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Xiaomi Mi TV 4X Pro 55-inch Review: Value for money par excellence |
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Xiaomi Mi TV 4X Pro 55-inch Review: Value for money par excellence |
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03-19-2019, 03:34 AM
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Xiaomi Mi TV 4X Pro 55-inch Review: Value for money par excellence
Xiaomi may have become a household name courtesy of its range of smartphones, but there is one segment where it is starting from scratch – televisions. It’s been just over a year since the first Mi TV launched in India, and saying that it has shaken the segment would be an understatement. Suddenly there’s an abundance of smart LED TVs across price segments that range from affordable to high-end.
Last year, Xiaomi introduced the country to its Mi LED TV range with the flagship 55-inch Mi TV 4. The highlight was not only the ultra slim design, but also the Rs 39,999 price tag. Since then however external factors have resulted in the smart TV’s price to shoot up to Rs 50,000. But in order to cater to the audience who were somewhat left abandoned by the Rs 10,000 price hike, Xiaomi launched the Mi TV 4X Pro 55-inch. As you may have guessed, it is priced at Rs 39,999 and having spent a considerable time with the Mi TV 4X Pro, here’s my review. Minimalist Design The Mi TV 4 impressed us all with its slim design, and premium build quality. The Mi TV 4X, however, is not in the same league, and it’s clear where Xiaomi has s****ped off the Rs 10,000 from. The TV sports a plastic body with generous bezels surrounding the display. These borders give the impression of being premium due to the brushed aluminum finish, but are actually made up of plastic. The overall design on the front is quite minimalistic with just the Mi logo seen at the bottom.  The back features a fairly big bulge that goes quite unnoticed if you place the TV on the surface. But if you wall mount it, the entire TV juts out quite a bit. The advantage of this bulge however is that it makes it easy to reach the ports placed at the back. Speaking of which, you get the standard set of ports including three HDMI (one of them is ARC), two USB ports, an Ethernet port, AV input, an antenna connection, and S/PDIF for audio out. There is however no 3.5mm audio jack. Connectivity options include Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.Video experience The Mi TV 4X Pro boasts a 10-bit panel with support for 4K HDR. Visuals are quite good especially when you consider the price tag. Needless to say, in comparison to higher-end 4K TVs from the likes of Sony or Samsung, pictures on the Mi TV look a tad washed out. There is however a workaround, which involves switching off dynamic backlighting and slighting tweaking the various screen settings. The difference after switching off dynamic backlighting is especially visible when watching 4K and HDR content. At home, I primarily use the Mi TV 4X Pro for watching TV series and movies via the cable connection, and playing games on the PlayStation 4 Pro. The TV is quite capable of performing well in both scenarios.*If you have a cable connection, then the Mi TV’s PatchWall UI really comes into its own. The UI has seen various improvements in the past year, and it has become quite intuitive in the way it monitors your viewing habits and offers easy access to your shows in a tiled design. Mind you, it does take a bit of time and a lot of TV watching for you to reap the fruits of the intuitive UI. The remote control too is quite minimalistic in design with just the right amount of ****ons. Being a Bluetooth-enabled remote, you also don’t need to always point it to the TV while pressing ****ons. My only grouse however is the lack of a Mute ****on, which is sorely missed in day-to-day use. Despite the support, there is a major dearth of 4K content on our cable connections, and the lack of support for Netflix and Amazon Prime doesn’t help the Mi TV’s cause either. While Xiaomi has promised that support for Prime Video will be soon added, there is no specific timeframe. In the meantime, gaming lets you experience 4K content, and the*Mi TV performed quite well during my gaming sessions. You start really to appreciate the beauty of the 4K panel when playing God of War with the HDR setting turned on. Audio Experience By not having to worry about the thickness of the Mi TV 4X Pro, Xiaomi was able to pack in two 10W speakers (up from two 8W speakers). The result is that the audio is quite loud, and more than enough for most living room sizes in our country. But just being loud isn’t enough, and the overall audio experience does leave a lot to be desired. The speakers just about feel adequate when watching daily soaps or news channels. But when you are watching an HD movie or playing games on your high-end consoles there is quite a visible absence of thump. Be it the resounding soundtrack of Man of Steel or the roar of ginormous dragons in God of War, the audio feels flat.  The obvious solution is to invest in a good home theater system to do justice to the beautiful visuals. But if you’re on a tight budget then even an entry-level soundbar should suffice to an extent. It just so happens that Xiaomi launched its Mi Soundbar with a price tag of Rs 4,999. It may not be the best audio solution out there, but it does make a lot of sense to invest in it to improve your Mi TV’s audio experience. That too without really breaking the bank.Should you buy it? As you may have guessed by now, this is quite a positive review of the 55-inch Xiaomi Mi TV 4X Pro. Needless to say, recommending it to someone is almost a no brainer because of the Rs 39,999 price tag. The TV is by no means perfect. The plastic build doesn’t come across as premium, the audio experience is sub-par, and the absence of support for Netflix and Amazon Prime is a bummer. But some of these issues can be resolved with just a bit more investment. A soundbar will improve the audio, while the Amazon Fire TV Stick will bring you support for all OTT platforms at the expense of an HDMI port. In the past year, competition in the smart TV has increased quite a bit. These days it is easy to find smart TVs in the sub-Rs 40,000 range from a host of companies like TCL, iFFALCON, MarQ, and Thomson to name a few. But Xiaomi’s clear advantage is its brand value, and the proprietary PatchWall UI. More... Similar Threads:
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