume over 25%. That said, my room is a mid-sized one so even if you have a larger hall or room, you do not have to worry about audio output or even about using any accessories to boost the audio output.
In terms of connectivity, this TV, like the Hisense 55-inch TV we reviewed, does not disappoint you when it comes to physical ports. As mentioned above you get three HDMI ports including one with ARC support, a couple of Type-A USB ports, a headphone jack, a SPDIF port, an ethernet connector and an AV input slot.
For wireless connectivity, you have Bluetooth and WiFi support, though most competition TVs offer dual-band WiFi connectivity i.e. 2.4GHz and 5GHz while connectivity on the Toshiba TV is limited to 2.4GHz which can be a limitation to many in case you’re going to stream high definition content regularly.
Buy it if..
You want a solid affordable 4K LED TV
If you’re tight on budget but looking to purchase a TV with tons of connectivity features, then this is the perfect TV with a solid build quality
Set-top box is your primary content source
Watching regular content via a set-top box on this TV is slightly better than other TVs in this price range. It is a setup and forget sort of TV that works best even with its limitations.
Don’t buy it if
OTT is your primary entertainment source
VIDAA OS is its biggest drawback and you do not get most of the popular OTT applications. Hence if you are dependent on their subscription for content consumption, you might need to invest extra in an Android box.
You play game regularly
The app selection is simply disappointing to put it nicely. You cannot be dependent on the app store to download games at all. Additionally, in case you want to play games on this TV using your console. The 60Hz refresh rate is just ok for an occasional gaming session and is not ideal for hardcore gamers.
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